Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of October 16, 2021
I was fortunate to have some experience of James Brydon (our Buccaneer and Picaroon in the Guardian) when he was a guest on one of John Halpern’s Zoom sessions recently. And with this impressive puzzle, I like him more and more.
My first-in was 11 (ONE IN A MILLION) and last was 1ac (GUISE). I finished about two thirds very quickly then took some time with the rest finding the bottom-right corner especially challenging. My favourite clues are 1ac (GUISE), 1dn (GRAF), 4 (DESCARTES), 6 (ARUM LILY), the &Lit. 9 (ASPIRIN), 23 (STIR) and 27 (SASSENACH). WHIPPER-IN at 18 was a new term to me. Bravo and thank you, Buccaneer.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | GUISE |
Outspoken people making an appearance (5)
|
| Homophone (outspoken) of “guys” (people) | ||
| 4 | DESCARTES |
Pioneer using coordinates in some maps from France (9)
|
| DES CARTES (some maps) in French (from France).
Rene Descartes originated the Cartesian Coordinate System that is named after him. |
||
| 9 | ASPIRIN |
Suffering sprain, I might need this! (7)
|
| Anagram (suffering) of SPRAIN I and &Lit. | ||
| 10 | AQUARIA |
A number protecting queen in tanks (7)
|
| QU (queen) in (protecting) A (a) + ARIA (number) | ||
| 11 | ONE IN A MILLION |
Clue for “aim” is something very rare (3,2,1,7)
|
| I (one) in (in) A (a) + M (million) | ||
| 14 | NAIL |
Love drinking first of ales? One may get hammered (4)
|
| A[les] in (drinking) NIL (love) | ||
| 15 | COMPLIANT |
Inclined to follow beef with last of pasta later (9)
|
| COMPLAINT (beef) with the ‘A’ (last of pasta) moved one place to the right (later) | ||
| 18 | WHIPPER-IN |
Acquire clothing more fashionable for dog-handler (7-2)
|
| HIPPER (more fashionable) in (clothing) WIN (acquire). A whipper-in is a huntsman’s assistant in managing the hounds. This was a new term to me. | ||
| 19 | LEGO |
Latin and one of its pronouns is child’s play (4)
|
| L (Latin) + EGO (one of its pronouns). ‘Ego’ is Latin for I. | ||
| 21 | LIGHT-FINGERED |
Having criminal urges, Spooner’s struggle was enduring (5-8)
|
| Spoonerism of “fight (struggle) lingered (enduring)” | ||
| 24 | KICK-OFF |
Recoil from female in the beginning (4-3)
|
| KICK (recoil) + OF (from) + F[emale] | ||
| 26 | ALIMENT |
A crossword setter’s tucking into fast food (7)
|
| IM (a crossword setter’s) in (tucking into) LENT (fast) | ||
| 27 | SASSENACH |
South American playing chess with an Englishman (9)
|
| S (south) + A (American) + anagram (playing) of CHESS AN. ‘Sassenach’ is a Scottish word for an Englishman. I have been called a sassenach myself. | ||
| 28 | HOMER |
Pigeon not out with rook (5)
|
| HOME (not out) + R (rook) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | GRAF |
Tennis player’s good service (4)
|
| G (good) + RAF (service). The tennis champion in question is Steffi Graf. | ||
| 2 | IMPROVISING |
Getting better housing one’s knocking up (11)
|
| I (one) + S (‘s) together in (housing) IMPROVING (getting better) | ||
| 3 | EARNER |
Apprentice wanting his first lucrative activity (6)
|
| [l]EARNER (apprentice wanting his first) | ||
| 4 | DINING CAR |
Where train fare is a racket, loving to cycle round (6,3)
|
| DIN (racket) + CARING (loving) with halves switched (to cycle round) with a cryptic definition | ||
| 5 | SWARM |
Leader of seminary close to finding flock (5)
|
| S[eminary] + WARM (close to) | ||
| 6 | ARUM LILY |
A funny girl, one sporting white bloomers (4,4)
|
| A (a) + RUM (funny) + LILY (girl). The Arum Lily is also known as the Calla Lily. | ||
| 7 | TAR |
Rating – it’s halved and then raised (3)
|
| RAT[ing] (it’s halved) backwards (then raised). I think the definition ‘rating’ must refer to an ordinary seaman as in the British Navy who would also informally be called a tar. However it also occurred to me that cigarettes can be given a tar rating and the definition might refer to that. | ||
| 8 | STAGNATION |
Small country accepts writing on the wall in slump (10)
|
| TAG (writing on the wall) in (accepts) S (small) + NATION (country) | ||
| 12 | I HAVE A DREAM |
Moving, ie, mostly heavy drama in King’s Speech (1,4,1,5)
|
| Anagram (moving) of IE HEAV[y] DRAMA | ||
| 13 | SNOWFLAKES |
Wild fowl devoured by reptiles in a flurry (10)
|
| Anagram (wild) of FOWL in (devoured by) SNAKES (reptiles) | ||
| 16 | MONOGRAPH |
Beastly comment about new diagram in academic’s work (9)
|
| N (new) in (about) MOO (beastly comment) + GRAPH (diagram) | ||
| 17 | UPSTROKE |
Purest works preserving fine motion of paintbrush? (8)
|
| OK (fine) in (preserving) anagram (works) of PUREST | ||
| 20 | WRAITH |
Shade obtained by painter as well as frames (6)
|
| RA (painter) in (frames) WITH (as well as) | ||
| 22 | INFRA |
What’s stored by mainframe is below (5)
|
| Hidden word (what’s stored by) | ||
| 23 | STIR |
Teacher fixing time and place for detention (4)
|
| T (time) in (fixing) SIR (teacher) with ‘stir’ meant in the American-slang sense of prison. | ||
| 25 | COS |
Leaves to eat in club without husband (3)
|
| COS[h] (club without husband) with ‘c0s’ being a British term for a type of lettuce that is also known as romaine. |
This was great weekend entertainment from Buccaneer. I share Pete’s favourites, GRAF and DESCARTES, and add EARNER and LIGHT-FINGERED (another good Spoonerism).
I vaguely remembered the marine sense of ‘rating’, didn’t know SASSENACH but had all the crossers to get it right. I remember struggling with WRAITH, my LOI, for a while but all came good in the end.
I’m embarrassed to admit that I hastily bungled in ONE IN A MILLION, my FOI, on enumeration alone and its only now, reading the blog that I see the role of ‘aim’! There’s just a minor omission in 26a in which ‘a’ should be highlighted as part of the answer.
Thanks Buccaneer and Pete for your dependable blog.
Thanks, Buccaneer and Pete
DINING CAR is my fav.
LIGHT-FINGERED is an enjoyable Spooner.
TAR: Tho’ I, too feel that the setter must have intended ‘sailor’, Pete’s additional take is interesting and fitting.
Me @1,
Oops, I meant ‘bunged’ and ‘it’s’.
Kurukveera, I meant to say yesterday that I share your puzzlement at the relatively sparse number of comments on the FT blogs but that is no reflection on their entertainment value as far as I’m concerned.
Completely the opposite of Pete, GUISE was my FOI. Similar to Pete, I motored a long well for a while, then slowed considerably. But I did finish and managed to parse them all correctly – even though I had doubts about 11 ac until reading Pete’s blog
I am afraid I stopped enjoying this puzzle toward the end. While I enjoy discovering the odd new word, this puzzle had so many obscure words that I started to feel “oh no, not another one”. Combined with so many cryptic clues, I had to spend a long, long time to get to the end.
There were some fine clues and covers. So, thank you Buccaneer, and thank you Pete for the blog
Oops typo – “a long” in the first line should read “along”. Apologies
Thanks for the blog, I agree totally with you and Diane about this puzzle, so many quality clues, hard to pick a favourite .
I like the graffiti reference in STAGNATION, the use of clothing for WHIPPER-IN, the movement of a in COMPLIANT and many more.
Cartesian co-ordinates shows the importance of priority in publication, Fermat was actually slightly earlier but did not publish. The incredible Nicole Oresme was three centuries earlier but no printing press then.
Roz @6,
I see we have a common interest in Descartes though mine is purely from a philosophical perspective and a simple grasp at that!
I solve therefore I am
Diane@7 Descartes was a bit of a polymath , philosophy and maths and a bit of astrophysics (which he did actually get all wrong.)
Oresme was a 14th century French philosopher but contributed greatly to mathematics, physics , economics etc. Much of his work was lost and only re-discovered centuries later.
Another treat from Buccaneer – as well as the aforementioned 4d, I did like both 7d and 13d
Thanks to Buccaneer and Pete
[copmus @8 – 🙂 Me too]
Cartesian copmus@8 🙂
Far too hard for me. I thought 11 ac very clever.
Martyn@4. I greatly enjoyed this puzzle but , unlike you, I did not solve 1ac partly because I stupidly did not realise that outspoken indicated a homophone .
Thanks to Buccaneer for the fun and Pete for the blog. I did learn about Descartes’ place in cartography , something I was not taught at school.
Many thanks indeed for the great blog, Pete, and to everyone dropping in to comment. I’m looking forward to our next tussle!
Am possibly being pedantic in noting the King in 12d refers to Martin Luther King, and his famous speech in Washington in Washington in August 1963.
Thanks Buccaneer for another excellent crossword. Favourites were GRAF, DINING CAR, STAGNATION, SNOWFLAKES, and ALIMENT. Had not heard of SASSENACH. Thanks Pete for the blog.
Thanks Buccaneer and Pete.
I have been touring the top half of the island this week so am just catching up on things.
I agree with David L that Martin Luther King is the king in question.
I found I had to stretch a bit for some and enjoyed UPSTROKE for some reason.
Thanks Buccaneer and Pete
Got off to a good start with this one, immediately seeing the tennis player at 1d, but it was well over the hour across a number of sittings to get to the end. Didn’t help things early on by starting to write in IMPREGNATING at 2d until running out of spaces.
Some really interesting devices used and ‘grinned out loud’ when the penny dropped in Martin Luther’s I HAVE A DREAM presented at 12d. SNOWFLAKES was also pleasing after working out the word play and then spotting the right meaning of ‘flurry’. DESCARTES was also worthy of special mention.
Finished with MONOGRAPH (the only new term for me), STAGNATION (again worked out from word play and then seeing the definition) and LEGO (clever word play again).
Excellent puzzle !