Moo is today's setter in the FT
I thought this was a bit of a mixed bag, that would have benefitted from some editing.
There were too many clues which involved reversal or part-reversal of words (I think I counted five). In 5ac, I would have suggested a different way of clueing TROUPE, given that TROUPE and TROOP are essentially the same word. If you look hard enough online, you might find DINGOES, but all of the main dictionaries have DINGOS as the plural, and finally the definition of TEACAKE was weak, and Spoonerisms need to be clued quite specifically to be fair to the solver, in my opinion.
Although I have no problem with it, I wonder if a modern solver would have issues with MENTAL/CRACKERS. I have just submitted a puzzle where the editor wasn't happy that I had used ASYLUM to indicate BIN, so I have a bested interest…
There were of course some good clues in the puzzle, such as the ones for GORE, ELONGATED and EPITOME, so thanks Moo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | POSITION |
The point of employment? (8)
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Double definition |
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| 5 | TROUPE |
Actors sounding like a bunch of baboons (6)
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Homophone [sounding like] of TROOP ("bunch" of animals, in this case "baboons") Troupe and troop are essentially the same word, both coming from the French word for a group or flock. |
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| 8 | SPA |
Argue noisily in Bath perhaps (3)
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Homophone [noisily] of SPAR ("argue") Not a homophone in my accent, but I suppose it must be in England, and almost certainly in Bath. |
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| 9 | RED SNAPPER |
Catch photographer looking embarrassed? (3,7)
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RED ("looking embarrassed") + SNAPPER ("photographer") Think "catch of the day" for fish. |
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| 10 | EMMENTAL |
Half of them having crackers and cheese (8)
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[half of] (th)EM having MENTAL ("crackers") |
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| 11 | ASSAIL |
Occasionally causes trouble in attack (6)
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[occasionally] (c)A(u)S(e)S + AIL ("trouble") |
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| 12 | GORE |
Blood signalling end of game? (4)
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"end of game" is either G OR E |
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| 14 | CONTESTANT |
Rival happy to describe detailed attempt (10)
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CONTENT ("happy") to describe [detailed] STA(b) "attempt" I've seen "describe" as a container indicator before, but not sure how it's supposed to work? |
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| 17 | REPOSITORY |
Fresh poser facing current right- winger in Treasury (10)
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*(poser) [anag:fresh) facing I (symbol for electric "current") + TORY ("right-winger") |
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| 20 | SPAN |
Revolutionary snoozes for a while (4)
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[revolutionary] <=NAPS ("snoozes") As in "a span of time", I presume. |
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| 23 | DINGOS |
Wild dogs’ noise disappears, they say (6)
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DIN ("noise") + homophone [they say] of GOES ("disappears") All of the dictionaries I have to hand (Chambers, OED & Collins) have the plural as dingoes, though… |
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| 24 | FULL STOP |
Point at which one’s sentence ends (4,4)
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(barely) cryptic definition |
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| 25 | ON THE LOOSE |
Old one’s hotel? Surprisingly it’s free (2,3,5)
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O (old) + *(ones hotel) [anag:surprisingly] |
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| 26 | EON |
Age of Beano editor on retirement (3)
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Hidden backwards [of…in retirement] in "beaNO Editor" |
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| 27 | BEDDED |
English theologian grabbed by teacher – and seduced (6)
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E (English) + DD (Doctor of Divinity) grabbed by BEd (Bachelor of Education, so "teacher") |
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| 28 | ASCENDER |
Letter for someone on way up? (8)
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Double definition, the first referring to letters such as d,h,k which have a part that extends upwards. |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PASSENGER |
Traveller needing permit to meet English monarch (9)
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PASS ("permit") to meet Eng. (English) + ER (Elizabeth Regina, so "monarch") |
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| 2 | STARMER |
Celebrity band backing alternative to Johnson? (7)
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STAR ("celebrity") + <=REM ("band", backing) |
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| 3 | TURING |
Mathematician on a trip, missing nothing (6)
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T(o)URING ("on a trip", missing O (nothing)) |
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| 4 | ODD MAN OUT |
Amount made by one who’s excluded? (3,3,3)
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"amount" is an anagram of "man out", so ODD "MAN OUT" |
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| 5 | TEACAKE |
Spooner’s crucial capture: bit of a mouthful? (7)
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If uttered by Spooner, "teacake" may have come across as KEY ("crucial") TAKE ("capture") |
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| 6 | OPPOSITES |
Little and Large? They’re said to attract (9)
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Little and Large were a comedy double act of the late 20th century. |
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| 7 | PORTION |
Share of wine no one rejected (7)
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PORT ("wine") + <=(NO + I (one), rejected) |
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| 13 | ELONGATED |
Protracted scandal involving Musk and daughter (9)
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ELON-GATE could be a "scandal involving" Elon Musk (a la Watergate, Pizzagate, Irangate etc) + D (daughter) |
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| 15 | TORTUROUS |
Our tutors carelessly causing pain (9)
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*(our tutors) [anag:carelessly] |
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| 16 | TIN OPENER |
Son abandoned pretension, becoming kitchen assistant (3,6)
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*(pretenion) [anag:becoming] where PRENTENION is PRETEN(s)ION with S (son) abandoning |
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| 18 | EPITOME |
Model impressive but not constant, in my opinion (7)
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EPI(c) ("impressive", but not C (constant)) + TO ME ("in my opinion") |
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| 19 | INSTEAD |
Rather badly stained (7)
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*(stained) [anag:badly] |
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| 21 | POTHEAD |
P for puffer on a spliff? (7)
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P is "HEAD of" P(OT) |
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| 22 | ALLEGE |
Claim upset setter’s drinking beer? On the contrary (6)
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ALE ("beer") drinking [upset] <=GEL ("setter") |
14 A:
Describe
To move through space in such a way as to represent or conform to (the outline of a given shape)
The gymnast’s rotating arm described an arc.
Not quite the meaning such as encircle or enclose that we are looking for. Yet…
Thanks, Moo and loonapick!
I was beaten by the parsing of GORE, despite having seen the X OR Y device for “end of?” several times before. Semi-guessed the ‘Letter’ bit of ASCENDER, with the only other query being the DINGOS spelling. Looking it up, I see that the Macquarie Dictionary, generally regarded as being an (?the) authoritative source for Australian English, gives both “dingoes” and DINGOS for the plural.
Nothing really ‘causing pain’ but lots to enjoy. Favourite was POTHEAD.
Thanks to Moo and loonapick
A cheekily humorous puzzle from Moo whom I’ve not seen in a while.
True, 10a might not be to everyone’s taste but I enjoyed it, along with 9, 12, 13 and 27.
In crossword land, there are frequently usages that raise an eyebrow (such as ‘goy’ the other day which for some is pejorative) but I’m not about to cancel the FT!
There has been a spate of Spoonerisms recently and today’s at 5d wasn’t too 14d, thankfully.
One last thought on the plural forms of Australian animals; I once had a friend who earnestly suggested the plural of platypus was platypi!
Thanks for the fun, Moo, and for the blog.
Wordplodder@3
I don’t know the origin of ‘dingo’ but I’ve always thought it interesting that the Cantonese for ‘mad dog’ (din gau approximately) sounds rather like it.
An interesting tidbit! 🙂
Diane @5 and Kurukveera @6: I didn’t know before, big looking it up on Wikipedia, the word DINGO came from the Dharug language of the indigenous Australians around the Sydney area, with different names in other indigenous Australian languages. Interesting though that DINGOS are thought to have originally come from Asia via New Guinea.
Thanks for that, Wordplodder.
Thanks to Moo and loonapick. I’m another who did not parse GORE and had trouble with ALLEGE but I did know ASCENDER.
Thanks for the blog, agree it was a bit of a mixed bag but some very nice clues. I did like TIN OPENER and EPITOME.
I seem to remember that Little and Large were a comedy double act with two straight men.
Surely GOR is green orange red ie signals
A fairly quick solve for us although we didn’t see the parsing of GORE and it took us a few seconds to realise that ASCENDER can be the letter as well as the vertical bit of it. In 14ac we see ‘described’ as a containment indicator as in the sense of a circle described on a triangle or other geometrical figure – see here for an example.
Favourites included RED SNAPPER and ELONGATED (even though ‘-gate’ has become a bit of a cliché)
Thanks, Moo and loonapick.
I had problems with the northwest corner. Not being familiar with STARMER didn’t help. And SPA and SPAR are not homophones in my accent, either, although I suspect they are for the majority of solvers. But I’m embarrassed I couldn’t parse GORE, even though it should have been obvious.
Unlike Loonapick, I have no trouble with 5a. “Troop” is the collective noun for baboons, analogous to a flock of geese, a herd of cattle, or a murder of crows. Other than that, however, Loonapick did a great job on the blog, as did Moo on the puzzle, even if it was beyond my skill level.
Thanks Moo and loonapick
A trickier than normal crossword from this setter that took a couple of sittings and just under the hour to complete. Had a major eyebrow raise at that spelling of DINGOES and was another that didn’t spot the clever parsing of GORE (which I’ve been able to see previously – actually liked balham@11’s interpretation as well). Even though the definition to it was a bit loose, the Spoonerism worked well I thought.
POTHEAD was the clear favourite.
Finished on the left hand side with EPITOME (with an original word play without the book for a change), BEDDED, that GORE and STARMER (that required the band name to be remembered as didn’t know the Corbyn replacement).