Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 22, 2022
I found this puzzle to be a good challenge and had to resort to look-up tools for a couple of clues. My favourites are 3 (GET-AT-ABLE), 15 (BLACK FRIDAY) and 22 (NOMAD). Thank you, Buccaneer.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PALSGRAVE |
Noble German friend’s resting place (9)
|
| PALS (friend’s) + GRAVE (resting place). A palsgrave is a German count palatine. | ||
| 6 | MAPLE |
Soft-hearted man’s a syrup provider (5)
|
| P (soft) in (hearted) MALE (man) | ||
| 9 | START-UP |
Company having drink either side of dessert (5-2)
|
| TART (dessert) in (either side of) SUP (drink) | ||
| 10 | FURLONG |
Perhaps fox has itch in lots of yards (7)
|
| FUR (perhaps fox) + LONG (itch). 220 yards to be exact. | ||
| 11 | ALLOT |
Grant a good deal, bagging pounds (5)
|
| A (a) + L (pounds) in (bagging) LOT (good deal) | ||
| 12 | ENTRECOTE |
Meat course stuffed with firm dates in the middle (9)
|
| CO (firm) + [da]T[es] together in ENTREE (course). An entrecote is a beefsteak cut from between the ribs. | ||
| 14 | ROT |
Go off from high point to the west (3)
|
| TOR (high point) backwards (to the west) | ||
| 15 | BLACK FRIDAY |
British want servant on island in time for intense flogging (5,6)
|
| B (British) + LACK (want) + FRIDAY (servant on island, by way of Robinson Crusoe) with a great cryptic definition | ||
| 17 | COMPETITORS |
Come to strip off in field (11)
|
| Anagram (off) of COME TO STRIP | ||
| 19 | AID |
Support domestic worker having lost face (3)
|
| [m]AID (domestic worker having lost face) | ||
| 20 | BOOKSHELF |
Place for novel caution by quiet, fantastic creature (9)
|
| BOOK (caution) + SH (be quiet) + ELF (fantastic creature)
I am not clear as to how ‘caution’ can clue BOOK. One suggestion I received is that it refers to what the referee in a football match might do with an offending player. |
||
| 22 | NOMAD |
Wanderer compos mentis in Scotland? (5)
|
| NO MAD (compos mentis in Scotland?) | ||
| 24 | UNHITCH |
Article in Le Monde, with issue for free (7)
|
| UN (article in Le Monde) + HITCH (issue) | ||
| 26 | NON-IRON |
Working in new club, not needing to be pressed (3-4)
|
| N (new) + ON (working) + IRON (club) | ||
| 27 | DODGE |
Italian dignitary once scoffing last of cold duck (5)
|
| [col]D in (scoffing) DOGE (Italian dignitary once) | ||
| 28 | PRETENDER |
Person claiming money on spurge, occasionally (9)
|
| [s]P[u]R[g]E + TENDER (money) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PASTA |
Food item not in the first section of the dictionary? (5)
|
| PAST ‘A’ (not in the first section of the dictionary?) | ||
| 2 | LEAFLET |
Flier having drunk ale felt funny (7)
|
| Anagram (drunk) of ALE + anagram (funny) of FELT | ||
| 3 | GET-AT-ABLE |
Make a reservation for dining? It’s within reach (3- 2-4)
|
| GET A TABLE (make a reservation for dining) | ||
| 4 | AMPHETAMINE |
Whizz with a speed in team moving east (11)
|
| A (a) + MPH (speed) + anagram (moving) of IN TEAM + E (east). I needed a dictionary to determine that ‘whizz’ is a slang word for amphetamine. | ||
| 5 | EFF |
Partner of blind English females (3)
|
| E (English) + FF (females) with the definition referring to the British slang expression “eff and blind” meaning to use obscene language. | ||
| 6 | MARGE |
Old charmer admits reading the better half of Homer (5)
|
| R (reading) in (admits) MAGE (old charmer) | ||
| 7 | PHOTOED |
Shot of dope prepared to keep warm (7)
|
| HOT (warm) in (to keep) anagram (prepared) of DOPE. I solved this from the wordplay and it took me a while to realize that ‘photo’ can be used as a verb. | ||
| 8 | EAGLE-EYED |
Sub-par performance I’d picked up, noticing a lot (5- 4)
|
| EAGLE (sub-par performance, as in golf) + EYED (homophone (picked up) of “I’d”) | ||
| 13 | TAKE OFFENCE |
Resent the money pocketed by a criminal trader? (4,7)
|
| TAKE (the money pocketed) + OF (by) + FENCE (a criminal trader) | ||
| 14 | ROCK-BOUND |
Swing certain to be covered by The Stones? (4-5)
|
| ROCK (swing) + BOUND (certain) | ||
| 16 | ROSINANTE |
Nag rector over wrong money put in pot (9)
|
| R (rector) + O (over) + SIN (wrong) + ANTE (money put in pot). I knew Rosinante only as the name of Don Quixote’s horse but I see now that Collins defines ‘rosinante’ as a worn-out emaciated old horse. | ||
| 18 | MOOCHED |
How one feels astride red moped (7)
|
| CHE (red) in (astride) MOOD (how one feels) | ||
| 19 | ADMIRED |
Commended a pair of daughters fencing in bog (7)
|
| A (a) + MIRE (bog) in (fencing) DD (pair of daughters) | ||
| 21 | SATIE |
French scorer gets Arsenal’s third with a draw (5)
|
| [ar]S[enal] + A (a) + TIE (draw) with a nicely appropriate cryptic definition | ||
| 23 | DONOR |
Backer of party with not a single Republican (5)
|
| DO (party) + NO (not a single) + R (Republican) | ||
| 25 | HIP |
Fried food unwrapped with it (3)
|
| [c]HIP[s] (fried food) |
Another great weekender from Buccaneer!
It was by no means a doddle and the NE held me up longest but how rewarding it was to get to the end.
The unknown Palsgrave was luckily parsable. MAPLE remained unparsed so thanks, Pete. (Naturally, it was simple in retrospect). START-UP and FURLONG were tricky.
BLACK FRIDAY, BOOKSHELF, MARGE and EFF were favourites in an admittedly super grid overall.
BOOKSHELF, for me, was definitely a footballer being booked/cautioned.
Thanks both to Buccaneer and Pete.
Thanks for the blog, puzzle that took a while but worth the effort, a few obscure to me but very fairly clued.
Agree with favourites from Diane@1 and will add NO MAD and PAST A , such nice little touches.
Billy WHIZZ was a famous comic character in the 70s , the Beano I think, hence WHIZZ became speed a common term for amphetamines.
Another good Saturday challenge from Buccaneer. Lots of favourites but I particularly liked 6d, 16d and 18d
Many thanks to Buccaneer and Pete
What crypticsue said (again).
(Pete – to be nit-picky – I think 18dn MOOCHED is MOOD (how one feels) astride (either side of) CHE.)
I enjoyed this as well. Some v. nice defs, particularly those for BLACK FRIDAY, MARGE and the long-suffering ROSINANTE and I liked the misleading football surface for SATIE.
Thanks to Buccaneer and Pete
Eileen, I have developed a habit of taking a commutative view of such things and always express both X-in-Y and Y-astride-X mechanisms as X-in-Y. I acknowledge that your way of putting MOOCHED is closer to the clue but it comes to the same in the end. If people feel strongly about this, I am willing to change my ways.
Hi Pete @6 – you’re quite right. Of course it comes to the same in the end. 😉
Thanks Buccaneer for your usual good work. Many nice clues including SATIE and HIP. I know PHOTOED is a word but it sounds a bit ignorant to me. Thanks Pete for the blog.
This was difficult. With Palsgrave setting the trend, there were too many obscure and new words for my liking. It may be my lack of experience, but I also spotted a few editing issues.
There was definitely a bunch of clues that I liked. Not mentioned above, favourites included ENTRECOTE, TAKE OFFENCE and ALLOT
Thanks Pete and Buccaneer
Quite a challenge for me with a couple of answers that needed dictionary aid – ROSINANTE & SATIE – but it was so enjoyable I felt compelled to see it through to the end.
Long list of potential favourites including BLACK FRIDAY, NOMAD, EFF & TAKE OFFENCE.
Thanks to Buccaneer for a great puzzle and to Pete for the review.
Hi Jane. Thank you for commenting.
Agree with everyone that this was a challenging but very satisfying puzzle. Black Friday and flogging I needed an explanation for and my inexplicably forgetting that ‘red’ signals ‘Che’ also left that clue unresolved. My favourite is certainly PASTA.
Many thanks, Pete, as ever, for the excellent blogging.
Thanks Buccaneer and Pete
Another Saturday puzzle completed late and posted even later. Excellent crossword that took three reasonable sittings to get through in the end with some new terms and some tricky and entertaining definitions and word play. Had to go right down to DONOR to get a start and worked my way around the bottom initially to get a foothold.
The definitions for MARGE and BLACK FRIDAY both raised a chuckle and a nod of appreciation to their cleverness.
Finished in the NE corner with ENTRECOTE (dredged up from memory somewhere), the clever MARGE and PHOTOED (where I wasn’t expecting such a verb) as the last one in.
Lots of thanks to Buccaneer and Pete — nothing to add to all the comments above.
As another nit-picker though (following in Eileen’s footsteps) I’d insist, despite Pete’s explanation @6, that 19dn ADMIRED is more accurately expressed as:
A (a) + DD (pair of daughters) framing (fencing in) MIRE (bog).
Sorry to be such a bore.