Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of April 2, 2022
A fine and challenging puzzle from Alberich capped by the brilliant &Lit. at 4 (MOONLIGHT). My other favourites are 9 (VIRAGO), 13 (RAGTAG) and 26 (VERNAL).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ACADEMIC |
A third of social media broadcast, roughly, is irrelevant (8)
|
| A (a) + [so]C[ial] + anagram (broadcast) of MEDIA + C (roughly, as in circa) | ||
| 6 | SASHAY |
Pack, we’re told, for excursion (6)
|
| Homophone (we’re told) of “sachet” (pack) | ||
| 9 | VIRAGO |
Sign to receive article – Amazon requires that (6)
|
| A (article) in (to receive) VIRGO (sign). A virago is a strong, man-like woman or amazon. | ||
| 10 | PASTORAL |
Rustic is tense before examination (8)
|
| PAST (tense) + ORAL (examination) | ||
| 11 | CANNELLONI |
Pasta container ordered online holds litre (10)
|
| CAN (container) + L (litre) in (holds) anagram (ordered) of ONLINE | ||
| 12 | CLEF |
Character on staff wants opening curtailed (4)
|
| CLEF[t] (opening curtailed) | ||
| 13 | RAGTAG |
Scrap children’s game that’s disorderly (6)
|
| RAG (scrap) + TAG (children’s game) | ||
| 15 | SUBLEASE |
Let one’s rented property sales be somehow blocked by university (8)
|
| U (university) in (blocked by) anagram (somehow) of SALES BE | ||
| 18 | REBUTTAL |
Afterwards, reflected about objection proving wrong (8)
|
| BUT (objection) in (about) LATER (afterwards) backwards (reflected) | ||
| 20 | ENGAGE |
English noble on vacation acquires joke book (6)
|
| E (English) + GAG (joke) in (acquires) N[obl]E | ||
| 21 | WHIP |
Whack, primarily, with it? (4)
|
| W[hack] + HIP (with it) | ||
| 23 | CLOTHES-PEG |
To help extremely clueless criminal, say, one keeps briefs on the line? (7-3)
|
| Anagram (criminal) off TO HELP C[lueles]S + EG (say) | ||
| 25 | ANATHEMA |
American interrupts song with a curse (8)
|
| A (American) in (interrupts) ANTHEM (song) + A (a) | ||
| 26 | VERNAL |
Mercenary’s bored by opening of Rite of Spring (6)
|
| R[ite] in (bored by) VENAL (mercenary) | ||
| 27 | CANDLE |
It’s wicked to snog with no appearances of love! (6)
|
| CAN[oo]DLE (to snog with no appearances of love) | ||
| 28 | DINETTES |
Right away, recollected trendiest places to eat (8)
|
| Anagram (recollected) of T[r]ENDIEST | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | CHINAWARE |
Companion informed nurses in Denby? (9)
|
| CH (companion — as in companion of honour) + IN (in) + AWARE (informed). Denby refers to the Denby Pottery Company situated in and named after the village of Denby in Derbyshire that relies on china clay found in the area. | ||
| 3 | DRAIN |
Daughter takes shower pump off (5)
|
| D (daughter) + RAIN (shower) | ||
| 4 | MOONLIGHT |
Low source of luminescence in the dark? (9)
|
| MOO (low) + L[uminescence] in (in) NIGHT (the dark) | ||
| 5 | COPIOUS |
Bobby promises to pay, being generous (7)
|
| COP (bobby) + IOUS (promises to pay) | ||
| 6 | SUSHI |
Mum entertains us with one Asian dish (5)
|
| US (us) in (entertains) SH (mum) + I (one) | ||
| 7 | SCOTCH EGG |
Quash urge for snack (6,3)
|
| SCOTCH (quash) + EGG (urge) | ||
| 8 | ADAGE |
Saw commercial over time (5)
|
| AD (commercial) + AGE (time) | ||
| 14 | TRUMPETED |
Quietly muttered about? On the contrary! (9)
|
| Anagram (about) of P (quietly) MUTTERED | ||
| 16 | BEETHOVEN |
Buzzer goes on hot stove after short time, he noted (9)
|
| BEE (buzzer) + T (short time) + H (hot) + OVEN (stove) | ||
| 17 | SEGREGATE |
Gets eager to break group apart (9)
|
| Anagram (to break) of GETS EAGER | ||
| 19 | LEOTARD |
Bernstein, perhaps, having little time for new garment (7)
|
| LEONARD (Bernstein perhaps) with the ‘N’ (new) replaced by ‘T’ (little time) | ||
| 22 | HENNA |
Dye wife of Will 7 knocked up? (5)
|
| ANNE H[athaway] backwards (up) | ||
| 23 | CRETE |
Island contributing to secret enterprise (5)
|
| Hidden word (contributing to) | ||
| 24 | SPRAT |
Barney catches river fish (5)
|
| R (river) in (catches) SPAT (barney) |
I agree with our blogger that this was super puzzle, clever and amusing in equal measure.
To Pete’s favourites, I’ll add CANDLE (for its wordplay and sly def), HENNA, SASHAY, TRUMPETED and CLOTHES PEG.
There were a few, like SASHAY and VIRAGO, where the definitions were not the most obvious but the crossers helped with those.
Having some Denby at home made 1d my FOI but I did need Pete’s reminder of CH in the parsing.
Thanks both to him and to Alberich.
Thanks for a great blog and as usual I totally agree with the summary.
A couple of minor typos ? 22 D Will S seems to be Will 7 . 19D I had LEOTARD as the answer, seems to work better??
Agree with Diane @1 for many favourites from a great range of clues, has to be MOONLIGHT overall, just seen a spectacular moonset while swimming, they are very underrated.
Hard to remember all the details from 12 days ago but worth doing, amongst other good clues, for MOONLIGHT which went straight into my “Best crossword clues” file.
I think I also put in LEOTARD at 19d as per Roz @2. I read it as ‘little time’ (T) instead of ‘new’ (N) with ‘garment’ as the def.
Thanks to Alberich and Pete
Thanks Alberich and Pete
Excellent puzzle which took the best part of an hour across two sittings on Monday to get out. Lots of interesting tricks used throughout and the new learning of Denby CHINAWARE to add to the knowledge base. In agreement with Roz and Wordplodder in regards to LEOTARD.
Favourites were the two &lit clues – MOONLIGHT and WHIP. Also liked my last one in HENNA – took ages to see what was going on – I think that the original clue had ‘wife of Will 7’ but re-looking at the online version it has been amended to ‘wife of Will S’ which then makes the parsing of ANNE H work properly.
Like Roz and others, I pondered LEOTARD/LEONARD for a while. I’ve misplaced my copy so I’m not sure which I wrote but I’m still debating it now.
And you’re right about the moon, Roz. I used to watch the moon rise like a blood orange from a reservoir I overlooked and then turn silver as it climbed – always an event.
Sorry folks, I realize that I did indeed get 19dn backwards. And I think I have made the same mistake before. Anyway, I have put it right now. Thanks for pointing it out.
Thanks Alberich for your usual excellent work. I had LEONARD but LEOTARD really makes more sense. MOONLIGHT is a stellar clue and I also liked WHIP, ANATHEMA, VERNAL, and ADAGE. I missed CANDLE, not thinking of canoodle, couldn’t parse CHINAWARE, and I still don’t know why the #7 was in the clue for HENNA. Thanks Pete for the blog.
There has been some discussion, both here and off line, about how 22dn (HENNA) works. I originally took “7 knocked” to mean that we must remove 7 letters from HATHAWAY but brucew, in comment 4, has given us the answer.: The ‘7’ should have been an ‘S’.
Thanks Pete, next time I have a question I’ll read all the posts instead of just skimming through them.
Rather late today – but had to add my praise for this super puzzle. I’m in total agreement with Pete and with Diane @1.
22dn was a puzzlement until the online correction. I really enjoy this kind of clue and was reminded of one of my favourites (in my little book of classics):
‘Friend of Caesar, J? The opposite (7)’
I’ve just managed to find it in the archive and wasn’t surprised to see that it was from Klingsor, Alberich’s Indy alter ego.
Many thanks to him, as ever, for the fun and to Pete for a great blog
Thanks Alberich and Pete
2dn: Perhaps others have taken this by implication, but I think it is worth making more explicit the parsing as IN in CH+AWARE, with the inclusion indicated by “nurses”.
22dn: I took the 7 as referring to the letter in the square marked 7, which I thought was rather neat. Was the amendment to “Will S” in the online version actually approved by Alberich or the FT crossword editor?
Pelham, Thanks for commenting. I read 2dn just as you did with “nurses” being the inclusion indicator. Somehow I failed to make that clear when writing the blog.
PB, the clue I submitted for 22 contained “Will S” and neither I nor the FT editor can explain why the S appeared as a 7. At my request the correction was made to the online version the day after publication.
After so much discussion I can only add I enjoyed it, and found it challenging in parts. My favourite, which does not appear to have been mentioned was ENGAGE
Thanks Pete and Alberich
Thanks to Alberich for the definitive answer , all along I thought it was just a typo, actually a very good clue in the proper form.
Thanks Alberich @13. It looks as though I was completely wrong. We will presumably never know who made the change and why they did it. It appears to be just a coincidence that the fact the square numbered 7 contains the letter S.
Agree that this was a very witty and satisfying puzzle: my favourites were ‘candle’ and also ‘sashay’ because I can’t resist a groanworthy pun.