Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 2, 2022
This puzzle was one that seemed a bit impenetrable at first but nevertheless opened up in due course. My first in was 13 (INTRO) and I did well by solving 3 (COLORADO SPRINGS) early on.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MEDICATE |
Male editor in charge consumed drug (8)
|
| M (make) + ED (editor) + IC (in charge) + ATE (consumed) | ||
| 5 | USES UP |
Drains American energy drink (4,2)
|
| US (American) + E (energy) + SUP (drink) | ||
| 10 | DOWEL |
Fastener’s shine diminished (5)
|
| DO WEL[l] (shine diminished) | ||
| 11 | PROFUSION |
Master bonding to gain wealth (9)
|
| PRO (master) + FUSION (bonding) | ||
| 12 | EXPURGATE |
Urge tape to be broadcast, circumventing cross censor (9)
|
| X (cross) in (circumventing) anagram (to be broadcast) of URGE TAPE | ||
| 13 | INTRO |
Part of song Mint Royale sampled (5)
|
| Hidden word (sampled). I note that INTROS appeared in the FT’s previous crossword by Bradman. I am a bit surprised that the editor apparently did not notice.
Wikipedia tells me that “Mint Royale is the alias of electronic music producer Neil Claxton and, until 2004, a duo consisting of himself and Chris Baker, originating from Manchester, England.” |
||
| 14 | HARDLY |
Barely fifty brave guards (6)
|
| L (fifty) in (guards) HARDY (brave) | ||
| 15 | SWAGMAN |
Somehow discontented meeting an itinerant in Oz (7)
|
| S[omeho]W + AGM (meeting, i.e. Annual General …) + AN (an) | ||
| 18 | RESISTS |
Checks son’s entered into further exams (7)
|
| S (son) in (‘s entered into) RESITS (further exams) | ||
| 20 | CHANCE |
Regularly snacked on tea break (6)
|
| CHA (tea) + [s]N[a]C[k]E[d] | ||
| 22 | CEDAR |
Half of sled used in vehicle made of wood (5)
|
| [sl]ED in (used in) CAR (vehicle) | ||
| 24 | REMITTING |
Relaxing occasion recalled by leader of tourists in group (9)
|
| TIME (occasion) backwards (recalled) + T[ourists] together in (in) RING (group) | ||
| 25 | LUMINANCE |
Brightness displayed by uncle, man travelling around India (9)
|
| I (india) in (around) anagram (travelling) of UNCLE MAN | ||
| 26 | ELITE |
European metric measure not right choice (5)
|
| E (European) + LIT[r]E (metric measure not right) | ||
| 27 | DRYISH |
Sort of husky really emptied feeding bowl (6)
|
| R[eall]Y in (feeding) DISH (bowl). I find that the use of ‘husky’ to mean DRY is supported by Roget’s Thesaurus but I cannot find a context for it. | ||
| 28 | RESTATED |
Again told fact collected by grass (8)
|
| STAT (fact) in (collected by) REED (grass) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MADDEN |
Anger from tot overwhelmed by people (6)
|
| ADD (tot) in (overwhelmed by) MEN (people) | ||
| 2 | DOWNPLAYS |
Devalues sad works of drama (9)
|
| DOWN (sad) + PLAYS (works of drama) | ||
| 3 | COLORADO SPRINGS |
Officer and soldiers – a party emerges somewhere in America (8,7)
|
| COL (officer) + OR (soldiers, i.e. other ranks) + A (a) + DO (party) + SPRINGS (emerges). Colorado Springs is a very pleasant place, south of Denver, that I paid several visits to in the 1990s. | ||
| 4 | TOPIARY |
Premium log with opening cut out is garden decoration (7)
|
| TOP (premium) + [d]IARY (log with opening cut out) | ||
| 6 | STUDIO APARTMENT |
Residence undergraduate keeps privately in Isle of Man (6,9)
|
| APART (privately) in (in) IOM (Isle of Man) in (keeps) STUDENT (undergraduate) | ||
| 7 | STILT |
Bird coming from southern bank (5)
|
| S (southern) + TILT (bank) | ||
| 8 | PINPOINT |
Precisely locate leg and hip trapped by vessel (8)
|
| PIN (leg) + IN (hip) in (trapped by) POT (vessel) | ||
| 9 | HOVERS |
Remains suspended from hospital on account of last of errors (6)
|
| H (hospital) + OVER (on account of) + [error]S | ||
| 16 | MACHINIST |
Eccentric this manic is engineer (9)
|
| Anagram (eccentric) of THIS MANIC | ||
| 17 | CRACKLED |
Following joke, the French daughter snapped (8)
|
| CRACK (joke) + LE (the French) + D (daughter) | ||
| 19 | SHRINK |
With Human Resources involved, decline contract (6)
|
| HR (Human Resources) in (with…involved) SINK (decline) | ||
| 20 | COMPETE |
Challenge done with learner absent (7)
|
| COMP[l]ETE (done with learner absent) | ||
| 21 | AGREED |
Matched silver on base with diamonds (6)
|
| AG (silver) + RE (on) + E (base) + D (diamonds)
If you wonder how ‘base’ clues ‘E’, it stems from the base of natural logarithms being denoted by ‘e’ in mathematics. I find it a stretch but it is a well established one in cryptics. It seems to me, however, that if ‘base’ can be used to clue E then it should also be usable to clue TEN (the base of the most commonly used logarithms, that is decimal logarithms) and TWO (the base of binary logarithms as used in computing) but I do recall ever seeing either of these actually used. |
||
| 23 | DUMMY |
Something used to pacify the young model (5)
|
| Double definition with the first contrasting with the American usage “pacifier”. |
My experience was similar to Pete’s in that I snagged COLORADO SPRINGS first of all but it didn’t exactly open the floodgates. I did get there in the end after a few sessions with AGREED holding out longest.
I thought of a ‘husky’ (dry) voice. I was interested to see your explanations for Mint Royale and the base E. SWAGMAN was a favourite but I also needed the blog for the AGM, which I often forget.
I also liked STILT and TOPIARY.
Thanks for a proper challenge, Artexlen, and to Pete.
I only do the crossword on the weekend, so it is nice to have a change of setter to add variety. I started off with a bang, getting 1a, 1d and 5 in short order. Pete accurately described how I felt after that – at first the remaining clues seemed impenetrable but they gradually opened up
I believe DOWEL was my last one in – I really had no idea a DOWEL is used as a fastener (is that really the same as a joiner?), and I could not see the reduction clue. Carpentry is not my thing. I also learned RESITS. I cannot remember what we called them at Uni, but it was not that. And thank Pete for explaining why base is E.
No stand-out favourites for me this week. In agreement with Pete and Diane, I give thanks to Artexlen for the challenge. I also send thanks to Pete for yet another great explanation
Thanks for the blog, I really enjoyed this , a lot of intricate clues.
Chambers does give HUSKY=DRY in the sense of corn husks but also gives Diane’s version which I much prefer.
I take your point on BASE = e , any integer can be a base for counting , 16 is widely used. Any number can be a base for logarithms, 10 as you say is common.
However e is the NATURAL base and leads to many wonderful things , such as Euler’s equation – e^(i pi ) + 1 = 0 containing the seven most important symbols in one short line.
Thanks Artexlen, this was just right for a Saturday crossword. My top choices were ELITE, TOPIARY, STUDIO APARTMENT, PINPOINT, and COMPETE. I needed a word fit to solve SWAGMAN, a new word for me. Thanks Pete for the blog.