Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 23, 2022
I enjoyed this Mudd and finished it fairly quickly starting with 1a and 1d and finishing in the top-right corner. The top clue has to be 24 (CINEPHILE), a tribute to Mudd’s mentor John Graham who clued for the FT as Cinephile. My other favourites are 10 (ARGENTINE), 12 (FLUKE), 18 (TIER) and 26 (EASY-GOING).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SINGLE CREAM |
Cry about warmer dairy product (6,5)
|
| INGLE (warmer) in (about) SCREAM (cry) | ||
| 7 | BEE |
Queen say: 11 across by the sound of it? (3)
|
| Double definition with the second referring to the character ‘B’ | ||
| 9 | GARDA |
A tedious thing back in force (5)
|
| A (a) + DRAG (tedious thing) all backwards (back) with the definition referring to the Garda Síochána (the police force of Eire) | ||
| 10 | ARGENTINE |
Passage from particular gent in Ecuador, South American (9)
|
| Hidden word (passage from) | ||
| 11 | CHARACTER |
Letter or stamp? (9)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | FLUKE |
Good luck, sucker! (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 13 | TROUSER |
Lift head in triumph, one waking (7)
|
| T[riumph] + ROUSER (one waking) | ||
| 15 | EAST |
Some juncture, as turning point (4)
|
| Hidden word (some) | ||
| 18 | TIER |
Part of wedding cake for one wedding? (4)
|
| Double definition with the second presumably meaning something that creates a tie between two people | ||
| 20 | DROPOUT |
Beatnik proud to put it about (7)
|
| Anagram (to put it about) of PROUD TO | ||
| 23 | SQUAT |
Low and well-built, unlawfully occupied dwelling (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 24 | CINEPHILE |
Daubing of Chile pine for lover of pictures (9)
|
| Anagram (daubing of) CHILE PINE. John Graham took the name Cinephile as a setter for the FT specifically because it was an anagram of Chile pine, otherwise known as the Monkey Puzzle Tree. | ||
| 26 | EASY-GOING |
Relaxed hardback? Quite the opposite! (4-5)
|
| EASY (opposite of hard) GOING (opposite of back) | ||
| 27 | SUITE |
Chambers connected, lovely to hear? (5)
|
| Homophone (to hear) of “sweet” (lovely) | ||
| 28 | NIL |
Nothing in lockdown I like (3)
|
| Hidden word (in) | ||
| 29 | TOTAL RECALL |
Extraordinary ability to remember child having changed real name (5,6)
|
| TOT (child) + anagram (changed) of REAL + CALL (name) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SAGACITY |
Wisdom in place of stories? (8)
|
| SAGA CITY (place of stories) | ||
| 2 | NARRATOR |
Written up, list managed about right, one can tell (8)
|
| ROTA + R (right) in RAN (managed) all backwards (written up) | ||
| 3 | LLAMA |
Priest squashed by bottom of brutal animal (5)
|
| [bruta]L + LAMA (priest) | ||
| 4 | COASTER |
Item on which one might rest a glass vessel (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | EN GARDE |
Grenade exploding and terribly angered, let’s fight! (2,5)
|
| Double anagram — of GRENADE (exploding) and ANGERED (terribly) | ||
| 6 | MANIFESTO |
Declaration of promises, some in fact without credibility initially, broken (9)
|
| Anagram (broken) of SOME IN FA[c]T | ||
| 7 | BEIRUT |
Reported supporter of evergreen, where cedars revered (6)
|
| Homophone (reported) of BAY ROOT (supporter of evergreen) | ||
| 8 | ELEVEN |
All football players in central Mexico, capped? (6)
|
| XI (central Mexico). On solving this clue I could not see what role ‘capped’ plays. It fits well in the surface reading but seemed superfluous in the cryptic reading. One suggestion I received is that it indicates that “central Mexico” be capitalized (that is to be taken as “XI” not “xi”). One does, I think, more often see Roman numerals written in capitals letters but it is not at unusual to see them in lower-case letters. | ||
| 14 | SKINTIGHT |
Figure-hugging clothes into which siren finally squeezed, in vision (9)
|
| [sire]N in (into which) KIT (clothes) in (squeezed) SIGHT (vision) | ||
| 16 | DOMINICA |
A fish travelling to the north around small island country (8)
|
| MINI (small) in (around) A COD (a fish) backwards (travelling to the north) | ||
| 17 | ETHEREAL |
Dead upset about present, extremely delicate (8)
|
| HERE (present) in (about) LATE (dead) backwards (upset) | ||
| 19 | RECEIPT |
Ticket in wastebasket, piece ripped up (7)
|
| Reverse (up) hidden word (in) | ||
| 20 | DONEGAL |
Weary colleen in Irish county (7)
|
| DONE (weary) + GAL (colleen) | ||
| 21 | ASTERN |
Plant first of nasturtiums at the back (6)
|
| ASTER (plant) + N[asturtiums] | ||
| 22 | MUSSEL |
Seafood or beef, did you say? (6)
|
| Homophone (did you say) of “muscle” (beef) | ||
| 25 | PASSE |
Graduate and undergraduate, in the end, dated (5)
|
| PASS (graduate) + [undergraduat]E |
This was a straightforward solve for me too with many ticks, among them, BEE and the related CHARACTER for the ‘stamp’ part of the definition.
I didn’t know that a ‘Chile Pine’ was a Monkey Puzzle tree but this cinephile did enjoy that clue. SKINTIGHT, BEIRUT and ELEVEN were other picks though I also wondered about the role of ‘capped’ other than provoding a nice surface.
So thanks to Pete for this and other explanations like ‘ingle’ in 1a. I did eventually settle on an unparsed ‘single cream’ but had pencilled in ‘soured’ initially.
Thanks to Mudd as well.
Similar favourites to Diane and Pete, so I will not repeat
A few unknown terms and I do not understand the TIER clue. Thanks for explaining SAGACITY and ELEVEN
Thanks Pete and thanks Mudd
Martyn @2 a wedding cake often has three TIERs , a person marrying will wed their spouse and TIE themselves to them so they are a TIE-R.
For us Pagans this is literally true, we have a Hand-Fasting ceremony where our wrists are tied together for the vows.
Thanks for the blog, I really enjoyed this throughout , great to be reminded of Araucaria , I always thought it was such a good name for a setter and CINEPHILE a very neat twist on this.
Good idea for ELEVEN and XI being capitals, I missed this. Maybe it means they are capitals for this purpose, a sport XI is always capitalised ? I agree they are often lower case , when writing exam papers the separate parts of questions are (iii) , (ix) etc.
Roz@4
I agree that ELEVEN is brilliantly clued. It’s always XI when used in the context of a team of players just as you say. Like Pete, I found the surface attractive.
Thanks Mudd for a most entertaining crossword. I enjoyed the hidden clues — ARGENTINE, NIL, and RECEIPT and I thought they had very readable surfaces. I also ticked BEIRUT, DOMINICA, and DONEGAL as favourites. I needed a word finder for ASTERN; in retrospect it seems so obvious. Thanks Pete for the blog.
Thanks Roz @3. for the steer on TIE-R. Funnily, I was on a long, overnight flight on Wed and woke up in the middle with the solution in my head. It is interesting how answers come to you in so many unexpected ways