Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 30, 2022
Buccaneer gives us a themed puzzle this time…and a theme that I like a lot, movie stars. This theme is not announced but the clue for 11 across makes it fairly clear that there is a theme. After solving 4 (WILDER) and 26 (MONROE) early on, I guessed that the theme was probably Some Like It Hot. However, after solving just a couple more, the correct theme became very clear and I was able to enter 11 (MOVIE STARS). Here is the grid with the themed entries coloured:
So, the movie stars in question are:
1 Tom Cruise, 4 Gene Wilder, 5 Jeremy Irons, 8 Morgan Freeman, 9 Ryan Gosling, 10 Burt Lancaster, 12 Christian Bale, 16 Alec Guinness, 19 Ben Stiller, 20 James Dean, 21 either Emma or Sharon Stone, 24 Peter Sellers, 25 either Kathleen or Lana Turner and 26 Marilyn Monroe.
Thank you, Buccaneer, for the 13dn.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CRUISE |
By the sound of it, teams seek partners (6)
|
| Homophone (by the sound of it) of “crews” (teams) | ||
| 4 | WILDER |
Comparatively feral fox hasn’t gutted bovine (6)
|
| [be]WILDER (fox hasn’t gutted bovine) | ||
| 8 | FREEMAN |
Lover keeps touching me the wrong way, one refusing bondage (7)
|
| RE (touching) + ME (me) backwards (the wrong way) together in FAN (lover) | ||
| 9 | GOSLING |
Young flier’s attempt with basic weapon (7)
|
| GO (attempt) + SLING (basic weapon) | ||
| 11 | MOVIE STARS |
Medic contends with sailors or fourteen answers here (5,5)
|
| MO (medic, i.e. Medical Officer) + VIES (contends) + TARS (sailors) | ||
| 12 | BALE |
Introduction of berry drink making a bundle for farmer (4)
|
| B[erry] + ALE (drink) | ||
| 13 | AZERI |
Turkic person drawn into kamikaze risk-taking (5)
|
| Hidden word (drawn into) | ||
| 14 | CAMPSITE |
Kitschy spectacle reported in tourist location (8)
|
| CAMP (kitschy) + SITE (homophone of “sight”) | ||
| 16 | GUINNESS |
Surmise, around hostelry, this may be consumed? (8)
|
| INN (hostelry) in (around) GUESS (surmise) | ||
| 18 | DOSED |
Terribly odd to swallow small tablet administered as drugs may be (5)
|
| S (small) + E (tablet) in (to swallow) anagram (terribly) of ODD | ||
| 20 | DEAN |
Clergyman or cleric wanting company (4)
|
| DEA[co]N (cleric wanting company) | ||
| 21 | STERILISED |
Cleaned horse holding article – it’s regularly taken (10)
|
| [a]R[t]I[c]L[e] I[t]S in (holding) STEED (horse) | ||
| 23 | PENSION |
After pound, child pockets current payment (7)
|
| PEN (pound) + I (current) in (pockets) SON (child) | ||
| 24 | SELLERS |
Retailers in wine stores speaking out (7)
|
| Homophone (speaking out) of CELLARS (wine stores) | ||
| 25 | TURNER |
Artist’s performance on making a comeback (6)
|
| TURN (performance) + RE (on) backwards (making a comeback) | ||
| 26 | MONROE |
President has caviar, say, on a work day (6)
|
| MON[day] (work day) + ROE (caviar, say) with the definition referring to US president James Monroe. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CURIO |
Oddity of dog on the moon? (5)
|
| CUR (dog) + IO (moon [of Jupiter]) | ||
| 2 | UTERINE |
Waste product covers empty tube of an organ (7)
|
| T[ub]E in (covers) URINE (waste product) | ||
| 3 | STARSHINE |
Gaze taking in quiet home’s heavenly light (9)
|
| SH (quiet) + IN (home) together in STARE (gaze) | ||
| 5 | IRONS |
Decreases items used after a drive (5)
|
| Double definition with the second referring to golf | ||
| 6 | DELIBES |
Shop with lots of cream for Frenchman working in bars (7)
|
| DELI (shop) + BES[t] (lots of cream) with a cryptic definition referring to the composer of operas | ||
| 7 | RINGLETED |
Fancy net and girdle with curls (9)
|
| Anagram (fancy) of NET GIRDLE | ||
| 10 | LANCASTER |
Ancestral ground in royal house (9)
|
| Anagram (ground) of ANCESTRAL | ||
| 13 | AMUSEMENT |
Attending houses think people fun (9)
|
| MUSE (think) + MEN (people) together in (houses) AT (attending) | ||
| 15 | MADRILENO |
Bug found in bananas, with number for Spaniard (9)
|
| MAD (bananas) + RILE (bug) + NO (number) | ||
| 17 | NON-USER |
Avoider of drugs perhaps damaged neurons (3-4)
|
| Anagram (damaged) of NEURONS | ||
| 19 | STILLER |
Ploughman’s after starter of soup is less sparkling (7)
|
| S[oup] + TILLER (ploughman) | ||
| 21 | STONE |
The first way? It may be precious (5)
|
| ST[reet]-ONE (the first way?) | ||
| 22 | EERIE |
Unsettling bird’s home, so we hear (5)
|
| Homophone (so we hear) of “eyrie” (bird’s home) |
Thanks for the blog and the grid looks great. This is sometimes called a nuclear theme , with one clue 11Ac referencing the others which are then clued normally. I did actually know all the actors, most were older fortunately, it was LANA Turner for me.
I did not know the word TURKIC so I was glad it was a hidden answer.
MADRILENO was my favourite for the bug.
Good fun to spot the names indicated by 11a, even if I couldn’t put a face to them all. For instance the STILLER that I thought of was Jerry, who played George’s father in “Seinfeld”, who isn’t really a big MOVIE STAR. Thanks for explaining the term “nuclear theme”, Roz@1, which I hadn’t come across before as a description of this sort of puzzle with one clue “giving the game away”.
My favourite of the thematic clues was the surface for WILDER.
BTW, sorry to be picky but just a couple of small typos. I think the date should be July 30th, not July 29th and 21a should be STERILISED, with an S not a Z.
Thanks to Pete and Buccaneer
I agree with Roz that MADRILENO was neat. I really enjoy this sort of theme. Indeed, since I’m a keen cinema-goer, I’d say that I liked the filmstar topic more than any individual clue, not that they weren’t also exemplary.
I had to check the Turkic group online (good thing it was a hidden word) but failed ultimately on Delibes for which I merely guessed Delibas.
Pete has the correct parsing for ‘sterilised’ in his blog so I assume the sneaky ‘z’ was autocorrect up to its usual tricks.
Thanks to Buccaneer for this dose of cinephilia and to Pete for the blog.
Thank you Roz and WordPlodder. I have corrected the two mistakes (STERILISED and July 30) and added Lana Turner.
Was stumped with 6, 14 and 15 and didn’t finish the puzzle. In hindsight should have got 14. The other two are words I had not heard before
Thanks Buccaneer for the Saturday entertainment. I liked all the clues and I knew all the actors. Thanks Pete for the blog.