Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 27, 2022
My first-in was 1a (AMERICAN) and I quickly completed the top-left. After that it was harder-going and I ended up with a bit of a struggle to finish the bottom left. My favourites are 2 (EXPOSITIONS), 19 (CORSAIRS) and 29 (WET NURSE).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | AMERICAN |
Statesperson, a king maybe touring Morecambe? (8)
|
| A (a) + ERIC (Morecambe?) in (touring) MAN (a king maybe)
Non-Brits may have had trouble with this clue since Eric Morecambe is probably little known outside the UK. He was one half of the comedy duo Morecambe and Wise who were active for decades and very successful in the 1970s. |
||
| 5 | ABSEIL |
Drop down, with six-pack and pork pie knocked back (6)
|
| ABS (six-pack) + LIE (pork pie, in rhyming slang) backwards (knocked back) | ||
| 10 | POPCORN |
Sweet food and drink, saccharine stuff (7)
|
| POP (drink) + CORN (saccharine stuff) | ||
| 11 | EXIGENT |
One boring old man is demanding (7)
|
| I (one) in (boring) EX (old) + GENT (man) | ||
| 12 | NASTINESS |
Northern Cape admitting wine’s awful quality (9)
|
| N (northern) + ASTI (wine) + NESS (cape) | ||
| 13 | PIQUE |
Card game finishing early generates resentment (5)
|
| PIQUE[t] (card game finishing early). Piquet is a card game for two players using a reduced pack of 32 cards. | ||
| 15 | SATIE |
French scorer succeeded, heading for away game (5)
|
| S (succeeded) + A[way] + TIE (game) | ||
| 16 | FORGIVEN |
Pardoned governor, hiding gold, if corrupt (8)
|
| Anagram (corrupt) of GOVERN[or] IF | ||
| 19 | CORSAIRS |
People like Buccaneer and my special posturing (8)
|
| COR (my) + S (special) + AIRS (posturing) | ||
| 20 | THEME |
Almost a place to see opera motif (5)
|
| THE ME[t] (almost a place to see opera) | ||
| 21 | SUSHI |
Aboard vessel briefly, 1 across’s fare from Asia (5)
|
| US (1 across) in (aboard) SHI[p] (vesse briefly) | ||
| 23 | PLATITUDE |
Introduction of press freedom is a common idea (9)
|
| P[ress] + LATITUDE (freedom) | ||
| 25 | VILLEIN |
Bondsman’s home town in France to the west (7)
|
| VILLE (town in France) + IN (home). In medieval times, a villein was a peasant personally bound to his lord, to whom he paid dues and services. | ||
| 27 | SKIPPER |
Small fish or big fish at sea? (7)
|
| S (small) + KIPPER (fish) | ||
| 28 | NOODLE |
New dog without lead is to play casually (6)
|
| N (new) + [p]OODLE (dog without lead) | ||
| 29 | WET NURSE |
Supplier of milk turns out small bottles (3,5)
|
| Anagram (out) of TURNS in (bottles) WEE (small) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ALPINIST |
Climber, quietly popular, welcomed by celebs (8)
|
| P (quietly) + IN (popular) together in (welcomed by) A LIST (celebs) | ||
| 2 | EXPOSITIONS |
Displays something the Kama Sutra shows, heading to the back (11)
|
| SEX POSITION (something the Kama Sutra shows) with the ‘S’ moved to the end (heading to the back) | ||
| 3 | IDOLISERS |
Soldier’s excited about current lovers (9)
|
| I (current) in (about) anagram (excited) of SOLDIERS | ||
| 4 | ANNIE |
29s stripped off in Tony- winning show (5)
|
| [n]ANNIE[s] (29s, i.e. wet nurses, stripped off) | ||
| 6 | BLIMP |
Reactionary British devoid of strength (5)
|
| B (British) + LIMP (devoid of strength) | ||
| 7 | EWE |
English setters one’s seen on a farm (3)
|
| E (English) + WE (setters) | ||
| 8 | LATHE |
Device used for shaping large articles (5)
|
| L (large) + A THE (articles) | ||
| 9 | DESSERTS |
Fools maybe feeling pressure after uprising (8)
|
| STRESSED (feeling pressure) backwards (after uprising) | ||
| 14 | QUEUE-JUMPER |
Impatient sort prompt, we hear, to be on top (5-6)
|
| QUEUE (homophone of “cue”) + JUMPER (top) | ||
| 16 | FLIPPANT |
Get angry with short underwear showing some cheek (8)
|
| FLIP (get angry) + PANT[s] | ||
| 17 | INTUITION |
Instinctive feeling during training (9)
|
| IN (during) + TUITION (training) | ||
| 18 | REHEARSE |
Run through score vacuously? Try again at first (8)
|
| RE-HEAR (try again) + S[cor]E | ||
| 21 | SEVEN |
Figure in river that’s out of river (5)
|
| SEVE[r]N (river that’s out of river) | ||
| 22 | IDEAL |
The 12th plan is perfect (5)
|
| IDEA (plan) + L (the 12th, i.e. the twelfth letter of the alphabet) | ||
| 24 | AISLE |
Man, perhaps, next to area in part of church (5)
|
| A (area) + ISLE (Man, perhaps) | ||
| 26 | LOO |
Brief appearance for convenience (3)
|
| LOO[k] (brief appearance) |
Needed several short sessions to complete this. PIQUE and then QUEUE-JUMPER got the ball rolling on the second pass and EXPOSITIONS helped over the home straight.
IDOLISERS was my last as I was slow to equate it with ‘lovers’ until all the crossers appeared and for once, I remembered SATIE.
I thought 9d was a nice way of cluing an oldie though my favourites were FLIPPANT, WET NURSE and ANNIE.
Thanks to Buccaneer for the entertainment and to Pete for the super explanations, in particular WET NURSE as I didn’t consider ‘wee’ for small (which often catches me out) but thought ‘milk provider’ (ewe) was doing double duty.
Thanks Pete and thanks Buccaneer
I enjoyed many of these clues. Buccaneer is more serious than Mudd, our other regular weekend setter, but a sparkling sense of humour does creep in now and then, several examples being found in this puzzle. I shared favourites with Pete and Diane this week. Adding to the list, I thought EWE and LATHE were clever, and LOO was elegant. (OK, perhaps it was my inner child that liked both EXPOSITIONS and LOO).
I did not grow up in UK, but I do know (and loved) Morecambe and Wise, and I was delighted to see the reference. I have not seen it for so long – I wonder if it held up over the course of time?
This may be my ignorance as a relative newbie (can I still say that?). I am noticing Buccaneer uses a lot of shortened-word clues, but fails to tell us how much shorter the word is. For example, 4d is NANNIES stripped, but is it by one letter or by two? I have been away for a few weeks and the crossword I was doing there was full of these vague shortenings. It only seems fair to tell us how many letters to take off. I would be delighted to hear if there is a pattern I am missing – comments please!
Anyway, thanks again to Buccaneer and thanks to Pete for continuing to succeed in the very difficult task of explaining difficult clues simply
Morecambe and Wise reruns were shown on American PBS stations back in the 70s or 80s. I liked their “old pro” ad lib/vaudeville style.
This was not easy. I could not parse 22D, even though I have seen a similar construction many times, so thanks for the explanation. I wanted it to be I + DEAL, but I could not figure out how the letter “I” was “12th,” (because it wasn’t, duh).
Martyn@2
When something is stripped, the first and the last letter are removed (covers/clothes removed). Nannies will become Annie after stripping.
Thanks for the blog, all I can do is agree with everyone.
Pete you only need a single SEX POSITION from the Kama Sutra or double S ends up at the end.
Yikes! I got the explanation of EXPOSITIONS wrong. Thank you, Roz. I have now fixed it.
Thanks Buccaneer for another great crossword. My top picks were EXIGENT, NOODLE, DESSERTS, REHEARSE, SEVEN, and FLIPPANT, the latter for its humourous surface. I needed a word finder for ABSEIL and VILLEIN and I couldn’t parse SATIE or IDEAL. Thanks Pete for the blog.