Weekend puzzle from the FT of October 22, 2022
My first-in was 1d (WICK) which dictated 1a (WORDSWORTH) and I filled most of the upper-left corner very quickly. Some clues proved more difficult, such as 14 (DRAWING PIN). My favourites are 3d (SWEDE), 17a (ROULADE), 21a (HOTSPUR) and 21d (HALOGEN).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | WORDSWORTH |
Argument has value for poet (10)
|
| WORDS (argument) + WORTH (value) | ||
| 6 | HOES |
Tools in pipe, we hear? (4)
|
| Homophone (we hear) of “hose” (pipe) | ||
| 10 | CASTE |
Class where man ignores learner (5)
|
| CAST[l]E (with ‘man’ referring to chess) | ||
| 11 | EPICENTRE |
Pretence I created, focal point of disaster? (9)
|
| Anagram (created) of PRETENCE I | ||
| 12 | UNDERDOG |
Probable loser grounded when misbehaving (8)
|
| Anagram (when misbehaving) of GROUNDED | ||
| 13 | DUCAT |
Channel screening a historical piece (5)
|
| A (a) in (screening) DUCT (channel) | ||
| 15 | ROTATED |
Around name associated with art, spindle spun (7)
|
| TATE (name associated with art) in (around) ROD (spindle) | ||
| 17 | ROULADE |
Young man scoffed by wolf, meaty dish (7)
|
| LAD (young man) in (scoffed by) ROUE (wolf) | ||
| 19 | WASSAIL |
Complain about dope in drinking spree (7)
|
| ASS (dope) in (about) WAIL (complain) | ||
| 21 | HOTSPUR |
Knight boiling egg (7)
|
| HOT (boiling) + SPUR (egg) | ||
| 22 | NOTCH |
Score a duck, only four of those bagging century (5)
|
| C (century) in (bagging) NOTH[ing] (a duck, only four of those). Does ‘those’ really work here? | ||
| 24 | TALENTED |
Skilful attaching yarn to awful dent (8)
|
| TALE (yarn) + anagram (awful) of DENT | ||
| 27 | PERISHING |
Cold and wretched (9)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 28 | BEECH |
Wood where driftwood washes up, by the sound of it? (5)
|
| Homophone (by the sound of it) of “beach” (where driftwood washes up) | ||
| 29 | NINE |
Number in question in Europe (4)
|
| Hidden word (in) | ||
| 30 | REINVENTED |
Restraint expressed, made up again (10)
|
| REIN (restraint) + VENTED (expressed) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | WICK |
Burner in Scottish town (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 2 | RESONATES |
Feature arising in property tax stirs particular memories (9)
|
| NOSE (feature) backwards (arising) in (in) RATES (property tax) | ||
| 3 | SWEDE |
For example, Nobel Prizes we despise, to some extent (5)
|
| Hidden word (to some extent) | ||
| 4 | OVERDID |
Burnt, old composer scalded on the bottom (7)
|
| O (old) + VERDI (composer) + [scalde]D | ||
| 5 | TRIGGER |
Trip by ship south of Tongan capital (7)
|
| T[ongan] + RIGGER (ship) | ||
| 7 | OPTIC |
Device measuring tot, or possibly teenager, is crooked initially (5)
|
| O[r] P[ossibly] T[eenager] I[s] C[rooked] | ||
| 8 | SWEETHEART |
E lover (10)
|
| Reverse clue (‘e’ being the heart of SWEET) | ||
| 9 | HEADBUTT |
Act of aggression by leader on stooge (8)
|
| HEAD (leader) + BUTT (stooge) | ||
| 14 | DRAWING PIN |
Get into scrape with member, fixer (7,3)
|
| WIN (get) in (into) DRAG (scrape) + PIN (member)
I am inclined to rate this a poor clue, for several reasons. First, in a puzzle supposedly tailored for an international audience, the answer is a tricky one for Americans who call drawing pins “push pins”. Second, while “scrape” and “drag” are very close, I cannot come up with a case where they could be used interchangeably. Third, while I think “fixer” does work as a definition, it is a loose one, perhaps a bit too loose for a clue that has these other deficiencies. |
||
| 16 | TEA CHEST |
Case where every individual involved in trial (3,5)
|
| EACH (every individual) in (involved in) TEST (trial) | ||
| 18 | AT PRESENT |
Missing line, street plan not right, currently (2,7)
|
| Anagram (not right) of STREET P[l]AN | ||
| 20 | LATRINE |
Pit, I learnt, revolting (7)
|
| Anagram (revolting) of I LEARNT | ||
| 21 | HALOGEN |
I, for one, ring facts (7)
|
| HALO (ring) + GEN (facts) with the ‘I’ in the definition standing for Iodine. When I came to this clue I had crossers H_L___N and I wondered if the answer could be HALPERN. Sure fits with “I, for one”! | ||
| 23 | TURIN |
European city: go off round one (5)
|
| I (one) in (round) TURN (go off) | ||
| 25 | NOBLE |
Superior on Bomb Alley oddly going AWOL (5)
|
| [o]N [b]O[m]B [a]L[l]E[y] | ||
| 26 | SHED |
Abandoned outbuilding (4)
|
| Double definition |
Thanks Pete and Mudd. Agree with you on 14d. Had a huge ? against it.
Thanks Pete,
I found this quite difficult in parts, and there are a number of clues here that I just did not enjoy. I had the same notes as you on NOTCH and DRAWING PIN, I feel WASSAIL is archaic and needs some indicator, I would have expected some sort of indication that E Lover is a reverse clue, and “I for one” is very very loose for HALOGEN as well (I can imagine a whole load of compounds contain Iodine, and I doubt the make up of HALOGEN is sufficiently well-known to make this a fair clue). And, to top it off, ROULADE is not a ‘meaty dish’. The defining feature of a ROULADE is that something is rolled – and that could be meat or it could be a cake.
I did like some clues – I had never heard of an OPTIC, but I thought the clue was cleverly misleading, I share Pete’s like of SWEDE, and have a tick mark next to DUCAT as well.
I hope we see the return of the witty Mudd we know and love soon
In the meantime, thanks for the great blog Pete, and thanks for the crossword Mudd
Thanks Mudd. I found this crossword a curious combination of write-in’s and impenetrable clues. I never got 6a, 27a or 14d. I did like WORDSWORTH, LATRINE, and HALOGEN but overall I found this weekend puzzle unsatisfying. Thanks Pete for the blog.
Thanks for the blog, I did not realise DRAWING PIN was UK usage , I thought of draw/scrape your nails along the blackboard.
Martyn@2 I must defend HALOGEN, the term only refers to the five elements in group 7 ( 17 now ) , I am always suspicious when I see “i” at the start , AT ( astatine ) also used sometimes.
I have given up on expecting the correct usage of EPICENTRE , it has become general usage and no doubt the dictionaries will follow.
WASSAIL is a pagan tradition for the apple crop, recently it has been revived along with Christmas carols.
On a driving holiday, I’ve had little chance to indulge my FT cryptic habit of late but I did have a go at this puzzle since it was a weekender from Mudd.
I enjoyed the puzzle but I struggled with a few clues already mentioned, particularly 21a as without ‘on’, I didn’t see ‘egg’ as ‘spur’.
I agree with Martyn’s comment on ROULADE though it was straight forward enough.
I didn’t make things easy for myself by fancying CINQ for 29a (C=100, number, + in + q(uestion)) with the definition being ‘number in Europe’.
Think I liked SWEETHEART, WICK and WORDSWORTH best.
Thanks to Mudd and Pete.
Diane@5 your CINQ is far more inspired than the actual answer, enjoy your holiday, good to see you back in the blogs.
I (an American) call drawing pins thumbtacks, but the UK term is familiar enough, and I was able to parse the clue because I am also familiar with Mudd’s sensibilities, i.e. “pins” for “legs.” Fair clue. I got NOTCH, but could make no sense of the clue, even knowing that “duck” usually means “zero.” I would rate that clue as a dud. Thanks for the explanation.
Thanks ROZ and DIANE for the new information.
I had no idea what Roz @4 meant by “5 elements in group 17”, and as someone who has not touched the study of science since high school, I did not even know that group 17 exists, never mind that it is called “the Halogens”. So thanks for that. I still do not like the clue, though. Not only does it demand too much specialist knowledge to solve the “I for one” cryptic clue, but it is not easy to parse given it uses the word GEN for facts – a word I have only come across once before (in another crossword).
I agree with Diane @5 that ROULADE was easy enough to parse. ROUE is a pretty flowery and literary term, but it should be well enough known. My problem was I parsed it before I got any of the crossers, but then did not write it in because it could not have been the answer.
Interesting to hear that WASSAILing is back amongst the apple pickers of the UK. I only wish the local papers where I live had picked that story up.
Thanks to you both for the interesting tit bits of information. Always appreciated
We’ve not commented on Saturday FT puzzles before as the 12-day wait for the blog meant we’d lost interest by the time it appeared, but with it only being a week now a bit of rearrangement means we’re saving the puzzle for a week so we can read the blog the day we solve the puzzle.
We found this an enjoyable puzzle, though a bit tricky in places. We have to admit that DRAWING PIN was a guess but gradually confirmed as we got the crossing entries; we didn’t look too closely into the parsing but we don’t have any problems with it. And thanks, Roz@4, for defending HALOGEN; there are several other chemical symbols which crop up in clues, such as He (helium) to clue ‘gas’ although we sometimes have to kick ourselves for not spotting them.
We liked EPICENTRE (our first one in), HOTSPUR, NOTCH and the aforesaid HALOGEN.
Thanks, Mudd and Pete
Martyn @8 I still think of it as group 7 , chlorine is the most famous member , but the modern designation is group 17. GEN is a typical crossword term , I have seen it a lot in the past but perhaps not so common now.
Allan@9 AS will crop up now and then as a deceptive element, I will say no more.
Martyn@8 I forgot about wassailers , yes originally for orchards and now making a bit of a comeback there, but now the term has been adopted for people going round singing Christmas carols.
[Roz @10: The NY Times runs a cryptic every six weeks. There was a clue this weekend you can easily solve: “As nice as Dotty bearing right (7).”]
Thanks for the blog Pete.
Funny how these things happen – there have been two OPTICs in the last week.
Great Muddy fun and the only reason I knew WASSAIL was from meeting it in another crossword puzzle.
[Tony@12. great spot , exactly what I meant. Watch out for AT. ]
Thank you Roz @4!
Late thanks Pete as I only got round to this today and was relieved to see 14d as I could only parse the pin and only the C of 22a (agree with your quibble). I really wanted 15a to be MUTATED but that would break the capitalisation rule I suppose ( not to mention inventing a new spindle called an Ed. As others have said, a wide range of difficulty which I always find harder than a pure toughie for some reason but happy to have given battle, thanks Mudd.