Neo is today's FT setter.
This was a fairly straightforward Neo puzzle, with some clever misdirections and a variety of clue types. A little general knowledge is required, although nothing taxing (WC Fields and Ernie Wise, e.g.). The only parsing issue I had was whether or not TORTELLINI was an &lit. clue. I decided against it in the end, but on reflection, think it probably is. Interested in other people's thoughts.
Thanks, Neo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CORNUCOPIA |
I’m amazed: Greek character put to work in agency and mine (10)
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COR ("I'm amazed") + NU ("Greek character") + op. (opus, so "work") in CIA (Central Intelligence "Agency") |
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| 7 | ACRE |
Exist without cold water in farm unit (4)
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ARE ("exist") without C (as seen on a "cold water" tap) |
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| 9 | LAMB |
Innocent monkey’s first secured in place for experimentation (4)
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M(onkey) ['s first] secured in LAB ("place for experimentation") |
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| 10 | CHROMOSOME |
Genetic structure doctor thus covered in shiny coat (10)
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MO (medical officer, so "doctor") + SO ("thus") covered in CHROME ("shiny coat") |
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| 11 | EGRESS |
Going out for example on ship (6)
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e.g. (for example) + RE ("on") + SS (steam "ship") |
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| 12 | ELDORADO |
English lord stirring trouble in fabulous location (8)
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E (English) + *(lord) [anag:stirring] + ADO ("trouble") |
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| 13 | HAUSFRAU |
Husband a broken cheat leaving daughter and wife abroad (8)
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H (husband) + A + U/S (unserviceable, so "broken") + FRAU(d) ("cheat" with D (daughter) leaving) |
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| 15 | ERNE |
Wise perhaps to avoid one bird of prey (4)
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ERN(i)E ("Wise, perhaps" avoiding I (one)) |
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| 17 | BLOC |
Alliance formed when bar not closed (4)
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BLOC(k) ("bar", not closed) |
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| 19 | LIGATURE |
Guitar lost in extremely large band (8)
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*(guitar) [anag:lost] in [extremely] L(arg)E |
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| 22 | POLITICO |
Westminster denizen’s game up: one jerk imprisoned (8)
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POLO ("game up" i.e on horseback) with I (one) + TIC ("jerk") imprisoned |
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| 23 | AUGUST |
Australia’s Air Force: impressive (6)
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.au (internet code for "Australia") + GUST ("air force") |
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| 25 | TORTELLINI |
Something of golden colour in little shaped cases? (10)
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*(or in little) [anag:shaped] where OR is "something of golden colour" |
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| 26 | RAIN |
Said to be in power shower (4)
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Homophone [said] of REIGN ("to be in power") |
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| 27 | STUN |
Take time in fine weather to bowl over (4)
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T (time) in SUN ("fine weather") |
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| 28 | SAN ANTONIO |
Idiot’s returned to new satellite city (3,7)
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<=NANA'S ("idiot's" returned) + TO + N (new) + IO ("satellite") Io is the third largest moon of Jupiter. |
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| DOWN | ||
| 2 | OTALGIA |
Problem with ears and homesickness poles apart? (7)
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(n)O(s)TALGIA ("homesickness" apart from N & S (north and south, so "poles")) |
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| 3 | NOBLE |
Head seen on pound, English coin (5)
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NOB ("head") seen on L (pound, pre-decimalisation) + E (English) |
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| 4 | COCKSURE |
Bird with crow certain to be arrogant (8)
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COCK ("bird with crow") + SURE ("certain") |
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| 5 | PERPETUAL MOTION |
It’s always going up: more potential for development (9,6)
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*(up more potential) [anag:for development] |
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| 6 | ARMADA |
Spanish force maiden into a drama school (6)
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M (maiden, in cricket) into A + RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, so "drama school") |
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| 7 | ABSORBENT |
Porous breastbone all but shattered (9)
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*(breastbon) [anag:shattered] where BREASTBON is [all but] BREASTBON(e) |
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| 8 | RAMADAN |
Fast 6’s taken right up north (7)
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(R)A(r)MADA ("6" with R (right) up) + N (north) The 6 in the clue refers to the solution to 6dn. |
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| 14 | SACRISTAN |
Sexton in constant danger almost snatched by Devil (9)
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C (constant) + RIS(k) ("danger", almost) snatched by SATAN ("devil") |
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| 16 | AGRARIAN |
Rural river feeds into Niagara explosively (8)
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R (river) feeds into *(niagara) [anag:explosively] |
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| 18 | LOOKOUT |
Appearance in public produces concern (7)
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LOOK ("appearance") + OUT ("in public") |
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| 20 | ROSSINI |
Composer admits small error to French king (7)
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S (small) + SIN ("error") admitted to ROI ("French" for "king") |
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| 21 | FIELDS |
Scene at first shocking in WC (6)
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FIELD ("scene") + [at first] S(hocking) The definition WC refers to the comic actor WC Fields. |
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| 24 | GARBO |
Actor once filling sugar bowls and cigar boxes (5)
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Hidden in [filling] "suGAR BOwls" and "ciGAR BOxes" |
14D was new to me and only solved after cheating with an internet search engine.
Shouldn’t 12A be 2,6?
Nice to see that someone still remembers Morecambe and Wise.
I was too late to post to yesterday’s FT so I shall re-iterate my concern that “rapper” has nothing to do with music. “Rap music” should never be read without “is not” between “rap” and “music”.
Peter @1 – Chambers has both El Dorado and Eldorado
Peter @ 1 Not only is your comment about rap music unsustainable, I think there is implicit racism in your statement.
Thanks Neo and Loonapick
25ac: I took this as a complete (or possibly near complete) “& lit” clue. Every word can be taken as relevant to the definition, and my parsing of the wordplay was as follows
Something of golden colour OR – perhaps a bit of licence to include “something” here;
in little shaped = TTELLINI
cases – the inclusion indicator.
Agree with Simon S
No problems with this
I was poleaxed by tortellini,
so a dnf. Otherwise enjoyable and engaging.
[BTW I don’t think Peter@1’s comments re rap music necessarily imply any racism. Just a narrow-minded view of musical genres. My father felt the same way about avant garde classical music]
I’m probably not going to get away with that one as full &lit, as OR in that sense means ‘of the metal gold’ (adj Collins) or (as it were) ‘a gold colour’ (noun Chambers). So the ‘something’ is a bit of a spare one at this particular wedding. Close but no cigar: an ‘extended definition’.
Tx to commenters and to loona for a nice blog.
An enjoyable lunchtime solve
Thanks to Neo and loonapick
Thanks Neo for a satisfying crossword. My FOI was PERPETUAL MOTION and that helped unlock the grid. I couldn’t parse CORNUCOPIA or TORTELLINI but the crosses made them obvious. I never got FIELDS because I was stuck on WC being a toilet. (I’ve done too many Paul/Mudd crosswords.) I had many favourites including LAMB (apt surface), EGRESS, ELDORADO, ERNE, and GARBO. Thanks loonapick for the blog.
Thanks for the blog good variety and precision for the clues. The capital W nicely hidden for ERN(i)E .
I agree with Pelham Barton@4 , OR is not part of the anagram or it is very indirect , so cases is part of the word play .
That was the intention.
[ Simon@3, your accusation of racism on the part of Peter@1 is unsustainable. Rap’s closest antecedent as an art form is the beat poetry of the fifties, which was the domain primarily of white males. There is a reasonable argument that neither form is music, and that argument has nothing to do with race.
In the interest of civil discourse, perhaps we should have more cogent evidence before we accuse someone of being a racist. ]
Simon, how can my opinion of rap not being music be racialist – the correct term? Marshall Mathers (Eminem) performs “rap” (with a silent “c”) and he is white. Not all people who perform “rap” have to be black just as those who don’t believe that “rap” is music have a problem with black people. I just believe that music should be melodic and structured.
Thanks to Sourdough and especially Cellomaniac for your support against Simon’s knee-jerk reaction to an innocent opinion. I am sorry that my comment caused someone with a narrow mind or perhaps a hidden agenda to lower the tone of this forum.
A DNF for me because there two words I have never heard before – Otalgia and Hausfrau – and I also missed tortellini and fields (easy)
Hmmm
Some of the clueing was fantastic, with great misdirections, but overall I am left with a sense of dissatisfaction because of the misses.
I agree with Moly @14.
There were some cracking clues here but also some shite. “Game up” = polo was shite, Sacristan is not synonymous with sexton, and I’m amazed that nobody has mentioned Neo breaking the unwritten golden rule of never making an anagram out of a synonym within a clue which he did with OR in 25 across.
Barbara @15: If you look at my parsing of 25ac in comment 4, supported by Roz@10, you may wish to withdraw your objection to that clue.
I should like to add to comment 16, now I am back home and can check my copy of Chambers 2014 (C).
22ac: “game” would be a sufficient definition for POLO, and “on horseback” is one of the definitions for up in C, so I can see no reasonable grounds for objection to “game up”.
25ac: I should have noted that Roz@10 clarified my parsing, rather than merely supporting it, and explicitly mentioned the issue of the indirect anagram. Neo@11 confirmed that this was the intention, so there is no breach of the unwritten golden rule.
14dn: the last definition in C for sacristan is “a sexton”, and the etymology for sexton is “[sacristan]”.
Is or isn’t it music / racist – can you save all that for twatter please and leave us to the crosswords here. Thanks.