Bobcat is the setter in today's FT.
I found this one quite chewy, but got there in the end. It felt like I was solving four separate crosswords, because after my first pass of the clues, only the SW corner was close to being complete. Once I had solved that corner, I moved to the NW corner, where JUDGESHIP provided enough crossers for me to finish that segment, and I continued to solve anti-clockwise until I was done. I'm not entirely sure of my parsing for 3dn, but otherwise I hope I've done Bobcat justice with the rest.
Thanks, Bobcat.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MAMBO |
Revolutionary leader introduces doctor to dance (5)
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(Chairman) MAO ("revolutionary leader") introduces MB (Bachelor of Medicine, so "doctor") |
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| 4 | IMITATIVE |
Copycat musical makes a comeback after author’s appeal (9)
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<=EVITA ("musical", making a comeback) after I'M ("author's") + IT (sex "appeal") |
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| 9 | JUDGESHIP |
Book cool position in court (9)
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JUDGES ("book" of the Bible) + HIP ("cool") |
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| 10 | TWANG |
Pluck exhibited by women in Dynasty (5)
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W (women) in TANG (Dynasty) |
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| 11 | REMODEL |
Change more ornate key (7)
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*(more) [anag:ornate] + DEL (delete "key" on a computer keyboard) |
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| 12 | INSIDER |
One of us picked up drink from pub (7)
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Homophone [picked up] of INN CIDER ("drink from pub") |
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| 13 | OODLES |
Lots of dogs heading off (6)
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[heading off] (p)OODLES ("dogs") |
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| 15 | DECEMBER |
Weeks of decline in retirement not entirely retaining honour (8)
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<=RECED(e) ("decline", [not entirely] in retirement) retaining MBE (Member of the British Empire, so "honour") |
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| 18 | ONE-SIDED |
Unlike a coin to be biased (3-5)
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Double definition |
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| 20 | SPEECH |
Address of No 1 boarding school (6)
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PEE ("no 1") boarding Sch. (school) A No 1 is a pee in British slang. I won't explain what a No 2 is at this time of the morning. |
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| 23 | THERETO |
Not the same cycling around outskirts of Everest towards a specified place (7)
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(o)THER-O ("not the same", cycling) around [outskirts of] E(veres)T |
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| 24 | NAPHTHA |
New path surprisingly leads to heavy artillery compound (7)
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N (new) + *(path) [anag:surprisingly] + [leads to] H(eavy) A(rtillery) |
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| 26 | TROTH |
Faith originally held by communist (5)
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[originally] H(eld) by TROT ("communist") |
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| 27 | ELEVENSES |
Break team’s opponents in game (9)
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ELEVEN'S ("team's") + E+S (east and south, "opponents" in bridge) |
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| 28 | MELTWATER |
Matter in the main well liquefied? (9)
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*(matter wel) [anag:liquefied] where WEL is WEL(l) [in the main] and &lit. Chambers has MELT-WATER hyphenated. |
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| 29 | SMELL |
Change of heart makes little sense (5)
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SM(a)LL ("little") with a [change of heart] becomes SM(E)LL |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MAJOR-DOMO |
Official is second to support party led by PM (5-4)
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MO ("second") to support DO ("party") led by (John) MAJOR ("PM") |
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| 2 | MODEM |
Signal translator exposed casual worker tracking Government department (5)
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[exposed] (t)EM(p) ("casual worker") tracking MOD (Ministry of Defence, so "Government department") |
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| 3 | OVERDUE |
Finished composition before time? No! (7)
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OVER ("finished") + DUE(t) ("composition" before T (time)) and semi &lit. |
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| 4 | INHALE |
Headline-cropping Ed. up to snuff (6)
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*(healin) [anag:up] where HEALIN is HEA(d)LIN(e) cropping ED |
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| 5 | IMPAIRED |
Spoilt devil having top quality wine (8)
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IMP ("devil") having A1 ("top quality") + RED ("wine") |
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| 6 | ARTISTE |
Performer in Dire Straits trimmed programme’s finale (7)
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*(strait) [anag:dire] + (programm)E ['s finale] where STRAIT is STRAIT(s) trimmed |
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| 7 | INAUDIBLE |
Berlin not right to be upset about car that’s too quiet (9)
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*(belin) [anag:to be upset] about AUDI ("car") where BELIN is BE(r)LIN [not right] (i.e. without the R] |
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| 8 | EAGER |
Longing to do good in role of saint in festival (5)
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G (good) in role of ST (saint) in EA(st)ER ("festival") becomes EA(G)ER |
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| 14 | DIESEL OIL |
For Germans, the earth is charged by the Spanish for fuel (6,3)
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DIE ("for Germans. the") + SOIL ("earth") is charged by EL ("the" in "Spanish") |
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| 16 | REHEARSAL |
Trial run without judges is bona fide (9)
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REAL ("bona fide") without (i.e. outside) HEARS ("judges") |
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| 17 | DEPONENT |
I provide evidence of depression obscuring recollection of denial (8)
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DENT ("depression") obscuring [recollection of] <=NOPE ("denial") |
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| 19 | ICE SHOW |
Reserve last of tickets (by whatever means) for Frozen? (3,4)
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ICE ("reserve") + [last of] (ticket)S + HOW ("by whatever means") |
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| 21 | POPPERS |
Studs used to make connections by spiking drinks (7)
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PER ("by") spiking POPS ("drinks") |
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| 22 | IN GEAR |
Segment of burrowing earthworm’s working effectively (2,4)
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[segment of] "burrowING EARthworm" |
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| 23 | TOTEM |
Symbol of note embodied by cat (5)
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TE (musical "note") embodied by TOM ("cat") |
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| 25 | TASTE |
Style hint (5)
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Double definition |
I too found this chewy, not helped by lazily writing in ICE COLD for 19d and jumping the gun with a nina which wasn’t quite as I’d anticipated. I did get there in the end with some guesswork and liked the double Nina as it eventually emerged after some corrections.
Liked 8a,10a and 24a best.
Thanks to Bobcat for the workout and Loonapick for making sense of it all.
I took ages to finish this off, having real problems with THERETO, ELEVENSES, DEPONENT, POPPERS (never heard of) and even the simple looking TASTE in the lower half of the grid. I was very happy to finally finish and have to own up that the non-feline Nina helped with a few of these recalcitrant ones at the end.
I agree with your parsing of 3d and was able to parse the rest, including a few uncommon words. Favourite was the (what would qualify for me as an) &lit MELTWATER.
Thanks to Bobcat and loonapick
I agree with your parsing of 3D, Loonapick. Just a couple of small suggestions. In 1A, I think “to” is perhaps not acting as a link word, but is instead forming part of the definition, as MAMBO has a verbal meaning as well as a nounal one. In 4D I think it has to be the first E in “headline” that is to be chopped, because if it were the second then what would be removed would be a rearrangement of the letters as they appear in “Ed”.
Just a small quibble with 26A: doesn’t “troth” mean “promise”. I cannot find a source that matches it with “faith”.
I hadn’t really heard of “poppers” apart from them being drugs – they are mentioned in some books that I read: I have no personal experience with them!
Ditto for “meltwater”: but I solved it with the cross letters and an Internet search to confirm. We don’t have that much snow here in Australia.
I think, Peter, that you can use ‘by my faith’ or ‘by my faith’ interchangeably in a Shakespearean sort of way.
Sorry, I meant ‘by my troth’/’by my faith’.
In support of what Diane says, Chambers has “troth” = faith, fidelity. The Oxford Dictionary of English agrees. Although MELTWATER is hyphenated in Chambers, it doesn’t appear to be in other dictionaries.
Thanks Bobcat and Loonapick. For once I saw the Nina early enough to help me with the solving. Look at the middle row and column of the grid.
Fair to middling!
Some of these clues, while within cryptic conventions, struck me as very strained, and I struggled with this one a lot, eventually just banging in answers without worrying about the parsing. Not much fun in that. I knew from past Bobcats to look for ninas, so fortuitously guessing at those helped. Thanks for the clarifications. I am not sure I would have ever parsed EAGER, INHALE, MODEM, or OVERDUE.
Thanks for the blog, I like this style of clues, MELTWATER was a very neat &Lit, hyphens always tend to die out and Azed ignores them.
POPPERS are widely used on baby clothes, vests and sleepsuits etc. Very easy to undo and refasten in the middle of the night.
Failed badly and didn’t enjoy.
Thanks for the explaining