Weekend puzzle from the FT of November 5, 2022
I especially enjoyed 24 (OXTAIL SOUP) and 21 (MONROE). My last-in was 18 (SEASONABLE) which took me a while. For me, 15 (GANNET) is a new meaning of a vaguely familiar word.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BEWARE |
Mind in conflict, worker has admitted (6)
|
| WAR (conflict) in (has admitted) BEE (worker) | ||
| 4 | ARCHIVES |
Principal US composer’s record collections (8)
|
| ARCH (principal) + IVES (US composer) | ||
| 10 | DASHING |
Bold racing (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 11 | POTHOLE |
European banks though the responsibility of local council? (7)
|
| THO (though) in (banks) POLE (European) | ||
| 12 | NOEL |
Christmas book, middle torn out (4)
|
| NOVEL (book) with the ‘V’ (middle) removed | ||
| 13 | UP IN THE AIR |
Still to decide where pancake, say, tossed? (2,2,3,3)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 15 | GANNET |
Trencherman, figure on horse running backwards (6)
|
| TEN (figure) + NAG (horse) all backwards. For me, this is a new meaning of trencherman. | ||
| 16 | SEASIDE |
Holiday area spreading disease (7)
|
| Anagram (spreading) of DISEASE | ||
| 20 | FRITTER |
Waste food (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | MONROE |
No more playing for old player (6)
|
| Anagram (playing) of NO MORE with the definition referring to Marilyn Monroe | ||
| 24 | OXTAIL SOUP |
Paul is too upset about unknown quantity in hot food (6,4)
|
| X (unknown quantity) in (about) anagram (upset) of PAUL IS TOO. Our Mudd is known as Paul in the Guardian. | ||
| 26 | ECHO |
Sound returning ends in one classic match: bravo! (4)
|
| [on]E [classi]C [matc]H [brav]O | ||
| 28 | TOPSPIN |
Slow bowler’s skill beats leg (7)
|
| TOPS (beats) + PIN (leg) | ||
| 29 | REDCOAT |
Soldier feeding nothing to ginger tom (7)
|
| O (nothing) in (feeding…to) RED CAT (ginger tom) | ||
| 30 | RECENTLY |
Money in bank a few days ago? (8)
|
| CENT (money) in (in) RELY (bank) | ||
| 31 | SLAYER |
Killer in opening of silent film (6)
|
| S[ilent] + LAYER (film) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BADINAGE |
Joking harmful, in time (8)
|
| BAD (harmful) + IN (in) + AGE (time) | ||
| 2 | WESTERNER |
The American, for example, more like a film? (9)
|
| Double/Uxbridgean definition. “The Westerner” is a 1940 movie starring Gary Cooper. | ||
| 3 | RAID |
Uprising in India, revolting attack (4)
|
| Reverse (uprising) hidden word (in) | ||
| 5 | REPENTED |
Wild preteen, daughter showed remorse (8)
|
| Anagram (wild) of PRETEEN + D (daughter) | ||
| 6 | HIT THE SPOT |
Collection of books written after success, actor did very nicely (3,3,4)
|
| HIT (success) + THESP (actor) + OT (collection of books, i.e. Old Testament) | ||
| 7 | VIOLA |
I found in book a Shakespearean character (5)
|
| I (I) in (found in) VOL (book) + A (a). Viola is the protagonist of Twelfth Night. | ||
| 8 | SHERRY |
Drink reserved, sin opening it (6)
|
| ERR (sin) in (opening it) SHY (reserved) | ||
| 9 | EGYPT |
Country type wandering round top of garden (5)
|
| G[arden] in (round) anagram (wandering) of TYPE | ||
| 14 | FELT-TIP PEN |
Writer became aware of bonus: pound! (4-3,3)
|
| FELT (became more aware of) + TIP (bonus) + PEN (pound) | ||
| 17 | DIRECTORY |
Reference leader of Conservatives in shocking politician (9)
|
| C[onservatives] in (in) DIRE TORY (shocking politician) | ||
| 18 | SEASONAL |
Main issue with a will ultimately dependent on terms and conditions? (8)
|
| SEA (main) + SON (issue) + A (a) + [wil]L | ||
| 19 | REPORTER |
Journalist filing record in terror after revolution (8)
|
| EP (record) in (filing…in) anagram (after revolution) of TERROR | ||
| 22 | BOATER |
Sailor hat (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 23 | QUIRE |
“Who” translated on paper (5)
|
| QUI (who translated, i.e. to French) + RE (on) | ||
| 25 | TOPIC |
Subject matter in photo pictured (5)
|
| Hidden word (in) | ||
| 27 | IDOL |
Figure one: short figurine (4)
|
| I (one) + DOL[l] (short figurine) |
Thanks Pete
Two weeks ago I wrote something like “where has the Mudd we knew and loved gone?”. It appears he made a tentative return this week, with some great double definitions and funny covers. But we again had an odd mix of overly-easy and overly-difficult clues, and a couple of weak ones thrown in.
I had quite a few tick marks this week, including BEWARE, UP IN THE AIR, FRITTER, and REDCOAT (I loved ginger tom). REPENTED and EGYPT made me smile and, as I had to wear a BOATER to high school for six years, I found that nostalgic.
So lots of highs this week
On the flip side, there were a couple of clues that had two answers – MONROE could also be MORENO, and VIOLA could also be DIANA. Of course, I only know this because I wrote both wrong answers in, causing quite a delay.
I must admit I still do not understand how SEASONAL means “subject to terms and conditions”, and I share Pete’s dislike of GANNET for using an obscure word (trencherman) as a clue to a rare usage of GANNET. I thought WESTERNER was weak, and POTHOLES seems to fit the description “responsibility of the local council” better than the singular.
And, as always, a few new words for me. Did not know QUIRE, Trencherman, or BADINAGE. Although I stopped playing cricket at the age of 11, I did understand that a slow bowler uses TOPSPIN. I hope the US solvers could work that out. Anyway, always good to learn
Thanks Mudd for a puzzle that was great in parts and thanks Pete for the blog
Thanks for the blog , I thought this was a good set of clues, it did HIT THE SPOT .
Trencherman is interesting, a trencher is a large plate you sometimes get with a dinner service, so leading to the idea of eating a lot. I first saw the term reading “Three Men on the Bummel” , J describes the typical German as a good trencherman. Gannet in this sense is fairly new I think, often used to describe children when they have a growth spurt.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
7dn: I thought VIOLA was the obvious answer, although I would describe her as one of the main characters, not “the” protagonist. I cannot off the top of my head see how DIANA would fit the clue – perhaps someone can enlighten me on this.
18dn: terms as in parts of the year and weather conditions.
Thanks Mudd. This took me several sittings to complete as a “prize” crossword should. Favourites included ARCHIVES, SEASIDE (great surface), RECENTLY, SHERRY, FELT TIP PEN, and SEASONAL. I needed a word finder for POTHOLE. Thanks Pete for the blog.
[It looks like a triple treat this Saturday with Julius, Brendan in the G, and Tees (Neo) in the Indy.]
Thanks Mudd and Pete.
GANNET is a relatively common term down here, especially when talking about serial munchers at barbecues. Maybe it is more an antipodean term and I fancy it is a generational term with the older being more familiar with it than the younger.
My comment number 3 was made with an open mind in response to Martyn@1. In the absence of any reply to it, I am led to conclude that DIANA cannot be justified as an alternative answer to 7dn. If I am wrong on this, I really do want to know.
Pelham Barton @3 – re “terms and conditions”. Thanks. I did think of “relating to parts of the year” as you wrote, then dismissed it, thinking SEASONAL is different to temporal. But, I now see that it does mean temporal too.
Re Diana – similar to VIOLA but with “dan” instead of “vol”. I did wonder investigate whether an abbreviation (of book of Daniel) would work, and found it listed in Chambers. (and as it turns out, vol is an abbreviation too).
Mostly straightforward for us, although we needed wordfinder help for SEASONAl, but that then helped us with FRITTER, our LOI. As for Trencherman and GANNET, both were familiar to us. The latter brings to mind a school classmate who, when asked if he knew what a gannet was, confidently replied that it was this aircraft
Martyn@7: Thanks for the explanation of DIANA, which of course makes perfect sense. A mental block on my part.
allan_c, Thank you for bringing the Fairey Gannet to our attention.
And, it looks like GANNET is more broadly used than I originally thought. It is obviously used in the antipodes (thanks Mystogre) and my dictionary tells me it is used “in parts of UK”. And thanks too to Allan_c for Fairey Gannet. It is amazing the variety of things this blog can teach you!
2. Westerner. I feel obliged to congratulate both Mudd and Pete to the reference to the Uxbridge English Dictionary. No one else seems to have picked that up.
I must admit, I did not follow the reference to Uxbridge English Dictionary. Thanks for picking it up Malcolm+. I just ordered a copy of the book, and read up on “I’m sorry, I haven’t got a clue”, both of which are new to me. I am also looking forward to listening to a few episodes of the show online this evening. I repeat my line above, this time with feeling: it is amazing the variety of things this blog can teach you!