Weekend puzzle from the FT of November 12, 2022
It was a nice surprise to find a puzzle from Julius this weekend, a setter we usually see only on special occasions. Ah, but maybe this exactly is a special occasion by virtue of its number, 17,250. And a fine puzzle it proved to be with an unannounced theme, cocktails. It includes two words that were new to me 10a (AUTOSOMAL) and 4d (REAUMUR). I also found 18 (BEER) and 16 (MINT MARK) tough. My favourite clues are 2 (RAIN GODS), 15 (NEAT) and 20d (BENDERS).
The cocktails are 1a (SCREWDRIVER), 4 (REAUMUR), 5 (VATICAN), 6 (RUSTY NAIL), 7a and 9 (GIN SLING), 7d (GIMLET), 13 (SIDECAR), 14d (CHESS CLUB), 16 (MINT-MARK), 17 (PIANO KEY), 20a (BELLINI), 21d (ZOMBIE), 24 (MANHATTAN), 26a ([old] BATTLE-AXE) and 29 (BRASS MONKEY). Several of these I did not know of before. Have I missed any? Or do I have this wrong? Maybe the theme is drinks and drinking in general in which case we can add 3d (WAGON), 12 (YIELD), 15a (NEAT), 18 (BEER), 19 (RUM [baba]), 20d (BENDERS) and 27 (DRANK) If I have these correct then only 9 clues out of 32 are unrelated to the theme — which might be a record?
Congratulations and thanks to Julius.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SCREWDRIVER |
Small ship’s company beginning to rescue frogman submerged in the drink (11)
|
| S (small) + CREW (ship’s company) + R[escue] in (submerged in) DIVER (frogman) | ||
| 7 | GIN |
Trap Joe Newton (3)
|
| GI (Joe) + N (newton, as a unit of force) | ||
| 9 | SLING |
Throw student in half-built NY prison? (5)
|
| L (student) in (in) SING [sing] (half-built NY prison) | ||
| 10 | AUTOSOMAL |
Car very masculine; advanced, large…basically not sexy (9)
|
| AUTO (car) + SO (very) + M[asculine] A[dvanced] L[arge]. Any gene that is not a sex gene is termed autosomal. I had to look this one up. | ||
| 11 | ERGONOMIC |
Oregon made Mike in charge of efficient design (9)
|
| Anagram (made) or OREGON + M (mike) + IC (in charge) | ||
| 12 | YIELD |
Yard lied about surrender (5)
|
| Y (yard) + anagram (about) of LIED | ||
| 13 | SIDECAR |
Vicious retro competition in which one should wear a helmet (7)
|
| SID (vicious) + RACE (competition) backwards (retro) | ||
| 15 | NEAT |
Mixers not included in order (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 18 | BEER |
On the mend, having drained dry ale (4)
|
| BE[tt]ER (on the mend having drained dry, i.e. teetotal). I originally parsed the wordplay incorrectly and thank commenters for setting me straight. | ||
| 20 | BELLINI |
Endlessly ringing Italy’s premier painter (7)
|
| BELLIN[g] + I[taly] | ||
| 23 | OKAYS |
Agrees to feed returning cows/ yak/oxen (5)
|
| Reverse (returning) hidden word (to feed) | ||
| 24 | MANHATTAN |
Mum, new titfer, brown, is somewhere in NY (9)
|
| MA (mum) + N (new) + HAT (titfer) + TAN (brown). ‘Titfer’ is rhyming slang for hat (“tit for tat”) | ||
| 26 | BATTLE-AXE |
British former PM grappling with a cross, fearsome woman (6-3)
|
| B (British) + AX (a cross) in (grappling with) ATTLEE (former PM) | ||
| 27 | DRANK |
David ran kilometres outside, took on water (5)
|
| Hidden word (outside). Originally I failed to get the wordplay and still find it hard to see how ‘outside’ works. | ||
| 28 | EAR |
Stripped pine organ (3)
|
| [y]EAR[n] (stripped pine) | ||
| 29 | BRASS MONKEY |
So my banker’s bust – his vital assets are frozen (5,6)
|
| Anagram (bust) of SO MY BANKERS | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SUSPENSE |
Hitchcock’s speciality – unique speciality – constrained by taste? (8)
|
| U (unique) + SP (speciality) in (constrained by) SENSE (taste) | ||
| 2 | RAIN GODS |
Deities untangling Gordian knots finally? (4,4)
|
| Anagram (untangling) of GORDIAN + [knot]S | ||
| 3 | WAGON |
Came first, having overtaken silver car (5)
|
| AG (silver) in (having overtaken) WON (came first) | ||
| 4 | REAUMUR |
River water in Paris turns up odd reading on the scale (7)
|
| R (river) + EAU (water in Paris) + RUM (odd) backwards (turns up). The answer refers to a measurement on the Réaumur scale of temperature. | ||
| 5 | VATICAN |
Small state tax put on one container (7)
|
| VAT (tax) + I (one) + CAN (container) | ||
| 6 | RUSTY NAIL |
Turin lays in ruins – one is shaken (5,4)
|
| Anagram (in ruins) of TURIN LAYS | ||
| 7 | GIMLET |
Monsieur wearing sleeveless jacket, which can be a bore (6)
|
| M (monsieur) in (wearing) GILET (sleeveless jacket) | ||
| 8 | NO LADY |
Dylan composition about old fishwife? (2,4)
|
| O (old) in anagram (composition) of DYLAN | ||
| 14 | CHESS CLUB |
Society which hosts frequent board meetings? (5,4)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 16 | MINT MARK |
What could be extra strong German currency, and what might be stamped on it? (4,4)
|
| MINT (what could be extra strong) + MARK (German currency) | ||
| 17 | PIANO KEY |
Yep, Nokia mobile tone is generated by pressing this (5,3)
|
| Anagram (mobile) of YEP NOKIA | ||
| 19 | RUM BABA |
Sweet ballerina drained following dance (3,4)
|
| RUMBA (dance) + B[allerin]A | ||
| 20 | BENDERS |
Wim dumps wife for bachelor parties with loads of booze (7)
|
| WENDERS (Wim) with the ‘W’ (wife) replaced by ‘B’ (bachelor) | ||
| 21 | ZOMBIE |
IBM set up invested in upcoming electronic Australian automaton (6)
|
| IBM (IBM) backwards (set up) in E (electronic) OZ (Australian) backwards (upcoming) | ||
| 22 | BANTER |
Ten misbehaving in pub? It’s just badinage (6)
|
| Anagram (misbehaving) of TEN in (in) BAR (pub) | ||
| 25 | AUDIO |
Ace studio with way out sound (5)
|
| A (ace) + [st]UDIO (studio with way out) |
Pete just about said it all. I too enjoyed it, I agree with his favourites, and I had question marks against the same things.
To Pete’s list of favourites, I add SIDE CAR.
And, displaying my ignorance, there were lots of new words again. I am hoping our resident scientist Roz can explain the REAUMUR scale, and even how to make the cocktail if she feels so inclined. Tifler, RUM BABA, gilet and AUTOSOMAL are all new to me. And I had no idea who Wim Wenders is (and, to add insult to injury, it took me far too long to realise the clue was ‘wim’ and not ‘whim’). And Julius did what I complained about last week – used an obscure word (gilet) for an obscure answer (GIMLET). I think everyone knows the drink, but I cannot imagine many know it is a boring tool too. But this is a trifle amongst a great set of clues.
I hope others add to the list of drinks. I trust that someone, somewhere has not created a cocktail named the VATICAN at least.
Thanks Julius for an enjoyable outing. I can only imagine how much time a themed crossword like this must take to compile. And thanks to Pete for the great explanation.
Oh, how did that happen? I meant to write I hope someone has created a cocktail named VATICAN, but a stray and unwanted “not” found its way in there somehow. Apologies for the mistake!
Thanks Julius for a beverage-filled, entertaining crossword. I’m very familiar with the names of cocktails and that helped with solving a number of clues. I ticked SCREWDRIVER, SIDECAR, NEAT, BEER, VATICAN, and NO LADY as favourites. Thanks Pete for the detailed blog.
[Martyn: Wim Wenders was part of the New German Cinema (1962 – 1982) and he directed one of my all-time favourite films, Wings of Desire.]
Thanks for a great blog and sterling effort on the cocktails , I only know the very famous cocktails but the clues were very clear for the obscure ones. A really super puzzle.
DRANK is actually a hidden word D RAN K , hence the outside. Thanks for the BEE explanation , I was puzzled and it is now a brilliant clue. Great to see SID vicious.
Wim Wenders also did Paris Texas with a haunting score by Ry Cooder.
Martyn @1 the REAUMUR scale was for early thermometers with the boiling point of water at 80R for some reason, there are quite a lot of obscure temperature scales. I have seen it in early thermodynamics papers . We now seem to only have three scales left and Fahrenheit is starting to die out.
No idea about the cocktail , never heard of it, in fact I do not know what is in any cocktails , even the famous ones.
I can only marvel at the level of consistency Julius displays is setting such entertaining grids. The theme made light but enjoyable work of this puzzle. Really liked piecing together answers such as SCREWDRIVER and, luckily, I could parse the two with which I was unfamiliar: REAUMUR AUTOSOMAL.
Like Tony and Roz, I liked the reference to Wim Wenders and enjoyed the scores of both Wings of Desire (U2 and Nick Cave feature) and Paris Texas.
Cheers to Julius for the fun and Pete for the blog.
Oh, and I did like that “half-built” prison (sing).
Thanks Julius and Pete
18ac: I read this as BETTER (on the mend) less (having drained) TT (teetotal = dry).
Another very enjoyable puzzle from Julius.
There were more cocktails here than I had heard of and all cleverly clued. Quite a feat to include so many, as Pete says.
I still don’t get the explanation of BEER. I had it as BE[tt]ER (on the mend) minus (having drained) tt (dry).
I think the second definition of NEAT is ‘in order’.
I won’t list all my favourites – there are too many and others have mentioned them anyway.
Many thanks to Julius for the fun and Pete for a great blog.
Oh dear, I took to long to type my comment and missed Pelham Barton’s, which wasn’t there when I started – my sincere apologies
‘Too long’, of course.
What Eileen said, including her explanation of BEER – variations of this clue have been around quite a lot in the last few weeks
Thanks to Julius for another fun treat and to Pete for the blog
I could have said more about Wim Wenders. To me he seems almost like an old friend — I know his voice well from his documentaries. But I do realize that not everyone would know of him. “Wings of Desire” is high on my list of great movies too.
Thank you all for the comments and especially for the corrections to 18 and 27.
Thanks for the blog Pete and thanks to those who commented. I was a bit surprised to see the post this morning; has the blogging schedule for FT Saturday puzzles changed?
Best wishes to all, Rob/Julius
Hello, Roz. Thanks for your comments. I know I’m thick but I still don’t understand D RAN K. Does D somehow mean David – and how are kilometres “outside”?
Sorry Brian I will try and explain a bit better.
DaviDRANKilometres, this phrase is outside (contains) the word DRANK.
Pete I still prefer your beer even if it is wrong , On the mend may be used in the future in connection to sowing .
Julius@15, the FT now prints the answers one week later so makes sense for the blog.
I forgot to say earlier how much I enjoyed BRASS MONKEY.
I discovered “I’m Sorry I haven’t a Clue” after last week’s blog. It looks like I will be watching “Wings of Desire” this week. Thanks all for the tip.
@Martyn, Pete etc…
I’m also a fan of Wenders’ film Wings of Desire which is called Der Himmel über Berlin in the original German. I live in south-west Germany and am indeed a German citizen nowadays as a result of Brexit (residential pragmatism). Before my occasional visits to Berlin, I make a point of watching Funeral in Berlin (1966) followed by Wenders’ film (1987) as useful background to show how dramatically the city has changed in my lifetime.
Roz. Thank you – I am thick! Arguably, it’s the inside of the phrase that represents “took on water” but I’ll live with that.
Well, we twigged the theme early on, but over half the themed entries went over our heads as we’re not into cocktails – but we did know SCREWDRIVER, GIMLET and SIDECAR, plus a few others. AUTOSOMAL was new to us, but easily worked out from the wordplay (and confirmed in the dictionary. BENDERS was one of our last ones in once we vaguely remembered hearing of Wim Wenders.
Most enjoyable – thanks, Julius and Pete M.