Weekend puzzle from the FT of December 24, 2022
Our first course this Christmas is a regular 15×15 crossword from Julius. My favourite clue is the brilliant 1a (MILQUETOAST) that gives a nod to one of the finest comedy characters of all time. I also applaud 2d (LIMERICK), 6d (TEA BREAKS), 15a (SPAM) and 26a (TREE HOUSE). Thank you, Julius!
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MILQUETOAST |
A timid bloke Manuel at first, forgetting contents of immortal line of his “cheers”? (11)
|
| M[anuel] + I[mmorta]L + QUE (line of his) + TOAST (cheers) making reference to Manuel of Fawlty Towers whose most common utterance was a bewildered “Que?”. What a fine use of ‘immortal line’. | ||
| 7 | JAM |
Press session which doesn’t stick to the script? (3)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 9 | LIMIT |
Illuminated motorway breaks restriction (5)
|
| MI (motorway) in (breaks) LIT (illuminated) | ||
| 10 | MARMALADE |
Spoil mother and son beginning to enjoy preserve (9)
|
| MAR (spoil) + MA (mother) + LAD (son) + E[njoy] | ||
| 11 | MARGARINE |
Elite soldier eating a right good spread (9)
|
| A (a) + R (right) + G (good) all in (eating) MARINE (elite soldier) | ||
| 12 | RENAL |
Serious pain – finally accepted it’s from the kidneys (5)
|
| [pai]N in (accepted) REAL (serious) | ||
| 13 | INCUBUS |
Heard standing in line in front of coach “It’s a nightmare” (7)
|
| Homophone (heard) of “in queue bus” | ||
| 15 | SPAM |
Dad’s into S&M clothing – he’s got a box for it (4)
|
| PA (dad) in (into) S[&]M | ||
| 18 | KELP |
Starters of kombu (extremely light pickled seaweed) (4)
|
| K[ombu] E[xtremely] L[ight] P[ickled] | ||
| 20 | DESPAIR |
Wasting time, traipsed around in misery (7)
|
| Anagram (around) of [t]RAIPSED | ||
| 23 | USHER |
Escort drug dealer out of Portugal (5) (7)
|
| [p]USHER | ||
| 24 | CARD SHARP |
His hands aren’t to be trusted (4,5)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 26 | TREE HOUSE |
Eco-friendly building supported by branch network (4,5)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 27 | AIOLI | Revolting filo I ate, stuffed with garlic mayo (5) |
| Reverse (revolting) hidden word (stuffed with) | ||
| 28 | RYE |
Argyle regularly downed a small port (3)
|
| [a]R[g]Y[l]E | ||
| 29 | DRESSMAKING |
German’s kids fancy clothes design (11)
|
| Anagram (fancy) of GERMANS KIDS | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MILKMAID |
Turning up plastered, 1am, Klimt embraces dairy worker (8)
|
| Reverser (turning up) hidden word (embraces) | ||
| 2 | LIMERICK |
Lines of Welles’s Harry and Bogart’s Blaine? (8)
|
| LIME (Welles’s Harry) + RICK (Bogart’s Blaine) referring to characters in The Third Man and Casablanca | ||
| 3 | ULTRA |
Extremist upper-class subaltern initially resisting arrest (5)
|
| U (upper-class) + LT (subaltern) + R[esisting] A[rrest] | ||
| 4 | TOMMIES |
British soldiers: time to replace leader of Red Army (7)
|
| COMMIES (red army) with the ‘C’ (leader) replaced by ‘T’ (time) | ||
| 5 | AIRLESS |
Stuffy, bald husband evicted (7)
|
| [h]AIRLESS (bald husband evicted) | ||
| 6 | TEA BREAKS |
China Times: Wild bear seen in hardwood trees (3,6)
|
| Anagram (wild) of BEAR in (seen in) TEAKS (hardwood trees) | ||
| 7 | JOANNA |
Trollop we hear who has a few stories to tell! (6)
|
| Homophone (we hear) of Trollope | ||
| 8 | MUESLI |
Slime formed over the ultimate in Aarau breakfast food (6)
|
| [Aara]U in (over) anagram (formed) of SLIME. Aarau happens to be a a town in northern Switzerland and capital of Aargau canton. | ||
| 14 | BEE ORCHID |
Sexually-stimulating flower embellishing her bodice (3,6)
|
| Anagram (embellishing) of HER BODICE | ||
| 16 | MACARONI |
President consuming a primo of Italian pasta (8)
|
| A (a) in (consuming) MACRON (president) + I (primo of Italian) | ||
| 17 | DRIPPING |
Soaking wet ingredient to put on toast (8)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 19 | PICTURE |
Painting ancient Brit Dürer discovered (7)
|
| PICT (ancient Brit) + [d]URE[r] | ||
| 20 | DARKENS |
Daughter runs into horrid snake, blacks out (7)
|
| D (daughter) in (runs into) anagram (horrid) of SNAKE | ||
| 21 | BUTTER |
Flatter Pat? (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | CHEESE |
Switzerland see knocked up Emmental originally, for one (6)
|
| CH (Switzerland) + anagram (knocked up) of SEE + E[mental] | ||
| 25 | SCALA |
Caught, sadly, climbing outside ladder (6)
|
| C (caught) in ALAS (sadly) backwards (climbing). Scala is the name of a programming language and means ‘ladder’ in Italian. |
Thanks Julius for your usual excellence. I liked SPAM, AIOLI, and AIRLESS, mainly for their humourous surfaces and MACARONI for its use of “primo of Italian” for the letter “I”. I couldn’t parse JOANNA, LIMERICK, or MILQUETOAST so thanks Pete for the explanations. (By the way you have LIMERICK as 2a and 2d.) Happy 2023!
Thanks for a great blog and all the others this year . Super puzzle , Tony has mentioned the I from Macaroni, Julius frequently uses interesting ideas to add on little bits of word play, people countries artists etc.
I must repeat the praise for MILQUETOAST but I could give a very long list.
One little query for SPAM , don’t follow ” a box for it ” ? Spam was in tins.
Happy New Year to all FT bloggers and solvers.
Roz, I took SPAM in the sense of unwanted emails which go into the spam box/folder.
Thanks Hovis , I did know SPAM was unwanted email from other crosswords, I did not know it went into a “box” . Will try to remember this. Not a problem that affects me.
Roz@4
Curious to know how you are immunised against spam mail.
Thank for the blog Pete and thanks to those who have commented. I remember when I started this that after putting in MILQUETOAST I’d, er, pepper the grid with a few more continental breakfast items.
I wish everyone and their families a very happy and healthy new year.
Rob/Julius
KVa@5 I do not do email at all .
Thanks, Julius, for another fine crossword, full of the usual wit. Loved all the same ones that others have already mentioned.
And thanks for the blog, Pete M.
What Widdersbel said.
Thoroughly enjoyable. Somehow I don’t think of DRIPPING as a continental breakfast item, or MARMALADE, but the theme is there.
Thanks for all the blogs Pete. The new year has dawned fine and blustery here.
If Julius is on here—did you work in Bahrain in late 70s early 80s?
Thanks
hi Oldham…yes, I lived in Bahrain between end-Jan 81 & Apr 84. Rob Jacques, worked for Midland Bank in those days.
Spam, aioli and dripping… remind me not to drop round to yours for breakfast, thanks Rob!
(p.s. Happy New Year (belated) to any who haven’t had enough of that meme yet)