Weekend puzzle from the FT of February 11, 2023
I understand that Jason has been setting for the FT for about 18 years but, as far as I know, this is his first entry in our Weekend space. And it happened that the FT published some biographical material about him at the same time. This can be found at https://www.ft.com/content/40d42d45-c576-4d46-8fcc-9a6626395893 .
My first-in was the easy 1d and I quickly got 1a and a few more. Then it turned difficult and I needed tools to solve a couple of clues. My favourite is 23d (OFFS).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ALL THE BEST |
Fully twelve Olympians giving a wish for good luck (3,3,4)
|
| ALL (fully) + THE BEST (twelve Olympians). In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the twelve Olympians are the major deities of the Greek pantheon. | ||
| 6 | SCAB |
Scoundrel’s retro transfer service — it’s crusty (4)
|
| BACS (transfer service – i.e. Bankers’ Automated Clearance System) backwards (retro) with two definitions. I was unable to make sense of the wordplay here (largely because I was stuck thinking that ‘transfer service’ must clue CAB) and thank another solver for identifying BACS for me. | ||
| 9 | ACCOUNTANT |
Cashier a Conservative peer and scavenging socialite? (10)
|
| A (a) + C (Conservative) + COUNT (peer) + ANT (scavenging socialite) | ||
| 10 | COPE |
Deal successfully with PC close to upgrade (4)
|
| COP (PC — i.e. Police Constable) + [upgrad]E | ||
| 12 | NEEDLEWORKER |
Sewer to wind up one of the staff (12)
|
| NEEDLE (to wind up) + WORKER (one of the staff) | ||
| 15 | PENPUSHER |
Clerk shut up dealer (9)
|
| PEN (shut up) + PUSHER (dealer) | ||
| 17 | TROPE |
Entry of The Moor is a figure of speech (5)
|
| T[he] + ROPE (moor) | ||
| 18 | IDLES |
During mid-month in Rome lecturer does nothing (5)
|
| L (lecturer) in (during) IDES (mid-month in Rome — ancient Rome that is) | ||
| 19 | MANGANESE |
Element in comic sadly seen (9)
|
| MANGA (comic — in Japan) + anagram (sadly) of SEEN | ||
| 20 | GREEN FINGERS |
Sine qua non of Chelsea scorers is vigorous control (5,7)
|
| Double definition with the first referring to winners at the Chelsea Flower Show and the second a more generic definition. | ||
| 24 | ONCE |
Formerly playing with Chancellor of the Exchequer (4)
|
| ON (playing) + CE (Chancellor of the Exchequer) | ||
| 25 | STROGANOFF |
Dish that’s got saffron surprisingly (10)
|
| Anagram (surprisingly) of GOT SAFFRON | ||
| 26 | LIDO |
Where to swim with cap and ring (4)
|
| LID (cap) + O (ring) | ||
| 27 | ADULTERESS |
Being false sure lasted for this one (10)
|
| Anagram (false) of SURE LASTED | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | AFAR |
Seafarer’s heart is long way away (4)
|
| Hidden word | ||
| 2 | LACE |
Prince avoiding standing spike (4)
|
| [p]LACE (prince avoiding standing) | ||
| 3 | HAUTE CUISINE |
A tall order for Escoffier? (5,7)
|
| HAUTE (tall — in French) + CUISINE (order for Escoffier). I suppose. | ||
| 4 | BATED |
Held, as fearful inspiration, a time to enter the pit? (5)
|
| A (a) + T (time) in (to enter) BED (the pit) | ||
| 5 | SANHEDRIN |
Historical council and shrine in disarray (9)
|
| Anagram (in disarray) of AND SHRINE. This is a new one on me and I needed a tool to get the answer. The Sanhedrin was an assembly of either 23 or 71 elders appointed to sit as a tribunal in every city in the ancient Land of Israel. | ||
| 7 | CLOCK TOWER |
Notice caravanner, say, finding feature of town hall? (5,5)
|
| CLOCK (notice) + TOWER (caravanner, say) | ||
| 8 | BLEARY-EYED |
Drunk barely seen half asleep (6-4)
|
| Anagram (drunk) of BARELY + EYED (seen) | ||
| 11 | POET LAUREATE |
Armitage is one about to get into composing a lot with Euterpe (4,8)
|
| A (about) in (to get into) anagram (composing) of A LOT EUTERPE. Our present Poet Laureate is Simon Armitage. I am not used to ‘about’ being used to clue ‘A’ but Collins supports this (as an American usage). | ||
| 13 | SPRING ROLL |
Start to turn fried snack (6,4)
|
| START (spring) + ROLL (turn) | ||
| 14 | INFLUENCED |
Overcome by fun, decline getting changed (10)
|
| Anagram (getting changed) of FUN DECLINE | ||
| 16 | HAM-FISTED |
Clumsy amateur female is upsetting detective (3-6)
|
| HAM (amateur) + F (female) + IS (is) + DET (detective) backwards (upsetting) | ||
| 21 | GROWL |
Roar from Greek hooter (5)
|
| GR (Greek) + OWL (hooter) | ||
| 22 | BORE |
Black mineral and how to get it? (4)
|
| B (black) + ORE (mineral) | ||
| 23 | OFFS |
Those of haut monde dishing out top ices (4)
|
| [t]OFFS (those of haut monde, dishing out top) |
Liked SCAB (didn’t know BACS), MANGANESE, CLOCK TOWER, POET LAUREATE and SPRING ROLL.
Thanks, Jason and Pete!
Thanks Pete
Thanks especially for the link to the bio. Jason has quite an interesting background – PhD in the Argonauts, living in China, working as construction manager. Some unexpected jumps there.
Speaking of unexpected jumps, there were a few too many in this crossword for my taste. And, despite Pete’s great explanation, I confess I still do not understand a few things.
A quick note to Eileen if she reads this – thanks for your kind post last week. It was totally unnecessary, as no-one including you had offended me. But I appreciated it, nonetheless.
Thanks Pete and thanks Jason
Thanks for the blog, I like this new policy of different Saturday setters in the FT. I liked this very much, the few obscurities were clued very fairly. BACS is only in the news when it goes wrong. I liked the use of Euterpe in the anagram for POET LAUREATE. BATED has a very neat reference to inspiration
Thanks, Jason & Pete. I remember enjoying this but finding it quite tricky in places – took me a long time to work out who Armitage was in particular, though as Roz says, Euterpe was a nice hint.
I spotted the piece about Jason last week. Looks like the new FT crossword ed is trying to rival the Guardian for breadth of crossword content, which is no bad thing in my book.
Like Widersbel@4 I admire the new FT editor , a lot more variety on a Saturday and the standard in the week is very high. IO more frequently is a real bonus, Enigmatist seems to have been largely frozen out at the Guardian, overall the FT puzzles much better than the Guardian on average. I never, ever thought i would see that.
Thanks Jason. I solved this on my phone last week because I was out of town so I don’t have a paper copy with notes. I remember enjoying this, getting most of the answers, and having difficulties with some of the parsing. For some reason I remembered SANHEDRIN from my elementary school religion classes. Funny what sticks with you. Thanks Pete for the blog.
Sorry, being thick again. In 23D does OFFS mean “ices”? I’m not sure all the chartered accountants out there would be happy to call a cashier an accountant (9A)!
Brian @7 OFF and ICE are terms for assassinate. In books and films a Mafia hit-man is often called an iceman .
Thank you Roz – what a sheltered life I’ve led!
Thanks for the complete explanations of 6A and 20A; the UK references there were unfamiliar to me. This puzzle required some thought, but it was solvable.
Very enjoyable puzzle, in particular, ICES which I thought was very witty. I needed some help with 8a and 20a but like Tony dredged up SANHEDRIN from RE classes far too many decades ago.
An enjoyable puzzle with plenty of challenges to keep us on our toes but everything gettable nevertheless.
Thanks, Jason and Pete.
16. Since when was DET a detective?
Thanks Jason and Pete
16dn: I cannot give an exact answer to Malcolm@13. I can only say that it was long enough ago for the abbreviation to appear in Chambers 2011 (page 419 to be precise). Perhaps someone with an older dictionary than I still have can take the date further back.
It is a fair question — I wondered myself. Collins online, which is my first reference for such things, does not acknowledge this abbreviation.