Weekend puzzle #2 from the FT of Saturday 1st April
As the FT unusually put out two cryptics last weekend, I’m stepping in to help out Pete M so he doesn’t have to blog both himself. This one has a preamble stating that it is “A tribute to the composer who was born on this day 150 years ago.”
The composer in question is SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1 April 1873 – 28 March 1943), whose name is revealed in the grid, split across the solutions to 12a+13a and 23a+24a. You can also find what is perhaps his most famous work, RHAPSODY on a THEME of PAGANINI in the solutions to 4a, 3d and 28a. As well as COMPOSING (18d), Rachmaninoff was a virtuoso PIANIST (19d). Elsewhere there are more generic references to his work, including 1a SONATAS, 10a CONCERTOS, 26a SUITE, 9d STRINGS, 6d PRELUDING, 7d OPERA. I can’t claim to be an expert on the subject, so please let me know if I’ve missed anything.
I found this a pleasant solve, mostly straightforward but with a few elaborate constructions and abstruse definitions to make me work a bit. Favourites were the elegantly simple 7d OPERA and 18d COMPOSING, and the cleverly constructed 24d INGOT.
Thank you, Gaff.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SONATA |
Piece of glass on a table (6)
|
| Hidden in [glas]S ON A TA[ble] | ||
| 4 | RHAPSODY |
Piece of hay drops randomly (8)
|
| Anagram (randomly) of HAY DROPS | ||
| 10 | CONCERTOS |
Pieces of agreement extremely backward (9)
|
| CONCERT (agreement) + a reversal (backward) of SO (extremely)
Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2 is one of his most popular and acclaimed works and was famously used in the 1945 film Brief Encounter. You can hear the great man himself playing it on YouTube. |
||
| 11 | EVENT |
Happening at the same time (5)
|
| EVEN (the same) + T (time) | ||
| 12 | SERGE |
Sierra goes regularly overcast (5)
|
| Alternate letters (regularly) of SiErRa GoEs
Serging is a stitching technique, also known as overlocking or overcasting. My wife, who knows about these things, confirmed this for me and says it’s an American term. I couldn’t find it in Chambers or the OED, but Collins defines it as: “to overcast (unfinished seams or edges, as in a fabric or rug), esp. by machine, in order to prevent fraying.“ |
||
| 13 | INOCULA |
Content to explain ocular injection (7)
|
| Hidden in (content to) [expla]IN OCULA[r] | ||
| 15 | INFRINGE |
Violate latest border (8)
|
| IN (latest) + FRINGE (border) | ||
| 17 | PINCER |
Movement of tool (6)
|
| Double definition.
“Pincer movement” is a military term to describe attacking your enemy from two sides at once. |
||
| 20 | NITWIT |
Donkey has two directions ahead of it (6)
|
| N (north) and W (west) are the two directions, each ahead of separate instances of IT | ||
| 21 | LIEGEMAN |
Mislead redhead taken from European subject (8)
|
| LIE (mislead) + GE[r]MAN (European) with the R (redhead, ie the “head” of red) subtracted (taken) | ||
| 23 | RACHMAN |
Charm outrageously with an awful letter from the 60s (7)
|
| Anagram (outrageously) of CHARM + AN
Peter Rachman was a notorious landlord in the Notting Hill area of London in the 1960s. Rachmanism is defined in Chambers as: “The conduct of a landlord who charges extortionate rents for property in which very bad slum conditions prevail.” |
||
| 24 | IN-OFF |
Wrong ball sunk in pool (2-3)
|
| Cryptic definition
In the game of pool, when one ball ricochets off another and unintentionally ends up in the pocket (is “sunk”). The surface is trying to mislead you into thinking of swimming pools, perhaps. |
||
| 26 | SUITE |
Pieces of furniture (5)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 27 | INSIGNIAS |
Partially trivial being decorations (9)
|
| INSIGNI[ficant] (trivial, partially) + AS (being)
As/being are roughly equivalent as conjunctions in subordinate clauses such as: “Being a solver of little brain, I find cryptic crosswords very difficult.”/”As a solver of little brain…” |
||
| 28 | PAGANINI |
A good sandwich for violinist (8)
|
| [A + G (good)] inserted into PANINI (Italian bread roll) = “a good sandwich”
Yes, we all know “panini” is strictly the plural form of panino, but as Chambers says, it is “sometimes loosely used as sing with pl paninis.” Let it go. |
||
| 29 | STAGED |
Put on bit by bit (6)
|
| Double/cryptic definition.
First definition: you could put on/stage a play. Second definition: the Tour de France, for example, might be described as staged (having stages) or as occurring “bit by bit”. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SECESSIONS |
Court sitting about City resignations (10)
|
| SESSIONS (court sitting) containing (about) EC ([The] City [of London])
Like panini, “sessions” is often construed as singular and is a contraction of “sessions of the peace”, the periodical sittings of justices of the peace. |
||
| 2 | NON-PROFIT |
What charities are providing alternative before participation ends in weight lifting? (3-6)
|
| [IF (providing) + OR (alternative) before P[articipatio]N (“ends” of participation)] all inserted in TON (weight) and the whole thing reversed (lifting). More succinctly: T(IF+OR+PN)ON< | ||
| 3 | THEME |
Subject extremely tense around border (5)
|
| First and last letters (extremely) of T[ens]E containing (around) HEM (border) | ||
| 5 | HYSSOP |
Leaves edges of heavy saws oversharp (6)
|
| First and last letters (edges) of H[eav]Y S[aw]S O[vershar]P
An aromatic shrub used in traditional medicine and perfumes. |
||
| 6 | PRELUDING |
Playing first fiddle without any underplaying (9)
|
| Anagram (fiddle) of UNDERPL[ay]I[n]G less the letters of ANY (“without any“)
Rachmaninoff composed 24 preludes for solo piano covering all the minor and major keys. |
||
| 7 | OPERA |
Work starts to oppress people expecting real advancement (5)
|
| First letters (starts) of Oppress People Expecting Real Advancement
Rachmaninoff completed three operas, of which Aleko is perhaps the best known. |
||
| 8 | YETI |
But I am one from the Himalayas (4)
|
| YET (but) + I | ||
| 9 | STRINGS |
Players taking a bow (7)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 14 | TRANSFUSED |
Passed over criminal asset fund and ring leader (10)
|
| Anagram (criminal) of ASSET FUND + R[ing] (“ring leader“) | ||
| 16 | ILIAC VEIN |
The last civilian injured by blood transporter (5,4)
|
| Anagram (injured) of [th]E (“the last“) + CIVILIAN
The iliac veins are a group of major blood vessels found in the pelvis. |
||
| 18 | COMPOSING |
Breaking down timeless building (9)
|
| COMPOS[t]ING (breaking down) less T (“time-less“) | ||
| 19 | PIANIST |
Key player in controversial Spain/Italy lay out out lay (7)
|
| Anagram (lay out) of SPAIN IT[aly] less the letters of LAY (“out lay“)
EDIT: the anagram indicator is in fact “controversial”. Thanks to KVa for correcting me on the parsing of this one – see comment #4 below |
||
| 22 | AMNION |
I leave a lackey as baby holder (6)
|
| A M[i]NION (a lackey) less I (“I leave“)
The membrane that encloses the embryo in the early stages of development in mammals, reptiles and birds. |
||
| 23 | RUING |
Regretting bankruptcy at long last (5)
|
| RUIN (bankruptcy) + [lon]G (“at long last” = last letter of long) | ||
| 24 | INGOT |
Guard welcome to abandon watching Othello in bar (5)
|
| If WATCH (guard) and HELLO (welcome) are deleted from (abandon) [watch]ING OT[hello], you are left with the solution. | ||
| 25 | RSVP |
The initial appeal of an invitation (4)
|
| Cryptic definition |
Enjoyed the puzzle thoroughly. Thanks, Gaff!
The blog is quite detailed and nicely written. Thanks, Widdersbel!
Loved PAGANINI, INGOT and RSVP.
IN-OFF
…and it is the wrong ball as an in-off is a foul in ‘pool’.
RSVP
This seems to have two dimensions.
An appeal consisting of just initials.
An appeal made in/with an invitation (at the initial stage, for planning purposes).
My note to myself on this puzzle was “hard,” although the detailed blog makes it look easy now. Evidently I managed to plow through the parsings. Being on the lookout for theme words certainly helped. LIEGEMAN, HYSSOP, and INOCULA aren’t everyday words, but Gaff made it work out all right.
Thanks Gaff. I completed this crossword without ever discerning who the featured composer was — that must make me a true Philistine. In any event I enjoyed the exercise due to clues like NITWIT, HYSSOP, AMNION, and RUING. Thanks Widdersbel for the enlightenment.
PIANIST
I think it is like this:
Anagram of (controversial) Spain+Italy and then remove (lay out) aly (out lay-jumbled lay).
Thanks, Widdersbel. There is also a cryptic puzzle on the FT app today which does not appear in the print edition. It is, however, available here (if the link works) https://d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net/production/uploaded-files/xwd17382_0804-693d5108-f4b8-4d65-9fc6-478991f84db3.pdf
I only solve on the app so found this one and not the other.
I enjoyed this, but did resort to looking up the composer, which convinced me that SONATA was the answer to 1a. Lots to like, although IN-OFF is only a foul in pool if it results in one of the opponent’s balls or the cue ball being potted, the player’s balls being inadvertently pocketed isn’t a problem. (I supervise young people playing pool a lot and have had to learn the rules, which all vary by local usage.)
I remember the tail-end of RACHMANism, which is what encouraged various Parliamentary acts to improve the lot of tenants. And as has been covered all week on BBC Radio 4, the Coalition Government undid a large chunk of it. It was part of an investigation into the death of Sheila Seleaone,. Looking for a link I also read about Terry Watkins.
Thank you Widdersbel for the thorough blog and to Gaff for the topical puzzle.
Tony S @3 – I normally suffer from extreme theme blindness and may well have missed this one if not for the helpful preamble. The late-C19 date and the early appearance of “Rhapsody” were a strong hint for me that Rachmaninoff was the likely candidate, but that’s what you might call an educated guess rather than true knowledge!
KVa @4 – yes, you’re right about “controversial” being the anagram indicator in 19d – I got a bit muddled with the lay out/out lay shenanigans!
Shanne @6 – likewise, I solve via the FT app, and it was only by chance that I noticed the gap in the numbering to alert me to the fact that there was another puzzle. I checked in with Pete to make sure he was aware – of course he was, smart cookie that he is, and he was expecting to blog both until I offered to take one off his hands.
If you try the Gozo one (and you should – it’s fun, albeit infuriating!), it will soon become apparent why it wasn’t available on the app. As Rudolf @5 mentions, there’s another bonus puzzle today, a 23×23 jumbo Bank Holiday special by Neo, which is also not available on the app.
Well, we knew from the preamble exactly what the theme was – but we struggled with some of the non-thematic answers, particularly in the SE corner. We got there in the end, though, but INOCULA was new to us and had to be checked in Chambers (which informs us it’s the plural of ‘inoculum’). We liked the combination of entries to make up the composer’s name.
Thanks, Gaff and Widdersbel.
Nice puzzle from Gaff,
I found it difficult in parts, given there were a lot of unknown words and some nice diversion tactics by the setter. The theme did not help make it easier, given most of the unknowable words were off-theme.
NITWIT was my favourite
Thanks Gaff and Widdersbel