Goliath provides the FT challenge this morning.
The key to solving this puzzle appears to be the composite down answers as they will provide lots of crossers for the rest of the puzzle. There were some clever anagrams (GROUND-TO-AIR MISSILES) and clues for TYROLEAN, END OF MOTORWAY and MODERATION were clever. In my original post, I had a couple of quibbles, but have been shown the error of my ways by early commenters. Note to self – take a few extra minutes before writing the preamble.
Thanks, Goliath.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MIGHTY |
Could Germany ultimately be powerful? (6)
|
| MIGHT (“could”) + (German)Y [ultimately] | ||
| 4 | ATOMISER |
Most of East Timor affected by spray (8)
|
| *(eas timor) [anag:affected] where EAS is [most of] EAS(t) | ||
| 10 | SPORRAN |
Scottish pouch, its origins mostly tight in retrospect (7)
|
| [origins of] S(cottish) P(ouch) + <=[mostly] NARRO(w) (“tight”) [in retrospect] | ||
| 11 | ENDLESS |
Continuous contribution to attend lessons (7)
|
| Hidden in [contribution to] “attEND LESSons” | ||
| 12 | IONA |
They say Goliath has a Scottish island (4)
|
| Homophone [they say] of I OWN A (“Goliath has a”) | ||
| 13 | COMPARISON |
Common, when half-hearted, to go round city looking for what’s different (10)
|
| [half-hearted] COM(m)ON to go round PARIS (“city”) | ||
| 16 | EXTANT |
Still here at next assembly (6)
|
| *(at next) [anag:assembly] | ||
| 17 | DESTROY |
Behold brave Achilles finally by city he managed to conquer and ravage (7)
|
| (behol)D (brav)E (Achille)S [finally] by TROY (“city he managed to conquer”) | ||
| 20 | GAZEBOS |
Look, boss: 11 garden features (7)
|
| GAZE (“look”) + [endless] BOS(s) where the 11 in the clue refers to the solution to 11ac (endless) | ||
| 21 | COHERE |
Unite and come here? Not me! (6)
|
| CO(me) HERE (not ME) | ||
| 24 | WAR MEMOIRS |
Friendly princes admitting love of battle reminiscences (3,7)
|
| WARM (“friendly”) + EMIRS (“princes”) admitting O (zero, so “love”, in tennis) | ||
| 25 | AJAR |
Partly open a container (4)
|
| A + JAR (“container”) | ||
| 27 | DISAVOW |
Repudiate and show no respect for pledge (7)
|
| DIS (“show no respect for”) + AVOW (“pledge”) | ||
| 29 | SHERIFF |
The female melody for law enforcer (7)
|
| SHE (“the female”) + RIFF (“melody”) | ||
| 30 | NOWADAYS |
Currently, plug is in no way serviceable, for a start (8)
|
| AD (“plug”) is in NO WAY + S(erviceable) [for a start] | ||
| 31 | UNITES |
Joins EU and isn’t bothered (6)
|
| *(eu isn’t) [anag:bothered] | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 |
See 2
|
|
| 2/1 | GROUND-TO-AIR MISSILES |
So, darling, moisturise in order to have protection against getting blitzed (6-2-3,8)
|
| *(so darling moisturise) [anag:in order] | ||
| 3/26 | TYROLEAN |
European new recruit list (8)
|
| TYRO (“new recruit”) + LEAN (“list”) | ||
| 5/23 | THE UPPER CRUST |
Some bread for the aristocracy (3,5,5)
|
| Apocryphally, THE UPPER CRUST was traditionally the unburnt part of a loaf served to the aristocracy. although the etymology of the phrase is uncertain.. | ||
| 6 | MODERATION |
On the move, read about temperance? (10)
|
| *(read) [anag:about] is in MOTION (“on the move”) | ||
| 7/28 | SEESAW |
Notice sharp tool that’s in the playground (6)
|
| SEE (“notice”) + SAW (“sharp tool”) | ||
| 8 | RESENT |
Dislike being dispatched a second time (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 9/18 | END OF MOTORWAY |
A road begins here? Say why! (3,2,8)
|
| The END OF MOTORWAY is Y and “say why” indicates a homophone of Y.
In the UK, a sign indicating “end of motorway” lets the driver know that the road they’re on is changing from a motorway to (probably) an A road. |
||
| 14 | SMOKE A JOINT |
Take drug to enhance the flavour of ham? (5,1,5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 15 | UNRESERVED |
Not booked, being full (10)
|
| Double definition (for the second, think of a “full” apology) | ||
| 18 |
See 9
|
|
| 19 | REDRAFTS |
Revamps boats carrying wine (8)
|
| RAFTS (“boats”) carrying RED (wine) | ||
| 22 | SWEDEN |
Country garden with shallow banks (6)
|
| EDEN (“garden”) with S(hallo)W [banks] | ||
| 23 |
See 5
|
|
| 26 |
See 3
|
|
| 28 |
See 7
|
|
Loonapick, I see it as “most of East”, so the “T” is removed from East. Agree re DISAVOW. Is an inclusion indicator missing from 6d?
I was put off by looking at the list of down clues, but I needn’t have been.
Thanks Goliath.
(EAS[t] + TIMOR)*
In motion. I see.
OK – I see the “most of” EAS(t) thing.
You beat me GDU.
DIS + AVOW = pledge
NOWADAYS = AD in NO WAY + S
FrankieG@5 @6
Thanks – too much of a rush this morning – the WAD is a typo; I discounted AVOW at first as just the opposite of DISAVOW.
Thanks, Goliath and loonapick!
Liked T U CRUST, E O MOTORWAY and S A JOINT.
Thanks to early commenters – I have amended the blog accordingly.
For 2/26 You could spell it TIRO / TIROLEAN, both alternative spellings are in Wiktionary. Just like TIRE/TYRE in US/UK English.
I spent a long time trying to solve 2/1 as if it were 1/2: “M?S?I?-E?-G?O ?N?T?A?R” – what the flip could that possibly be?
MISSIL-ES-GRO UNDTOAIR was never going to work!
I first heard the word DISAVOW in the ’60s TV series Mission Impossible (1966-1973):
‘Good morning, Mr. Phelps. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to [insert ridiculously difficult mission here]. As always, should you or any member of your IM Force be caught or killed, the secretary will DISAVOW any knowledge of your actions.’
A nice reminder after Tuesday’s Man From UNCLE in the Indy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission:_Impossible_(1966_TV_series)
The “in motion” trick for MODERATION was nice.
Thanks G&l
@10 I was solving all the right clues, “but not necessarily in the right order”. (C) Eric Morecambe MCMLXXI to Andrew Preview
And now I’m off to solve this crossword, for a reason that will become obvious, if you do the same…
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28155
I agree with loonapick regarding the anagrams: I thought 31ac UNITES was just as clever as the longer ones and the surface made me laugh, as did 20ac GAZEBOS, 21ac COHERE and the ‘in motion’ trick.
Other favourites were 17ac DESTROY and 30ac NOWADAYS.
Many thanks to Goliath and loonapick.
Not as tough as a couple of others on offer today, but even so took a while to get going and a few unfamiliar terms like END OF MOTORWAY didn’t help. I liked the in MOTION device and the surface for SPORRAN (just hearing the word makes me smile) in particular.
Thanks to loonapick and Goliath
I struggled a bit, not helped by having the unparsed Moderating rather than Moderation, until a penny dropped with Cohere.
Loi were the easy Mighty and Tylolean. I had a Lean bit but completely forgot the word Tyro.
Thanks
Thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle from one of my favourite setters. Too many favourites to list them all but I agree with Eileen re GAZEBOS and the neat UNITES. TYROLEAN was my overall pick.
Thanks as ever to Goliath for reliably coming up with the goods and to Loonapick for a super blog.
Thanks Goliath. I thought this would be impossible when I began but slowly it unfolded with TYROLEAN the last to fall because I tried to anagram E + recruit for far too long. I liked MIGHTY, END OF MOTORWAY, and GROUND TO AIR MISSILES for its anagram. Thanks loonapick for the blog.
A puzzle with multiple clues spread over two (or more) lights often looks daunting but there was nothing to worry about here and it was quite a fast solve for us. We liked DESTROY, GAZEBOS and REDRAFTS.
Thanks, Goliath and loonapick.