Puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 15, 2023
I found this puzzle fairly easy. My favourites are 3 (TWEEZERS), 9 (MEANS OF ESCAPE) and 25 (GOUT). And it’s a pangram!
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | VANTAGE POINT |
Position with good view of fighting gave guarding soldier purpose (7,5)
|
| ANT (soldier) in (guarding) anagram (fighting) of GAVE + POINT (purpose) | ||
| 10 | AGREE ON |
Have same opinion as top grade environmentalist protecting duck (5,2)
|
| A (top grade) + O (duck) in (protecting) GREEN (environmentalist) | ||
| 11 | SQUEEZE |
Press witness hedging question about key last letter (7)
|
| QU (question) in (hedging) SEE (witness) + E (key) Z (last letter) backwards (about)…..or maybe not, see comments.
I had a hard time figuring out how this wordplay was supposed to work and initially posted an arrangement that simply did not work as it missed the last ‘e’. Thank you for the explanations in the comments. |
||
| 12 | KLUTZ |
American duffer’s last in rink getting difficult jump (5)
|
| [rin]K + LUTZ (difficult jump). A lutz is a jump in ice-skating and a difficult one indeed. | ||
| 13 | PIPE DOWN |
Quiet when Twitter’s not working! (4,4)
|
| PIPE (twitter) + DOWN (not working) | ||
| 15 | EXPERIMENT |
Investigation of mine accident concealed by authority (10)
|
| Anagram (accident) of MINE in (concealed by) EXPERT (authority) | ||
| 16 | UNDO |
Disengage from Uruguay National Party (4)
|
| U (Uruguay) + N (national) + DO (party) | ||
| 18 | TOSH |
Filling in burrito’s honestly rubbish (4)
|
| Hidden word (filling) | ||
| 20 | PRETTY SURE |
Fairly certain moving upset Terry (6,4)
|
| Anagram (moving) of UPSET TERRY | ||
| 22 | WELL-TO-DO |
Correctly moreover, describing Duke as wealthy (4- 2-2)
|
| WELL (correctly) + D (duke) in (describing) TOO (moreover) | ||
| 24 | BASIC |
When in charge, going by book’s essential (5)
|
| B (book) + AS (when) + IC (in charge) | ||
| 26 | REALIGN |
Put in order again for proper gin cocktail (7)
|
| REAL (proper) + anagram (cocktail) of GIN | ||
| 27 | OIL LAMP |
Clipped cat reversing and hit parking light (3,4)
|
| LIO[n] (clipped cat) backwards (reversing) + LAM (hit) + P (parking) | ||
| 28 | AUTHENTICITY |
Genuineness of gold in those days originally tested in financial district (12)
|
| AU (gold) + THEN (in those days) + T[ested] I[n] + CITY (financial district) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | AIR PUMP |
Look up rising market prices, principally this speeds up inflation (3,4)
|
| AIR (look) + UP (up) backwards (rising) + M[arket] P[rices] | ||
| 3 | TWEEZERS |
Nippers with zest were running wild! (8)
|
| Anagram (running wild) of ZEST WERE | ||
| 4 | GONG |
Leaving without one’s award (4)
|
| GO[i]NG (leaving without one) | ||
| 5 | PASSIONATE |
Emotional confusion of OAP in East Enders finale’s piercing (10)
|
| [ender]S in (piercing) anagram (confusion of) OAP IN EAST | ||
| 6 | IN USE |
Cool American beefcake finally gets engaged (2,3)
|
| IN (cool) + US (American) + [beefcak]E | ||
| 7 | THE MOON |
Those people with spectacles have name for satellite (3,4)
|
| THEM (those people) + OO (spectacles) + N (name) | ||
| 8 | JACKIE STEWART |
Old racer in TT wearies, collapsing after taking flag (6,7)
|
| JACK (flag) + anagram (collapsing) of TT WEARIES
Sir John (“Jackie”) Stewart was a three-time world champion F1 driver in the 1960s and 70s. He was a hero to me as a boy and I remember once passing his family’s garage near Dumbarton. I just checked and was happy to find out that he is still with us. |
||
| 9 | MEANS OF ESCAPE |
Essence of a map puzzle is finding exit (5,2,6)
|
| Anagram (puzzle) of ESSENCE OF A MAP | ||
| 14 | IMPRUDENCE |
Recklessness gets rogue, lacking in respect, regularly nicked (10)
|
| IMP (rogue) + RUDE (lacking in respect) + N[i]C[k]E[d] | ||
| 17 | SYMBOLIC |
Second year doctor with stomach ache, heading off, is significant (8)
|
| S (second) + Y (year) + MB (doctor) + [c]OLIC (stomach ache, heading off) | ||
| 19 | SULTANA |
Dried fruit and nut salad surprisingly left by daughter (7)
|
| Anagram (surprisingly, left by daughter) of NUT SALA[d] | ||
| 21 | UPSTART |
Social climber gets high with famous model (7)
|
| UP (gets high) + STAR (famous) + T (model) | ||
| 23 | TAINT |
Stigma around Artificial Intelligence is explosive (5)
|
| AI (Artificial Intelligence) in (around) TNT (explosive) | ||
| 25 | GOUT |
Disease caused by hole in intestine (4)
|
| O (hole) in (in) GUT (intestine) |
I agree with Pete that this was a light romp. MEANS OF ESCAPE was my pick too. I enjoyed hunting down the panagram which confirmed for me JACKIE STEWART and KLUTZ (rink was another hint that ice-skating was involved).
Thanks for the fun, Zamorca, and for the write-up, Pete.
Thanks, Zamorca and Pete Maclean!
A gentle puzzle and a neat blog!
From The Association of Pedants:
WELL-TO-DO
TOO going around (describing) D.
The end result is the same for sure.
Agree all round.
Completing a puzzle quickly in one sitting can make me feel I am getting better and provide encouragement, albeit for a fleeting moment.
Never heard of LUTZ or OAP and was happy to remember LAM from previous puzzles (never heard it in real life).
I liked the favourites mentioned so far and add VANTAGE POINT (for the surface), REALIGN (for the gin) and THE MOON (for the spectacles).
Thanks Zamorca and thanks Pete
Yes, this was on the easier end of the spectrum but no less enjoyable for that – a really good puzzle, I thought, full of wit. Thanks, Zamorca and Pete.
I wasn’t sure about my parsing for 11a. The blog doesn’t work since it only accounts for 2 of the 3 E’s and ignores ‘key’. I had SEE around QU followed by a reversal (about) of EZ (key + last letter).
Hovis@6
Failed to notice it in the blog.
Agree with your parsing.
SQUEEZE
Actually, I had S-QU-EE about (around) EZ. That’s somewhat clumsy. Your parsing is neater.
Thanks for the blog, I thought this was very good and perhaps I did not find it as easy as other people.
I agree with Hovis@6 for SQUEEZE , tricky to sort out with the Es getting mixed up.
I liked AIR PUMP for the definition and the UP going up.
S(QU)E(EZ)E
SEE with two separate insertions. E = key.
At least, that’s how I interpreted it, but Hovis’s version might be better!
[ very minor blog issue for UPSTART , the UP has acquired an extra S ]
Thanks Zamorca for a pleasant crossword. My ticks went to KLUTZ, EXPERIMENT, and MEANS OF ESCAPE. Thanks Pete for the blog.
It was an interesting coincidence that the FT ran a crossword set by a woman in its former prize slot on the same day that the Guardian ran a tribute puzzle set by Arachne honoring Nutmeg, both prominent female setters. I often wondered why so few women are seen in the ranks — it can’t be due to lack of skill.
A pleasant diversion on a wet Saturday afternoon (we keep the Saturday puzzles for a week so we can check the blog the same day). Favourite was OIL LAMP.
Thamks, Zamorca and Pete
27a OIL LAMP – Clipped cat reversing and hit parking light (3,4)
LAMP can mean hit, so the “parking” wasn’t really necessary, except for the obscurity… and the surface… and the lift-and-separate of “parking light”.
Ok – so it was necessary – I’m only mentioning it so that I can post this link, which cites a favourite author and a sentiment I agree with:
https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/4npdjca
‘2012 [Scot] (con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys: “One ay these days the big felly’s gaunny turn roond n lamp that stroppy wee f*cker.”
2022 Twitter 19 Oct. – “Any chance someone does the decent thing and lamps [Jacob Rees-]Mogg?”‘
Thanks Z&PM
Apologies for the mistake in UPSTART and thanks for the help with SQUEEZE (which I am still having trouble seeing clearly).