Weekend puzzle from the FT of July 29, 2023
This was an easy solve for me with 21 my first-in and 26 my last. My favourites are two fine hidden-word clues, 4 (DROP EVERYTHING) and 15 (ENTOURAGE), and the playful 24 (AVIGNON). Thank you Julius.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | HIGH TIDE |
Time to leave port, having forged eighth hidden identity? (4,4)
|
| ID (identity) in (hidden) anagram (having forged) of EIGHTH | ||
| 5 | ISSUED |
Published, and gets taken to court (6)
|
| IS SUED (gets taken to court). I suppose one could also call this a double definition. | ||
| 10 | PORTICO |
Colonnade in Portuguese city, almost freezing! (7)
|
| IC[y] (almost freezing) in PORTO (Portuguese city) | ||
| 11 | ROSEHIP |
Part of thorny plant making stocking tear according to Spooner (7)
|
| Spoonerism of “hose rip” (stocking tear) | ||
| 12 | ESTOP |
Bar established work (5)
|
| EST (established) + OP (work) | ||
| 13 | ERADICATE |
Take out scatty cat, dearie (9)
|
| Anagram (scatty) of CAT DEARIE | ||
| 14 | ADHESIVE TAPE |
It’s clear it’ll be needed when wrapping Xmas presents (8,4)
|
| I am unsure whether to call this a double definition or a cryptic definition | ||
| 18 | DOWN PAYMENTS |
Spent Monday working to secure women’s deposits (4,8)
|
| W (women) in (to secure) anagram (working) of SPENT MONDAY | ||
| 21 | NEOLITHIC |
Ethnic oil works from the Stone Age (9)
|
| Anagram (works) of ETHNIC OIL | ||
| 23 | USHER |
Escort you, me and that lady (5)
|
| US (you, me) + HER (that lady) | ||
| 24 | AVIGNON |
Old residence of Pontiff which still has a Pont (if short) (7)
|
| Avignon was the seat of the Papacy between 1309 and 1377 — which I happened to know thanks to my studies of the Black Death. “(if short)” strikes me as a witty coda but I do not see how it is intended to work in the clue. | ||
| 25 | IMAGINE |
International publication censors Arizona picture (7)
|
| I (international) + MAG[az]INE (publication censors AZ) | ||
| 26 | ENGIRD |
Wrap a band around Joe, held by nurse and retired doctor (6)
|
| EN ([enrolled] nurse) + GI (Joe) + DR (doctor) backwards (retired) | ||
| 27 | DETESTED |
Hated exam? Indeed! (8)
|
| TEST (exam) in (in) DEED (deed) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | HOPPER |
Retail customer ignoring South American painter (6)
|
| [s]HOPPER (retail customer ignoring south). The painter is Edward Hopper who is probably best known for Nighthawks. | ||
| 2 | GYRATE |
Spin around Germany on vacation — give the thumbs up (6)
|
| G[erman]Y + RATE (give the thumbs up) | ||
| 3 | TRIPPED UP |
Took LSD — in an excited state fell over (7,2)
|
| TRIPPED (took LSD) + UP (in an excited state) | ||
| 4 | DROP EVERYTHING |
Held by frayed rope, very thin…guys — stop what you’re doing! (4,10)
|
| Hidden words | ||
| 6 | SUSHI |
Returning US vessel has 25% off fare from Japan (5)
|
| US (US) backwards (returning) + SHI[p] (vessel has 25% off) | ||
| 7 | UPHEAVAL |
Have Paul round (which means disruption) (8)
|
| Anagram (round) of HAVE PAUL | ||
| 8 | DEPLETED |
Papa enters — wiped, drained (8)
|
| P (papa) in (enters) DELETED (wiped). Originally I was unsure which phonetic alphabet or other source uses ‘papa’ for P. Chambers tells me simply that it is a code word used in communications, esp. by radio, to represent the letter P. | ||
| 9 | ORGANIZED CRIME |
Wicked Amir recognised Mafia group (9,5)
|
| Anagram (wicked) of AMIR RECOGNISED | ||
| 15 | ENTOURAGE |
Prevent our agenda being interrupted by camp followers (9)
|
| Hidden word (being interrupted by) | ||
| 16 | EDENTATE |
Adam’s garden rubbish piled on top of English anteater (8)
|
| EDEN (Adam’s garden) + TAT (rubbish) + E (English) | ||
| 17 | SWOOPING |
GOP is now in trouble, dropping suddenly (8)
|
| Anagram (in trouble) of GOP IS NOW | ||
| 19 | THRIFT |
The endlessly split economy? (6)
|
| TH[e] RIFT (split) | ||
| 20 | FRIEND |
Mate…fine day in Paris, nothing in store (6)
|
| F (fine) + RIEN (in Paris nothing) + D (day) | ||
| 22 | INNER |
Private Victor losing wife (5)
|
| [w]INNER (victor losing wife) |
Bright and breezy fun with nothing to ruffle the feathers!
4D was a great hidden answer – Julius is so good at these – and the Spoonerism was neat too.
Also liked AVIGNON for its wit, MAGAZINE and FRIEND, once I’d settled on the correct parsing.
I’d seen 16 before but didn’t remember it was an anteater and didn’t know ESTOP but the parsing was plain enough.
Thanks to Julius and Pete.
Pete,
I thought the same re 14a and concluded it was a double definition.
I assumed ‘if short’ was a reference to the song ‘Sur le Pont d’Avignon’.
Thanks Pete
I double what you and Diane wrote
I was very happy to remember EDENTATE from a previous puzzle. I interpreted (if short) in 24 as being a play on (1) Pont is the first four letters of Pontiff and (2) the actual Pont only goes halfway across the river now.
I cannot argue with any of your or Diane’s favourites. In addition, I loved some of the anagrams: ERADICATE, UPHEAVAL, SWOOPING, and DROP EVERYTHING all had ticks. I could go on.
Thanks Julius for a well-constructed, entertaining puzzle.
Thanks Pete for the blog
Thanks, Julius and Pete!
ISSUED
Wordplay or DD. Right on the fence. Nice clue.
ADHESIVE TAPE
I took it as a CD (‘clear ADHESIVE TAPE’ and nothing else is referred to, I guess).
AVIGNON
As the bridge stands today, it is short and doesn’t cover the full span (as Marty@3 said).
(Diane@2 Could you tell me more about the connection between PONT (if short) and the song?
I do not know the song).
DEPLETED
‘Papa=P’ (NATO…). Is the question mark after Papa in the blog about some other inconsistency
in the clue?
Well, KVa, I just thought that if ‘pontiff’ is short of an if[f], then it refers to Avignon’s famous bridge that is name checked in the old folk song which I remember learning in my early French lessons.
Diane@5
Got it. We are on the same page.
I have just noticed that there is no mention of ‘a bridge’ in the blog.
Thanks Julius. I found this on the easy end of the Julius spectrum but still very worthwhile. My top picks included ROSEHIP, IMAGINE, HOPPER, the nicely hidden DROP EVERYTHING, and ENTOURAGE. Thanks Pete for the blog.
Ah, I see I’ve led you a song and dance, KVa. What I meant was that the bridge conjured for me the song which lodged an earworm in my head for the rest of the day! Sorry for the confusion.
😀
No problem.
Thanks to Pete for the blog and to those who’ve commented. In the clue for AVIGNON, the bit about “pont (if short)” is, as KVa suggests, supposed to be a whimsical reference to the lovely stone bridge over the Rhone which was partially destroyed by flooding and which now spans only half the river. The clue probably relies a bit too much on general knowledge, sorry about that.
Best wishes to all, Rob/Julius
Thanks for the blog, I really enjoyed this, I will just add IMAGINE to the list for the censored AZ. I have to add to the praise for DROP EVERYTHING, hidden across five words. For ADHESIVE TAPE I think “clear” refers to Selotape that is usually used.
Very minor blog issue for ORGANISED CRIME. I think the spell check thing has changed S to Z , it made me check the anagram again.
AVIGNON thanks to Martyn@3 and Julius for the extra facts on the bridge and to Diane@2 for the song reminder.
KVa@4 every schoolchild in the UK will learn this song at some point.
Thanks Julius and Pete
5ac: In my book, definitely not a double definition as the second part needs the enumeration (2, 4) or (6, two words) in the other system.
14ac: I originally had STICKING TAPE here, which I think fits the clue equally well. I am not a fan of relying on checked letters to resolve ambiguities.
6dn: Thanks KVa@4 for resolving that one. I think I know about half the Nato alphabet: about time I learned the rest. I have just printed out an image and stuck it up in view of the chair I am currently sitting in, next to my round tuit.
9dn: As Roz@11 has pointed out, the anagram forces the S spelling. I think S spellings gradually became UK standard across the second half of the 20th century.
Correction to 13: I meant 8dn (DEPLETED) not 6dn (SUSHI). Maybe I should start putting the answers as well as the clue numbers.
I had a good time solving this last week. Very adventurous hiddens!
Good stuff.
Thank you all for adding the information about the bridge in Avignon. I know the song well, could even plunk it out on a piano, but somehow I had never learned that only half of the span still exists!
Pelham Barton @13: I also started with STICKING TAPE in mind. Happily I did not write it in because it is called sticky tape where I grew up and I was not sure sticking is an actual term. I even asked my wife “do the English call sticky tape sticking tape?”
Some more thoughts on ADHESIVE TAPE: I grew up calling it Sellotape after a British brand, presumably derived from cellophane. Many Americans likewise refer to it as Scotch tape (after a brand, not a nationality). And they are both types of clear/transparent tape. ‘Adhesive tape’ sounds more general to me and could well apply to types of sticky tape that are not clear.
Further to earlier comments on 14ac, I have just looked in Chambers 2014, which does not give sticking tape as a phrase. It does give sticking-plaster (hyphenated), and possibly that was in my mind at the time. I then put the phrase “sticking tape” into Bing, and it gave entries such as “Buy sticking tape at Amazon”, “Videos of sticking tape”, “Sticking tape on eBay”. I still think that the alternative is an answer that someone solving the crossword without reference books could consider reasonable.
A pleasant Saturday solve with lots to enjoy. AVIGNON was favourite.
Thanks, Julius and Pete.
PS A view of the pont d’Avignon can be seen href=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_Saint-B%C3%A9n%C3%A9zet#/media/File:%22Sur_le_Pont_d’Avignon_on_y_danse%22_is_the_famous_song,_but_now_we_see_only_many_tourist_just_standing_there_-_panoramio.jpg”>here
Oops! Don’t know what happened there – the html tags have got lost somehow but I know I put them in. Let’s try again.
click here
Blue Peter used to call the tape , sticky-backed plastic , they could not say Selotape on the BBC because it was a brand.