Puzzle from the Weekend FT of October 28, 2023
I was happy to find a crossword from Julius this weekend. I am in awe of his ability to come up with rich and unusual clues while keeping most of them easy to solve. Consider the surfaces of 2 (LIBERTY BELL) and 4 (ETRUSCANS), the humour of 9 (CABLE TV) and 12 (THE BIG SLEEP), and the brevity of 23d (STAY).
Thank you, Julius!
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | VILLA |
All four back home (5)
|
| ALL (all) + IV (four) all backwards (back) | ||
| 4 | ETRUSCANS |
R Sunak’s predecessor put in prison old people from Europe (9)
|
| CAN (prison) in (put in) E TRUSS (R Sunak’s predecessor) | ||
| 9 | CABLE TV |
On which to watch The Wire? (5,2)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 10 | PALM OIL |
Friend left me in Paris imported cooking fat (4,3)
|
| PAL (friend) + MOI (me in Paris) + L (left) | ||
| 11 | RED AS A LOBSTER |
Badly sunburnt, like one in a shell suit? (3,2,1,7)
|
| Is this a double definition? I am unsure and, if it is not, then I do not understand the second part of the clue. | ||
| 14 | ONYX |
Old New York Times gem? (4)
|
| O (old) + NY (New York) + X (times, as in multiplication) | ||
| 15 | RAISE HELL |
Her allies prepared to kick up a fuss (5,4)
|
| Anagram (prepared) of HER ALLIES | ||
| 18 | GOES TO POT |
Falls to pieces and turns to marijuana (4,2,3)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 19 | PIER |
English playwright denied National Theatre support (4)
|
| PI[nt]ER (English playwright denied NT) | ||
| 21 | EALING STUDIOS |
Comedy producer: dialogue isn’t funny son (6,7)
|
| Anagram (funny) of DIALOGUE ISNT + S (son) | ||
| 24 | LAOTIAN |
Anatoli moved from somewhere further East (7)
|
| Anagram (moved) of ANATOLI | ||
| 26 | IMPREST |
Government cash advance reportedly had a favourable effect (7)
|
| Homophone (reportedly) of “impressed” (had a favourable effect). ‘Imprest’ means an advance of funds, especially to a government service or employee. | ||
| 27 | WAFER-THIN |
Wife after getting drunk with husband at home is very delicate (5-4)
|
| W (wife) + anagram (getting drunk) of AFTER + H (husband) + IN (at home) | ||
| 28 | EMPTY |
Vacant English politician, gutless Tory (5)
|
| E (English) + MP (politician) + T[or]Y | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | VICE |
Weakness for a dash of vodka on the rocks? (4)
|
| V[odka] + ICE (rocks) | ||
| 2 | LIBERTY BELL |
Attraction of Philadelphia Freedom live, line after line? (7,4)
|
| LIBERTY (freedom) + BE (live) + L (line) + L (line) with a clever inclusion of Elton John’s “Philadelphia Freedom” | ||
| 3 | AGENDA |
Schedule time to go over gagging order (6)
|
| AGE (time) + NDA (gagging order, i.e. non-disclosure agreement | ||
| 4 | EAVESDROP |
Snoop Dogg’s debut in soap ever so funny! (9)
|
| D[ogg] in anagram (so funny) of SOAP EVER | ||
| 5 | REPEL |
Fight back during bizarre PE lesson (5)
|
| HIdden word (during) | ||
| 6 | SALT BEEF |
Second lieutenant eating a grouse: “this meat’s spicy” (4,4)
|
| S (second) + A (a) + LT (lieutenant) + BEEF (grouse) | ||
| 7 | ADO |
Caldron occasionally producing hubble-bubble, toil and trouble? (3)
|
| [c]A[l]D[r]O[n] with three(!) definitions. I missed this one at first looking at “hubble-bubble, toil and trouble” as a single definition and thank KVa and other commenters for pointing it out. | ||
| 8 | SOLAR FLARE |
ROFL as Lear goes mad — sudden outburst from star (5,5)
|
| Anagram (goes mad) of ROFL AS LEAR. ROFL stands for “rolling on floor laughing” | ||
| 12 | THE BIG SLEEP |
Classic movie telling van Winkle’s story? (3,3,5)
|
| Double/cryptic definition | ||
| 13 | LONGFELLOW |
American poet, tall chap (10)
|
| LONG (tall) + FELLOW (chap) | ||
| 16 | INTRUSION |
Gatecrashing international sport’s number one set up (9)
|
| INT (international) + RU (sport, i.e. Rugby Union) + S (‘s) + NO I (number one) backwards (set up) | ||
| 17 | STINGIER |
Ever more tight, Julius gets stuck into brandy & crème de menthe (8)
|
| I (Julius) in (gets stuck into) STINGER (brandy & creme de menthe) | ||
| 20 | SIMPLE |
Plain silly (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | SYNCH |
Matching piece of bathroom suite advertised on the radio (5)
|
| Homophones (advertised on the radio) of “sink” (piece of bathroom suite) | ||
| 23 | STAY |
Support Remain (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 25 | OAF |
Chancellor left out idiot (3)
|
| O[l]AF (chancellor left out). Julius (who lives in Germany) is referring to the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz. |
Reliably entertaining grid from Julius; favourites included:
ETRUSCANS (for the deftly derived ‘E’), WAFER-THIN, LIBERTY BELL (for the ‘Philadelphia Freedom’), EAVESDROP (for the ‘Snoop Dogg’) and STINGIER (for the double meaning of ‘tight’).
Thanks to Julius and Pete.
(I saw RED AS A LOBSTER as a whole clue cryptic with the lobster encased in its shell).
Thanks, Julius for another fine puzzle.
Thanks, Pete for a lovely blog.
Liked ETRUSCANS (for the same reason as Diane@1), SOLAR FLARE (great surface-reminded me of corpsing) and AGENDA (One says the charges are trumped up. The judges say ‘shouldn’t hear you’ outside the court—No. I’m not a supporter of ‘that man’).
RED AS A LOBSTER
Agree with Diane@1. Though the first part (the underlined words) works well as a stand-alone def, the second part needs some cooking to make it to a cryptic def grade. Yea. I go with the view that the whole clue is a cryptic def.
Missed out CABLE TV from my faves mentioned above. Humorous as Pete says. Liked the clue a lot.
ADO
Looks like each of the words hubble-bubble (buzz), TOIL (in the sense of Time Off In Lieu=Accrued Days Off) and trouble is a def in itself (Am I repeating something obvious?).
Enjoyed this.
Favourites included: THE BIG SLEEP, LIBERTY BELL, ETRUSCANS, PALM OIL
Thanks Julius and Pete Maclean
Thanks for the (early?) blog, very enjoyable puzzle, I totally endorse your comments.
Never seen ROFL before so I was glad it was just part of the anagram.
Clever use of cauldron to give ADO with the allusion to the witches in Macbeth, I thought it was a direct quote but I have been told they say ” Double double ….. ” .
Agree with Diane@1 , the E TRUSS was very neatly done.
I don’t remember much of this puzzle, except that I said to myself, some of this setter’s clues are really amusing and original, he seems to be getting even better, and I need to write a compliment when the blog comes out. But then Pete crystallised my sentiments in his introduction. Well done (again), Julius and Pete.
For WAFER-THIN (mint) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr_Creosote – from Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxRnenQYG7I
Liked EMPTY “Vacant English politician, gutless Tory” – E TRUSS? and STAY “Support Remain” – Too late, unlike the blog.
Thanks J&PM
Thanks Julius for an enjoyable crossword. I found this easier than usual for Julius/Knut but just as crafty as the more difficult offerings. My top picks included ETRUSCANS, ONYX, RAISE HELL, PIER, EAVESDROP, and STINGIER. Thanks Pete for the blog.
I cannot add much to what has already been written. Wonderful set of clues from Julius – a reliably good setter.
Thanks Pete and Julius
First time in ages I’ve managed to complete the grid, but was equally delighted by the quality of the clues. Coincidentally, I finished the puzzle just before heading off to see ‘Dead of Night’ at the pictures.
ADO (ref me@3)
Worplay+three def’s: What do others think?
Very nice set of clues.
I think KVa is right in seeing something that I totally missed with Ado.
Thanks to Julius and Pete.
7dn (ADO) following earlier comments by KVa: Collins 2023 gives us “ADO Austral abbreviation for accumulated day off”: we can presumably infer the use as a plural. I could not find this in either Chambers 2016 or ODE 2010. I could not find TOIL as an acronym in any of those three dictionaries. I could verify both acronyms using my default search engine. But are not ado and toil near enough to synonyms in their ordinary meanings?
ADO
PB@13
Yes. Toil and ADO are synonymous for our purposes.
Just got carried away by the acronyms. 🙂
Thanks for that, KVa@14. I cannot help wondering whether whichever of those acronyms was coined second was done so deliberately to match the similarity of meaning.