This month’s geographically themed Sunday solve is brought to us by Sleuth. Find it on the FT website to download and print or solve online, or via the smartphone app.
The usual preamble:
A cryptic puzzle themed on one particular country. The name of the country should be inserted at 14 across. Work out the name of the country by solving the *asterisked clues, all undefined. Their solutions have some relevance to the country, such as its places, famous people, culture and language
Another very enjoyable entry in this fun series. Took me a while to work out the country we were after at 14a, but once I got it I surprised myself with how much I knew about MEXICO. Soundly clued throughout and as is often the case with this setter, a broad general knowledge is useful for the solver – I wasn’t familiar with the French actress or the Israeli dance but fortunately I did know the director and drink so was able to guess both solutions from the crossing letters and confirm the parsing with the assistance of good old Wikipedia.
Thanks, Sleuth!
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | AMERICA |
* One boarding posh car between two areas (7)
|
| I (one) in (boarding) MERC (Mercedes, posh car) between AA (2x A for area)
A football club based in Mexico City. |
||
| 10 | DEL TORO |
* Looted ground fringing river (3,4)
|
| Anagram (ground) of LOOTED around (fringing) R (river)
Guillermo Del Toro, Mexican film director, perhaps best known for Pan’s Labyrinth. |
||
| 11 | KAHLO |
* Something stunning about Rachel at intervals (5)
|
| KO (knockout, something stunning) about alternate letters (at intervals) of rAcHeL
Frida Kahlo, 1907-54, Mexican artist. |
||
| 12 | ENCHILADA |
* Two points followed by Greek character with foreign car (9)
|
| E N (east, north – two points) + CHI (Greek character) + LADA (foreign car)
A Mexican dish of a corn tortilla rolled around a filling and served with a sauce. |
||
| 13 | GERONIMO |
* Ordinary child, say, from the East (8)
|
| O (ordinary) + MINOR (child) + EG (for example, say) all reversed (from the east)
Geronimo, 1829-1909, military leader of the Apache people, who led action in Mexico and the US. |
||
| 14 | MEXICO |
* [See Notes] (6)
|
| 16 | DIAZ |
* Ring, not large, found by last character (4)
|
| DIA[L] (ring) less L (large) + Z (last character)
Porfirio Diaz, 1830-1915, army general and president of Mexico. |
||
| 18 | VILLA |
* A line trailed by historian almost making comeback (5)
|
| A + L (line) + LIV[y] (historian, almost) all reversed (making a comeback)
Pancho Villa, 1878-1923, general in the Mexican Revolution (responsible for overthrowing the aforementioned Porfirio Diaz). |
||
| 19 | VELA |
* Section in travel alert (4)
|
| Hidden (section) in traVEL Alert
Several possibilities… I’m going with Carlos Vela, Mexican footballer who played for Arsenal 2005-12 and won 72 caps for his country. But Sleuth may have been thinking of another Vela. |
||
| 23 | CUARON |
* French actress touring university (6)
|
| CARON (Leslie Caron, French-American actress) around (touring) U (university)
Alfonso Cuaron, Mexican film director. Y Tu Mama Tambien was the film that first brought him to my attention. |
||
| 24 | HORCHATA |
* Talk stopping Israeli dance (8)
|
| CHAT (talk) inserted in (stopping) HORA (Israeli dance)
A drink popular in Mexico, made from rice and typically flavoured with cinnamon and vanilla. I know of this from the 2010 song by Vampire Weekend. Never tried it though. |
||
| 26 | MARGARITA |
* Recall measure of weight with Japanese pottery (9)
|
| GRAM (measure of weight) reversed (recalled) + ARITA (Japanese pottery)
A cocktail of obscure origin but with a distinctive Mexican flavour, the primary ingredient being tequila, the Mexican spirit made from the blue agave plant. |
||
| 28 | EAGLE |
* Dog losing lead (5)
|
| [b]EAGLE (dog) less the first letter (losing lead)
The golden eagle appears on the flag of Mexico, though the national bird is the crested caracara, aka Mexican eagle. |
||
| 29 | CHOLULA |
* Old singer largely captivated by tea (7)
|
| O (old) + LUL[u] (singer, largely) inserted in (captivated by) CHA (tea)
An important city and religious site of ancient Mexico, located in the Mexican highlands. Also the name of a modern Mexican city. |
||
| 30 | HIDALGO |
* First person happy in retirement in house (7)
|
| I (first person) + GLAD (happy) reversed (in retirement) in HO (house)
Central Mexican state covering the area north of Mexico City. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PACKAGED |
Getting on after container is placed in box for transport? (8)
|
| AGED (getting on) after PACK (container) | ||
| 2 | TETHER |
Secure apartment, finally, given number (6)
|
| Last letter (finally) of apartmenT + ETHER (number) | ||
| 3 | DISOWNS |
Repudiates broadcast probing racket linked to Sweden (7)
|
| SOW (broadcast) inserted in (probing) DIN (racket) + S (Sweden) | ||
| 4 | WATER MAIN |
Maria went off to find underground pipe (5,4)
|
| Anagram (off) of MARIA WENT | ||
| 5 | ODIC |
Part of period, I conjecture, relating to lyric poetry (4)
|
| Hidden in (part of) periOD I Conjecture | ||
| 6 | CLAIMED |
Alleged fraudulent medical (7)
|
| Anagram (fraudulent) of MEDICAL | ||
| 7 | MORALISE |
Writer about sailor at sea gets to pontificate (8)
|
| ME (writer [of this crossword]) about an anagram (at sea) of SAILOR | ||
| 8 | TOMATO |
Part of a salad also covering piece of card on table (6)
|
| TOO (also) covering MAT (piece of card on table – as in a placemat) | ||
| 15 | ALLOPATHY |
Pat and Holly upset about a treatment of complaints? (9)
|
| Anagram (upset) of PAT HOLLY about A | ||
| 17 | ANACREON |
Greek poet getting advanced credit among acting element (8)
|
| A (advanced) + CR (credit) inserted in (among) A (acting) + NEON (element) | ||
| 20 | APAREJOS |
A little woman is overwhelmed by variety of spare packsaddles (8)
|
| A + JO (Jo March from the book Little Women) contained (overwhelmed) by an anagram (variety) of SPARE | ||
| 21 | GO KAPUT |
King and a prince, beset by arthritic condition, getting to collapse? (2,5)
|
| K (king) + A + P (prince) contained (beset) by GOUT (arthritic condition) | ||
| 22 | SCREEDS |
Set of beliefs found in extremely serious, long pieces of writing (7)
|
| CREED (set of beliefs) in first and last letters (extremely) of SeriouS | ||
| 23 | COMICS |
Male in charge in Greek island producing funny publications (6)
|
| M (male) + IC (in charge) in COS (Greek island) | ||
| 25 | ANGELS |
Answer about set financial backers (6)
|
| ANS (answer) about GEL (set) | ||
| 27 | IMAM |
Some slim, amiable leader in prayer (4)
|
| Hidden in (some) slIM AMiable |
I guessed the country early on when I had worked out ENCHILADA which was soundly clued as Widdersbel said. Some unknown words:ALLOPATHY,HORCHATA, ( Hora unknown too) but all gettable.
Fun puzzle and great blog. Muchas gracias Sleuth and Wifdersbel.
Thanks Sleuth and Widdersbel!
Fairly straightforward. Very enjoyable nonetheless!
Another in the series of great blogs!
Great crossword and blog, shame about my ignorance of all things Mexican. Every day’s a schoolday.
Thank you to Sleuth and Widdersbel.
As SM wrote.
initially I thought there was a bit too much obscure knowledge needed in the down clues, given most of the across answers are obscure to me. But in the end it was one of the more approachable geographically-themed puzzles. And there were plenty of enjoyable clues.
It was enjoyable to read the blog as well
Thank you Sleuth and Widdersbel