Always good to see IO in the Wednesday FT slot.
A few new words and crossword devices for me. Which is exactly why I enjoy IO so much. Please do share your thoughts in the comments, as I don’t actually know the answers, I just make them up š You may see things differently and all input is welcome.
(WEARING NO)* (*pants)
COPE< (carry on, <the wrong way) with H (hot)
DI (CID man) wearing NO MAC (ill-prepared for showers, it seems)
A lovely misleading clue with “CID MAN” almost being an anagram for NOMADIC
DI = Detective Inspector; CID = Criminal Investigation Department
(THE + EACH)* (*suffering)
C (cape) + IS ON A PAR (is comparable with) cycling
“POLLIES” (parrots (see clue 23), “reportedly”)
Definition, clue, second definition
For the clue: U (university) stops N (new) + N (new) i.e. news
CAIN (fratricide, Biblical) engages APT (suitable)
“OH NO” (that’s bad news, “in auditorium”)
F (fine) + LINT (threads)
(DISCER[ni]B[le])* (*somehow, with LINE obscured)
[cont]RETEM[ps]< (a little, <over)
COL (pass) with (LOU (Louise) and I conducting Q and A)
[stop-moti]ON AN[imation] (nailed by)
Biblical reference (read more here if you like)
FORM (shape) inwardly malleable, i.e. manipulate the inner letters
FEE (retainer) + RED< (bloody thing, <lifted)
Double definition
‘Ready’ is slang for money, ‘old’ takes us to the past, ‘Don’ is a Spanish title – leading us to the old Spanish Dollars which were known as ‘pieces of eight’
A CON (a prisoner) parts AND A (with a)
PETER (safe) given PAN (cake)
“MORE” (again, “for the ear”) with TALC; OIL (scented applications)
Cryptic definition
27, 23 gives us ‘dead parrot’ – from the clues numbered as such
13. Was it opened by declaring Martin Luther a heretic? (3,2,5)
Cryptic definition
Martin Luther was declared a heretic at the Diet of Worms (Wiki link here if you want to read more)
PENN (quaker) takes TIME (moments) + TO (for)
Pentimento is a fine art term, where underlayers in a painting are revealed
ROGET< (lexicographer, <looks up) dividing CAY (key)
ROOT (appear well established) in PICS (X-rays?)
Cryptic definition
To get to COSTLY (valuable) we need to take the INITIAL letter of the word and divide it to A TENTH (in Roman numerals C is a tenth of M)
PAR (the usual) + ROT (nonsense)
Double definition
‘Blue’ for ‘blow’ in the sense of ‘to squander’
Double definition
Lovely crossword with plenty of misdirection. I can see the main reference is to the iconic Monty Python sketch of the dead parrot (27d, 23d), the Norwegian Blue, or Polly, which has shuffled off its mortal coil 9ac, 26ac, 8ac, 7ac. I also note Treasure Island in Captain Flint 17ac and 20ac, but don’t know if there is any connection. Thank Io and Oriel.
Thanks Io and Oriel!
Brilliant puzzle. Superb blog!
NOMADIC
Agree with the observation in the blog.
CAPARISON
The cryptic reading is more like ‘IS ON A PAR (is comparable)’ with cycling.
It works in a way, I guess.
NORWEGIAN BLUE, CAPTAIN FLINT, FEEDER CATEGORY, ā¦there could be more couples.
The first one is a parrot. The significance of other pairs is not known to me.
Edit: Sorry Steven@1. Took quite some time to type…
Noticed the same as Steven and additionally PIECES OF EIGHT for some parrot speak (was that in Treasure Island).
Meant to mention that I originally had FLAME for 20a, which I think fits the clue.
Thanks Hovis for clarifying the link to Pieces of Eight and the parrot in Treasure Island.
I meant to add that 18d took me for ever, as it was an unknown word to me.
Lovely crossword with a nice piratical and parroty theme
Many thanks to Io and Oriel
Thanks for the blog, CAPTAIN FLINT was owned by Long John Silver and often said PIECES OF EIGHT .
Not IO at his most fearsome but clever clues and neat wordplay as always.
Retired, battered and bruised by this – and now humbled by the fact I appear to be the first here to have struggled. But Io is certainly my limit and, whilst I have completed the occasional puzzle, defeat is something to which I have become accustomed. MORTAL COIL, THE HISTORY OF MR POLLY, CAN OF WORMS, PENTIMENTO, PROOTICS, MOSTLY was a really bad run in the downs and the point at which I threw in the towel.
Thanks for the test, Io, and Oriel for the blog
I’m with you, PostMark@8. I gave up with about half completed and glad I did now I’ve read the (excellent) blog.
Thanks for the drubbing, IO, and for the clear explanations, Oriel.
Thanks IO and Oriel.
Terrific puzzle!
Far too hard for me.
Gave up at 50%.
Didnāt enjoy.
It would be fascinating know how many people on planet earth completed this puzzle. I suspect the FT is catering for a tiny tiny number.
Well done to those that succeeded
Yes.. too many obscurities for actual enjoyment, most already mentioned… also I’d say dodgy cluing such as Fratricide = Cain, altho I actually succeeded with that one! Pretty sure BIRDCAGE isn’t synonymous with FEEDER either, or PAN=CAKE? Was prematurely optimistic after a decent start on W side.. and actually chuckled at CAN OF WORMS..
Thanks IO n Oriel for your clear explanations…
Undrell @12. I was once caught out before by that meaning for āfratricideā. The first definition in Chambers is āA person who kills his or her brotherā – so Cain isnāt dodgy.
Undrell @12: your comment made me look again at the blog for FEEDER. The def should be ‘thing in birdcage’; it is only ‘bloody’ = RED that is lifted. And Chambers does give ‘to cake’ as the fifth intransitive definition of ‘pan’. I think in the sense of to form a cake/pan or hard crust. And ‘fratricide’ is defined as ‘a person who kills his brother’ as well as ‘the murder of a brother’ – which is surprising.
Any compiler can construct overly difficult puzzles, but for what purpose? A puzzle like this will just turn people off to cryptics.
Ha brilliant fun! Lovely puzzle with cracking thematic content. I’ll freely admit I needed Oriel’s wisdom to parse NOMADIC. I stared at the obvious solution from the crossers and def for ages saying “where the `}$$|ā©| does the bloody ‘O’ come from?”
Thanks Io and Oriel.
We found this challenging but thanks as ever to IO and Oriel.
We are familiar with The Diet of Worms but can anyone explain how āDietā becomes ācanā in 13D?
I suppose pirateswitch@17 because it was opened and that is what you do to a can.
Some lovely clues and theme but also some clues were quite beyond me; I agree that it was too hard. Dnf.
Piratewitch I think the idea is just that the the Diet of Worms led to a lot of trouble, though I suppose, if you literally had a diet of worms, you might open a can to eat them. Great puzzle.
Didn’t enjoy this at all. Got fed up after solving a third of it and started cheating. Too many obscurities to be satisfying.
Some days I say to myself, āOK, Roz can have her fun, Iāll just wait for tomorrowā. When I canāt get a clue, then look at the answer and still canāt get it, and then read the blog and still canāt get it, I know itās time to move on. This puzzle featured 5 NIAMYs.
I always give IOās puzzles a try, because occasionally I do well, and other times I enjoy learning from my failures. Not this time, unfortunately. To me, epich will always be an era, not a date; mortal coil will not mean trouble (life can be good, no?); when something is a revelation it wonāt be a pentimento; and if I had ever heard of The History of Mr. Polly, I wouldnāt have known it to be a eulogy.
This is not a complaint. If six of the seven FT cryptics are fun each week, Iām more than happy. And if the other one pleases the better solvers, Iām happy for them as well.
I completely agree with Moly @11.