Weekend puzzle from the FT of July 20, 2024
I think this is Rosa’s best puzzle in a while. I found most of it fairly easy but very clever. My first-in was 1a (ALMATY) and I finished with 6 (UNORTHODOX). Plaudits especially to 6 (UNORTHODOX) for being unorthodox, 2 (MENTATION), 13 (AIR LETTERS), 15 (SPINACH), 18 (ENTIRETY), 21 (SPORRAN) and 28 (NUMBER ONE).
Thank you, Rosa.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ALMATY |
Part of calm, atypical Asian capital (6)
|
| Hidden word (part of). The definition is slightly off as Almaty, a city I have visited, was once the capital of Kazakhstan but is not any more. In 1997 the capital was moved to Astana. | ||
| 4 | MINUTEST |
Most negligible, almost negative tax (8)
|
| MINU[s] (almost negative) + TEST (tax) | ||
| 10 | HONEYTRAP |
Polish political group lying about blackmail scheme (9)
|
| HONE (polish) + PARTY (political group) backwards (about) | ||
| 11 | ODOUR |
Love sour smell (5)
|
| O (love) + DOUR (sour) | ||
| 12 | ROAM |
Retired New Zealander leaving island for ramble (4)
|
| MAOR[i] (retired New Zealander leaving island) backwards (retired) | ||
| 13 | AIR LETTERS |
Content of fairly petty verse and light correspondence (3,7)
|
| [f]AIRL[y] [p]ETT[y] [v]ERS[e] | ||
| 15 | SPINACH |
Leaves chaps in Barking (7)
|
| Anagram (barking) of CHAPS IN | ||
| 16 | DROWSY |
Lethargic, empty day filled with arguments (6)
|
| ROWS (arguments) in (filled with) D[a]Y | ||
| 19 | SNAKED |
Surrey’s opener stripped and writhed (6)
|
| S[urrey] + NAKED (stripped) | ||
| 21 | SPORRAN |
Pouch and fancy aprons worn by king (7)
|
| R (king) in (worn by) anagram (fancy) of APRONS | ||
| 23 | GERALD FORD |
President waving red flag over road (6,4)
|
| Anagram (waving) of RED FLAG + O (over) + RD (road) | ||
| 25 | ANTI |
Opposed to BBC broadcast in Manchester? (4)
|
| Homophone (broadcaster in Manchester) of “Auntie” | ||
| 27 | IDLED |
Regularly indulged, daughter lounged around (5)
|
| I[n[D[u]L[g]E[d] + D (daughter) | ||
| 28 | NUMBER ONE |
First stupefied by drug, Nero fiddled (6,3)
|
| NUMB (stupefied) + E (drug) + anagram (fiddled) of NERO | ||
| 29 | MACERATE |
Club fee is steep (8)
|
| MACE (club) + RATE (fee) | ||
| 30 | GUN-SHY |
Scared of firing bold German coming forward (3-3)
|
| G (German) + UNSHY (bold). I thank BC for help in understanding the wordplay here. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | APHORISM |
Saw pair mosh wildly (8)
|
| Anagram (wildly) of PAIR MOSH | ||
| 2 | MENTATION |
Thinking of people heading out of Waterloo? (9)
|
| MEN (people) + [s]TATION (heading out of Waterloo) | ||
| 3 | TOYS |
US theatre awards excluding new plays (4)
|
| TO[n]YS (US theatre awards excluding new) | ||
| 5 | IMPALED |
One’s turned white, transfixed (7)
|
| IM (one’s) + PALED | ||
| 6 | UNORTHODOX |
Point circled by cycling duo, old and cross (10)
|
| NORTH (point) in (circled by) anagram (cycling) of DUO + O (old) + X (cross). And what is the definition? Ah, well. I think we have a case where the whole clue is definition by virtue of being unorthodox in not having a definition. In other words, it speaks for itself. | ||
| 7 | ERODE |
Alternately learn lines and fret (5)
|
| [l]E[a]R[n] + ODE (lines) | ||
| 8 | THRASH |
Half-cut Goth spots party (6)
|
| [go]TH + RASH (spots). ‘Thrash’ as an informal word for a party is new to me. | ||
| 9 | WRAITH |
Anger inspiring current spirit (6)
|
| I (current) in (inspiring) WRATH (anger) | ||
| 14 | BACKSLIDER |
Recidivist licks bread rolls (10)
|
| Anagram (rolls) of LICKS BREAD | ||
| 17 | STRENUOUS |
Vigorous nurses out dancing (9)
|
| Anagram (dancing) of NURSES OUT | ||
| 18 | ENTIRETY |
The whole thing carries on (8)
|
| RE (on) in (carries) ENTITY (thing) | ||
| 20 | DEFUNCT |
Fun-filled month beginning to tire invalid (7)
|
| FUN (fun) in (filled) DEC (month) + T[ire] | ||
| 21 | SCRAMS |
Gets lost in small crowds (6)
|
| S (small) CRAMS (crowds) | ||
| 22 | AGEISM |
A short siege brought about mass prejudice (6)
|
| A (a) + SIEG[e] backwards (brought about) + M (mass) | ||
| 24 | RELIC |
Finally discover the Spanish Inquisition’s 1st- century sacred object (5)
|
| [discove]R + EL (the Spanich) + I[nquisition] + C (century) | ||
| 26 | ZEBU |
Some prize bulls humped ox (4)
|
| Hidden word (some) |
It is always a pleasure to solve a Rosa Klebb puzzle, equally so this one. Almost every clue had a wonderful surface.
I solved anti-clockwise starting at 1. It was almost a write in until the NE corner, which needed some thought. As Pete said, while it was easy it was very clever. I had different favourites to Pete, but almost all were good so I will not dive into my list.
I will be sure to use my newfound knowledge about ALMITY and Manchester pronunciations wisely
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Pete
Reliably entertaining from Rosa. Favourites included ANTI (for the Mancunian pronunciation), MACERATE (smooth surface) and BACKSLIDER (amusing surface).
MENTATION was new to me – a lucky guess which checked out. And it could only be THRASH though I’m more accustomed to BASH in this sense. But I couldn’t fathom the definition for UNORTHODOX and was blocked on orthodox and ‘crosses’ so I think Pete’s idea works well.
Thanks to Rosa and Pete
Thanks Rosa for another splendid crossword with every clue deserving a tick. I did select some favourites — MINUTEST, HONEYTRAP, DROWSY, NUMBER ONE, MACERATE, TOYS, DEFUNCT, and AGEISM — but eight clues picked at random would have also made a worthy list. My one complaint is that we don’t see Rosa Klebb more often. Thanks Pete for the blog and shedding light on UNORTHODOX, the one clue that I didn’t fully understand.
Thanks Diane and Tony – you both reminded me that I meant to mention UNORTHODOX. I had a rather terse note that it has no definition, but all was forgiven when I read Pete’s explanation. Similar to Diane, I think his idea works well.
Thanks Rosa and Pete.
Liked ANTI, GUN-SHY and ZEBU.
ALMATY
Noticed the issue with the def.
UNORTHODOX
Didn’t get it. If it’s what Pete says, it’s a ‘new device’ (and maybe a one-off thing).
I wonder what mood Rosa Klebb was in when she compiled this. UNORTHODOX, was, well, unorthodox.
Nero fiddling under the influence of some drug. He probably was.
And where does a Maori go to RAMBLE once they’ve left the island?
What was on the bread rolls that the recidivist licked?
And the prize bulls humping the ox? TMI
My picks were MACERATE, short and sweet, Club fee is steep., a totally different story to the answer, and AGEISM, again a great surface. I liked the mass prejudice.
I enjoyed this in its ENTIRETY, the whole thing carries on. Brilliant.
Thanks for the blog, very enjoyable puzzle , neat and concise clues.
I liked the clever , misleading capital P for HONEYTRAP , the “light” correspondence for AIR LETTERS . When I was abroad I remember the very thin paper and envelopes for writing letters .
UNORTHODOX I just thought it was a missing word in the printing, still not sure.
ZEBU I think the definition is “humped ox”, it is not the Cyclops puzzle.
Like Pete I thought this was a really good puzzle – which I got to do twice as my laptop wiped out my answers so when I went back to look at it, the grid was empty. Fortunately I had enjoyed it so much I remembered the answers.
And I too wish we saw Rosa Klebb puzzles more frequently.
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Pete Maclean
I agree with every word of Tony Santucci’s comment @3.
Many thanks to Rosa and Pete.
The clue for 6d UNORTHODOX has changed from “Point circled by cycling duo, old and cross (10)” to “Point circled by cycling duo, old, cross and eccentric (10)”.
So just a typo.
[The “FinaNcial” typo continued from last Thursday and Friday’s blogs.]
When I got to solve this, the eccentric definition was in the UNORTHODOX clue, so I was less mystified than everyone else, but I didn’t get to solve this until after the blog was up, when I realised I hadn’t looked at it yet.
Considering I started this in the not so wee small hours after blogging another crossword, this was very amenable. I checked ALMATY, because at some point I spent ages learning the capitals of the world not entirely successfully and that was an unfamiliar city.
Thank you to Rosa Klebb, who it’s always a pleasure to see, and Pete Maclean.
Ah, of course, a zebu is a humped ox. Thank you.
Excellent.. altho I had to check the ox… and the capital, my knowledge of Kazakhstan is limited to Roger Deakin, but I’d mislaid that nugget of information.. also never sure if it will be a currency it being in FT and all… apart from that pretty much as paddymelon@6… Rosa always brightens up an FT challenge..
Thanks Rosa n Pete Maclean
An enjoyable challenge with some excellent clues. We solved the original version of 6dn and were quite pleased with ourselves for seeing it as, er, UNORTHODOX. Learning that the clue has changed rather took the shine off things.
We also wondered if we were getting a pangram but J V and Q are missing.
Thanks, Rosa and Pete.
Agree with all comments about liking rosa klebb. Would appreciate seeing more from this excellent setter.
I agree with allan_c at 15. I like UNORTHODOX the way it was originally published, typo or not. It struck me then, and still does, as exactly the kind of joke that Rosa Klebb would indulge in and pull off gracefully.