Puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 3, 2024
Once again this week I am unable to publish the completed grid. It took me a while to parse the wordplay of some clues but I think it’s a fine puzzle. My favorite clues are 10 (LAMAS), 17 (DISTILLER) and 29 (SECOND MORTGAGE).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PLAIN CHOCOLATE |
Unappealing Disney film about horse delayed the bittersweet stuff (5,9)
|
| PLAIN (unappealing) + H (horse) in COCO (Disney film) + LATE (delayed) | ||
| 10 | LAMAS |
Priests briefly gather on line (5)
|
| L (line) + AMAS[s] (briefly gather) | ||
| 11 | NAME-DROPS |
American ponders tailored clothes, and tries to impress (4- 5)
|
| AM (American) in (clothes) anagram (tailored) of PONDERS | ||
| 12 | CHENNAI |
That man interrupts US broadcaster by capital city in Asia (7)
|
| HE (that man) in (interrupts) CNN (US broadcaster) + AI (capital, i.e. A1) | ||
| 13 | CHOLERA |
Monarch has answer, fixing awkward situation or complaint (7)
|
| HOLE (awkward situation) in CR (monarch, i.e. Charles Rex) + A (answer) | ||
| 14 | STING |
Invest in gigantic banking scam (5)
|
| Hidden word (banking) | ||
| 16 | ABDOMINAL |
Possibly gutsy, I tangled with a bold man (9)
|
| Anagrem (tangled) of I A BOLD MAN | ||
| 19 | FOGGINESS |
World traveller aboard English ship — this may prevent sight-seeing (9)
|
| FOGG (world traveler, i.e Phineas Fogg from “Around the World in 80 Days”) + IN (aboard) + E (English) + SS (ship) | ||
| 20 | NACRE |
Tin backing on decorative material (5)
|
| CAN (tin) backwards (backing) + RE (on) | ||
| 22 | ANTIGUA |
Adult books one summer period around tropical island (7)
|
| A (adult) + NT (books) + I (one) + AUG (summer period) backwards (around) | ||
| 25 | INSPECT |
Check nose of plane? Perhaps fly around (7)
|
| P[lane] in (around) of INSECT (perhaps fly) | ||
| 27 | CENSORIAL |
Criminal in clear, so working to clean things up (9)
|
| Anagram (criminal) of IN CLEAR SO | ||
| 28 | RAISE |
Mother caught some sunshine (5)
|
| Homphone (caught) of “rays” (sunshine) | ||
| 29 | SECOND MORTGAGE |
A liability for the House? Rees-Mogg can’t do otherwise (6,8)
|
| Anagram (otherwise) of REES MOGG CANT DO | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | LUMBERING |
Clumsily moving brown fish sandwiches (9)
|
| UMBER (brown) in (sandwiches) LING (fish) | ||
| 3 | IBSEN |
Rubbish essay’s intro penned by popular writer (5)
|
| BS (rubbish, i.e. bull shit) + E[ssay] together in (penned by) IN (popular) | ||
| 4 | CANDIDATE |
One standing Frank and, occasionally, Bertha up (9)
|
| CANDID (frank) + [b]E[r]T[h]A backwards (up) | ||
| 5 | OHMIC |
I see leader of maquis in charge of the Resistance (5)
|
| OH (I see) + M[aquis] + IC (in charge) | ||
| 6 | ODD-JOB MAN |
Not even bishop, say, defends OT figure, one without special skills (3-3,3)
|
| ODD (not even) + JOB (OT figure) + MAN (bishop say) | ||
| 7 | ANODE |
Output of a poet in part of cell (5)
|
| AN ODE (output of a poet) | ||
| 8 | ENSNARL |
Confusingly catch Anne’s trembling hands (7)
|
| Anagram (trembling) of ANNES + R L (hands, i.e. right and left) | ||
| 9 | SLACKS |
Son hasn’t got any trousers (6)
|
| S (son) + LACKS (hasn’t got any) | ||
| 15 | GOING DOWN |
Declining drink, try mixed gin at first (5,4)
|
| GO (try) + anagram (mixec) of GIN + DOWN (drink) | ||
| 17 | DISTILLER |
One could make spirit of policeman calmer (9)
|
| DI (policeman) + STILLER (calmer) | ||
| 18 | NICKERING |
What jewellery thief did without diamonds, laughing softly (9)
|
| NICKE[d] RING (what jewellery thief did without diamonds) | ||
| 19 | FRANCIS |
Bacon, perhaps, I stuffed in some European bread (7)
|
| I (I) in (stuffed in) FRANCS (some European bread, i.e. Swiss Francs) | ||
| 21 | ENTREE |
Part of the fare of Parisian in plane, say (6)
|
| EN (Parisian in) + TREE (plane, say) | ||
| 23 | TONIC |
Where Riviera tourists go, wanting stimulant boost (5)
|
| TO NIC[e] (where Riviera tourists go, wanting) | ||
| 24 | AXIOM |
A Greek princess accepts kiss, and maiden accepted proposition (5)
|
| X (kiss) in (accepts) A (a) + IO (Greek princess) + M (maiden) | ||
| 26 | SHRUG |
It indicates resignation of personnel, you heard, in case of sexting (5)
|
| HR (personnel) + U (you heard) in S[extin]G |
Thanks Buccaneer and Pete
The header for this blog currently contains a lot of extraneous material.
11ac: This is AM in anagram of “ponders”. “Clothes” is the containment indicator.
9dn: I think Buccaneer is having a bit of fun here. Having used “clothes” and “sandwiches” as containment indicators, he is now using “trousers” as the definition.
I agree PB, is quite a header.
I also agree with PB about 11ac. And for CHENNAI, I read capital as A1 (A one) rather than AI.
I was more on Buccaneer’s wavelength than I have been for a while. I often struggle with his longer clues. A couple of unknowns held me back a bit, but I got there steadily and managed to parse all but GOING DOWN. Thanks for the help with that clue, Pete. The puzzle seemed a bit heavy on charades, but I did feel there was still a good amount of variety and very nice surfaces. Favourites were a couple of very simple clues – SLACKS and ANODE – and the great anagram and surface in SECOND MORTGAGE.
All in all, an enjoyable puzzle and a great blog.
Thanks Buccaneer and Pete
[23d TONIC: TO NIC[e] – where Riviera tourists go, wanting E = “stimulant”, with just “boost” as the definition]
[Especially liked 19d FRANCIS and 4d CANDIDATE (“Frank”) for the two 11a NAME-DROPS — They were NIC[e]. 🙂 — Thanks B&PM]
Thanks for the blog , very good set of neat clues , clever wordplay throughout, SECOND MORTGAGE is a great spot .
Minor quibble for OHMIC , the science term refers to the general behaviour of a conductor and its characteristic, not the resistance as such. Chambers and Collins are no help. Maybe other dictionaries give a more general meaning.
Roz@6 re 5dn. SOED 2007 p 1991 gives “ohmic adjective of or pertaining to electrical resistance; esp. behaving in accordance with Ohm’s law” dated from late 19th century. ODE 2010 p 1233 just gives it as a derivative of ohm without a specific definition.
Sorry for the messed up title, now corrected. I have no idea how I managed that mess. And thank you for the corrections on CHENNAI and NAME-DROPS.
A bit challenging in places but all solvable; we must have been on Buccaneer’s wavelength. Last two in were FOGGINESS and FRANCIS after the penny dropped that the ‘world traveller’ wasn’t something sandwiched between E and SS. Favourite was SECOND MORTGAGE for the ‘parliamentary’ misdirection; we guess the clue may have been written before the recent election.
Thanks, Buccaneer and Pete.