Jason is today’s FT setter.
I risk being accused of showing off here, but my first run through left me with only three unsolved clues (MEANS TESTS, INTEND and my LOI CRUISE SHIP). I don’t know if that means this could be called an easy puzzle or that I was just on the setter’s wavelength this morning. The definition for MEANS TESTS was a bit weak, but that apart, this was a good crossword, and maybe a good one for newbies to tackle as it used a fair number of devices.
Thanks, Jason.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | WASABI |
Hot stuff some view as a bighead (6)
|
| Hidden in [some] “vieW AS A BIghead” | ||
| 9 | TEA PARTY |
Mad Hatter’s do is separate, besides being back outside (3,5)
|
| <=YET (“besides”, being back) outside APART (“separate”) | ||
| 10 | DACE |
Fish is finally netted by expert (4)
|
| [finally] (nette)D by ACE (“expert”) | ||
| 11 | CONCLUSION |
Verdict on councils in chaos (10)
|
| *(on councils) [anag:in chaos] | ||
| 12 | DIVA |
Passionate about this prima donna (4)
|
| <=AVID (“passionate”, about) | ||
| 13 | CHINCHILLA |
Rabbit with Cockney pal about cold (10)
|
| CHINA (“Cockney pal”) about CHILL (“cold”)
“China plate” is Cockney rhyming slang for “mate”. At first, I was going to cry foul on this clue, but I Googled and chinchilla is also a breed (or more accurately a group of three breeds) of rabbit which resemble chinchillas due to their markings. |
||
| 17 | KEPI |
Legionnaire’s cover is mostly supported by one (4)
|
| [mostly] KEP(t) (“supported”) by I (one)
A kepi is a flat topped hat, as worn by some soldiers and policemen in France. |
||
| 18 | ADIEU |
Macron’s farewell exit in Australia (5)
|
| DIE (“exit”) in .au (the internet domain name for “Australia”) | ||
| 19 | APSE |
Primate going round southern part of church (4)
|
| APE (“primate”) going round S (southern) | ||
| 21 | MEANS TESTS |
Such as check shabby, small tires (5,5)
|
| MEAN (“shabby”) + S (small) + TESTS (“tires”) | ||
| 23 | CHAR |
Daily toast (4)
|
| Double definition, the first referring to a cleaner. | ||
| 24 | UP FOR GRABS |
Available grub so far is cracking, Papa gets stuck in (2,3,5)
|
| P (Papa, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) gets stuck in *(grub so far) [anag:is cracking] | ||
| 28 | RUDE |
Coarse priest dropped by puritan (4)
|
| P (priest) dropped by (p)RUDE (“puritan”) | ||
| 29 | ACADEMIA |
Backing planned a college then a world of scholars (8)
|
| [backing] <=(AIMED (“planned”) + A + C (college) then A) | ||
| 30 | INTEND |
I’ll stand with new guard being mean (6)
|
| I will stand with N (new) + TEND (“guard”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MAGAZINE |
Arsenal rocked amazing energy (8)
|
| *(amazing) [anag:rocked] + E (energy) | ||
| 2 | LACERATION |
Cut a line actor fluffed (10)
|
| *(a line actor) [anag:fluffed] | ||
| 3 | WITCHCRAFT |
Humour child with knack for spelling? (10)
|
| WIT (“humour”) + ch. (child) with CRAFT (“knack”) | ||
| 4 | STUN |
Second cask of ale to take your breath away (4)
|
| S (second) + TUN (“cask of ale”) | ||
| 5 | BAIL |
Bond’s bachelor bother (4)
|
| B (bachelor) + AIL (“bother”) | ||
| 6 | BATS |
Stick up for crackers (4)
|
| <-STAB (“stick”, up) | ||
| 7 | STROLL |
Saunter straight over lines (6)
|
| Str, (straight) + O (over) + LL (lines) | ||
| 14 | IVIES |
Climbers from prestigious universities? (5)
|
| Cryptic definition referring to ivy (climbing plant) and the Ivy League (US universities) | ||
| 15 | CRUISE SHIP |
Trendy coasts to the north? _______ will take you (6,4)
|
| HIP (“trendy”) with CRUISES (“coasts”) to the north | ||
| 16 | INACCURATE |
Popular current member of clergy’s out (10)
|
| IN (“popular”) + AC (alternating “current”) + CURATE (“member of clergy”) | ||
| 20 | STANDING |
Smart taking onboard what’s more upright (8)
|
| STING (“smart”) taking onboard AND (“what’s more”) | ||
| 22 | EXPECT |
Suppose previous partner kissed loudly (6)
|
| EX (“previous partner”) + homophone/pun/aural wordplay [loudly] of PECKED (“kissed”) | ||
| 25 | ODDS |
Evens (or not) (4)
|
| In betting ODDS, “evens” is an equal chance of winning and losing, as in the toss of a coin, but in maths, even numbers are the opposite of odd ones, hence the “or not”. | ||
| 26 | GUMS |
Holier-than-thou lifting American wellies (4)
|
| <=SMUG (“holier-than-thou”, lifting)
Gum is short for “gumboot” – it’s in the dictionary, but I’ve never come across this meaning of gum before. |
||
| 27 | AJAR |
Open answer over quarrel (4)
|
| A (answer) over JAR (“quarrel”) |
Enjoyable, thanks Jason & Loonapick.
There were a few synonyms that had me scratching my head: jar/quarrel, stick/stab, tires/tests. I didn’t like “str” for “straight”, nor the clues for ODDS and MEANS TESTS. New to my lexicon: DACE & KEPI; the latter I had to reveal.
I didn’t find it as much as a write in as the blogger, but a satisfying number went in on first pass, then I slowed down. I liked WITCHCRAFT as I solved it.
I came to solve this as I really like Julius’s News puzzles and he didn’t disappoint here.
Thank you to Julius and loonapick.
15d CRUISE SHIP – We don’t often see the multiple underlines gimmick in a clue: ” ____” — and they’re hard to underline, if they’re the definition.
13a CHINCHILLA – Chas & Dave’s Rabbit goes nicely in a clue involving CRS
Here’s one like both of the above, from Paul in the G in 2013: “Sonny didn’t tremble ___ , in view of East London? (8,4)”
Thanks J&L
Shanne @2. You are mixing up Julius and Jason. Str. for “straight” is in Chambers. If you stick someone with a knife you stab them (again in Chambers). I think tire and test are close but not sure about jar and quarrel.
Thanks for the blog, good set of clues, I like the variation in standard in the FT , it is what the Guardian used to be like.
JAR=quarrel as a straight definition in Chambers93 , overlap of TESTS and tires is not so clear.
STR= straight in coin collecting.
I’d agree with Loonapick about this making a good entry level puzzle; clues like DACE, AVID, WASABI ADIEU and APSE, along with some friendly anagrams, for example, CONCLUSION.
Like Frankie, I was reminded of Chas & Dave with CHINCHILLA. I admit I didn’t know ‘jar’ as ‘quarrel’ and relied on the definition here. As I say, a friendly puzzle in that regard.
As for CHAR (oh, another fish to go with DACE), I wouldn’t want my toast charred or my steak toasted!!
I enjoyed this anyway, and as Roz says, the varying levels of difficulty are appreciated – you never know what to expect from one day to the next. Though some setters’ names are a good indication of a battle ahead!
Thanks to Jason and Loonapick.
One last thought, ‘stick’ in this sense always reminds me of ‘sticking a pig’ from Lord of the Flies.
I agree with the favourable comments although I did not find the puzzle as easy as Loonapick.
A kepi is also worn by members of the French Foreign Legion.
Thanks to Jason and Loonapick.
We found this fairly straightforward by our standards, which was a nice change, and agree with the earlier comments about it being good for newbies. We couldn’t parse 29D ( a definite “Doh” moment when reading the blog).
Thanks to Jason and Loonapick for the puzzle and blog respectively.
Loonapick, I dream of the day when I can write in all but three clues! Even after so many years of doing puzzles, I am far from that; but always happy to learn new tricks of the trade; and even happier when I can figure out clues rather than parsing them after figuring out the definition.
Could someone elaborate on the definition “such as check”? I think I know what a means test is, but this definition is unintelligible to me.
I, too, was unfamiliar with jar = quarrel, but OK.
If you apply for certain benefits, grants etc a MEANS TEST will check your income to see if you are eligible.
Roz@11: That I understand. How does “such as check” translate into that concept?
To check for eligibilty you use something such as a MEANS TEST .
I think we all found 21ac an unsatisfactory clue. I would parse MEANS.as “such as”but I could be wrong..
Roz@13: I guess it could be read as: “such things as interpose a check [i.e., a threshold],” but that seems like an awful lot of work for the solver to do to make sense of it, even for a “cryptic” clue.
Thanks Jason and loonapick
18ac: I suppose putting “Macron’s” on the front helps the surface and makes the clue easier to solve, but it is really not necessary. The word adieu has been a perfectly good English word with an English pronunciation since at least the 15th century: SOED 2007 p 27 says LME, which means 1350-1469, and Collins 2023 p 23 says C14. SOED says that the use as an interjection is archaic, but the noun is still current.
21ac: I was ready to suggest that perhaps “Such as check” can be read as “The sorts of thing which check”, but Cineraria has already come up with that idea.
I agree with Roz@5 about standards.
I thought 21A was fine, Testing and Taxing and Tiring all associated for me – that’s bl**dy long covid for you.
I didn’t know 12A but my OH’s 1st ever catch was a Dace we called Freddie which lived in the bath overnight before he took it back to the canal. Young and stupid. (Us, not the fish). Thanks to all.
27d AJAR – The trouble with Chambers: no citations. Oed.com has ‘JAR,v1 … II. Senses relating to discord or divergence. …
II.12. 1550– intransitive. To be at strife or active variance; to quarrel; to dispute, bicker, wrangle.’
Latest citation: ‘1840 We were everlastingly jarring and saying disagreeable things to each other. Lady C. M. C. Bury, History of Flirt xi’
Hovis @4 – so I am, no idea why. Apologies to Jason (and to Julius)
I also like the variation in difficulty in FT puzzles that Roz@5 mentioned.
There is much with which to agree in previous comments. I too found this on the easier side, and I made quick work of it. That suited me fine as I did not have much time available. But it also meant I did not appreciate the excellent variety and some of the fine surfaces until I read the blog. Like GDU@1 some of the synonyms were new to me, as was KEPI (I had the i and so wanted to write “topi”, but happily could not make that parse). Despite the explanations, the MEANS TEST definition still does not jell for me.
Clues I ticked along the way were DIVA, RUDE, INACCURATE and ADIEU.
Thanks Jason and loonapick