Puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 10, 2024
I was pleased to find a Julius puzzle this weekend. My first-in was 7a (EGGS) and my last was 7d (END-READER). Favourites are 1 (MASCARPONE), 3 (COCOA), 10 (BY ACCIDENT) and 20 (MARSALA). Thank you, Julius.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MASCARPONE |
Mum’s mobile comms device is missing — hard cheese! (10)
|
| MAS (mum’s) + CAR P[h]ONE (mobile comms device is missing hard) | ||
| 7 | EGGS |
Periodically engages clutch (4)
|
| E[n]G[a]G[e]S | ||
| 9 | URIC |
Swiss city bankers leaving — it’s to do with the water (4)
|
| [z]URIC[h] (Swiss city bankers leaving) | ||
| 10 | BY ACCIDENT |
Times: Ant & Dec Adrift Around Channel Islands Unintentionally (2,8)
|
| CI (Channel Islands) in (around) BY (times) + anagram (adrift) of ANT DEC | ||
| 11 | NO BALL |
Extra dance cancelled (2,4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | ESPRESSO |
Petroleum giant admits president shot (8)
|
| PRES (president) in (admits) ESSO (petroleum giant) | ||
| 13 | TIRAMISU |
‘Pick me up from Mauritius!’ ordered one flying United (8)
|
| Anagram (ordered) of MAURITI[u]S | ||
| 15 | DRAB |
Dull, monotonous successor to D Davis doesn’t have an answer (4)
|
| D[ominic] RA[a]B. Dominic Raab was the successor to David Davis as the UK’s Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union | ||
| 17 | CHOC |
Caught husband with wrappers from organic sweetie (4)
|
| C (caught) + H (husband) + O[rgani]C | ||
| 19 | ANAGRAMS |
Horse surrounded by adult sheep, rheas and hares? (8)
|
| A (adult) + NAG (horse) + RAMS (sheep) | ||
| 22 | LOCAL PUB |
Low calorie starters of pickled unagi by neighbourhood establishment (5,3)
|
| LO-CAL (low calorie) + P[ickled] U[nagi] B[y] | ||
| 23 | CASTRO |
A particular male soprano, not a tenor, who was fond of a cigar (6)
|
| CASTR[at]O (a particular male soprano, not A T) | ||
| 25 | HARMONISED |
Awful ham De Niro’s made to sound good (10)
|
| Anagram (awful) of HAM DE NIROS | ||
| 26 | GRAF |
German nobleman, retired right wing politician, leaving A&E (4)
|
| [NIgel] FARAGE (right wing politician) backwards (retired) with an A and the E removed | ||
| 27 | USED |
Exploited top journalist in The States (4)
|
| US (The States) + ED (top journalist) | ||
| 28 | EAST GERMAN |
Chap behind wall spraying men with tear gas (4,6)
|
| Anagram (spraying) of MEN TEAR GAS | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | A PRIORI |
Kantian principle earlier artificial intelligence set out (1,6)
|
| PRIOR (earlier) in (set out) AI (artificial intelligence). I do not quite see how a priori can be a principle but then I know very little about Kant. | ||
| 3 | COCOA |
Drink served on American choo-choo regularly (5)
|
| C[h]O[o] C[h]O[o] + A (American) | ||
| 4 | RABELAIS |
French intellectual is supporting revolution of 22 (8)
|
| ALE BAR (local pub) backwards (revolution of) + IS (is) | ||
| 5 | ON A REGULAR BASIS |
Oscar, 4, rang us roughly once a week perhaps (2,1,7,5)
|
| Anagram (roughly) of O (Oscar) RABELAIS (4) RANG US | ||
| 6 | ESCAPE |
Get free drug (small wrap) (6)
|
| E (drug)+ S (small) + CAPE (wrap) | ||
| 7 | END-READER |
Craven dread erratically possessing impatient bookworm (3-6)
|
| Hidden word (possessing) | ||
| 8 | GANGSTA |
Music genre fuelling Georgia with anxiety (7)
|
| ANGST (anxiety) in (fuelling) GA (Georgia) | ||
| 14 | ACCLAIMED |
Publicly acknowledged adult cc’d email inappropriately (9)
|
| Anagram (inappropriately) of A (adult) CCD EMAIL | ||
| 16 | WATCHDOG |
Keep an eye on BBC boss putting the squeeze on head of official regulator (8)
|
| WATCH (keep an eye on) + O[fficial] in (putting the squeeze on) DG (BBC Boss, i.e. Director General) | ||
| 18 | HOO-HAHS |
Commotions, heated at first, over old Iranian leader getting upset (3-4)
|
| H[eated] + O (over) + O (old) + SHAH (Iranian leader) backwards (getting upset) | ||
| 20 | MARSALA |
Wine bar in the style of the French (7)
|
| MARS (bar) + A LA (in the style of the French) | ||
| 21 | SPONGE |
Sulphur smell close to Lake Victoria? (6)
|
| S (sulphur) + PONG (smell) + [lak]E | ||
| 24 | SUGAR |
It’s used to sweeten meat sauces from the south (5)
|
| RAGUS (meat sauces) backwards (from the south) |
Thanks Julius and Pete
5dn and 14dn: In each of these, the first letter of the answer can be regarded as part of the anagram or not, according to taste. My preference is to keep abbreviations out of anagrams whenever possible, but there is very little in it.
15ac: I think “monotonous” needs to be part of the definition, or possibly a second definition in its own right.
I was also happy to see Julius. Indeed it is alway nice to see Julius with his great surfaces and trademark long anagrams.
I had plenty of ticks, including EGGS, URIC, CASTRO, GRAF, EAST GERMAN, RAGUS (clever to notice it is sugar backwards) and WATCH DOG
A few nhos. DRAB was impossible to parse, having not heard of D DAVIS or D RAAB. And I know TIRAMISU has some alcohol and coffee in it, but can you really call it a pick me up? I guess this is crossword land.
A great blog as always
Thanks Julius and Pete
A delectable puzzle from Julius containing all the ingredients to whip up a 13A, of which SPONGE and ESPRESSO were
favourites!
Besides the sweet theme, I also enjoyed ESCAPE, ANAGRAMS and HOO-HAHS. The setter’s love of language is abundantly clear in his choice of vocabulary and wordplay.
Thanks Julius and Pete.
Martyn,
It’s a ‘tonic’ because ‘tiramisu’ translates literally from the Italian as ‘pick-me-up’.
Tirare – to pull/pick up
Mi – me
Su – up
Works for me! Yum yum!
Good spot on the ingredients of TIRAMISU Diane@4. You made me realise that I completely messed up @3 by saying RAGUS is the answer to 24d. RAGUS clearly do not go in a TIRAMISU, SUGAR does, which is the real answer to that clue. Let me give kudos to Julius for creating a semi-themed crossword without resort to obscure answers.
I think you hit the nail on the head, Diane@4, saying the setter’s love of language is abundantly clear. I can certainly see that now you mention it.
And, finally, thanks for the translation of TIRAMISU. My Italian is pretty non-existent. I just wish the setters would stop ignoring the one foreign language I can actually speak well.
Thanks again to all
Martyn@3: It is unfortunate in the crosswording sense that you had not heard of Dominic Raab, but perhaps fortunate in real life. I thought the indicator for removing one of two As was wickedly apposite.
Yes, Pelham, I share that first sentiment and would add Farage. It was indeed a sly surface.
I forgot to say how much I admired the ‘hard cheese’ in 1a, directing us perhaps to ‘bad luck’ or ‘parmesan’.
As you say, Martyn, sugar/ragus is a pleasing culinary reversal! [Which language is that, may I ask?]
Thanks Julius for a nicely crafted crossword. I would have enjoyed this more had I not failed in solving TIRAMISU, the key clue to the now obvious theme. (Thanks Diane.) I also failed to solve GRAF and couldn’t parse DRAB, both beyond what I know (or even care about). Anyhow, there was still lots to enjoy including ESPRESSO (liked ‘shot’ as the definition for a change), ANAGRAMS, and MARSALA. Thanks Pete for the blog.
Have a tiramusu, Tony – you’ll feel better!!
Some of this sailed in, and then I slowed down and had to work a bit more. Random fact – MARSALA was an attempt to produce an equivalent to Madeira by a wine merchant family, working on another island at around the same latitude and area (Sicily in this case), so in theory, the wine produced should have been similar.
I’m not sad I didn’t remember the egregious Dominic Raab, although it would have meant I parsed that clue. He was present enough and took enough ministerial roles to be memorable. David Davis was prominent in several areas, enough to show his worth: someone who negotiated the Brexit agreement and then spent the next few years saying how awful it is shouldn’t earn a lot of respect.
Lots of food in this puzzle, as well as the politicians.
Thank you to Pete Maclean and Julius (I’ll get it right this time)
Diane @10: I’ll skip the TIRAMISU and go straight to the MARSALA!
I like your style!
As always, like others, I enjoyed this.
Liked: MARSCAPONE, ANAGRAMS, WATCHDOG, HOO-HAHS, ESPRESSO, EGGS
Thanks Julius and Pete Maclean
Thanks for the blog and thanks to Diane @4/5 for spotting the ingredients and giving the translation of TIRAMISU. Very enjoyable puzzle with numerous neat clues.
I suspect people do not want me to discuss Kantian use of A PRIORI , just remember that
Immanuel Kant was a real pissant who was very rarely stable.
Especially liked 7d END-READER, even though I can’t find it in a dictionary.
… Monty Python’s The Philosopher’s Song
And thank you, Roz and Frankie, for alerting us to that splendid ditty!
END-READER is in Chambers 93 – one who peeps at the end of a novel to see the outcome.
I vaguely recall seeing it used in logic systems , Turing machines etc , but a long time ago.
Will the Finacial Times spelling error ever go away?
It often happens that I’ve mislaid my notes on the Saturday puzzle by the time the blog comes out and so it was fortunate that I was on the point of going away for a few days when this puzzle was published, so I kept it as a treat for when I arrived home and, as I solved it yesterday evening, it was still very fresh in my mind this morning. I nearly said of Julius’ last puzzle, a month ago, that it was, for me, one of his best puzzles yet – and this one is right up there, too.
I gave double ticks to my very first entry, TIRAMISU – at that point for its wonderful surface, then wanted to add more when I realised its key role in the puzzle. (I love making and eating it, too.)
I could write an essay: so many ‘ahas’ at the witty definitions and surfaces – could give ticks to all but more doubles to 19ac ANAGRAMS: superb construction and surface – straight into my little book of classic clues; MASCARPONE, BY ACCIDENT, RABELAIS – ingenious wordplay, with a great surface, as always; I didn’t even mind the reminder of Raab, whom I’d almost managed to forget (and GRAF was a little gem, too).
Sheer delight from start to finish – huge thanks to Julius and to lucky Pete.
Roz@19 – Of Course, “It’s in Chambers” (and nowhere else). I didn’t think to look in mine. [I posted more Python yesterday here, to explain “Get her!”]
Thanks J&PM
Thanks to Pete for the blog and thanks to those who have commented.
My dear wife, who studied in Florence for five years and who subsequently lived and worked in Milan makes a mean tiramisu. She has a handwritten recipe given to her by a sister of her former Italian boyfriend and this recipe includes “9 1/2 spoons of sugar”, without specifying the size of the spoon…
Sorry about END-READER – it’s the only thing that’d fit. The ed wrote to me about it because he couldn’t find it either. Sorry too to anyone attempting to forget Dominic Raab (and to those who mercifully haven’t heard of him and hence struggled with the wordplay!).
best wishes to all, Rob/Julius
[Diane @13: I had the pleasure of visiting Marsala on a wine tour of Sicily this past April. Not only was I impressed by the wide range of Marsalas produced but I also enjoyed the best veal Marsala on the planet.]
[Hmmm…another stop to be added to an eat-my-way-through-Italy odyssey!]
I have changed the definition of DRAG to include “monotonous”. Thanks.