Puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 17, 2024
My first-in was 16 (ON THE MEND) and last was 5 (PUNJABI). My favourites are 1a (CASH-STRAPPED), 1d (CHANSON) and 24 (EXCLAIM),
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CASH-STRAPPED |
Poor country singer performed another style on street (4-8)
|
| CASH (country singer) + ST (street) + RAPPED (performed another style) | ||
| 8 | IMAGINE |
Aiming high with English album (7)
|
| Anagram (high) of AIMING + E (English) | ||
| 9 | MANKIND |
Humanity of doctor taking in half-Goan family (7)
|
| [go]AN + KIND (family) together in (taking in) MD (doctor) | ||
| 11 | CUSTARD |
Something to chew filled with brilliant sauce (7)
|
| STAR (brilliant) in (filled with) CUD (something to chew) | ||
| 12 | PLATEAU |
Female poet briefly given water in French flatland area (7)
|
| PLAT[h] (Female poet briefly) + EAU (water in French) | ||
| 13 | NINTH |
Festive day with ladies dancing across town in thermals (5)
|
| Hidden word (across) with the definition referring to “On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me nine ladies dancing”. | ||
| 14 | AIR PISTOL |
Setter once then twice stops pastor breaking left arm (3,6)
|
| I (setter once) and I (then twice) in (stops) anagram (breaking) of PASTOR + L (left) | ||
| 16 | ON THE MEND |
Getting better working with those people close (2,3,4)
|
| ON (working) + THEM (those people) + END (close) | ||
| 19 | TIBIA |
Bone from exposed tail section twisted (5)
|
| [t]AI[l] + BIT (section) all backwards (twisted) | ||
| 21 | AMALGAM |
Mama struggling with gal to make blend (7)
|
| Anagram (struggling) of MAM GAL | ||
| 23 | NEURONE |
Zero regret going back into extremely nice cell (7)
|
| NO (zero) + RUE (rregret) both backwards (going back) in (into) N[ic]E. A neurone is a specialized cell that conducts nerve impulses. | ||
| 24 | EXCLAIM |
Boldly utter demand for alimony? (7)
|
| EX CLAIM (demand for alimony?) | ||
| 25 | ATHEIST |
One who doesn’t believe in heartless art theft (7)
|
| A[r]T + HEIST (theft) | ||
| 26 | BENEFACTRESS |
Dispute over northern performer’s patron (12)
|
| N (northern) in BEEF (dispute) + ACTRESS (performer) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CHANSON |
Song in German maybe covered by Sting? (7)
|
| HANS (German maybe) + CON (sting) | ||
| 2 | SPINACH |
Leaves stick in bag with husband (7)
|
| PIN (stick) in (in) SAC (bag) + H (husband) | ||
| 3 | SHELDRAKE |
The Spanish explorer follows quiet fowl (9)
|
| SH (quiet) + EL (the Spanish) + DRAKE (explorer) | ||
| 4 | REMAP |
Band starts to perform after climbing chart again (5)
|
| REM (band) + P[erform] A[fter] backwards (climbing) | ||
| 5 | PUNJABI |
Asian strike on island after cringing witticism? (7)
|
| PUN (cringing witticism) + JAB (strike) + I (island) | ||
| 6 | EVIDENT |
Clear competition to catch fish (7)
|
| ID (fish) in (to catch) EVENT (competition). Id and ide are both fishes. | ||
| 7 | DISCONSOLATE |
Sad record playing into the early hours? (12)
|
| DISC (records) + ON (playing) + SO LATE (into the early hours) | ||
| 10 | DOUBLE AGENTS |
Suspicions surrounding field intel for spies (6,6)
|
| LEA (field) + GEN (intel) together in (surrounding) DOUBTS (surroundings) | ||
| 15 | REDUNDANT |
Excessive tirade about erected Dutch statue? (9)
|
| D (Dutch) + NUDE (statue) together backwards (erected) in RANT (tirade) | ||
| 17 | TRANCHE |
Ending in wet earth below farm block (7)
|
| [we]T + RANCH (farm) + E (earth) | ||
| 18 | ENGRAVE |
Cut teenager oddly missed at top of road (7)
|
| [t]E[e]N[a]G[r]R + AVE (top of road) | ||
| 19 | TOUGHIE |
Poser away from home cycling: weight barely lost (7)
|
| OUT (away from home) with the ‘T’ moved to the start (cycling) + anagram (lost) of [w]EIGH[t] | ||
| 20 | BIOPICS |
£0.10 invested in writer’s life stories for screen (7)
|
| IO P (£0.10) in (invested in) BICS (writers) | ||
| 22 | MAMBA |
Reptile Mark crushed by degrees (5)
|
| M (mark) in MA BA (degrees) |
I share Pete’s favourites of CASH-STRAPPED and CHANSON. I also ticked IMAGINE, DISCONSOLATE and BIOPICS.
I remember this being just right for a leisurely Saturday afternoon over coffee, enjoying the variety of clues.
I did snag NINTH as the crossers left no doubt but the 12 days of Christmas didn’t occur to me until coming here! (Maybe because it was a hot, sunny day). Instead, I was thinking of a festival closer to home, the Double Ninth, or Cheung Yeung, in the Lunar Calendar. Of course, there was no justification for this and now I wonder how I missed those ‘ladies dancing’! Isn’t there a version with ‘drummers drumming’ on this day? Anyway, wrong festival, right answer!
Thanks Leonidas and Pete.
Thanks Leonidas and Pete!
PUNJABI (I think)
strike=JAB
cringing witticism?=PUN
EVIDENT
One E seems to be shared by IDE & EVENT. Are we missing something?
I agree, KVa, with ‘ide’ being fish. Recently, though (could be wrong), I remember seeing fish derived from ‘id’ which puzzled me.
In this case, I thought maybe ‘catch fish’ as in ‘to ID someone’, shrugged and then moved on.
Diane@4
Thanks.
I should have checked Id earlier. 😊
Chambers has under id (or ide)
A fish (Leuciscus idus), closely related to the chub, inhabiting fresh water in N Europe
Like Diane @ 1 I remember enjoying a leisurely solve last Saturday morning.
My favourites were: CASH-STRAPPED, CUSTARD, BENEFACTRESS, SHELDRAKE, BIOPICS
Thanks Leonidas and Pete Maclean
Thanks for the blog, very nice set of neat clues and a good puzzle overall.
I agree with KVa @3 for PUNJABI , disagree slightly @5 , ID/IDE seem very like carp , although they are all the same family. Azed uses ID quite often , I suppose it turns up in words more often then IDE .
When this clue: “Mama who sang about husband caught short! (4-8)” turned up in last Sunday’s I by Deri, I could have sworn I’d seen CASH-STRAPPED, recently elsewhere, but couldn’t find it in the 225 blogs… …because it hadn’t been blogged yet. Duh!
[typos 9a “KIN (family)”, 21a “MAMA GAL”, 5d: the PUN & JAB meanings need swapping, 18d “AVE (just road)”]
Diane@1 – TiLT: Just how much variation there can be in The Twelve Days Of Christmas.
I found I built a lot of the words from the wordplay rather than back parsing from the answer.
I’m with KVa and Roz for PUNJABI, know ID/IDE is a fish from crosswords or Scrabble, did look it up once upon a time, so had in my head carplike.
Thank you to Leonidas and Pete MacLean
Frankie@10
I like bears-a-roaring!
Another lovely puzzle from one of my favourite setters.
My ticks were for 1ac CASH-STRAPPED – surprising déjà vu here, too, 13ac NINTH (for the pdm of the dancing ladies), 1dn CHANSON (for the misdirection) and 8ac IMAGINE, 16ac ON THE MEND, 4dn REMAP and 10dn DOUBLE AGENTS, all for the surfaces – although there were no dud ones.
Many thanks to Leonidas and Pete.
I have corrected the explanation of 5 (PUNJABI). Thank you KVa and Roz.
Martyn popped in, but then he popped out again. Shame.
I must say that most if not all of the clues presented for our enjoyment in this fine puzzle were of the type that I like, though I agree with Pete as two the best of a very good bunch.
Well done, you old Spartan commander.
A super-ficially great puzzle – every surface a winner. I especially liked the sad song (A Boy Named Sue, perhaps?) of 2d DISCONSOLATE, the suspect reports from the DOUBLE AGENTS at 10d, and the ladies tripping in their long-johns at 13a NINTH.
Thanks Leonidas and Pete for the excellent start to the day.
Thanks Leonidas for a well-crafted crossword with my top picks being CASH-STRAPPED, IMAGINE, CHANSON, REMAP, DISCONSOLATE, and BIOPICS. I missed TRANCHE. I liked the many music references e.g. singer, album, song, band, and record. Thanks Pete for the blog.
Not much we can add to what’s already been said. An enjoyable solve; we particularly liked NINTH, NEURONE and DISCONSOLATE.
Thanks, Leonidas and Pete.
Very late to this (I’m a few weeks behind) but it was very hard to find being numbered 71817, rather than 17817 – approx 173 years ahead of yourself Pete! 😉. Was pleased to finish what seemed an insurmountable challenge for a while.