Puzzle from the Weekend FT of September 21, 2024
I had a bit of trouble with the top left corner while the rest flowed along. The puzzle is a pangram and my favourite clues are 4 (MAGNIFICAT), 21 (EVITA) and 23 (AGRA). Thank you Julius.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | JINX |
Unlucky individual suddenly turns on the radio (4)
|
| Homophone (on the radio) of JINKS (suddenly turns). ‘Jink’ meaning a sudden turn is new to me. | ||
| 3 | SEMIQUAVER |
Composed requiems featuring a very brief piece of music (10)
|
| A(a) + V (very) together in (featuring) anagram (composed) of requiems. ♬ | ||
| 9 | LICK |
Beat music played on a guitar? (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 10 | BIRD OF PREY |
Derby rip-off almost ruined 15, for one (4,2,4)
|
| Anagram (ruined) of DERBY RIP OF[f] with the definition referring to 15a (EAGLE) | ||
| 12 | YORKSHIREMAN |
Northerner bowls muscular chap after collecting one run (12)
|
| YORKS (bowls) + I (one) and R (run) in HE-MAN (muscular chap). A ‘Yorker’ is a style of a bowl in cricket so, I guess, ‘bowls’ is good to clue YORKS. My thanks to BC for teaching me something about cricket. | ||
| 15 | EAGLE |
Each golf hole halved? Great score! (5)
|
| EA[ch] + G (golf) + [ho]LE | ||
| 16 | ASSET SWAP |
In recession, hands Tessa a financial derivative (5,4)
|
| TESSA (Tessa) + PAWS (hands) backwards (in recession) | ||
| 18 | NAAN BREAD |
Older lady saving American money as a bit on the side? (4,5)
|
| A (a) in (saving) NAN (older lady) + BREAD (money) | ||
| 19 | REEVE |
Bailiff let off pair I evicted (5)
|
| RE[pr][i]EVE (let off, pair I evicted) | ||
| 20 | HYPERTENSION |
Poor BP results reported following a period of inflation (12)
|
| Cryptic definition with BP referring to blood pressure (not British Petroleum) and ‘inflation’ referring to a cuff for measuring blood pressure (and not anything economic). | ||
| 24 | MAGNIFICAT |
Paean to Mary, a gift Cain distributed after Mass (10)
|
| M (mass) + anagram (distributed) of A GIFT CAIN | ||
| 25 | OPPO |
Counterpart at work unaffected by setback (4)
|
| Palindrome (unaffected by setback). I know Oppo as a brand name but its meaning here, as a counterpart in another organization, is new to me. | ||
| 26 | TRADEMARKS |
Corporate names rush to withdraw electronic currency (10)
|
| DART (rush) backwards (withdraw) + E (electronic) + MARKS (currency) | ||
| 27 | ZEST |
Relish stocked by Devizes Tesco (4)
|
| Hidden word (stocked by) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | JELLY BEANS |
Spooner’s tummy sits above his trousers; that’ll be the candies (5,5)
|
| Spoonerism of “belly” (tummy) “jeans” (trousers) | ||
| 2 | NICARAGUAN |
Latino at home about to preserve a meat sauce? (10)
|
| IN (at home) backwards (about) + RAGU (a meat sauce) in CAN (to preserve) | ||
| 4 | ELIMINATE |
In Basel, I’m in a team to deliver a knockout blow (9)
|
| Hidden word (in) | ||
| 5 | INDIE |
Music genre fashionable festival served up (5)
|
| IN (fashionable) + EID (festival) backwards (served up) | ||
| 6 | UNFLATTERING |
FT tag line run in a way that’s quite critical (12)
|
| Anagram (in a way) of FT LAG LINE RUN | ||
| 7 | VERY |
Extremely light pistol manufacturer (4)
|
| Double definition — or maybe a triple definition (see comment 7) but I do not buy a quadruple definition | ||
| 8 | RHYL |
Odd characters in Royal Hospital blocking Welsh settlement (4)
|
| H (hospital) in (blocking) R[o]Y[a]L | ||
| 11 | ASSEMBLY LINE |
Maybe illness affected an area of industrial production? (8,4)
|
| Anagram (affected) of MAYBE ILLNESS | ||
| 13 | SWEETIE PIE |
Second go: draw constant energy, love (7,3)
|
| S (second) + WEE (go) + TIE (draw) + PI (constant) + E (energy) | ||
| 14 | SPLEENWORT |
Plant owner slept around (10)
|
| Anagram (around) of OWNER SLEPT | ||
| 17 | SIDETRACK |
Divert branch line? (9)
|
| SIDE (branch) + TRACK (line) | ||
| 21 | EVITA |
South American woman due to arrive about 6 (5)
|
| VI (6) in ETA (expected time of arrival) | ||
| 22 | SMUT |
Small dog shaking tail that’s dirty (4)
|
| S (small) + MUT[t] (dog shaking tail) | ||
| 23 | AGRA |
City of Athens marketplace that’s out of the ordinary? (4)
|
| AGORA (Athens marketplace) with the ‘O’ removed (that’s out of the ordinary) |
I had a similar experience to Pete – the NW corner took some teasing out (1ac 1dn and YORK in particular), while the rest flowed quite nicely
Julius has a gift for anagrams, and my favourites included a couple of beauties. I also liked JELLY BEANS – a Spoonerism that made sense for a change and was not corny. It was good to learn that the Mark is still a currency in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Thanks Julius and Pete
Liked YORKSHIREMAN (nice surface), HYPERTENSION (excellent cd), JELLY BEANS and AGRA.
Thanks Julius and Pete.
OPPO
An interesting additional layer:
OP (work) & its counter PO
As always a lovely puzzle from Julius.
For once I got the Spoonerism straightaway and as Martyn @1 says for once it made sense.
Lots to like – my favourites included: HYPERTENSION, NICARAGUAN, EVITA, OPPO
Thanks Julius and Pete
OPPO was originally armed forces slang, that has been absorbed into other areas. I’ve heard it used.
I’ve seen/used jinks to describe the sort of movement prey (rabbit, small bird) uses to avoid a predator.
Thank you to Julius and Pete MacLean.
Thanks for the blog , great set of neat and interesting clues .
I think JINKS is often used in a sporting sense , wingers in football for example , I have been told that the Celtic winger Jimmy Johnstone was known as Jinky .
OPPO also used for general counterpart/friend , Fletcher in Porridge uses it to describe Godber.
As Fiona says, ‘As always, another lovely puzzle from Julius’.
I’ll join in the admiration for Julius’ characteristically fine anagrams, ASSEMBLY LINE, UNFLATTERING and SPLEENWORT and for the amusing Spoonerism which, mercifully, makes sense.
Having had a father in the army during the war and a Scottish husband, I recognised OPPO and JINKS in the senses suggested by Shanne and Roz.
Pete’s favourites are among my rather longer list, which includes SEMIQUAVER, YORKSHIREMAN, HYPERTENSION and NICARAGUAN. MAGNIFICAT is a lovely clue, perhaps my top favourite – but I have to question the definition: it is Mary’s song of praise to God, not a paean to her. Magnificat anima mea Dominum: my soul doth magnify the Lord.
Many thanks, as ever, to Julius and to Pete.
Saw 7d VERY as a quadruple definition: “Extremely” + Very light +
… Very pistol +
… Edward Wilson Very, their manufacturer.
Here’s JS Bach’s 24a MAGNIFICAT (with subtitles in Latin, Dutch, English, French, and Catalan) …
… It took me back sixty years to my time as an altar boy (as did Thursday’s 24d COTTA). What was the priest saying about magnificent cats?
Tricky in places but thoroughly enjoyable. We concur with Eileen about MAGNIFICAT.
Thanks, Julius and Pete.
Thanks for the blog, dear Pete, and thanks to those who have been kind enough to comment. Eileen I’m very sorry about my theology fail re the inaccurate definition for MAGNIFICAT.
best wishes to all, Rob/Julius
Absolutely no problem, Rob – I loved the clue. 😉
I’m evidently in a minority of one but in 2D I don’t see in the clue an indication that a meat sauce (a ragu) is contained in to preserve (can).
TLH@15:I think the idea is that “preserve” is to be interpreted as “place in (a) can”.