Puzzle from the Weekend FT of October 19, 2024
A solid puzzle from Leonidas. I have no particular favourites.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BLEMISH |
Language making fellow bishop defect (7)
|
| FLEMISH (language) with the ‘F’ (fellow) changed to ‘B’ (bishop) | ||
| 5 | TOBACCO |
Leaves sailor in bed, returning with company (7)
|
| AB (sallor) in COT (bed) all backwards (returning) + CO (company) | ||
| 9 | GUESS |
Visitors ignoring temperature estimate (5)
|
| GUES[t]S (visitors ignoring temperature) | ||
| 10 | RIO GRANDE |
Eastern ring road confused long-distance runner (3,6)
|
| Anagram (confused) of E (eastern) RING ROAD with a cryptic definition | ||
| 11 | TOTTERING |
Little one by sides of the arena about to fall? (9)
|
| TOT (little one) + T[h]E + RING (arena) | ||
| 12 | ATLAS |
Book of charts finally stolen at the end (5)
|
| AT LAS[t] (finally stolen at the end) | ||
| 13 | CONSPIRATORIAL |
Scheming inmate given pairs tailor fabricated (14)
|
| CON (inmate) + anagram (fabricated) of PAIRS TAILOR | ||
| 18 | STEEPLECHASERS |
Delight overwhelms child amid cattle and racing horses (14)
|
| CH (child) in (amid) PLEASE (delight) in (overwhelms) STEERS (cattle) | ||
| 20 | HIPPO |
Animal cool next to river (5)
|
| HIP (cool) + PO (river) | ||
| 22 | CLIENTELE |
Some Charlie let Neil call back customers (9)
|
| Reverse (back) hidden word (some) | ||
| 24 | DISHONEST |
Corrupt officer excelled ultimately as sergeant (9)
|
| DI (officer) + SHONE (excelled) + [a]S [sergean]T | ||
| 25 | PRIAM |
Stiffly formal embracing adult Homeric king (5)
|
| A (adult) in (embracing) PRIM (stiffly formal) | ||
| 26 | LARGELY |
Turned all grey for the most part (7)
|
| Anagram (turned) of ALL GREY | ||
| 27 | COLLECT |
Fetch bowed object from the rear inside court (7)
|
| CELLO (bowed object) backwards (from the rear) in (inside) CT (court) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BOGOTA |
Snake nurses caught in capital (6)
|
| GOT (caught) in (nurses) BOA (snake) | ||
| 2 | ELECTRODE |
Choose key at end of bar for conductor (9)
|
| ELECT (choose) + ROD (bar) + E (key) | ||
| 3 | ISSUE |
Problem with venue Saskia regularly brought up (5)
|
| [v]E[n]U[e] S[a]S[k]I[a] backwards (brought up) | ||
| 4 | HERBICIDE |
Male pony maybe drinking writer’s weedkiller (9)
|
| HE (male) + BIC (writer) in (drinking) RIDE (pony maybe) | ||
| 5 | THONG |
Very warm cycling with new German underwear (5)
|
| HOT (very warm) circularly shifted right one place (cycling) + N (new) + G (German) | ||
| 6 | BARBAROUS |
Primitive dig on area over in Russia (9)
|
| BARB (dig) + A (area) + O (over) in (in) RUS (Russia) | ||
| 7 | CANAL |
Obsessive follows college course in Amsterdam? (5)
|
| C (college) + ANAL (obsessive) | ||
| 8 | OVERSELL |
Exaggerate merits of old poetry before local emptied (8)
|
| O (old) + VERSE (poetry) + L[oca]L | ||
| 14 | SOPHOMORE |
US student awfully morose eating noodle soup (9)
|
| PHO (noodle soup, in Viet Nam that is) in (eating) anagram (awfully) of MOROSE | ||
| 15 | ATHEISTIC |
Lacking faith in theft after a time, I see (9)
|
| A (a) + T (time) + HEIST (theft) + IC (I see) | ||
| 16 | ISRAELITE |
Shifting realities for Jacob’s descendant (9)
|
| Anagram (shifting) of REALITIES | ||
| 17 | ASPHODEL |
Lily’s snake died in pit with tail twisted (8)
|
| ASP (snake) + D (died) in HOLE (pit) with the ‘E’ and ‘L’ interchanged (tail twisted) | ||
| 19 | PERMIT |
Allow instruction perhaps to hair stylist (6)
|
| PERM IT (instruction perhaps to hair stylist) | ||
| 21 | POSER |
Bone held by a painter’s subject? (5)
|
| OS (bone) in (held by) PER (a) | ||
| 22 | CHEWY |
Tough cut in vacant carvery (5)
|
| HEW (cut) in (in) C[aver]Y | ||
| 23 | NEPAL |
Note female bird raised in country (5)
|
| LA (note) + PEN (female bird) all backwards (raised) |
This was a very enjoyable diversion over morning coffee, if over a little too soon.
My last one in was BOGOTA, partly because I was surprised at there being two snakes in the grid (also 17d) and partly because I was thrown by ‘caught’ (‘C’ or homophone?) until BLEMISH turned up.
Otherwise, it was smooth sailing with SOPHOMORE, BARBAROUS and RIO GRANDE (lovely surface) my favourites.
Plaudits to Leonidas and cheers to Pete.
Nice clear cluing. I found parts a little on the challenging side, but a good challenge. Despite having all the crossers, STEEPLECHASERS was my LOI that took some time to see.
I did have favourites, or perhaps I was just in a good mood when I did the bottom half – HIPPO, CLIENTELE, DISHONEST and LARGELY all got ticks from me. ASHPHODEL was what I believe is called a jorum (neither word being recognised by my spell checker incidentally). I originally had FLEMISH as my answer to 1ac. When I realised the error, happily I was able to change the F to a B without having to cross it out
Thanks Leonidas and Pete
I thought this was a lovely puzzle with good neat surfaces
Favourites included: TOTTERING, ASPHODEL, STEEPLECHASERS, SOPHOMORE (I do love that soup)
Thanks Leonidas and Pete
{typos: 26a needs the “for” in the definition; 3d “[v]E[n]U[E]…”; 6d “…(in) RUS (Russia)”; 14d “iKn”}
LOi 24a DISHONEST – took a while to parse – no idea why. Especially liked 20a HIPPO (1959) – “… mud … cool …” 😀
Thanks L&PM
Thanks for the blog , very neat set of clues , I like the way single letters get added or subtracted , replaced or even twisted .
ASPHODEL now a separate family so not really a lily, but Chambers93 disagrees so the setter has full cover . Perhaps the most famous is the Red Hot Poker , also known as the Torch Lily to confuse things further.
A pleasantly challenging puzzle, with a lot to enjoy. Thanks Leonidas, and Pete. My favourite was definitely HIPPO.
Nothing really to add to the plaudits expressed above for a pleasant and satisfying puzzle. Thanks, Leonidas and Pete.
Yes Dieter , I did report this to KenMac who I see has removed it . It is quite a long line Peter/Pamela/Annabelle/Frieda and probably others , ( not our usual Peter ) .