Puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 30, 2024
Announcement: Starting with next weekend’s puzzle, this blog will be posted at midnight on Sundays, the day after publication of the FT. One reason is that it is clearer than ever now that prizes will not be reinstated. And it just seems like a good idea anyway.
Nice to have a Mudd again. My first-in was the very easy 11 (IRAN) and last was 10 (BAMBOOZLE). My favourite is 11 (CONSPIRACY) with its Machiavellian anagram indicator. I must acknowledge my solving buddy BC who helped me with a couple of clues.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | VOLUME |
Measure of sound book (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 4 | MASSIF |
Plateau where service provided (6)
|
| MASS (service) + IF (provided) | ||
| 8 | ORDAINS |
Winding roads in states (7)
|
| Anagram (winding) of ROADS IN | ||
| 9 | ALL EARS |
Keen to hear details as well about tragic king (3,4)
|
| LEAR (tragic king) in (about) ALSO (as well) with the ‘O’ cut off (details) | ||
| 11 | CONSPIRACY |
Machiavellian narco with spicy ruse (10)
|
| Anagram (Machiavellian) of NARCO SPICY | ||
| 12 | IRAN |
Country where I went quickly (4)
|
| I (I) + RAN (went quckly) | ||
| 13 | TENON |
All fingers and thumbs on joint (5)
|
| TEN (all fingers and thumbs) + ON (on) | ||
| 14 | BACKFLIP |
Champion has hit the roof in gymnastic rotation (8)
|
| BACK (champion) + FLIP (hit the roof) | ||
| 16 | LOTHARIO |
Rake heap, then bring fresh air into house (8)
|
| LOT (heap) + anagram (fresh) of AIR in (into) HO (house) | ||
| 18 | RALLY |
Meeting in truth drained of energy (5)
|
| R[e]ALLY (truth drained of ‘E’ for energy) | ||
| 20 | SHOT |
Jab not working properly (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | BALUSTRADE |
Supporter of the rail strike originally breaking bad rule at Barking (10)
|
| S[trike] in (breaking) anagram (barking) of BAD RULE AT | ||
| 23 | SEVENTY |
Figure entering oldie’s event, youngster (7)
|
| Hidden word (entering) | ||
| 24 | BAGHDAD |
Capital city where carrier was obliged to take daughter on board (7)
|
| BA (carrier, i.e. British Airways) + D (daughter) in (take…on board) HAD (was obliged) | ||
| 25 | SETTER |
Canine, one hardening? (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | SPIRIT |
Drool quaffing Irish whiskey, say (6)
|
| IR (Irish) in (quaffing) SPIT (drool) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | VIRGO |
Sign in Spanish city, river passing through (5)
|
| R (river) in (passing through) VIGO (Spanish city) | ||
| 2 | LIAISON |
One issue after trouble comes up in affair (7)
|
| AIL (trouble) backwards (comes up) + I (one) + SON (issue) | ||
| 3 | MONSIGNOR |
Morning so frantic for minister (9)
|
| Anagram (frantic) of MORNING SO | ||
| 5 | ALLOY |
Bedfellow collecting old pewter, say (5)
|
| O (old) in (collecting) ALLY (bedfellow). Pewter is an alloy of tin, copper and antimony. | ||
| 6 | SHERIFF |
Short line written about Henry, fine law enforcement officer (7)
|
| H (henry) in (written about) SERIF (short line) + F (fine) | ||
| 7 | FORMALITY |
Convention in support of country north of Turkey’s borders (9)
|
| FOR (in support of) MALI (country) + T[urke]Y | ||
| 10 | BAMBOOZLE |
Puzzle book in the morning left covered in sauce (9)
|
| B (book) + AM (in the morning) + L (left) in (covered in) BOOZE (sauce) | ||
| 13 | TOOTHLESS |
Ineffective, and lacking bite? (9)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 15 | CARD SHARP |
Fiddler is a teaser on musical instrument (4,5)
|
| CARDS (is a teaser, in the sense of uses an instrument for teasing wool) + HARP (musical instrument) | ||
| 17 | HOT SEAT |
Those upset at stressful situation (3,4)
|
| Anagram (upset) of THOSE + AT (at) | ||
| 19 | LURCHER |
Temptress kennelling church dog (7)
|
| CH (church) in (kennelling) LURER (temptress) | ||
| 21 | BATHE |
Wash in tub at hers (5)
|
| Hidden word (in) | ||
| 22 | DRAFT |
Dictator’s current plan (5)
|
| Homophone (dictator’s) of “draught” (current) |
With LURCHER, SETTER and MASSIF, I thought we might be on for a canine theme …
As Pete says, it’s good to have Mudd back and I enjoyed some of his signature cluing like the double definition for SHOT.
ORDAINS, CONSPIRACY and FORMALITY were my others picks.
Thanks for the fun, Mudd, and to Pete for the blog, especially for the reminder of wool-teasing. Good news about the blog appearing earlier from next week too!
Liked ALL EARS but I have a question: Does the ‘details’ work all right in the cryptic reading?
Liked BAGHDAD (a small doubt again. ‘I was obliged to follow the rules=I HAD to follow the rules’. ‘Was obliged=HAD’ works this way?)
Other faves: CONSPIRACY (great surface; like an extended def) and FORMALITY.
Like Diane@1, I welcome the move to publish the blog earlier from next week.
Thanks Mudd and Pete.
[24a BAGHDAD – the carrier’s a carrier BAG, not BA]
I like Mudd too. But I felt this had too much Paul and not enough Mudd
Favourites included VOLUME, TENON, SHOT, SPIRIT, and BATHE
But I found all the stretched definitions frustrating. It could have just been I was not in the right mood, but I felt the puzzle could have been more satisfying
Thanks Mudd and Pete
An interesting challenge with several stretched definitions – we thought ‘sauce’ for ‘booze’ was really stretching it, although Chambers does have ‘the sauce’ for ‘alcoholic drink’ but labels it as American usage. And we were held up by 12ac where we first thought of ‘span’ (past tense of ‘spin’) by removing ‘I’ from ‘Spain’ although that would mean ‘went’ doing double duty. Lots to like, though; favourite was BALUSTRADE.
Thanks, Mudd and Pete.
Mudd back. Hurrah, though I was three short of a complete puzzle (14,16 ac, 10d.)