Puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 4, 2025
Rosa gives us a nice start to the new year. My first-in here was 6 (COCOA) and last was 14a (PRY). There are three words that are new to me: BEDWARD, TOPSTITCH and HETAIRA. My favorites are 18 (VITIATE), 23 (HONEY) and 26 (OPINION).
No grid this week. Sorry. A glitch somewhere.
Thank you Rosa.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SQUARES UP |
Diehard superior prepares to be confronted (7,2)
|
| SQUARE (diehard) + SUP (superior) | ||
| 6 | COCOA |
Two companies start to advertise beverage (5)
|
| CO CO (two companies) + A[dvertise] | ||
| 9 | GROUCHO |
King George with pained expression over unserious brother (7)
|
| GR (King George) + OUCH (pained expression) + O (over) | ||
| 10 | BEDWARD |
Entice posh girl back in the direction of lovemaking spot (7)
|
| DEB (posh girl) + DRAW (entice) + each backwards (back) | ||
| 11 | TROPE |
Figure of speech in tense Hitchcock thriller (5)
|
| T (tense) + ROPE (Hitchcock thriller) | ||
| 12 | TOPSTITCH |
Output of sewer covers church after boob (9)
|
| TOPS (covers) + TIT (boob) + CH (church) | ||
| 14 | PRY |
Chief of Police twisted your nose (3)
|
| P[olice] + YR (your) backwards (twisted) | ||
| 15 | EXHILARATED |
Intoxicated dahlia expert recklessly snubbing prince (11)
|
| Anagram (recklessly) of DAHLIA EX[p]ERT | ||
| 17 | DIVERSIFIES |
Branches out and writes poetry after first couple of divorces (11)
|
| DI[vorces] + VERSIFIES (writes poetry) | ||
| 19 | HIS |
Chap’s partially bewhiskered (3)
|
| Hidden word (partially) | ||
| 20 | GET SHOT OF |
Photograph junk (3,4,2)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | RETCH |
Heard unfortunate gag (5)
|
| Homophone (heard) of “wretch” (unfortunate) | ||
| 24 | GUANACO |
Llama manure enthralling leaders of agricultural co-operative (7)
|
| A[gricultural] O[perative] in (enthralling) GUANO (manure) | ||
| 26 | OPINION |
Tear-jerker full of sanctimonious sentiment (7)
|
| PI (sanctimonious) in (full of) ONION (tear-jerker) | ||
| 27 | EGEST |
Pass motion in futile gesture (5)
|
| Hidden word (in) | ||
| 28 | FIRST LADY |
White House occupant shaking lardy fist (5,4)
|
| Anagram (shaking) of LARDY FIST | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SIGHT |
Sense nameless things at sea (5)
|
| Anagram (at sea) of THI[n]GS | ||
| 2 | UROLOGY |
The science of looking after number one? (7)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 3 | RACKETEER |
Criminal caterer casually nicks last two pieces of cake (9)
|
| [ca]KE in (nicks) anagram (casually) of CATERER | ||
| 4 | SHORT SHRIFT |
Unsympathetic treatment of husband after trousers split (5,6)
|
| SHORTS (trousers) + H (husband) + RIFT (split) | ||
| 5 | PUB |
Boozer brought up halfhearted belch (3)
|
| BU[r]P (halfhearted belch) | ||
| 6 | CADET |
No gentleman originally entered The Apprentice (5)
|
| CAD (no gentleman) + E[ntered] T[he] | ||
| 7 | COAL TIT |
Alcott novel entertaining single singer (4,3)
|
| I (single) in anagram (novel) of ALCOTT | ||
| 8 | ALDEHYDES |
We gather supermarket chain conceals volatile fluids (9)
|
| Homophone (we gather) of “Aldi” (supermarket chain) “hides” (conceals) | ||
| 13 | PELVIC FLOOR |
Clip of lover exercising intimate muscles (6,5)
|
| Anagram (exercising) of CLIP OF LOVER | ||
| 14 | PEDAGOGUE |
Teacher eager to stop right after class (9)
|
| PE (class, i.e. Physical Education) + AGOG (eager) in (to stop) DUE (right) | ||
| 16 | RESTRAINT |
Romeo isn’t commonly pursuing tranquillity or moderation (9)
|
| REST (tranquility) + R (Romeo) + AINT (isn’t commonly) | ||
| 18 | VITIATE |
One adopting habit without drama or harm (7)
|
| [no]VITIATE (one adopting habit,without drama) with “No” meant as a classical Japanese drama | ||
| 19 | HETAIRA |
Straight answers about Irish courtesan (7)
|
| HET (straight, short for heterosexual) + IR (Irish) in AA (answers) | ||
| 21 | HEART |
Core of our planet getting hot going forward (5)
|
| EARTH (our planet) with the ‘H’ moved to the start (getting hot going forward) | ||
| 23 | HONEY |
Sweetheart sounding like Attila? (5)
|
| Homophone (sounding) of “hunny” (like Attila) | ||
| 25 | OFF |
King of Mercia, mostly bad (3)
|
| OFF[a] (king of Mercia, mostly) |
Thanks Pete
A great puzzle. Typical concise and witty
clues. My favourites included RACKETEER, PRY, OPINION, and EGEST. I am normally not a big fan of deletion anagrams but the surface
of EXHILARATED brought a smile. I could name more.
I shared the list of new words with Pete and add GUANACO. I am most impressed that Pete knows that one.
I could not parse VITIATE and understand why now I see the explanation. Noh is the normal spelling for the type of Japanese theatre. I have never seen No and nor has my SOED. I have never seen SQUARE to mean diehard either and give thanks for the steer.
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Pete
Could not parse VITIATE but was able to guess it from the crossers. NO is a bit obscure as a drama. Quite a few new words so needed a bit of help finishing. Otherwise top notch as always from Rosa.
Lovely puzzle as always. New to me were EJEST (my LOI) and GUANACO and I also had not seen SQUARE to mean diehard.
Favourites included: PRY, VITIATE, CADET, RETCH, RESTRAINT
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Pete
Thanks both and a succulent entertainment. I had ticks for UROLOGY (typical Rosa wit) and HEART (loi).
(Thought this was a prize crossword so pleased to see blog.)
Thanks Rosa. As expected, there was a multitude of fine clues including GROUCHO, TROPE, OPINION (wonderful surface), UROLOGY, RACKETEER, SHORTSHRIFT (great stitching together of wordplay elements into a seamless surface), CADET, RESTRAINT, and HEART. I couldn’t parse VITIATE. Thanks Pete for the blog.
A quick addition for Noh. I have been to a few performances in Tokyo, and I must admit I really could not understand it. It was a great pity given how much the seats cost
24a GUANACO “A[gricultural] C[o-operative] in (enthralling) GUANO (manure)”. I remembered him from last time.
[oed.com: “Noh Variant forms 1800s– No, 1900s– Noh, 2000s– Nou. Also with lower case initial.”]
I knew GUANACO, possibly from reading about Andes farmers, I have one of that family in my Peruvian nativity set. And as a dressmaker, there’s a lot of pressure on TOPSTITCHing as it’s so obvious – particularly contrast topstitching such as seen on jeans. HETAIRA was a jorum.
Thank you to the always amazing Rosa Kleb and Pete MacLean.
Another lovely witty puzzle from Rosa. I had the same first and last entries as Pete.
My jorum was GUAVACO, which I enjoyed piecing together. Other favourites were BEDWARD, OPINION, SHORT SHRIFT (with Tony Santucci here – and I like the expression), UROLOGY, CADET, ALDEHYDES (liked ‘we gather’) and VITIATE. I thought I’d seen the ‘No’ spelling through the years: I didn’t think to look it up. I’ve certainly been familiar with the drama as long as I’ve been doing crosswords.
Many thanks to Rosa, as ever, for the fun and Pete for the blog.
My don’t-know list was EGEST, VITIATE and how to spell ALDEHYDES. (The offending I-for-Y, being unchecked, only showed up after I’d finished.)
Loved the surfaces, as always: favourites the disapproving King in GROUCHO, the sanctimonious tear-jerker, the “output of sewer” and the White House inhabitant, who had me checking lists of Presidents until the light dawned. SQUARE defeated me too.
“From Rosa, With Love”. A classic.
There’s a Lot te Learn ‘ere, for aspiring setters.
Stylish surfaces, originality, humour, cunning stunts, non-PC but nice, and a poison twist in the tail ( HETAIRA….ouch!)
But mainly: non-stop entertainment.
A Bond movie on a grid. I hope, “Rosa Klebb Will Return”, as soon as possible.
bolshoy spaciba, Rosy and Pete
Thanks Rosa and Pete
18dn: Further to earlier comments, fickle memory from around thirty years ago tells me that NO with or without the H for the Japanese drama was almost a crossword cliché around that time. Turning to more reliable sources, my copy of SOED (2007 edition) has “No noun² var. of NOH” on page 1933 and “Noh noun. Also No” with the definition on p 1936. ODE 2010 has a similar pattern. Chambers 2016 and Collins 2023 have it the other way round, with the definition under No and a cross reference from Noh. Actually Chambers does not give the capital letter.
Most enjoyable. I did wonder if it was going to be a pangram, but not this time. HETAIRA was new to me, but easily got from the wordplay and crossing letters.
Thanks, Rosa K and Pete M.