Steerpike is today's setter.
Steerpike has been able to achieve a pangram without obscurities or difficult words. There appeared to be a lot of examples of parts of words being used (first and last letters, or everything except the first and last, or alternate letters), but that was fine by me.
Thanks, Steerpike.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MOTOCROSS |
Miles too troubled and ill-tempered for competitive sport (9)
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M (miles) + *(too) [anag:troubled] + CROSS ("ill-tempered") |
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| 6 | ALBUM |
Exposed wall behind tracks? (5)
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[exposed] (w)AL(l) + BUM ("behind") |
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| 9 | IMPLY |
Suggest setter’s device wants for nothing (5)
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I'M ("setter's") + PL(o)Y ("device") wants for O (nothing) |
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| 10 | DRUNKENLY |
Merrily drive north, entering UK cathedral city around noon (9)
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Dr. (drive) + N (north) entering UK + ELY ("cathedral city") around N (noon) |
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| 11 | ELECTRICAL |
Article surprisingly contains extremely little about type of engineering (10)
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*(article) [anag:surprisingly] contains [extremely] L(ittl)E + C (circa, so "about") |
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| 12 | HOWL |
Means by which opening in larynx produces prolonged sound (4)
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HOW ("means by which") + [opening in] L(arynx) |
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| 14 | CIRCLES |
Enchantress’s entertaining line does the rounds? (7)
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CIRCE'S ("enchantress's") entertaining L (lines) |
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| 15 | SPARROW |
Bird from swamp eviscerated by pointer (7)
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S(wam)P [eviscerated] by ARROW ("pointer") |
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| 17 | UPTIGHT |
Flipping uncouth git put somewhat on edge (7)
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Hidden backwards [flipping… somewhat] in "uncouTH GIT PUt" |
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| 19 | PROWLER |
Restless sort expert will occasionally encounter on vacation (7)
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PRO ("expert") + W(i)L(l) [occasionally] + E(ncounte)R [on vacation] |
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| 20 | TWEE |
Sickeningly attractive model with small behind (4)
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(Model) T (early car) with WEE ("small") behind |
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| 22 | INTERWOVEN |
Highly connected trainee keeps promise about meeting earl (10)
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INTERN ("trainee") keeps (<=VOW ("promise", about) meeting E (earl)) |
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| 25 | RATIONALE |
Limit supply of alcohol in grounds (9)
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RATION ("limit supply of") + ALE ("alcohol") |
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| 26 | RUNTS |
American infantrymen annihilating German weaklings (5)
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(g)RUNTS ("American infantrymen") annihilating (getting rid of) G (German) |
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| 27 | NYLON |
Spooner’s note about synthetic material (5)
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The Rev. Spooner's attempt at LINE ON ("note about") may well have come out as NYL-ON |
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| 28 | DISASTERS |
Sister struggling with sad, calamitous events (9)
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*(sister sad) [anag:struggling] |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MAIZE |
Plant is difficult place to leave, reportedly (5)
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Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [reportedly] of MAZE ("a difficult palce to leave") |
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| 2 | TOP-SECRET |
Classified location set up on island with base at summit (3-6)
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<=SPOT ("location", set up) on CRETE ("island"), with its base (last letter) at summit, so E-CRET |
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| 3 | CRYPTOLOGY |
It might help decipher old journal yeoman originally found beneath vault (10)
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O (old) + LOG ("journal") + Y(eoman) [originally] found beneath CRYPT ("vault") |
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| 4 | ORDAINS |
Gold attorney in Sweden invests (7)
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OR ("gold", in heraldry) + DA (district "attorney") + IN + S (IVR designation for Sweden) |
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| 5 | SQUEALS |
Tells tales of queen devoured by sea creatures (7)
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Qu. (queen) devoured by SEALS ("sea creatures") |
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| 6 | ANKH |
Cross section of riverbank habitats (4)
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Hidden in [section of] "riverbANK Habitats" |
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| 7 | BANJO |
Embargo judge placed on ordinary instrument (5)
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BAN ("embargo") + J (judged) on O ("ordinary", as in O-levels) |
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| 8 | MAYFLOWER |
European wolf raised aboard abandoned army transport vessel (9)
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<=(E (European) + WOLF, raised) aboard *(army) [anag:abandoned]) |
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| 13 | CAN OF WORMS |
W.C. on farm so revolting, it’s best kept closed (3,2,5)
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*(wc on farm so) [anag:revolting] |
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| 14 | CHUNTER ON |
Don’t stop grumbling prisoner choking stalker (7,2)
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CON ("prisoner") choking HUNTER ("stalker") |
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| 16 | RELEVANCE |
Lesson covering the French vice-president’s importance (9)
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RE (religious education, so "lesson") covering LE ("the" in "French") + (JD) VANCE (current "vice-president" of the US) |
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| 18 | TANKARD |
Beat King with Ace and refilled empty beer mug (7)
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TAN ("beat") + K (King) with A (Ace) and R(efille)D [empty] |
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| 19 | PEELERS |
Son is attached to copper kitchen utensils (7)
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S (son) is attached to PEELER (policeman, so "copper") |
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| 21 | EXTOL |
Magnify contents of texts? Only intermittently! (5)
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[contents of] (t)EXT(s) + O(n)L(y) [intermittently] |
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| 23 | NESTS |
Newton established society providing places to raise young (5)
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N (newton, a derived SI unit of force) + est. (established) + S (society) |
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| 24 | MOON |
Heartless fool’s bare bottom (4)
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[heartless] MO(r)ON ("fool") |
I thought this a most enjoyable route to a pangram with, as Loonapick says, no wrinkles. I laughed at 24d.
Thanks Steerpike and Loonapick.
My picks: HOWL, UPTIGHT, SQUEALS, CAN OF WORMS, RELEVANCE and MOON.
Thanks Steerpike and Loonapick.
CIRCLES
‘Rounds’ must be correct.
I was thinking of ‘does the rounds?’ as the def (mildly cryptic).
Without obscurities? I was going to write he was pushing the limit for obscure words, but the four words new to me are probably just UK English I am seeing for the first time. (There would have been a fifth had I not taken it upon myself to read the Greek classics). Aside from all that, it went smoothly with just TOP SECRET unparsed.
I particularly liked ALBUM, loved CAN OF WORMS, UPTIGHT was a nice hidden reversal and, dare I say, I liked MOON too (that is two backsides)
Thanks Steerpike and loonapick
Liked it. 17a I worked out uptight but was looking for an H to go with git put to complete the anagram and totally missed the reverse hiddenym.
I note that yesterday we had tit and today we have both bum and moon. Is the crossword editor watching too many carry on films?
I too thought ‘does the rounds’ as def, KVa @2, but it might need ‘of’ to be swappable.
[Were you thinking of the daffodil scene, JP @4?]
After yesterday’s “unfair” puzzle and today’s “good” puzzle which I solved at a rate acceptable to my ego I propose the following observations on crossword fairness.
1) there are no rules, only conventions. If the setter breaks the conventions and you can still solve it, that’s fine
2) a “good” puzzle is one that I can solve within 40m without cheats. 30m or less and it is a very good puzzle confirming my continued cerebral prowess, rather than child’s play. Too hard and too difficult are equally boring. Yesterday’s puzzle was good for some, but not me.
3) the standard in the ft seems to fluctuate wildly. Today’s was very “good” (<30m), yesterday’s very unfair (1 hr with a lot of use of cheats)
4) all solvers will nevertheless blame setters for bad and unfair puzzles and I imagine the setters will smugly consider themselves to have won the battle of wits that day.
Thoughts?
Peeler/copper had me scratching my head (Collins says it’s British old-fashioned slang, so it would seem that I’m in the wrong place at the wrong time). I’d forgotten about grunts, which were in a puzzle quite recently. Also never heard of chunter, Circe or ANKH. So as far as I’m concerned, quite a few obscurities, yes Martyn@3.
Geoffdownunder @7 – PEELER(S) is old but can still be heard/seen. In slang for the police, peelers and bobbies come from Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850), who founded the Metropolitan Police and merged it with the Bow Street Runners. Coppers because they cop (arrest) people, the Fuzz from the 1960s, Pigs, Rozzers, all derivation unknown, Flatfoots, from beat walking, the Boys in Blue and currently the Feds from American TV.
CHUNTER is in my idiolect, and an ANKH is Egyptian.
Very friendly solve this morning. Thank you to Steerpike and loonapick.
Shanne@8
Thanks for the info. Quite useful.
grantinfreo@5
I find that circle has a couple of intransitive senses.
The main trigger to go for ‘does the rounds?’ was
the QM.
I like the way the FT provides a range of difficulty, so I enjoyed both yesterday’s and today’s puzzles. Some very neat surfaces today TWEE for example.
Shanne@8, yes, I thought that might have been the origin of “peelers”.
That’s more like it. I actually finished this one and got them all right.
Can of Worms was good, I also enjoyed Tankard, Drunkenly and Top Secret.
Thanks to Steerpike and Loonapick
At night, the guard circles/does the rounds of the camp
Thanks Steerpike and Loonapick
14ac: The entry for the headword circle in Collins 2023 (p 375) users numbers 1 to 15 for the definitions as a noun, and then goes on “vb 16 to move in a circle (around): we circled the city by car 17 (tr) to enclose in a circle; encircle”. I think that the intransitive form at 16 (without the bracketed word “around” as part of the definition) fits “does the rounds?” as a definition in the clue. I agree with others that “rounds” on its own would be a smoother fit. However, that leaves the words “does the” serving no purpose: I cannot make them work as a link between wordplay and definition.
Thanks grantinfreo@13 and Pelham Barton@14.
Probably the most approachable puzzle of the past 48 hours in FT or Guardian. I didn’t notice the pangram but, as people have said, that’s because it didn’t feel forced.
CAN OF WORMS and CIRCLES my favourites.
Thanks Steerpike and loonapick
Yes, the level of difficulty seems to vary considerably but I don’t mind that. Today’s puzzle was about my level, but there were a few (ALBUM, DRUNKENLY, TOP SECRET and ORDAINS) which I guessed correctly without really knowing why. (Thanks, Loonapick.) As usual I could have done without Dr Spooner. I find spoonerisms about as entertaining as Shakespeare’s puns.
Yes, the level of difficulty does seem to vary considerably, but I don’t mind that. Today’s puzzle was about my level although there were four answers (ALBUM, DRUNKENLY, TOP SECRET and ORDAINS) that I guessed correctly but didn’t understand until reading Loonapick’s explanations, for which thanks as usual. I could have done without Dr Spooner. I find spoonerisms about as entertaining as Shakespeare’s feebler puns.
Duplication as the server was down and I thought I’d lost the message
(New pseudonym – formerly allan_c)
We spotted the possibility of a pangram early on, which helped us finish. We weren’t quite sure about CHUNTER ON as an admissible phrase, but Chambers adds ‘often with on‘ in the definition for chunter so we’ll let it pass.
Thanks, Steerpike and loonapick.
Thanks Steerpike for a very good crossword. My top picks were ALBUM, SPARROW, TOP-SECRET, CRYPTOLOGY, and MAYFLOWER. I nho CHUNTER or PEELER as a copper but I got the solutions regardless. Thanks loonapick for the blog.
I had never heard of CHUNTER ON either, so that was my main holdup in this otherwise lovely puzzle. Lots of great surfaces. I particularly noted the stinky lavatory in CAN OF WORMS.
Hadn’t heard PEELER, but since I know a thing or two about the history of policing, Robert Peel, and the derivation of bobby, that one was easily reverse-engineered. (I once co-taught an introductory criminal justice class; I covered the law bits and learned the policing bits from my co-teacher as we went.)
P.S. the Bow Street Runners that Shanne mentions were founded by, of all people, Henry Fielding of Tom Jones fame.