I was sailing through today’s puzzle from Peto when I hit a brick wall of noncomprehension on the last four clues, which took me as long to solve and parse as all the rest put together. I think I have successfully explained everything in the end.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CHANCE |
An unexpected event in part of church? Not entirely (6)
|
| CHANCE[L] (part of church) minus last letter (not entirely) | ||
| 4 | COLOMBIA |
Country doctor looking into innovative AI? Cool (8)
|
| MB (doctor) inside (looking into) anagram of (innovative) {AI + COOL} | ||
| 9 | RESORT |
With reference to type of repair (6)
|
| RE (with reference to) + SORT (type) | ||
| 10 | DISTRUST |
Doubt girl’s faith (8)
|
| DI’S (girl’s) + TRUST (faith) | ||
| 12 | TURGENEV |
Novelist to let off steam about describing strong desire (8)
|
| VENT (let off steam) reversed (about) around (describing) URGE (strong desire) | ||
| 13 | MODEST |
Forms back of coconut shy (6)
|
| MODES (forms) + last letter of (back of) [COCONU]T | ||
| 15 | ROCK |
Crack found in diamond (4)
|
| Double definition, the first referring to crack cocaine | ||
| 16 | RELAPSE |
About to get Slip and Slide back (7)
|
| RE (about) + LAPSE (slip), with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 20 | TOTALLY |
Absolutely against taking credit (7)
|
| TO (against) + TALLY (credit) | ||
| 21 | CAST |
Throw out of court over for instance… (4)
|
| CT (court) around (over) AS (for instance). I am not sure what the “. . .” between this clue and 25A is doing, except perhaps providing a smoother surface. | ||
| 25 | ARISTO |
…riots organised by a noble (6)
|
| A + anagram of (organised) RIOTS | ||
| 26 | UNBROKEN |
Complete bunk Nero fabricated (8)
|
| Anagram of (fabricated) BUNK NERO | ||
| 28 | ANGLEPOD |
DOGE plan designed for US plant (8)
|
| Anagram of (designed) DOGE PLAN. I cannot find this in Chambers, but it is on Wikipedia. | ||
| 29 | GALORE |
Lots of soldiers caught in very strong wind (6)
|
| OR (soldiers) inside (caught in) GALE (very strong wind) | ||
| 30 | STRESSED |
Gave prominence to puddings from the east (8)
|
| DESSERTS (puddings) reversed (from the east) | ||
| 31 | HEARTS |
The most important parts of a football club (6)
|
| Double definition, the latter referring to Heart of Midlothian F.C. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CURATORS |
Galleries have them in copper and gold surrounded by grasses (8)
|
| CU (copper) + {OR (gold) inside (surrounded by) RATS (grasses)} | ||
| 2 | ABSTRACT |
Hard to understand when bishop’s taken in by pamphlet (8)
|
| {B (bishop) inside ([is] taken in by) AS (when)} + TRACT (pamphlet) | ||
| 3 | CORNET |
Old cavalry officer finding something hackneyed and French (6)
|
| CORN (something hackneyed) + ET (and [in] French) | ||
| 5 | OMIT |
Exclude from old university (4)
|
| O (old) + MIT (university) | ||
| 6 | OUTHOUSE |
Existing near York perhaps in a shed (8)
|
| OUT (existing) + HOUSE (York, perhaps, i.e., the royal House of York) | ||
| 7 | BOULES |
On the point of edging away before the French game (6)
|
| [A]BOU[T] (on the point of) minus outside letters (edging away) + LES (the [in] French) | ||
| 8 | ASTUTE |
Having insight into renovation of statue (6)
|
| Anagram of (renovation of) STATUE | ||
| 11 | VETERAN |
Experienced Ecstasy then worked on screen (7)
|
| VET (screen) + E (ecstasy) + RAN (worked) | ||
| 14 | RAILING |
King unwell complaining bitterly (7)
|
| R (king) + AILING (unwell) | ||
| 17 | BOOTLESS |
To praise God without also turning up is of little use (8)
|
| BLESS (to praise God) around (without) TOO (also) inverted (turning up) | ||
| 18 | BACK FOUR |
Support in spite of employing United’s defensive formation (4,4)
|
| BACK (support) + {FOR (in spite of) around (employing) U (United)} | ||
| 19 | ETON MESS |
Short written message about cock-up with dessert (4,4)
|
| NOTE (short written message) inverted (about) + MESS (cock-up) | ||
| 22 | HARASS |
Girl reflective over small badger (6)
|
| SARAH (girl) inverted (reflective) + S (small) | ||
| 23 | DIGGER |
Peter out collecting horse right for old dissenter (6)
|
| {DIE (peter out) around (collecting) GG (horse)} + R (right) | ||
| 24 | CREATE |
Make first of excursions in old car (6)
|
| First [letter] of E[XCURSIONS] inside (in) CRATE (old car) | ||
| 27 | DONE |
Tricked heartless poet (4)
|
| [John] DO[N]NE (poet) minus middle letter (heartless) |
Much neat clueing, but also a few that did not enthuse me.
Liked MODEST, GALORE, CREATE, STRESSED, and DONE
I strongly disliked girl being used twice to result in different names. Could not parse OUTHOUSE or HEARTS (a ridiculous clue now I see the parsing). Presumably BACK FOUR is also soccer? Given how many sports have defensive lines, it would have been nice for the setter to give a steer toward the relevant sport.
Why is a DIGGER an old dissenter? I got BOOTLESS eventually and do not get how of little use = BOOTLESS nor how praise god = bless (isn’t it god that blesses humans, not the other way around?)
Finally, I believe I have never had an ETON MESS
Thanks Peto and Cineraria
The diggers were early socialists who planted crops on common land Martyn
Liked Turgenev, didn’t like the grid which felt like five separate mini crosswords.
Things and people exist without being “out”, but “out” as in, eg, published, works at a push. Quite enjoyed this from Peto — thanks, and thanks Cineraria –including the SE in which I took an age to think of gale to make galore, d’oh, and still can’t think how to swap “for” with “in spite of “, but I’m sure it’s doable. In Oz, digger, along with cobber, has sort of nebulised to mate, somewhat retro now.
Collins:
For
despite; notwithstanding
she’s a good person, for all her eccentricities
Peto which four clues were the problem, out of interest?
Nice example, thanks KVa.
21a and 25a throw out of court = cast aristo because he caused riots?
So the two clues together also explain both answers together, as well as working individually.
But it’s a bit creaky.
Martyn@1: sorry to invoke Chambers, but the second entry for BOOT gives BOOTLESS as ‘unprofitable, useless’ (from BOOT as a verb meaning ‘to give profit or advantage to’).
The clue to HEARTS shows why I so dislike ‘of’ used as a linkword. It’s lazy clueing.
Didn’t care for this at all. Too many words with unfamiliar meanings (my ignorance not a dig at the setter) and I’m never keen on words like ANGLEPOD which is too obscure (I initially guessed ANGELPOD, so not too far off), which crossed with BOOTLESS, another never-heard-of. 11d is against normal convention. VET is on ERAN not the other way around in a down clue. As for 27d …
Whilst I share some of the criticisms,the puzzle was good in parts. I have often eaten Eton mess, although it is not one of my favourite desserts. DONE was quite easy after solving the nho ANGLEPOD.
Thanks Peto and Cineraria.
Re 11d: if Ecstasy and worked are ‘on screen’, wouldn’t that make ‘eranvet’???
Calluna. That’s what I said @10.
11dn: This issue crops up repeatedly , so those who have read all this before, please bear with me.
We have it on good authority from one of our regular setters that some editors insist that “X on Y” indicates YX in an across clue and XY in a down clue. This is not going to change in the foreseeable future, and I agree with his advice to setters wishing to publish in more than one place that they should stick to those rules in all their puzzles.
However, those editors have no authority outside their own publications, and I cannot accept that their views constitute a convention that should be followed by others. I satisfied myself some time ago that there are dictionary definitions of on which work for XY in an across clue and YX in a down clue. My advice to solvers is to be prepared for “on” to mean “before” or “after” in either an across clue or a down clue.
In my view, the FT editor is completely within his rights in allowing this more relaxed rule, and Peto is entitled to take advantage of it.
Note: I am away from home at the moment, so would be glad if someone else can give the necessary dictionary meanings before I get home some time on Thursday.
I’ve certainly heard things like “The spider is on the ceiling”, although I would hope there are less ridiculous examples. I deliberately said normal convention. Personally, I’m ok with XY or YX in across clues. So, yes Peto is entitled to use it and, I feel I (and others) are entitled to disagree with it.
I’m hardly entitled to comment today as I only had time for a few clues, but I can see that I would soon have got stuck.
I have a particular, and perhaps irrational, dislike of clues linked by… This is probably because too often some setters include them simply because there is a tenuous link, which it is not necessary to understand in order to solve either clue and which is usually no help in solving them either. I’m not saying that linked clues aren’t sometimes very clever but I still find them annoying – even more so than Spoonerisms.
No accusation against Peto. I’m not sure I would have got 21ac whether or not the dots had been there.
I managed to finish this, but I didn’t enjoy . Too many unknown words and obscure clueing. Anglepod is completely unfair.
Surprised the FT can’t find better.
Dreadful. I won’t waste my time trying to solve a Peto again.
Well done to those who persevered with this, and thank you Cineraria for taking the time to do this blog.