The FT’s regular geographically themed crossword. Find it to solve online or download and print at ft.com/crossword
The usual preamble:
A cryptic puzzle themed on one particular place in the world. Its name should be inserted at 2 down. Work out the place by solving the * asterisked clues. Their solutions have some relevance to the place, such as famous people, locations and culture
Hamilton is one of the regular setters of the FT’s World puzzle and always does a good job, managing to cram lots of thematic entries into the grid without too many obscurities. And this was an enjoyable puzzle as ever, which I didn’t find too taxing, partly thanks to deducing the thematic country early.
Thanks, Hamilton!
Definitions in non-thematic clues are underlined in the clues below. Thematic clues are marked by an asterisk and have no further definition.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | RICKSHAW |
* In Casablanca, Bogart was holding husband back (8)
|
| RICK (in Casablanca, Bogart) + WAS containing (holding) H (husband) reversed (back)
A wheeled cart for carrying passengers, invented in Japan and originally pulled by a person on foot but motorised versions are popular in India |
||
| 6 | BUDDHA |
* Friend had appendages removed (6)
|
| BUD (friend) to which an anagram (removed) of HAD is joined (appendages as a verb)
Siddhartha Gautama, founder of India’s predominant religion |
||
| 9 | ODISHA |
* Passage from Nimrod is hackneyed (6)
|
| The solution is a selection of letters (passage) from nimrOD IS HAckneyed
A state in eastern India |
||
| 10 | AYURVEDA |
* Yes, you are said to have cracked up Dave (8)
|
| AY (yes) + UR (sounds like YOU ARE when said) + anagram (cracked up) of DAVE
A form of therapy originating in India, involving herbal remedies, meditation, yoga and other elements |
||
| 11 | TAPI |
* Tablet returned to Tom, not Dick, initially (4)
|
| IPAD (tablet) reversed (returned) with the first letter (initially) of Tom rather than Dick
A district in the state of Gujarat in western India, and the name of a river in central India |
||
| 12/7 | KAPIL DEV |
* Foolishly liked a VP? (5,3)
|
| Anagram (foolishly) of LIKED A VP
Indian cricketer, captain of the national team in the 80s and 90s and one of the game’s greatest ever all-rounders |
||
| 13 | RARE |
Bloody unusual (4)
|
| Two definitions | ||
| 14 | WAGGONER |
Old driver redeployed — wrong age (8)
|
| Anagram (redeployed) of WRONG AGE | ||
| 16 | VIBE |
Feeling Belgium is involved in contest (4)
|
| B (Belgium) inserted (involved) in VIE (contest) | ||
| 18 | AGRA |
* Ariana Grande owns it! (4)
|
| arianA GRAnde contains (owns) it
Indian city most famous for being the site of the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort and Sikandra, the mausoleum of Mughal emperor Akbar |
||
| 19 | TEESSIDE |
Cleaned up seediest part of the north east (8)
|
| Anagram (cleaned up) of SEEDIEST | ||
| 21 | GLEE |
Gosh, Lambert’s consumed with happiness (4)
|
| GEE (gosh) containing (consumed) L (Lambert) | ||
| 22 | AMRIT |
* Morning service ended prematurely (5)
|
| AM (morning) + RIT[e] (service) with last letter removed (ended prematurely)
One of the four Sanskars (sacred rites) of the Indian religion Sikhism |
||
| 23 | AMMA |
* Thousands enter recovery programme (4)
|
| MM (thousands) inserted in (enter) AA (Alcoholics Anonymous = recovery programme)
Matrusri Anasuya Devi (1923-1985), an Indian spiritual guru known as Amma, which means mother |
||
| 25 | PANGLOSS |
Optimist has afterthought — include dodgy slogan (8)
|
| PS (afterthought) containing (include) an anagram (dodgy) of SLOGAN
Famously optimistic character from Voltaire’s Candide |
||
| 27 | ANKARA |
Heard newsreader has a place in the Middle East (6)
|
| Sounds like (heard) “ANCHOR” (newsreader) + A | ||
| 28 | REPAIR |
Adjourn to theatre for broadcast (6)
|
| REP (theatre) + AIR (broadcast) | ||
| 29 | AGE GROUP |
Gen Z gear up and go crazy (3,5)
|
| Anagram (crazy) of GEAR UP + GO | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | INDIA |
[See Notes] (5)
|
| The place to which solutions to asterisked clues are linked | ||
| 3 | KISSING GATE |
US statesman has no hesitation joining crowd at narrow entrance (7,4)
|
| KISSING[er] (US statesman) less ER (hesitation) + GATE (crowd) | ||
| 4 | HEARKENS |
Listens to Karen; she gets confused (8)
|
| Anagram (gets confused) of KAREN SHE | ||
| 5 | WRAPPER |
West covering Jay-Z covering… (7)
|
| W (west) + RAPPER (Jay-Z) | ||
| 6 | BAUBLE |
…Canadian singer holding a toy (6)
|
| BUBLE (Canadian singer) containing (holding) A | ||
| 8 | HYDERABAD |
* Brady gets head trouble (9)
|
| Anagram (trouble) of BRADY + HEAD
The sixth most populous city in India |
||
| 13 | RAVI SHANKAR |
* Skirt — lower half turned up — covers knavish criminal (4,7)
|
| RA-RA (skirt) of which the second half is reversed (turned up) containing (covers) an anagram (criminal) of KNAVISH
Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury (1920-2012), Indian composer and sitarist and friend of the Beatles |
||
| 15 | ANGEL CAKE |
Supporter given chunk of sponge (5,4)
|
| ANGEL (supporter) + CAKE (chunk) | ||
| 17 | MEAT SAFE |
No BSE here, so Callum eats a few sandwiches! (4,4)
|
| calluM EATS A Few contains (sandwiches) the solution
A meat safe was a cool box in a larder that people used to keep meat fresh before refrigeration was invented, but the definition here is more whimsical |
||
| 19 | TERESSA |
* Saintly mother holds the first service (7)
|
| TERESA (saintly mother) containing (holds) the first [letter of] Service
One of the Nicobar islands in the Indian Ocean. Mother Teresa was Indian, of course |
||
| 20 | KAPOOR |
* Okay, pinpoint Tory middle ground (6)
|
| Middle two letters (middle ground) from each of oKAy pinPOint tORy
A common name in India, one famous example being British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor |
||
| 24 | MURMU |
* Almost speak sotto voce (5)
|
| MURMU[r] (speak sotto voce) with the last letter removed (almost)
Droupadi Murmu is current president of India but like Kapoor, there are other famous people with this name |
||
| 26 | GOA |
* Finally leaving Sacramento, California (3)
|
| Last letters (finally) of leavinG sacramentO californiA
A state of western India |
Another fun puzzle from Hamilton. I was struggling until 26d gave me GOA and then it became easier. I did not know that Orissa had changed its name to ODISHA .
One small quibble with the blog in 6ac. Although Buddhism originated in India,Hinduism is the predominant religion with about eighty percent of the population being Hindus.
Thanks Hamilton and Widdersbel.
Enjoyable puzzle. Informative blog.
Thanks Hamilton and Widdersbel..
AMRIT also means elixir.
Just like there are several famous KAPOORs, there are several
famous AMMAs.
SM – of course, very careless of me. It’s actually the fifth most popular religion in India. No idea what was going through my head when I wrote that…
KAPOOR was one of the surnames of the snobbish couples in Goodness Gracious Me, too.
I found my way in from ODISHA, guessing it was possible, and checking it existed, realising that this month’s country had to be India and thinking it’s such a vast country and culture, the answers could be anything.
Thank you to Hamilton and Widdersbel.
I struggled with a few of these. For “Buddha” I had “Budd[y] + ha[d]” as the parsing, (“appendages removed” ie last letters) as there is no anagrind.
“lambert” as a unit is non-SI and really unfamiliar even to a ex-physicist with a background in metrology and an interest in history of science. I suspect this was pulled from the dictionary with no idea of whether it was in use, as opposed to the normal abbreviations which are part of the common curriculum in pre-16 science.
I was thrown by “teressa” (Mother Teresa was born in Skopje in what is now Macedonia but was then Albania, though I think she gained Indian ciitzenship?) but I never did like the construction “the first x” for “the first *of* x”.
Many thanks Hamilton and Widdersbel.
Surprised that my knowledge of India got me through this – helped that Odisha markets itself heavily as a venue for hockey which I follow closely. So enjoyed this, and blog filled out Gk gaps so thank you!