Jason has set this morning’s FT puzzle.
An average difficulty puzzle from Jason. A couple of passes was enough to solve all but MANUKA, which held out for a bit because I was trying to find a parsing for LAPUTA until inspiration stuck. I think the second meaning of ULTRA is a bit niche, but that may just be because I had never heard of the wartime designation.
Thanks, Jason.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TROOPS |
Backing good chap taking in old soldiers (6)
|
| [backing] <=SPORT (“good chap”) taking in O (old) | ||
| 5 | SHUTTLES |
Travel services closed for fear that last character comes first (8)
|
| SHUT (“closed”) + LES(T) (‘for fear that”) with last character coming first, so (T)LES | ||
| 9 | TAKE HEED |
Pay attention to appropriate notice (4,4)
|
| TAKE (“to appropriate”) + HEED (“notice”) | ||
| 10 | TUNDRA |
A part of wet, undrained plain (6)
|
| Hidden in [a part of] “weT UNDRAined” | ||
| 11 | BANDIT |
Pirate also taken in scrap (6)
|
| AND (“also”) taken in BIT (“scrap”) | ||
| 12 | CHASTISE |
Immaculate clothing is correct (8)
|
| CHASTE (“immaculate”) clothing IS | ||
| 14 | ASPIRATIONAL |
A Parisian lot struggling to be hopeful (12)
|
| A + *(parisian lot) [anag:struggliing] | ||
| 18 | MULTITASKING |
It’s said men fail at this: ultimately it is hidden by hiding (12)
|
| (Ult. (ultimately) + IT) is hidden by MASKING (“hiding”) | ||
| 22 | SPACE BAR |
Box containing outstanding book that’s key for breaks (5,3)
|
| SPAR (“box”) containing ACE (“outstanding”) + B (book) | ||
| 25 | KINDLE |
Fan of cordial French article (6)
|
| KIND (“cordial”) + LE (“French article”) | ||
| 26 | MANUKA |
Island near Britain with a source of medicinal nectar (6)
|
| (Isle of) MAN (“island”) near UK (“Britain”) with A | ||
| 27 | WHIMSIES |
Doctor wishes I’m getting fanciful ideas (8)
|
| *(wishes im) [anag:doctor] | ||
| 28 | STANDARD |
Flag’s set in place near a road (8)
|
| STAND (“set in place”) near A + Rd. (road) | ||
| 29 | GARDEN |
Yard overturned newspaper study (6)
|
| [overturned] <=RAG (“newspaper”) + DEN (“study”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | REAGAN |
Unfettered anger about a former president (6)
|
| *(anger) [anag:unfettered] about A | ||
| 3 | OVERDRAFT |
Done with run in foolish banker’s agreement (9)
|
| OVER (“done”) with R (run, in cricket) in DAFT (“foolish”) | ||
| 4 | SWEET SPOT |
Jar of candies is the ideal place to make contact (5,4)
|
| SWEETS POT (“jar of candies”) | ||
| 5 | SIDECAR |
Small one careered about in Gromit’s vehicle? (7)
|
| S (small) + I (one) + <=RACED (“careered”, about)
In the animated Wallace & Gromit films, Wallace rides a motorcycle with a sidecar, in which Gromit, his dog, is often a passenger. |
||
| 6 | ULTRA |
Extreme intelligence? (5)
|
| Double definition, the second relating to wartime communications in the Second World War (Google it!) | ||
| 7 | TENET |
Principle which could also be set up (5)
|
| TENET (“principle”) is a palindrome, so would be thr same “set up” | ||
| 8 | EUROSTAR |
Our rates being wasted for travel service (8)
|
| *(our rates) [anag:being wasted] | ||
| 13 | SKI |
Runner is bound to lose power (3)
|
| SKI(p) (“bound” to lose P (power)) | ||
| 15 | TWINKLING |
Blinking double line held by Charles (9)
|
| TWIN (“double”) + L (line) held by KING (Charles) | ||
| 16 | ORGANISER |
Some figures in a group turned over a diary or similar (9)
|
| Hidden backwards in [some…turned over] “figuRES IN A GROup” | ||
| 17 | SUPPLANT |
Replace plans put off (8)
|
| *(plans put) [anag:off] | ||
| 19 | IRE |
Passion that is about end of Labour (3)
|
| i.e. (id est, so “that is”) about [end of] (labou)R | ||
| 20 | SCREWED |
Week in plaster finds you done for (7)
|
| W (week) in SCREED (“plaster”) | ||
| 21 | ALLEGE |
Declare member to be overcome by booze (6)
|
| LEG (“member”) to be overcome by ALE (“booze”) | ||
| 23 | CHURN |
Central heating boiler to rumble (5)
|
| CH (central heating) + URN (“boiler”) | ||
| 24 | BRAVA |
Support Victor over a shout for female excellence (5)
|
| BRA (“support”) + V (Victor, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) over A |
I’ve not seen ult as an abbreviation for ultimately. And I wasn’t aware that MULTITASKING is a failing of men. Several synonyms puzzled me — ski/runner, churn/rumble, chastise/correct. And ultra/intelligence, but I’ll do as you suggest, Loonapick, and google it. Never heard of BRAVA — all these years I’ve been using bravo for both genders. I hope I didn’t offend anyone.
Well constructed clues.
I loved ASPIRATIONAL as both a great anagram and excellent surface, and also ticked CHASTISE as concise and neat.
I could not parse MULTITASKING and could not find ULTRA = intelligence in my dictionary, so thanks to loonapick for both.
I ask: as BRAVA is the female version of bravo, is there a male version? And finally, I have been to MANUKA in Canberra (an up-market suburb in a down-market city), but had no idea it was the source of healing.
Thanks Jason and loonapick
Martyn@2 bravo is the male version, BRAVA the female – I’ve heard/seen it used by the same people that use alumna, alumnus and alumni.
MANUKA honey is used to heal – so has a premium price (and a lot of fakes around).
I did this last night – I’m usually on the wavelength for Jason. ULTRA for intelligence rang a very vague bell – but I’ve read a lot of books about WWI and WWII.
Thank you to loonapick and Jason.