Gozo is this morning’s setter in the FT.
Gozo puzzles are often pangrams, but this one fell three letters short of that, so there may be a theme that I’m missing instead (my apologies if that’s the case because I can’t see one unless it’s the police – FLIC, SCOTLAND YARD, PANDA CARS, FORCE and SERPICO eg). I wasn’t keen on “pupils” for LL as L is specifically a learner driver, rather than a pupil, but this has become commonplace in the crossword universe. Speaking of universes, it is my understanding that Darkforce in the Marvel Universe is all one word, but Gozo has enumerated it as two. I liked CREPITUS as it came immediately to mind as my 62-year old arthritic knees are creaking this morning after my exertions on the five-a-side pitch last night.
Thanks, Gozo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TOPOLOGY |
Study of sets for game on borders of Germany (8)
|
| TO (“for”) + POLO (“game”) on [borders of] G(erman)Y | ||
| 5 | CONSUL |
Briefly ask advice of diplomat (6)
|
| [briefly] CONSUL(t) (“ask advice of”) | ||
| 9 | MINISTER |
Cabinet member, one entering church (8)
|
| I (one) entering MINSTER (“church”) | ||
| 10 | JAGUAR |
Cat from jungle originally — one keeping watch endlessly (6)
|
| J(ungle) [originally] + A GUAR(d) (“one keeping watch”, endlessly) | ||
| 12 | STAGE |
Possibly gets a coach (5)
|
| *(gets a) [anag:possibly] | ||
| 13 | FILMGOERS |
1001 golfers turned round for cineastes (9)
|
| *(MI golfers) [anag:turned round] where MI = 1001 in Roman numerals | ||
| 14 | DAFTER |
It’s not so sensible to read FT out of order (6)
|
| *(read ft) [anag:out of order] | ||
| 16 | CLAUDIA |
Female spies accepting praise (7)
|
| CIA (Central Intelligence Agency, so “spies”) accepting LAUD (“praise”) | ||
| 19 | ROSEATE |
In the pink, having got up and tucked in (7)
|
| ROSE (“got up”) and ATE (“tucked in”) | ||
| 21 | SIERRA |
Chain letter read out (6)
|
| SIERRA is the NATO phonetic alphabet equivalent of S, so the letter S read out. | ||
| 23 | PROPELLER |
English pupils seen during fitting part of a ship (9)
|
| E (English) + LL (learners, so “pupils”) seen during PROPER (“fitting”) | ||
| 25 | ELFIN |
Dainty, but somewhat self-indulgent (5)
|
| Hidden in [somewhat] “sELF-INdulgent” | ||
| 26 | TALBOT |
Old hound — little fellow — about a pound (6)
|
| TOT (“little fellow”) about A + Lb (pound)
Talbot was a now extinct breed of large-eared dog. |
||
| 27 | SIM CARDS |
Carry On star Joan takes in eccentric mobile phone hardware (3,5)
|
| (Carry On star Joan) SIMS takes in CARD (“eccentric”) | ||
| 28 | SPRITE |
Like 25A’s special ceremony (6)
|
| Sp. (special) + RITE (“ceremony”)
The 25A refers to 25 across (elfin). |
||
| 29 | LOVE SEAT |
Be fond of serving teas on armchair for two (4,4)
|
| LOVE (“be fond of”) + *(teas) [anag:serving] | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TAMEST |
Least exciting exam takes a minute (6)
|
| TEST (“exam”) takes (A + M (minute)) | ||
| 2 | PANDA CARS |
Paramedics and ambulancemen first at appalling crash — hospital not admitted police vehicles (5,4)
|
| P(aramedics) AND A(mbulencemen) [first] at *(cras) [anag:appalling] where CRAS is CRAS(h) with H (hospital) not admitted. | ||
| 3 | LISLE |
Cotton thread one’s placed in heart of galleon (5)
|
| I’S (“one’s”) placed in [heart of] (ga)LLE(on) | ||
| 4 | GOES FAR |
Succeeds in one’s career and travels a good distance (4,3)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 6 | ORANGEADE |
Agreed on a review of drink (9)
|
| *(agreed on a) [anag:review] | ||
| 7 | SHUTE |
Novelist suggests photographic session (5)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [suggestes] of SHOOT (“photographic session”)
Nevil Shute was an English novelist, most famous for his 1950 novel A Town Called Alice. |
||
| 8 | LORD’S DAY |
Scotland Yard can’t be missing out the Sabbath! (5,3)
|
| *(solad yrd) [anag:out] where SOLAD YRD is S(c)O(t)LA(n)D Y(a)RD with CAN’T missing | ||
| 11 | FLIC |
French busy in off-licence (4)
|
| Hidden [in] “ofF-LICence”
Flic in French and busy in Englishmen are both slang words for “policeman”. |
||
| 15 | THAWED OUT |
Now melted — due to what boiling? (6,3)
|
| *(due to what) [anag:boiling] | ||
| 17 | DARK FORCE |
Night-time beneficial to church as energy source in the Marvel universe (4,5)
|
| DARK (“night-time”) + FOR (“beneficial to”) + CE (“Church” of England)
In the Marvel comics, darkforce (all one word, not 4,5) is en extradimensional power that absorbs heat, light and energy. |
||
| 18 | CREPITUS |
Moving pictures detected creaking in the knees (8)
|
| *(pictures) [anag:moving] | ||
| 20 | EELS |
Swimmers sleep over endlessly (4)
|
| <=(SLEE(p)) [over, endlessly] | ||
| 21 | SERPICO |
1973 Pacino film role representing one corpse (7)
|
| *(I corpse) [anag:representing] where I = one | ||
| 22 | UNDSET |
Nobel prize-winning Norwegian novelist and German group (6)
|
| UND (“German and”) + SET (“group”)
Sigrid Undset was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928. |
||
| 24 | OILER |
Fuel vessel having head of heater out of commission (5)
|
| [head of] (b)OILER (“heater”) out of commission | ||
| 25 | EMCEE |
Michael Caine, initially, heard as presenter (5)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [heard] of MC (Michael Caine, initially) |
Another helping of Gozo after his alter ego’s appearance in The Guardian yesterday – good stuff!
There was much to like in this grid – PANDA CARS and FLIC (for the definition) – both of which appear to point to twin themes, possibly interconnected (cars used by cops)
Very enjoyable indeed!
Thanks for raising a laugh, Gozo! And cheers, Loonapick, for the blog.
No set theory in matric maths in my day, and topology evokes those twisty tauri etc, but I’m sure they’re related. The novelist and the Marvel stuff were also unknowns, but no great bother, ta Gozo and loona.
And to add to the comment about the TALBOT, the reason we have so many pubs called The Talbot or The Talbot Arms is the Earls of Shrewsbury and Malahide have Talbot as their family name, plus other landed gentry have the dog on their coat of arms.
Entertaining puzzle – thank you to Gozo and loonapick.
Got TALBOT from wordplay and had to cheat to get UNDSET. I still read the occasional Marvel comic and am working through the Marvel programs on Disney+ but don’t recall DARKFORCE.
Didn’t like the definition in 1a. Ok, topology can be the study of topological spaces, which are sets, but so are most things in Pure Mathematics (groups, vector spaces etc) and topology is not set theory. That gripe aside, an entertaining puzzle.
Although I knew the two more famous Nevil Shute novels , I knew nothing of his life. I can recommend the Wikipedia article , quite interesting.
Enjoyed this . Thanks Gozo and loonapick.