Neo is this morning’s setter.
A fun crossword with a fair but of general knowledge, none of which was terribly obscure as long as you know your basic Shakespeare, Dickens, American geography and American jazz pianists. The bottom half was easier than the top for me, but as is often the case, solving the long clue across the middle gave plenty of crossers. I’m not convinced by STOOPS, so would be interested in other solver’s opinions.
Thanks, Neo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8/20 | COUNT BASIE |
Matter before foundation involves one famed 19 (5,5)
|
| COUNT (“matter”) before BASE (“foundation”) involves I (one) | ||
| 11 | RANCOUR |
Did you say private soldier harboured bitterness? (7)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [did you say] of RANKER (“private soldier”) | ||
| 12 | ORANG |
Love called for Sumatran swinger (5)
|
| O (love, in tennis) + RANG (“called”) | ||
| 13 | TYROL |
Beginner left for Alpine region (5)
|
| TYRO (“beginner’) + L (left) | ||
| 14 | DEAD SEA |
Absolute bottom temperature dropped in low lake (4,3)
|
| DEAD (“absolute”) + SEA(t) (“bottom”) with T (temperature) dropped | ||
| 15 | EXTRA |
More from uncredited player (5)
|
| Double definition, the second referring to a background actor whose name doesn’t appear in the credits. | ||
| 17 | FALL ON HARD TIMES |
Eagerly begin novel: experience suffering (4,2,4,5)
|
| FALL ON (“eagerly begin”) + HARD TIMES (a Charles Dickens “novel”) | ||
| 22 | EXPOSED |
Old flame, model, died naked (7)
|
| EX (“old flame”) + POSE (“model”) + D (died) | ||
| 25 | RODIN |
Stick with current French form master? (5)
|
| ROD (“stick”) with IN (“current”)
Auguste Rodin was a French sculpture, so one who mastered form. |
||
| 27 | LOOSE |
Unrestrained solo altered with echo (5)
|
| *(solo) [anag:altered] with E (echo, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) | ||
| 28 | CAPE COD |
Head across pond — caught parrot fish (4,3)
|
| C (caught) + APE (“parrot”) + COD (“fish”)
Cape Cod is a peninsula (or head) in Massachusetts, hence “across the pond”. |
||
| 29 | SIGHTSEER |
Traveller mentioning these locations in Bow? (9)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [mentioning] SITES ‘ERE (“these locations in Bow?”)
Bow is an area in London from which Cockneys, who famously drop their H’s, originate. |
||
| 30 | REAVE |
Forcibly seize ecstasy carried into party (5)
|
| E (ecstasy) carried into RAVE (“party”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SCORED |
Centre in South Dakota looking groovy? (6)
|
| CORE (“centre”) in SD (South Dakota)
If something is scored, it would have visible grooves in it, so it would “look groovy”. |
||
| 2 | TURN TAIL |
Heroin kicked, ultra-thin models beat retreat (4,4)
|
| *(ultratin) [anag:models] where ULTRATIN is ULTRA-T(h)IN with H (heroin) kicked (out) | ||
| 3 | STOOPS |
Bends over in bars (6)
|
| Double definition?
I’m not convinced by this, as I don’t think STOOPS and BARS are syninymous. |
||
| 4 | HEARTACHE |
Catch what moggy brought up in misery (9)
|
| HEAR (“catch”) + <=(EH (“what”) + CAT (“moggy”), brought up) | ||
| 5 | INSOLENT |
Bit too fresh in Hampshire strait (8)
|
| IN + SOLENT (“Hampshire strait”) | ||
| 6 | AT LAST |
Map book placed on table’s top in the end (2,4)
|
| ATLAS (“map book”) placed on T(able) [‘s top] | ||
| 7 | ANAGRAMS |
Among which William Hopper would become Philip Marlowe? (8)
|
| William Hopper and Philip Marlowe are ANAGRAMS of each other. | ||
| 10 | LEAR |
Troubled king coherent when losing head? (4)
|
| (c)LEAR (“coherent”, when losing head) | ||
| 16 | GREEN CARD |
Inexperienced character’s insurance document (5,4)
|
| GREEN (“experience”) + CARD (“character”) | ||
| 17 | FABULIST |
Storyteller’s splendid universal catalogue (8)
|
| FAB (“splendid”) + U (universal) + LIST (“catalogue”) | ||
| 18 | OPERETTA |
Nuts to repeat some Gilbert and Sullivan piece? (8)
|
| *(to repeat) [anag:nuts] | ||
| 19 | MUSICIAN |
Maybe fiddler has problem over agents breaking in (8)
|
| <=SUM (“problem”, over) + CIA (Central Intelligence Agency, so “agents”) brealing IN | ||
| 21 | SLOUGH |
Southern Water’s stagnant swamp (6)
|
| S (Southern) + LOUGH (lake in Ireland, so “water”) | ||
| 23 | POP ART |
Role outside work in modern movement (3,3)
|
| PART (“role”) outside Op. (opus, so “work”) | ||
| 24 | DODGEM |
Car bashed in Kansas City motorway (6)
|
| DODGE (“Kansas city”) + M (motorway) | ||
| 26/9 | DUKE ELLINGTON |
Famed 19 liked long tune to be rearranged (4,9)
|
| *(liked long tune) [anag:to be rearranged] |
A paywall prevented me from downloading today’s, and I thought it was goodbye to FT crosswords, as I certainly wouldn’t pay a full subscription to something I’d never read. (A modest fee for the crosswords alone would of course be more favourably considered.) But hours later the paywall was gone. Curiouser and curiouser.
I had a “Huh?” list of five, due primarily to deficiencies in my knowledge of things UK and Dickens. And REAVE was new to me. But most enjoyable nevertheless.
I think STOOPS is O( over) in STOPS( bars).
Fun puzzle with an excellent blog.
Thanks to both
STOOPS is O in STOPS. Rodin is a sculptor rather than a sculpture.
Thanks, SM@2. Will edit when I get the chance.
A curate’s egg for me. There were some wonderful clues mixed with several I disliked. I found this on the difficult side.
DUKE ELLINGTON and OPERETTA are the sort of clever anagrams with great surfaces that I love. And they were topped by the utterly brilliant ANAGRAMS. I also liked the surfaces of SCORED and HEARTACHE
I could not parse RANCOUR – a pronunciation thing that does not bother me – and I misinterpreted “current” in RANCOUR (I thought i not in).
I believe the city in Kansas is Dodge City, and Dodge alone does not seem to work in the clue. And yet again the solver forgets he has many solvers outside UK. CAPE COD is not across the pond for many solvers, and it is news for me that SOLENT is in Hampshire. I also have no idea how a GREEN CARD is an insurance document (is it a UK thing?). It would also have been nice to have an Irish indicator for lough. And while we are on the topic of indicators, an abbreviation indicator for ORANG is missing for me.
Thanks Neo and loonapick
There was a copy and paste error in me@6. I wrote “I misinterpreted “current” in RANCOUR (I thought i not in)”. I meant RODIN, not RANCOUR. Many apologies.
Martyn@6
Green Card is an international motor insurance certificate used in 47 countries in North Africa , Europe and Asia. I expect it would be quite confusing to include the USA.
Thanks SM@8.