Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of December 10, 2016
Rosa gives us some clever clues as usual. My favourite is 12a (TUSK) and I also especially like 28a (OPALINE), 30a (APERTURE) and 29d (CHAFE). And there was one particularly difficult clue, 14d, that taught me a new word.
| Across | ||
| 1 | HUMANE | Kindly lion’s shock after chum skinned (6) |
| [c]HU[m] + MANE (lion’s shock) | ||
| 4 | FOOTSLOG | Tramp loves being wrapped in this paper’s Diary (8) |
| OO (loves) in FTS (this paper’s) + LOG (diary) | ||
| 10 | RELAXED | Orwell, Marx and Verdi regularly put feet up (7) |
| [o]R[w]E[l]L [m]A[r]X [v]E[r]D[i] | ||
| 11 | BROWNIE | Girl who’s promised cake (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | TUSK | President Donald? I disapprove, gagging uncontrollably at first (4) |
| U[ncontrollably] in TSK (I disapprove). Donald Tusk, a former Prime Minister of Poland, is president of the European Council. | ||
| 13 | HEAT SHIELD | The halides formed protective coating (4,6) |
| Anagram (formed) of THE HALIDES | ||
| 15 | GLOOMY | Despondent individual leaving White House with expression of surprise (6) |
| [i]GLOO (individual leaving White House) + MY (expression of surprise) | ||
| 16 | ENLARGE | Swell Green revolutionary enthrals US city (7) |
| LA (US city) in anagram (revolutionary) of GREEN | ||
| 20 | HEROINE | Female carpenter, boundlessly brave woman (7) |
| HER (female) + [j]OINE[r] (carpenter, boundlessly) | ||
| 21 | BRONZE | French team trailing British for medal (6) |
| BR (British) + ONZE (French team — ‘onze’ being the French for eleven) | ||
| 24 | OCCUPATION | Calling old supporter “one in a hundred” (10) |
| O (old) + C-CUP (supporter) + I (one) in TON (a hundred). I did not originally understand how ‘a hundred’ clues TON but learned from comments below that ‘ton’ is used to refer to 100 runs in cricket and is also used in motor-racing. | ||
| 26 | COOP | Revolting, tailless dog in cage (4) |
| POOC[h] backwards | ||
| 28 | OPALINE | Python in poem dropping dead like a stone (7) |
| PALIN (Python, as in Monty) in O[d]E (poem dropping dead) | ||
| 29 | CURSIVE | Four English scoundrels advanced and joined up (7) |
| CURS (scoundrels) + IV (four) + E (English) | ||
| 30 | APERTURE | Opening a saucy high-class bar here at last (8) |
| A (a) + PERT (saucy) + U (high-class) + [ba]R [her]E | ||
| 31 | BOURSE | Labour seeking to restrict stock exchange (6) |
| Hidden word | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | HERITAGE | Cultural traditions in retreat, custom finally abandoned (8) |
| HER[m]ITAGE (retreat, [custo]M abandoned) | ||
| 2 | MILESTONE | This event is significant and exciting – so let me in! (9) |
| Anagram (exciting) of SO LET ME IN | ||
| 3 | NEXT | Subsequently clear of all charges over kiss (4) |
| X (kiss) in NET (clear of all charges) | ||
| 5 | ORBITING | Extremely off-colour and mordant, as we are about The Sun (8) |
| O[ff-colou]R + BITING (mordant) | ||
| 6 | TOOTH FAIRY | Visitor paying for champers in the bedroom? (5,5) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 7 | LUNGE | Left topless nun, perhaps upset, in lurch (5) |
| L (left) + [n]UN + EG (perhaps) backwards (upset) | ||
| 8 | GREEDY | Good and thin – or likely to get fat? (6) |
| G (good) + REEDY (thin) | ||
| 9 | UDDER | Fraud deregulation – welcome feature of Jersey? (5) |
| Hidden word. This clue bothers me. It seems that ‘welcome’ is the hidden-word indication and I fail to understand how that works. | ||
| 14 | EMBONPOINT | Fleshy bits of Dorothy’s aunt start to bounce about, then stop (10) |
| EM (Dorothy’s aunt) + B[ounce] + ON (about) + POINT (stop, as I guess in full stop). ‘Enbonpoint’ is a new word to me. | ||
| 17 | GONDOLIER | Dicky drooling over bottom of handsome boatman (9) |
| [handsom]E in anagram (dicky) of DROOLING | ||
| 18 | KNITWEAR | Twitchingly twerk in a twinset? (8) |
| Anagram of TWERK IN A | ||
| 19 | BEL PAESE | Mass proletarian uprising over introduction of expensive cheese (3,5) |
| SEA (mass) + PLEB (proletarian) together backwards (uprising) + E[xpensive]. This is the second BEL PAESE clue we have seen of late. | ||
| 22 | DODOMA | Her descendents were doomed in African capital (6) |
| DODO MA (her descendents were doomed). Dodoma is the capital of Tanzania. | ||
| 23 | TOUCH | Caress that hurts after time (5) |
| T (time) + OUCH (that hurts) | ||
| 25 | CHAFE | Warm tea leads to friendly exchanges (5) |
| CHA (tea) + F[riendly] E[xchanges] | ||
| 27 | BRIO | Sibling catching second of digits in zip (4) |
| [d]I[gits] in BRO (sibling) | ||
Thanks Pete Maclean and Rosa Klebb.
Great puzzle. Couldn’t parse 20 and 21, so , thanks.
Re: 24 o + c-cup + i (one) in “a ton (hundred)”?
Thanks Rosa and Pete
Great puzzle but one that TUSK held me up for the full week and a bit – I hadn’t heard of Donald TUSK before and I was just lost looking for the definition – finally this morning I thought to Google Donald and Tusk – et voila !! Amusing surface that leaves no doubt as to what Rosa thought of the US election outcome !
Thought that DODOMA was the best of a great bunch of clues – it actually made me laugh out loud when I finally got it. Hadn’t heard of this city, but did know of the former capital, Dar es Salaam.
EMBONPOINT was a new term for me too and wasn’t able to parse OCCUPATION, where a TON is a cricket term for 100 runs.
You do have a couple of minor blog issues – with GLOOMY where you have too many O’s in your parsing – MY by itself is the ‘expression of surprise’. And of course it is ‘Monty Python’ rather than the French version. 🙂 I assume that ‘welcome’ meaning “Come inside” is the interpretation for the hidden UDDER.
GLOOMY and HERMITAGE were my next to last couple that I got before struggling for over a week to find the ‘president’.
As usual from Rosa clever and witty.
I knew EMBONPOINT but had to look up EM for Dorothy’s aunt in Wizard of Oz – long time no read.
Surely TON is a car racing term meaning 100 mph.
Peregrine Worsthorne brought the word “Embonpoint” to a wider audience a few years ago: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-01-31/news/9001090308_1_editors-andrew-neil-nightclubs
As usual a super puzzle though I failed on DODOMA – obviously very funny if you knew it but otherwise not easily solveable (in my opinion) without resorting to reference works or trawling online.
Thanks Pete
Excellent puzzle as to be expected.
I needed the wordfinder for DODOMA but it did make me laugh. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.
I had to look up DODOMA too. Thanks for commenting, Gladys.