My first Orense for a while…
… and this one was much better than the last one I blogged in July last year.
There were some very good clues in here (19ac, 6dn, 26dn), and some that were very straightforward, but, all in all, a good mix. Were I in a pedantic mood, I may have had a few minor complaints, such as AUNTS being indicated by “senior relatives” (I know many aunts who are pretty young, and would not appreciate being called “senior”), but I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll let it pass.
Thanks, Orense.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TECHNO | Sort of music college now without women (6) |
| TECH (college) + NO(w) | ||
| 4 | DEBRIEFS | Questions barristers after defence loses heart (8) |
| BRIEFS after D(efenc)E | ||
| 10 | BUSHCRAFT | Skill required for a presidential yacht? (9) |
| BUSH (as in George Bush, or George W Bush, presidents of the US) + CRAFT | ||
| 11 | STIFF | Formal statement starts argument (5) |
| S(tatement) + TIFF | ||
| 12 | LIED | Deliberately misrepresented end of insurance in cover (4) |
| (insuranc)E in LID | ||
| 13 | INSTALMENT | Part of payment plan making tenant smile (almost) (10) |
| *(tenant smil) | ||
| 15 | TROUPES | Rumour of armed forces finding groups in theatre (7) |
| Homophone of TROOPS, indicated by “rumour of” | ||
| 16 | ENTIRE | Complete half of ascent with anger (6) |
| (asc)ENT + IRE | ||
| 19 | FETISH | Angle covering alien’s obsession (6) |
| FISH (angle) covering E.T. | ||
| 21 | TROUNCE | Little weight attached to Tory, oddly, getting whip (7) |
| OUNCE attached to ToRy | ||
| 23 | ALTOGETHER | Completely nude? (10) |
| Double definition | ||
| 25 | AFRO | A fine run out, but a shock (4) |
| A + F(ine) + R.O. (run out)
A shock as in “a shock of hair” |
||
| 27 | CREDO | Sign stopping progress in company’s belief (5) |
| RED (sign stopping progress) in Co. | ||
| 28 | HUSH MONEY | Liquid mush found in nectar must be a sweetener (4,5) |
| *(mush) found in HONEY | ||
| 29 | DESOLATE | Fail to return during assignation, upset (8) |
| <=LOSE in DATE | ||
| 30 | ANNEXE | A former girlfriend is on the phone in the extension (6) |
| Homophone of AN EX, indicated by “on the phone” | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TABULATE | Design a format for a battle fought about university (8) |
| *(a battle) about U(niversity) | ||
| 2 | CASSEROLE | Cook’s part supporting fool in church (9) |
| ROLE (part) supporting ASS in C.E. | ||
| 3 | NECK | Kiss cheek (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | ENTITLE | Confer right to half of open championship (7) |
| (op)EN + TITLE (championship) | ||
| 6 | RESOLUTION | Picture definition of “agreed decision” (10) |
| Double definition | ||
| 7 | ELITE | Cream of English literature on line at last (5) |
| E(nglish) + Lit(erature) + (lin)E | ||
| 8 | SAFETY | Security perhaps covering most of fair (6) |
| SAY (perhaps) covering FET(e) | ||
| 9 | VAUNTS | Shows off very senior relatives (6) |
| V(ery) + AUNTS | ||
| 14 | SPRING ROLL | Well, bread is an oriental sort of food (6,4) |
| SPRING (well) + ROLL (bread) | ||
| 17 | RING-FENCE | Call criminal dealer to provide financial protection (4-5) |
| RING (call) + FENCE (criminal dealer) | ||
| 18 | GENOTYPE | New GP, yet one developed biological grouping (8) |
| *(GP yet one) | ||
| 20 | HOTSHOT | Turn, depressed by passionate expert (7) |
| SHOT (turn) depressed by (ie kept under) HOT | ||
| 21 | THEIST | One who believes in starting to think before robbery (6) |
| T(hink) + HEIST | ||
| 22 | RANCID | Top of cover in new drain is off (6) |
| C(over) in *(drain) | ||
| 24 | TIERS | Links welcoming the end of golfer’s rows (5) |
| TIES welcoming (golfe)R | ||
| 26 | AMEN | So may it be adult workforce? (4) |
| A(dult) + MEN (workforce) | ||
*anagram
An enjoyable, if not that difficult, crossword – I too wondered about aunts being senior, especially now I’m both a great aunt and a granny!
Thanks to Orense for the puzzle and Loonapick for the explanations – I don’t know how many people actually do the FT cryptic but its a shame that not many of them comment on them here each day
I think that ‘senior’ in 9d could also be read as implying the first letter in ‘very’, or it could be read as implying that aunts are usually older than (senior to) their nieces or nephews. Although now in the same age group as crypticsue, having attended a school where we had junior and senior boys, I don’t have much problem with the use of senior to imply ‘older than’.
My view on the number of comments that FT puzzles attract is that the puzzles are generally pitched to to be very accessible and clues are rarely controversial – unlike the Guardian for instance where the puzzles are usually turned up a notch in terms of difficulty and the puzzles sometimes have clues that push the barriers a bit. Today’s puzzle is a perfect example with the most controversial item bring whether aunts are senior or not. Anyway a very pleasant puzzle and thanks to Orense and Loonapick
I found this much easier than Loroso yesterday where I got completely stuck. I only got stuck on parsing 30ac but kicked myself when I saw the explanation. I do the FT most days and read the blog. However I tend not to comment as the solutions tend to say it all.
To continue, thanks to Loonapick and all the other contributors.
A possible contributory factor to the popularity of the Guardian crosswords is that they can be solved and checked online. Having to print out those in the FT may be a deterrent.
Thanks Orense and loonapick
A pretty straightforward puzzle with no real holdups, finishing with HOTSHOT and DESOLATE.
Agree that the Guardian puzzles, even with the same setter, do tend to be slightly harder with the exception of John Henderson, who in his Io guise, is still just damned hard !!!!