Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of October 21, 2017
I found a few challenging clues here but the three 15-letter clues were all rather easy which greased the rest of the puzzle. My clue of the week is 15dn (BETELGEUSE) not so much because it has any outstanding construction but just because I like that Redshank chose to use the word.
| Across | ||
| 9 | REVOLUTIONARIES | Rebels turn, then ram (15) |
| REVOLUTION (turn) + ARIES (ram) | ||
| 10 | ALL IN | Exhausted, collapse after opener’s dismissed (3,2) |
| [f]ALL IN (collapse after opener’s dismissed) | ||
| 11 | ANTIPASTO | What whets appetite at Pisa, not elsewhere? (9) |
| Anagram (elsewhere) of AT PISA NOT | ||
| 12 | CONSORTIA | Albert was one I admired, primarily for alliances (9) |
| CONSORT (Albert was one) + I [I] A[dmired] | ||
| 14 | THUMB | Leaf disease carries nasty odour (5) |
| HUM (nasty odour) in TB (disease). This uses an informal British usage of ‘hum’. | ||
| 16 | ARBORICULTURIST | Fancy our artistic burl and its supplier? (15) |
| Anagram (fancy) of OUR ARTISTIC BURL | ||
| 19 | SLUMP | Son put up with depression (5) |
| S (son) + LUMP (put up with) | ||
| 21 | NERVE CELL | Tiny transmitter in bottle with battery (5,4) |
| NERVE (bottle) + CELL (battery) | ||
| 23 | BUBBLE CAR | Singer Michael owns book about rare old motor (6,3) |
| B (book) in (owns) BUBLE (singer Michael) + CA (about, i.e. circa) + R (rare) | ||
| 25 | DRAKE | Old bowler who goes after ducks? (5) |
| Double definition, the first referring to Sir Francis Drake who was playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe when informed of the approaching Spanish Armada. | ||
| 26 | MALE CHAUVINISTS | Beer in such vitamins spoiled pigs (4,11) |
| ALE (beer) in anagram (spoiled) of SUCH VITAMINS | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | GREATCOATS | Stage actor’s shabby garments in Warhorse? (10) |
| Anagram (shabby) of STAGE ACTOR | ||
| 2 | EVELYN | Two women, one who kept diary (6) |
| EVE (one woman) + LYN (second woman). The diarist in question is John Evelyn who was a C17 English writer, gardener and diarist. | ||
| 3 | CLANGOUR | Broadcast embarrassing mistake, causing uproar (8) |
| Homophone (broadcast) of “clanger” (embarrassing mistake) | ||
| 4 | STOA | Zeno’s place trimmed ermine (4) |
| STOA[t] (trimmed ermine). Zeno was a Stoic philosopher, ‘stoic’ from ‘stoa’ the Greek word for porch and so named because at least one of this school of philosophers taught on his front porch. | ||
| 5 | FOOTBALLER | Someone who trips over wayward boot (10) |
| Anagram (wayward) of BOOT in FALLER (someone who trips) &Lit. A bit of a struggle here for a barely satisfactory definition. | ||
| 6 | CARPET | Lecture swimmer and French runner (6) |
| CARP (swimmer) + ET (and French) with two definitions | ||
| 7 | MISSOURI | One East German in weird elevated state (8) |
| I (one) + OSSI (East [in] German) in RUM (weird) all backwards (elevated) | ||
| 8 | OSLO | Capital’s no-frills labour protest (4) |
| GO-SLOW (labour protest) with first and last letters removed (no-frills) | ||
| 13 | TECHNOCRAT | Whitehall scientist makes contact with her (10) |
| Anagram (makes) of CONTACT HER | ||
| 15 | BETELGEUSE | Star’s articulated vehicle, say, pulled up on purpose (10) |
| BETEL (homophone of BEETLE) + EG (say) backwards (pulled up) + USE (purpose). Does it matter that there is no ‘nut’ in this clue? I can’t decide. | ||
| 17 | BLUEBELL | Obscene call for dancer in Paris Lido (8) |
| BLUE (obscene) + BELL (call). The dancers at Le Lido, a famous cabaret in Paris, are called The Bluebell Girls. I actually knew this although I am not sure how. | ||
| 18 | UNENDING | Constant hardline bishop leaves (8) |
| UN[b]ENDING (hardline bishop leaves) | ||
| 20 | POLICE | Protect river parasites (6) |
| PO (river) + LICE (parasites) | ||
| 22 | ELAPSE | Go by the Spanish part of church (6) |
| EL (the Spanish) + APSE (part of church) | ||
| 23 | BUMP | Second-rate piano hit (4) |
| BUM (second-rate) + P (piano) | ||
| 24 | ROVE | Wander across, ending on top (4) |
| OVER (across) with the last letter (R) moved to the front (ending on top) | ||
I liked this but not as good as the setter’s normal offerings, I felt. Lack of sparkle? And three I really didn’t like –
the long anag at 15. Seemed to lack a definition. Ok, perhaps it is “&lit” but does an arboriculturist really supply “artistic burls”?
4d Zeno’s place was surely Elea. Felt like a weak GK clue
5d I wrote in on a first pass, but it seems really lame.
Not altogether happy about bluebell at 17d either (a bit too much GK assumed?) but Mrs B knew this, so perhaps I am unreasonably ignorant.
I think you’re right about the lack of sparkle.
Looking in Wikipedia I find that there were no fewer than five ancient philosophers named Zeno not to mention a few other Zenos of antiquity who were physicians, hermits and politicians. Only one was known as Zeno of ____ (4) and that was indeed the fellow from Elea. However the only one I knew of was the Stoic one who is also known as Zeno of Tarsus.
Thanks Pete Maclean and Redshank.
I failed to complete this, didn’t get THUMB and BETELGEUSE.
Also didn’t parse BUBBLE CAR and CLANGOUR.
Thanks Redshank and Pete
Interesting puzzle that had some new learnings for me – the BLUEBELL troupe in Lido, Zeno of Citium, founder of the Stoic philosophy and the ‘burl’ of a tree. It took a little longer than usual to complete and required more internet help as well.
A couple of loose-ish definitions, but didn’t stop one from being able to derive the right answer in the end. Thought that BETEL (without the nut) was quite alright at 15 and it was the second time in recent times that Sir Francis had been defined as a ‘bowler’. Liked MALE CHAUVINISTS a lot when I understood what sort of ‘pigs’ that he was looking for.
Finished up in the top half with CLANGOUR (a tricky homophone), FOOTBALLER (just unexpected I guess) and MISSOURI (a little used US state in crosswords) as the last few in.
ilippu, Have you never come across a Bubble Car? I wonder about how younger solvers among us manage with clues like this one. ‘Bubble car’ is a generic term for various tiny European cars made in the 1950s and 60s. I remember them well but they barely show up in today’s world. And ‘clangour’ is not a common word either. I know it but am not sure I could define it precisely and I notice now that, as I type in this comment, the word is being flagged as a possible misspelling!