Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 11, 2017
In typical fashion, Goliath gives us a somewhat unusual but fun puzzle and one with two unconventional double definitions. I finished fairly quickly but was left with several clues whose wordplay I needed help to figure out. My clue of the week is the brilliant and delightful 26dn (BLOKE) with 11dn (CHOW) runner-up.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CAPITALS | St John’s Muscat? (8) |
| This must, I suppose, be a double definition since St. John’s is the capital of Antigua and Barbuda (not to mention Newfoundland) and Muscat is the capital of Oman. But it does not follow the typical pattern for a double definition and I can only guess that the clue stands up because, on the face of it, it could be referring to a saint’s wine. | ||
| 5 | RANDOM | Wild money mantra (6) |
| RAND (money) + OM (mantra). The rand is the monetary unit of South Africa. | ||
| 9 | EARNINGS | Pay grannies to dance (8) |
| Anagram (to dance) of GRANNIES. Did you know that in South Korea there is a dance troupe called the Dancing Grandmothers? They can be seen on Youtube, they tour internationally and they, presumably, pay grannies to dance! | ||
| 10 | CRAYON | Copyright fabric in drawer (6) |
| C (copyright) + RAYON (fabric) | ||
| 12 | TELEGRAPH | Daily signal (9) |
| Double definition | ||
| 13 | PAINT | Prime of plaster – and it needs topcoat to decorate (5) |
| P[laster] A[nd] I[t] N[eeds] T[opcoat]. I wonder about the use of ‘prime’ here when it is used to really mean ‘primes’ (in the cryptic reading). | ||
| 14, 21 | RAPE SEED | Start to rebuild deep sea rig for oil producer (8) |
| R[ebuild] + anagram (rig) of DEEP SEA | ||
| 16 | WEATHER | Outlook if reported (7) |
| Homophone (reported) of “whether” (if) | ||
| 19 | PLASTIC | Flexible picture frames stand the test of time (7) |
| LAST (stand the test of time) in PIC (picture) | ||
| 21 | See 14 | |
| 24 | ERROR | Wasting time in panic is a mistake (5) |
| [t]ERROR (wasting time in panic) | ||
| 25 | TEXTBOOKS | Television’s first box set somehow secures approval as educational material (9) |
| T[elevision] + OK (approval) in anagram (somehow) of BOX SET | ||
| 27 | REASON | Rationale for ‘bout a Boy (6) |
| RE (???) + A (a) + SON (boy). Is ‘for’ or ”bout’ meant to clue RE? I suppose Goliath’s rationale could be that ’bout is short for about and so is RE. Still I think the clue would be fine with the A left in. | ||
| 28 | RESOURCE | Invested in shares, our central fund (8) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 29 | DYEING | Colouring said to be on the way out (6) |
| Homophone of DYING (to be on the way out) | ||
| 30 | INTEREST | Money made from fashionable street development (8) |
| IN (fashionable) + anagram (development) of STREET | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHESTS | Rich bequests: half the boxes (6) |
| [ri]CH [bequ]ESTS | ||
| 2 | PURPLE | Fancy pedal pushers but no shades of lilac or violet? (6) |
| Anagram (fancy) of PEDAL PUSHERS with the letters of SHADES removed | ||
| 3 | THING | Object is to be slim by losing a little weight (5) |
| THIN[g] (by losing a little weight) | ||
| 4 | LUGGAGE | Carry fruit in bags (7) |
| LUG (carry) + GAGE (fruit) | ||
| 6 | AEROPLANE | Flyer for street opera out first (9) |
| Anagram (out) of OPERA + LANE (street) | ||
| 7 | DAYLIGHT | Saving or robbery? (8) |
| Double definition and another rather unconventional one justified perhaps by the apparent contradiction between the two? | ||
| 8 | MONSTERS | Sorts men out from beasts (8) |
| Anagram (out) of SORTS MEN | ||
| 11 | CHOW | Dogfood (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 15 | AFTERNOON | Time when a paper on Nero wrongly . . . . (9) |
| A (a) + FT (paper) + anagram (wrongly) of ON NERO | ||
| 17 | APPEARED | . . . . turned up a rewritten paper: “finally Rome burned” (8) |
| A (a) + anagram (rewritten) of PAPER + [rom]E [burne]D | ||
| 18 | CARRIAGE | Airs and graces singularly affected demeanour (8) |
| Anagram (affected) of AIR and GRACE | ||
| 20 | CUTE | It’s sharp, but not a sweet (4) |
| [a]CUTE (sharp but not a) | ||
| 21 | SIXTEEN | Building extension on abandoned square (7) |
| Anagram (building) of EXTENSI[on] | ||
| 22 | COARSE | Rough ride, they say (6) |
| Homophone (they say) of COURSE (ride) | ||
| 23 | ASSERT | A lock-up claim (6) |
| A (a) + TRESS (lock) together backwards (up) | ||
| 26 | BLOKE | O for a poet to be an ordinary man (5) |
| BLAKE (poet) with the ‘A’ changed to ‘O’ | ||
I did enjoy this. Wonderful, concise clueing. I found it a reasonably quick solve but so different from the norm that I was enthralled from start to finish.
Thank you doing these blogs. The FT and Guardian puzzles of a Saturday are the only ones I regularly do, but twelve days after publication I suspect interest has waned.
I did this on a midweek train journey home from St Pancras and was done before Leicester, so not the most difficult, but I enjoyed it. The first clue, the capitals, the only one I didn’t like, and I wrote it in last with the feeling “well, it must be that”
Thanks Goliath & Pete.
I too enjoyed this, apart from the NW corner where 1 across was too concise for me.
I think your uncertainty about 27 across can be resolved by taking the definition as “Rationale for”. Then RE corresponds to “about”. ( I don’t know why Goliath omits the first syllable.)
psmith, Thank you for your suggestion about 27ac. You may well be right but I am still not comfortable about the clue.
Thanks Pete for your blog (as ever).
I share your reservations about ‘Prime’ in 13ac but, having said that, Goliath is well-known for devices with multiple fodders.
Knowing that he is not the most precise of setters (but an entertaining one, nonetheless), I think we’ll have to live with it.
Just like in 1d where ‘half’ applies to both ‘rich’ and ‘bequests’.
What ‘the’ is doing there, well, that’s another matter.
27ac is indeed rather odd.
There is no reason to write ’bout a Boy’.
The book and the film are called About A Boy.
The construction is obviously RE (about) + A + SON (boy), and the definition is just ‘rationale’.
In this clue ‘for’ is a link word.
Normally, one wants to see: ‘wordplay’ for ‘definition’, but many setters use it the other way round too.
8d has a similar thing.
An anagram of ‘sorts men’ from ‘beasts’ while it’s actually the other way around.
Hovis @1 mentioned Goliath’s concise clueing.
In 20d he could’ve been even more concise as the clue doesn’t need ‘It’s’.
3d cannot be else than THING and I see how it works.
But it’s a clue that can also lead to THIN (because of the enumeration not here though).
For some reason, ‘to be slim’ does not feel completely perfect to me.
But then, Goliath is not the perfect setter anyway when it comes to cryptic language.
However, his clever and inventive ideas easily outshine these bumps in the road.
Even if I think they were avoidable.
So, good and enjoyable crossword for which thanks to Goliath.
Thanks Goliath and Pete.
Small correction to the parsing of 17dn, which should be A + anagram (rewritten) of PAPER + [rom]E [burne]D.
Thanks, Pelham. Correction made.
Coming late to this, but only did just over half anyway.
Sorry to be picky but isn’t “on the way out” (29ac) DYING, not DIEING?
13 ac I thought I could explain it away – but then my answer would need another “and….” so I can’t.
Yes, indeed, 29ac should have DYING. I have corrected it. Many thanks.
Thanks Goliath and Pete
Could only get to this for short periods at a time and so it probably took longer in actual time to do than if I had of just had one focused session. No real causes for holdups, apart from the innovative clueing that kept one on one’s toes!
Took a while to find his trademark compound anagram at 2d – and a typically clever clue.
The last one in was the unusual CAPITALS at 1a – had heard of ‘Muscat’ but had to look up to find ‘St Johns’ in Antigua.
Didn’t like 1ac, nor 7dn. Both quite unsatisfactory in their clueing, in my opinion.
In 27ac, my first thought was that Goliath was making the clue odd just for the sake of doing so, but I think the ’bout is explicable: is it not an indication that for are (the unit of area which is abbreviated to a) it’s really ‘re, and boy = a son? Still not entirely comfortable, but it seems possible.
We’re way behind with our FT crosswords so only just doing November in March! Think ‘bout a boy refers to (a)re a son