Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 26, 2017
I find myself liking Redshank more and more although figuring out the wordplay in some of his clues can be quite a challenge. My clue of the week is 1ac (OPPOSE) and I also like 4ac (SCHOOL), 24ac (OBELISK), 3dn (SHORT WAVE) and 22dn (RISER). There was one word that is new to me (1dn, ORLOP). I am not certain that I fully and correctly understand 21ac (RINGO STARR).
| Across | ||
| 1 | OPPOSE | Stand up to work, then sit (6) |
| OP (work) + POSE (sit) | ||
| 4 | SCHOOL | Small child loves Latin tutor (6) |
| S (small) + CH (child) + OO (loves) + L (Latin) | ||
| 8 | PLAYBOY | Amuse oneself by winning over Romeo (7) |
| PLAY (amuse oneself) + O (over) in (winning) BY (by) | ||
| 9 | DOZE OFF | Nearly twelve on holiday take five? (4,3) |
| DOZE[n] (nearly twelve) + OFF (on holiday) | ||
| 11 | APPORTIONS | Distributes software current playwright’s penning (10) |
| APP (software) + I (current) in (penning) ORTON (playwright) + S (‘s). ‘I’ is an abbreviation for electrical current. | ||
| 12 | APSE | A bit of storage space back in place of altar (4) |
| Reverse hidden word | ||
| 13 | MEDIA | Minute assistant withdraws papers etc (5) |
| M (minute) + AIDE (assistant) backwards (withdraws) | ||
| 14 | MASTODON | Ring prof who’s after forest food for ancient herbivore (8) |
| MAST (forest food) + O (ring) + DON (prof). ‘Mast’ can refer to the fruit of beech, oak, chestnut, and other forest trees, especially as food for pigs and wild animals. | ||
| 16 | HEAR HEAR | Female’s nursing a big bird? I approve (4,4) |
| A (a) + RHEA (big bird) in HER (female’s) | ||
| 18 | ANNOY | Speaker doesn’t begin to try (5) |
| [t]ANNOY (speaker doesn’t begin) | ||
| 20 | ISIS | One’s reproduced water in Oxford (4) |
| IS (one’s) repeated (reproduced). ‘Isis’ is the name given to the stretch of the River Thames that flows through the city of Oxford. | ||
| 21 | RINGO STARR | Kitchen expert circles right round celeb (5,5) |
| RING O (circles) + STAR (celeb) + R (right). I originally took ‘celeb’ to be the definition and, along with some checked letters, easily guessed the answer. That however left me unable to make much sense of what would be the wordplay. I must thank Peter G. for prompting me to look at it with ‘kitchen expert’ as the definition. That made the wordplay fit perfectly but left me with a curious definition that Peter suggested might pertain to a song “Cookin’ (In The Kitchen Of Love)” on the 1976 album “Ringo’s Rotogravure”. That was the best explanation of the clue I could come up with but I was far from confident that it was correct. It seemed both obscure and a stretch. Finally, Sil supplied the proper explanation — see comment #1 below. | ||
| 23 | CRUMPLE | Cricket’s first law restricts member in crease (7) |
| C[ricket] + MP (member) in RULE (law) | ||
| 24 | OBELISK | Needle and daggers with sleek edges (7) |
| OBELI (daggers) + S[lee]K | ||
| 25 | MODERN | Service paymasters with English sailors present (6) |
| MOD (service paymaster) + E (English) + RN (sailors) | ||
| 26 | EXETER | Crown of every tenth tree blighted SW city (6) |
| E[very] + X (tenth) + anagram (blighted) of TREE | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ORLOP | Sides engaged in quoits start to polish deck? (5) |
| RL (sides, i.e. right and left) in OO (quoits) + P[olish]. I solved this from the wordplay alone and then confirmed that ‘orlop’ means the lowest deck of a wooden sailing ship with three or more decks. | ||
| 2 | PAYLOAD | Reward boy carrying ordinary cargo (7) |
| PAY (reward) + O (ordinary) in LAD (boy) | ||
| 3 | SHORT WAVE | Band’s brief gesture on leaving? (5,4) |
| SHORT (brief) + WAVE (gesture on leaving) | ||
| 5 | CROSS | Traverse tip of Antarctic sea there (5) |
| [antarcti]C + ROSS (sea there). The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Antarctic Ocean. | ||
| 6 | OREGANO | Old ass rises and leaves for kitchen (7) |
| O (old) + ONAGER (ass) backwards (rises) | ||
| 7 | LIFE STORY | Long sentence’s right in biography (4,5) |
| LIFE (long sentence) + S (‘s) + TORY (right) | ||
| 10 | BOOMERANG | Orange mob scattered, throwing missile (9) |
| Anagram (scattered) of ORANGE MOB | ||
| 13 | MAELSTROM | Big Eddy, top musician, hogs large mike (9) |
| L (large) in MAESTRO (top musician) + M (mike) | ||
| 15 | SHADOWBOX | Spar alone had packed in broadcast TV (9) |
| HAD (had) in SOW (broadcast) + BOX (TV) | ||
| 17 | RESUMED | Began again to think about owing money (7) |
| MUSE (think) backwards (about) in RED (owing money) | ||
| 19 | NOTELET | TV fundraiser given up after husband left memo (7) |
| TELET[h]ON (TV fundraise after husband left) backwards (given up) | ||
| 21 | RULER | Regularly trouble earl and monarch (5) |
| [t]R[o]U[b]L[e] E[a]R[l] | ||
| 22 | RISER | He’s habitually early or late for part of flight (5) |
| Double definition | ||
Lovely puzzle from Redshank.
The ‘kitchen’ is the percussion section of an orchestra.
Now, our friend Ringo – who this year took to the headlines after revealing himself to be pro Brexit (being incredibly rich and living in the USA! [like John Cleese]) – is a well-known drummer.
Although not part of an orchestra he’s an expert on how to use his drum kit, so there we are.
I had moon off for 12 across (nearly noon) and got lost.
Many thanks, Sil, for your explanation of ‘kitchen’.
Notsogoodatcrosswords, Thanks for commenting. I think you mean 9 across and, yes, I can see how you got to MOON OFF.
Thanks Redshank and Pete
Nice crossword as usual from this setter with some innovative twists in some of his wordplay. Had no idea of the ‘kitchen’ reference to the percussion section of an orchestra – I had gone down the same path as the blog with Ringo’s song even though it did feel a bit weak – and now see that it was … and it wasn’t right !
Didn’t realise that X could mean ‘tenth’ and the ill-fated Joe ORTON was new to me.
Liked HEAR HEAR and LIFE’S STORY.
Finished with MODERN, not understanding the MOD (Ministry of Defence) bit – quite clever when coming here to see it explained away.