Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 10, 2018
I am liking Redshank more and more. My clue of the week is the beautiful 9ac (SUNRISE) and I am also taken by 1ac (DELVE) and 8dn (MEANS TESTS).
| Across | ||
| 1 | DELVE | The King is missing in Delaware? Do some digging! (5) |
| ELV[is] (the King is missing) in DE (Delaware) | ||
| 4 | ELBOW ROOM | Tie up rock half-heartedly in retreat, creating space (5,4) |
| MOOR (tie up) + WOB[b]LE (rock half-heartedly) all backwards (in retreat) | ||
| 9 | SUNRISE | Dawn French, one in funny series she’s finally left (7) |
| UN (French one) in anagram (funny) of SERI[e]S | ||
| 10 | ERITREA | Country’s merit realised to some extent (7) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 11 | IDENTITY CARDS | Papers I study with bird (Yankee) on deck (8,5) |
| I (I) + DEN (study) + TIT (bird) + Y (Yankee) + CARDS (deck) | ||
| 14 | ORGY | Four ugly odd characters to be avoided in party (4) |
| [f]O[u]R [u]G[l]Y | ||
| 15 | AVALANCHE | A piece of drapery hides her top and big slip (9) |
| A (a) + H[er] in VALANCE (piece of drapery) | ||
| 18 | PSEUDONYM | DUP’s money infuriated Banksy for one (9) |
| Anagram (infuriated) of DUPS MONEY | ||
| 19 | SCUT | The last bit of Peter Rabbit is ultimately axed (4) |
| [i]S + CUT (axed). I wonder if Redshank intended “Peter Rabbit” to reference the movie of this name that is currently in release. | ||
| 21 | PARENT COMPANY | European banks invested in separate main shareholder (6,7) |
| E[uropea]N in (invested in) PART COMPANY (separate) | ||
| 24 | RAPHAEL | Painter gets help with a ground, this one? (7) |
| RA (painter) + anagram (ground) of HELP A | ||
| 26 | THEATRE | Operations room which enrols English engineers (7) |
| E (English) in THAT (which) + RE (engineers) with a slightly cryptic definition. | ||
| 27 | STAGE DOOR | Step and cross over entrance to 26 (5,4) |
| STAGE (step) + DOOR (cross over) | ||
| 28 | TILDE | Señorita has one until decorum hides it (5) |
| Hidden word | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DUST | Clean American shakes blankets (4) |
| US (American) in (blankets) DT (shakes). D.T. stands for delirium tremens meaning a withdrawal syndrome occurring in persons who have developed dependence on alcohol, characterized by tremors. | ||
| 2 | LANDING GEAR | Means to take off kit at top of stairs? (7,4) |
| LANDING (top of stairs) + GEAR (kit) | ||
| 3 | ELIDED | Earl told story about duke that’s suppressed (6) |
| E (earl) + D (duke) in (about) LIED (told story) | ||
| 4 | EYESTRAIN | Alien wins approval and drops restricted viewing (9) |
| YES (approval) in ET (alien) + RAIN (drops) | ||
| 5 | BREST | City of misguided Bretons who’ve given up working? (5) |
| Anagram (misguided) of BRET[on]S | ||
| 6 | WHINCHAT | Flier that describes new centre of Bath (8) |
| N (new) in (describes) WHICH (that) + [b]AT[h]. A whinchat is a European songbird. I had to look up this one. | ||
| 7 | OAR | It’s used initially on all rivers (3) |
| O[n] A[ll] R[ivers] | ||
| 8 | MEANS TESTS | Assessments of chap’s gonads promoting energy (5,5) |
| MAN’S TESTES (chap’s gonads) with the last ‘E’ moved up (promoted) to second place | ||
| 12 | ROCK CRYSTAL | Gemstone extracted from Tyrol cracks (4,7) |
| Anagram (extracted from) of TYROL CRACKS | ||
| 13 | SOAP OPERAS | Note a poet and artists producing TV shows (4,6) |
| SO (note) + A (a) + POPE (poet) + RAS (artists) | ||
| 16 | ALMA MATER | Old school masters block change (4,5) |
| MA MA (masters) in (block) ALTER (change) | ||
| 17 | EDENTATE | Sloth for example in exotic garden gallery (8) |
| EDEN (exotic garden) + TATE (gallery). An edentate is a terrestrial mammal with few if any teeth. | ||
| 20 | CAVEAT | A doctor endlessly probing moggie’s condition (6) |
| A (a) + VE[t] (doctor endlessly) in (probing) CAT (moggie) | ||
| 22 | CELLO | Boss recruits apprentices to make instrument (5) |
| LL (apprentices) in CEO (boss) | ||
| 23 | CEDE | Give up broadcast on radio (4) |
| Homophone (on radio) of “seed” (broadcast) | ||
| 25 | PEA | Centre of open area’s small, round and green (3) |
| [o]PE[n] + A (area) | ||
Fantastic crossword. Certainly one of my favourite setters. Too many great clues to mention all of them. In addition to the ones you mention, I will add 8d. Thanks to Redshank and Pete.
Thanks Pete. Didn’t know DT in 1 down, so thanks.
Liked DELVE and SUNRISE, too; MEANS TESTS is a gem.
Redshank puzzles are fun, and always accurately clued.
I really enjoyed this one too. Guessed at “elided” having never seen this word before – so learnt something in the process. Some gems in there that made me smile. Thanks for this.
AFWard, Thank you for commenting. I was familiar with the word ‘elide’ although not with the meaning that it is defined with here.
I think now that I should have given MEANS TESTS more credit and have done so.
Thanks Redshank and Pete
A typically enjoyable puzzle from this setter with a wide variety of clue types and enough grist in them to keep one on one’s toes to work them through. I agree with the SUNRISE clue being one of the better ones.
Didn’t fully parse ELBOW ROOM – not seeing the backward WOBBLE part, but more through neglect than anything else.
Finished with RAPHAEL as the last one.