Hello to Slormgorm, a new setter to me. A friendly enough offering for a first meeting, with some nice surfaces and solid clueing.
I liked 14 particularly. A quick solve for me before a short break. Thanks to Slormgorm.
| Across | ||
| 1 | IMITATION | Mock lack of ability? That’s not Liberal! (9) |
| (l)IMITATION (‘lack of ability’) without its L[iberal], ‘mock’ & ‘imitation’ both being adjectival. | ||
| 6 | ICENI | One associating with awfully nice old folk (5) |
| 1 + anagram (‘awfully’) of NICE. | ||
| 9 | ELDER | Senior metal worker wife’s walked out on (5) |
| wELDER without his W[ife]. | ||
| 10 | CONFIGURE | Set up body to go after one of May’s lot? (9) |
| CON (‘one of May’s lot’) + FIGURE (‘body’). | ||
| 11 | TOLERANTLY | Sort out rotten ally in a patient manner (10) |
| Anagram (‘sort out’, helpfully) of ROTTEN ALLY. | ||
| 12 | STAR | Contrary types leaving doomed vessel Polaris? (4) |
| Reversal (‘contrary’) of the RATS who leave a sinking ship | ||
| 14 | PENSIVE | Thoughtful writer I’ve to host September 1st (7) |
| PEN (‘writer’) + IVE surround (‘host’) 1st letter of S(eptember). | ||
| 15 | SAD CASE | Unhappy about vacuous Swede, he’s a pathetic sort (3,4) |
| SAD + C[irc]A (‘around’) + outside letters of SwedE. | ||
| 17 | SEETHES | Is angry witness close to tears describing article? (7) |
| SEE (‘witness’) + S (end of ‘tearS’) surround THE (‘article’). | ||
| 19 | COMPOST | Company dispatch about head of music is a load of rot (7) |
| CO[mpany] + POST (‘despatch’) around M (‘head of Music’). | ||
| 20 | POPE | Holy leader explodes when son turns to ecstasy (4) |
| POPS (‘explodes’) with E[cstasy] replacing S[on]. | ||
| 22 | CONTRABAND | Conservative on at Brand about illegal stuff (10) |
| CON + anagram (‘about’) of ON AT BRAND. | ||
| 25 | NARROWISH | Somewhat tight pants worn round Arkansas by one’s husband (9) |
| Anagram (‘pants’) of WORN surrounds AR[kansas], then 1’S H[usband]. | ||
| 26 | PRIDE | Sin of wife-to-be bishop ignored after pressure (5) |
| bRIDE (‘wife-to-be’) without her B[ishop] follows P[ressure] | ||
| 27 | DRAKE | Bowler known for cannonball delivery – duck! (5) |
| Double bill, as it were: Sir Francis and Donald, e.g. | ||
| 28 | GINGER NUT | One such as Chris Evans takes the biscuit! (6,3) |
| Another jocular double def. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | INEPT | Incompetent and still replacing rook with pawn (5) |
| INErT (‘still’), P[awn] replacing R[ook]. | ||
| 2 | INDOLENCE | Laziness on decline after making some changes (9) |
| Anagram (‘after making some changes’) of ON DECLINE. | ||
| 3 | AIR FREIGHT | Jet’s cargo ultimately fine in near miss while flying? (3,7) |
| E (end of ‘finE’) in AIR FRIGHT, which might be a ‘near miss while flying’. | ||
| 4 | INCENSE | Perfume to make someone hot under the collar (7) |
| Double definition, | ||
| 5 | NONPLUS | Puzzle needs original name at top? Good point! (7) |
| First letters (‘at top’) of Needs Original Name then PLUS (a ‘good point’). | ||
| 6 | IRIS | You might say Murdoch is a bit of a looker (4) |
| Double def: Iris Murdoch & component of eye. | ||
| 7 | ERUPT | Break out flipping unadulterated drop of tequila (5) |
| PURE (‘unadulterated’) reversed (‘flipping’) + T (‘drop of Tequila’). | ||
| 8 | IN EARNEST | Seriously bad trainees found around Norway (2,7) |
| Anagram (‘bad’) of TRAINEES around N[orway]. | ||
| 13 | ADAMS APPLE | Bit of the bible, perhaps, that stuck in my throat? (5,5) |
| Biblical story & popular anatomy. | ||
| 14 | POSTPONED | Office rang, but Henry’s out (delayed for a bit) (9) |
| POST (‘office’) + PhONED (‘rang’) lacking H[enry]. | ||
| 16 | ADORATION | Love a tandoori to be done in a new way (9) |
| Anagram (‘to be done in a new way’) of A TANDOORI. | ||
| 18 | SNORING | Sleeping sounds no good beneath hoisted manacles (7) |
| N[o] G[ood] beneath IRONS which are ‘hoisted’, i.e. reversed in this down clue. | ||
| 19 | CATCH ON | Catholic at church working to become popular (5,2) |
| C AT CH(urch) + ON (‘working’). | ||
| 21 | PARKA | Hooded coat found in primary recreation ground? (5) |
| I.e. ‘Park A’. | ||
| 23 | DWELT | Foremost of doctrines by which Mark lived (5) |
| D (first letter of ‘Doctrines’) + WELT (‘mark’). | ||
| 24 | BORE | Dull person can be a pig by the sound of it (4) |
| Homophone (‘by the sound of it’) of ‘boar’. | ||
*anagram
Didn’t take long to solve – probably because there are quite a few variations of old friends.
Thanks to Slormgorm (interesting name?) and to Grant
Thanks Slormgorm and Grant
Welcome to the FT stable Slormgorm and an enjoyable, if not too hard, a starter for us. Lots of use of single letters throughout but it did’t detract from the overall experience.
Had to look up to see if there was a Chris Evans that had red hair and liked the clue for DRAKE.
Finished with SEETHES and AIR FREIGHT.
Thanks to Slormgorm and GB. Very enjoyable. LOI were DRAKE and GINGER NUT where part of the double definitions eluded me.
This is my first attempt at an FT puzzle, mainly because I follow Hoskins on Twitter, and he announced that he’d set today’s puzzle. I presume he has a new moniker! As for the puzzle I found it easier than those he sets for the Sunday Times and Independent(and less risque than the latter), but still very enjoyable. I particularly liked DRAKE and SNORING. Started with BORE and finished with NONPLUS. Thanks Slormgorm and Grant.
Like John @4 I followed the setter here. One of my favourites, who doesn’t disappoint today. Lots of fun, but my clue of the day goes to NONPLUS for its relevance to this debut.
Many thanks Slormgorm and Grant.
John@4
I didn’t realise this was a Hoskins puzzle Until you told me – he did mention he submitted an easy puzzle to the FT, so I guess here we are! Only a talented setter can disguise his style like this. Come to think of it, he may have mentioned the pseudonym to me. I’m worried about misspelling it. Actually, flipping reminded me of Hoskins. And of course we have some ecstasy.
This was clearly an easy though delightful puzzle, presumably that was the remit. My only thought was music seemed an odd choice in 19a, but I’ll be the first to concede it is less boring than manufacturing.
I liked 12a
Well done SLORMGORM, congrats on this debut. Many thanks grant
Kitty@5 5d yes brilliant, didn’t spot that,
Hadn’t realised this was by Hoskins, practically visiting royalty to the usually somewhat workaday Tuesday puzzle. Fascinating.
BTW, is there a preferred spelling of ‘clueing/cluing’? The latter looks clumsy to me (despite ‘cuing’, ‘imbuing’ &c) but I’ve seen & used both and Chambers gives neither.
Grant @8, Collins has cluing only. Then again it has gluing and glueing, so…
A witty and relaxing puzzle, good fun. Nice to see Hoskins in yet another paper. He doesn’t appear to post here these days and has stopped updating his own site, so I guess I’ll have to start looking at Twitter now.
Congratulations to Slormgorm on a fine debut – not too tricky but very entertaining, as we have come to expect from Hoskins,
Thanks to Slormgorm and GB
In the unlikely event that Grant at @8 is still checking this thread, today’s Times cryptic included Prime letters for clueing a single Italian (5). Of course, that clue wouldn’t work with ‘cluing’, so that probably doesn’t help! (Azed uses ‘cluing’, by the way.)
To Nila @ 11. Thanks! Tricksy clue, hadn’t seen that ‘prime’ device before. I am, as my old maths teacher used to say, none the wiser but better informed…