Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of May 19, 2018
Here is another impressive puzzle from Alberich. And, oddly, one clue (3dn) which I suspect of having a mistake on the setter’s part. My clue of the week is the splendid &Lit. 1ac (ON ONES UPPERS) and also applaud 15ac (AUDITORIUM), 24ac (ARGOT) and 8dn (PROCRASTINATE).
| Across | ||
| 1 | ON ONES UPPERS | Sadly person’s close to indigence, upon being this? (2,4,6) |
| Anagram (sadly) of PERSONS [indigenc]E UPON and &Lit. | ||
| 10 | REGIMEN | Body temperature dropped, having course of treatment (7) |
| REGIMEN[t] | ||
| 11 | COINAGE | I hack into company base? That’s a fabrication (7) |
| CO (company) + I (I) + NAG (hack) + E (base). ‘Base’ clues ‘e’ as the symbol for the base of natural logarithms (something I had to be reminded about, thanks G). | ||
| 12 | CHAIN | Country with a shifting mountain range (5) |
| CHINA (country) with ‘A’ shifted | ||
| 13 | BAKEWELL | What decent pastrycooks do to make town famous for tart? (8). I was in Bakewell a couple of years ago and ate some tart. |
| Double definition | ||
| 15 | AUDITORIUM | I admit our university needs new assembly hall (10) |
| Anagram (needs new) of I ADMIT OUR U (university) | ||
| 16 | TYPE | Kind contribution to charity perhaps (4) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 18 | TEND | Be apt to finish on time (4) |
| T (time) + END (finish) | ||
| 20 | EMACIATION | Agents tucked into one meat, excited about leanness (10) |
| CIA (agents) in anagram (about) of I (one) MEAT + ON (excited) | ||
| 22 | NOTEBOOK | Computer, old, lay around in corner (8) |
| O (old) + BET (lay) backwards (around) together in NOOK (corner) | ||
| 24 | ARGOT | Content of jargon primarily this? (5) |
| [j]ARGO[n] + T[his] | ||
| 26 | TBILISI | On retirement I deposit about one billion as capital (7) |
| IB (one billion) in SILT (deposit) backwards + I | ||
| 27 | ANIMATE | Living back at home with Mum? Worried about that (7) |
| IN (at home) backwards (back) + MA (mum) together in ATE (worried) | ||
| 28 | KINDERGARTEN | Family regard mobile number necessary for preschool (12) |
| KIN (family) + anagram (mobile) of REGARD + TEN (number) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | NIGGARD | Skinflint needs pullin’ up (7) |
| DRAGGIN (pullin’) backwards (up) | ||
| 3 | NOMINATE | I’m “to name” put differently (8) |
| I guess that the intended wordplay is an anagram (put differently) but what would be the anagram fodder (IM TO NAME) is one-letter wrong as an anagram of NOMINATE. I may be wrong but I find it hard to see any way around this being a mistake on Alberich’s part.
This clue was later corrected (at least in the web-site version of the puzzle) to read: 3 “To name” in another way? (8) |
||
| 4 | SONG | Start to grumble after boy lied? (4) |
| SON (boy) + G[rumble] with a definition that uses ‘lied’ in the sense borrowed from German. | ||
| 5 | PACK A PUNCH | Take some drink on holiday, to have a big bash? (4,1,5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 6 | ELITE | Store at last has low-calorie cream (5) |
| [stor]E + LITE (low-calorie) | ||
| 7 | STATELY | Arch around gallery is very impressive (7) |
| TATE (gallery) in (around) SLY (arch) | ||
| 8 | PROCRASTINATE | Delay at Nice airport’s putting one out awfully (13) |
| Anagram (awfully) of AT N[i]CE AIRPORTS | ||
| 9 | TELL ME ANOTHER | I want to hear one more joke? Yeah, right! (4,2,7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 14 | TRAMPOLINE | Track about Jerry Springer may use this? (10) |
| PO (Jerry) in (about) TRAMLINE (track). I had not known this but ‘po’ and ‘jerry’ are both synonyms for ‘chamber pot’. | ||
| 17 | CAVALIER | Gentleman wants Virginia to remain in saloon? (8) |
| VA (Virginia) + LIE (remain) together in CAR (saloon) | ||
| 19 | NIT-PICK | Italian copper stops to catch carp (3-4) |
| IT (Italian) + P (copper, as in penny) in (stops) NICK (to catch) | ||
| 21 | INGRATE | One doesn’t appreciate where you may put firewood (7) |
| IN GRATE (where you may put firewood) | ||
| 23 | BAIRN | Large empty building houses one Scottish child (5) |
| I (one) in BARN (large empty building) | ||
| 25 | BANG | Catch up on government report (4) |
| NAB (catch) backwards (up) + G (government) | ||
Thanks Alberich and Pete
Enjoyable crossword that I was able to complete in a single sitting with a cup of coffee. I must admit that I made the same oversight as setter and editor with the anagram fodder for NOMINATE – so good pickup !!
No real holdups along the way, although I did have to look up the BAKEWELL tart and had to use a word finder to spell TBILISI properly (knew of the place and that it was spelt something like that but wasn’t sure of the order of the letters). Thought that ARGOT and TELL ME ANOTHER were both very clever.
Finished at the top with ON ONE’S UPPERS and COINAGE the last couple in.
Always an impressive setter. My favourite was TRAMPOLINE. My main reason for looking at 225 was to see if there was an explanation for 3d that works. My first thought was NOMINATE but I was reluctant to enter it since the anagram didn’t work. I also thought it was a fairly poor &lit for this setter. Ah well, one poor clue does not a disaster make.
Thanks to Alberich and Pete.
Don’t get 19d “Nit-Pick”. There are too many letters in your answer; IT, PC and NICK – we have a “C” too many. Another error by the setter? Otherwise I got much of it without as ever knowing why!
With 19d, copper actually refers to a penny – so just the P.
A correction was issued for 3d: “To name” in another way? (8)
Wisembw’s parsing of 19d is correct.
Well, Wiglaf, that’s probably not been done by Alberich himself.
Because I think he wouldn’t like the anagrind to be ‘another way’ instead of ‘in another way’.
Also, a change can only be made in the interactive section of the FT.
I’ll prefer Alberich to have made a mistake and I’ll forgive him for that.
Good puzzle, wasn’t it?
If you check the FT website, Sil, you’ll see the change has been made!
There’s nothing wrong with ‘another way’ as an anagrind – it is an adverbial phrase.
Yes, it was an excellent puzzle.
Yes, you’re right – about everything you said, actually.
Malcolm, Thanks for pointing out my error in 19dn (NIT-PICK). I have corrected the explanation. ‘Copper’ is an interesting case because it can clue several different things, at least ‘P’ (for penny), ‘D’ (also for penny), PC (for police constable) and CU (for the metal).