Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 14, 2018
Chalmie is Michael Holmans, a setter all of whose pseudonyms are anagrams of Michael. He is a first-time setter of our FT Weekend puzzle and a new setter for me.
Perhaps partly because I am unused to Chalmie’s style and partly because of a couple of terms I was unfamiliar with (OMBRE and INSWINGER), I resorted to tools more than usual to complete the puzzle. The stand-out feature of this crossword must be Chalmie’s ingenious invocations of gods of war in no fewer than six clues (30a, 1d, 8d, 9d, 14d and 20d) not to mention 29a (GODS). My favourite clues are 30a (ARCHIMEDES) and 1d (MARS).
| Across | ||
| 1 | MILITARIST | Trial I abandoned during film of one worshipping war (10) |
| Anagram (abandoned) of TRIAL I in MIST (film) | ||
| 6 | WARM | Getting close with weapon (4) |
| W (with) + ARM (weapon) | ||
| 10 | ROMAN | Type of republican country (5) |
| R (republican) + OMAN (country) | ||
| 11 | UPHOLSTER | Raised weapon store something to do with furniture (9) |
| UP (raised) + HOLSTER (weapon store) | ||
| 12 | REVELLER | Party girl, one missing wake- up call gets second serving of breakfast (8) |
| REVE[i]LLE (one missing wake-up call) + [b]R[eakfast] | ||
| 13 | TURNS | Goes right through barrels (5) |
| R (right) in (through) TUNS (barrels) | ||
| 15 | OPIATES | Presbyopia testing involves drugs (7) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 17 | STOMACH | Bear advanced on cat in school (7) |
| TOM (cat) + A (advanced) together in SCH (school) | ||
| 19 | ENGLAND | Cricket team dash to get ball? (7) |
| EN (dash) + GLAND (ball). I was surprised to see ‘ball’ cluing ‘gland’ but looking up definitions it seems at least marginally justifiable. | ||
| 21 | UGANDAN | African peacekeepers surround extremists in Guatemala (7) |
| G AND A (extremists in Guatemala) in (surround) UN (peacekeepers) | ||
| 22 | OMBRE | Game played in sombreros (5) |
| Hidden word. The ombre in question is a card game that was popular in the seventeenth century. | ||
| 24 | WHEEDLED | Persuaded to pay attention to lecturer in midweek (8) |
| HEED (to pay attention to) + L (lecturer) in WED (midweek) | ||
| 27 | INSWINGER | Ball fitness regularly ignored by forward (9) |
| [f]I[t]N[e]S[s] (fitness regularly ignored) + WINGER (forward). An inswinger is a type of delivery in cricket. | ||
| 28 | NO SIR | Unopened can returned? Definitely not in America (2,3) |
| [p]RISON (unopened can) backwards (returned). I do not understand what is particularly American about, “No, sir”. | ||
| 29 | GODS | Work with detective high up in theatre (4) |
| GO (work) + DS (detective) | ||
| 30 | ARCHIMEDES | Rang war god about scientist (10) |
| CHIMED (rang) in (about) ARES (war god) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MARS | Damages bar? (4) |
| Double definition. And a rather nice one! | ||
| 2 | LUMBERING | Ponderous fish brown on the inside (9) |
| UMBER (brown) in (on the inside) LING (fish) | ||
| 3 | TENSE | Maybe future cardinals expect to be introduced (5) |
| TENS (cardinals) + E[xpect] | ||
| 4 | ROUBLES | Essentially doubts parts without money (7) |
| [do]UB[ts] in (without) ROLES (parts) | ||
| 5 | SPHERES | Special present: square balls (7) |
| SP (special) + HERE (present) + S (square) | ||
| 7 | ASTER | Waste recycling protects flower (5) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 8 | MARASCHINO | War god inspires a feature of liqueur (10) |
| A (a) in MARS (war god) + CHIN (feature) + O (of) | ||
| 9 | PLETHORA | Large number possibly guilty about war god (8) |
| THOR (war god) in (about) PLEA (possibly guilty) | ||
| 14 | FOREBODING | Premonition about first to back war god in poor visibility (10) |
| RE (about) + B[ack] + ODIN (war god) all together in FOG (poor visibility) | ||
| 16 | TRADES IN | Unexpectedly strained exchanges (6,2) |
| Anagram (unexpectedly) of STRAINED | ||
| 18 | ADDRESSED | Spoke to Bill, wearing clothes (9) |
| AD (bill) + DRESSED (wearing clothes) | ||
| 20 | DOWAGER | War god confused about English widow (7) |
| E (English) in anagram (confused) of WAR GOD | ||
| 21 | UNEARTH | Discover a French deer, heading down (7) |
| UNE (a French) + HART (deer) with the ‘H’ moved to the end (heading down) | ||
| 23 | BASED | Established when apparently asleep (5) |
| AS (when) in BED (apparently asleep) | ||
| 25 | DENIM | Nurse wearing stupid fabric (5) |
| EN (nurse) in (wearing) DIM (stupid). For me, EN is a new abbreviation. It stands for Enrolled Nurse. | ||
| 26 | ARES | Land measures Arkansas uses are un-American (4) |
| AR (Arkansas) + [us]ES (uses are un-American) | ||
Thanks Chalmie and Pete
Interesting puzzle with a theme that he calls out in 29a (and I wonder if the first part of 6a is a part of that as well). There were a couple of them that I didn’t realise were in fact war gods – THOR and ODIN.
I made the error at 6a having HARM (close with – to give the H) but it didn’t parse all that well in hindsight and didn’t go back and check it. In 10, I didn’t see the R OMAN bit – had made ‘of republican country’ = ROMAN as in of the Roman Republic (Empire).
Strangely enough, at 13, ‘barrels’ are TURNS on their own in an aeroplane.
Wasn’t surprised to see a ball as a GLAND (after the penny dropped) as much as I was surprised to see the loose reference to ENGLAND defined just as the ‘cricket team’ – but fair enough I guess. Missed the trick with the G AND A bit in UGANDAN although I’ve worked that logic out before – funny what you don’t always retain !!!
Finished with that ENGLAND (just couldn’t believe the definition until all of the crossers were in) and OPIATES (a cleverly hidden answer) as the last couple in to what was a quite enjoyable solve.
Ah, yes, I should have mentioned 29a too in the context of gods. And I have now added such a mention. Thanks, Bruce. That’s a good point about ‘barrels’ and TURNS too.
I always say, some setters are cricketers, others are footballers.
Knowing Chalmie’s love for cricket, I had no problem finding 19ac.
Deep inside, I would almost say despite the definition. Just like INSWINGER (27ac) doesn’t ring a cricket bell for me [I am one of ‘the others’].
Chalmie’s crosswords are always good, with a lightness of touch, avoiding the obvious.
On the technical side, I think in 21ac (UGANDAN) the use of the plural ‘surround’ is not right. The surface needs it, the cryptic grammar doesn’t (if there is such a thing).
My favourite was probably 5d (SPHERES).
Many thanks to Pete & Chalmie.
Enjoyable, (meaning I solved it, probably!).
28. I have not heard No Sir used as an emphatic denial except in American contexts. In Britain it would surely just mean “No”. The emphatic would be something like “Not Likely!” Or am I out of touch?
Why this politically correct, or something like it, use of ‘girl’ in 12ac? OK perhaps a counterbalance to the excessive use of the male gender when something could be male or female, but the clue does suggest something female, when there is nothing specifically female about a reveller. ‘Party animal’ as the definition would have done perfectly well.
Or, indeed, ‘partygoer’.
Being American, “No Siree” is familiar to me.
“can” is also american slang for prison.
Since I have lived in America for decades, I suppose I should have a better idea about this “No, sir” but it has somehow eluded me. Thank you Hugh and Malcolm.