Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of April 13, 2019
I quickly completed the left half of the puzzle while the right, especially the top-right, took me a while. My clue of the week is 13ac (TWIST), a real stand-out, and I also especially like 23dn (BAITS).
| Across | ||
| 1 | EWE LAMB | Young female beauty initially with boy we rejected (3,4) |
| B[eauty] + MALE (boy) + WE (we) all backwards (rejected) | ||
| 5 | SOFT TOP | Car regularly entering station (4,3) |
| OFT (regularly) in (entering) STOP (station) | ||
| 9 | HOIST | Zero carried by this broken- down lift (5) |
| O (zero) in (carried by) anagram (broken-down) of THIS | ||
| 10 | FORTUNATE | Lucky, finding strength to catch fish (9) |
| TUNA (fish) in (to catch) FORTE (strength) | ||
| 11 | BOOBY TRAP | Individual mistake backfiring, producing bomb perhaps? (5,4) |
| PARTY (individual) + BOOB (mistake) all backwards (backfiring) | ||
| 12 | THETA | Greek character grabbed by throat, he talked (5) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 13 | TWIST | Character demanding more surprising plot development (5) |
| Double definition, the first referring to Oliver Twist. And, I am tempted to say, one of Mudd’s best clues ever. | ||
| 15 | ASTRADDLE | Across a street, right turn (9) |
| A (a) + ST (street) + R (right) + ADDLE (turn). This was the clue that gave me most difficulty and was my last-in. My brain kept suggesting ASTRIDE which, of course, does not fit. I am unsure if I have come across ASTRADDLE before but it sounds like a good word! | ||
| 18 | SALTINESS | Witty quality beginning to evaporate, funny lass isn’t entertaining? (9) |
| E[vaporate] in (entertaining) anagram (funny) of LASS ISNT | ||
| 19 | EXALT | Lift then not opening, almost everyone stuck inside (5) |
| AL[l] (almost everyone) in (stuck inside) [n]EXT (then not opening) | ||
| 21 | DALEK | Alien creation, valley with king (5) |
| DALE (valley) + K (king) | ||
| 23 | BRICOLAGE | Cheese sandwiches good after drink, construction coming together (9) |
| COLA (drink) + G (good) together in (sandwiches) BRIE (cheese) | ||
| 25 | CENTESIMO | Income set to change, in old money (9) |
| Anagram (to change) of INCOME SET. A centesimo was/is a fractional monetary unit of Panama, Italy, Uruguay and Chile. | ||
| 26 | GUILT | Criminality shining brightly, we hear? (5) |
| Homophone (we hear?) of “gilt” (shining brightly) | ||
| 27 | REREDOS | Respecting cardinal, very large screen (7) |
| RE (respecting) + RED (cardinal) + OS (very large — i.e. out-sized) | ||
| 28 | YANGTZE | Ending in custody, agent touring around unknown river (7) |
| [custod]Y + Z (unknown) in (around) anagram (touring) of AGENT | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | EXHIBIT | Show two inspired by former success (7) |
| BI (two) in (inspired by) EX (former) HIT (success) | ||
| 2 | EDITORIAL | Article I tailored for distribution (9) |
| Anagram (for distribution) of I TAILORED | ||
| 3 | APTLY | A time to divide work in suitable manner (5) |
| A (a) + T (time) in (to divide) PLY (work) | ||
| 4 | BIFURCATE | Requiring surgery, a brief cut to split two ways (9) |
| Anagram (requiring surgery) of A BRIEF CUT | ||
| 5 | STRAP | Fasten bits up (5) |
| PARTS (bits) backwards (up) | ||
| 6 | FRUITCAKE | Sweet thing, one’s nutty (9) |
| Double definition | ||
| 7 | TEASE | Ultimately quiet, calm kid (5) |
| [quie]T + EASE (calm) | ||
| 8 | PRELATE | Bishop on time, it’s suggested? (7) |
| PRE-LATE (on time, it’s suggested) | ||
| 14 | THICKHEAD | Redneck in the commercial, idiot (9) |
| HICK (redneck) in (in) THE (the) AD (commercial) | ||
| 16 | TESTIMONY | Irritable about zealot not starting to produce evidence (9) |
| [S]IMON (zealot not starting) in (about) TESTY (irritable). Jesus’ apostle Simon is known as Simon the Zealot. | ||
| 17 | DRAMATIST | Shakespeare, say, admits art creative (9) |
| Anagram (creative) of ADMITS ART | ||
| 18 | SEDUCER | Casanova rescued in a storm (7) |
| Anagram (in a storm) of RESCUED | ||
| 20 | TRESTLE | Table tops in some traditions layered in wood (7) |
| S[ome] T[raditions] L[ayered] in (in) TREE (wood) | ||
| 22 | LONER | In hotel one resides, as recluse (5) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 23 | BAITS | One surrounded by barking hounds (5) |
| I (one) in (surrounded by) BATS (barking) | ||
| 24 | ORGAN | Primate’s ending in the middle – the heart, say? (5) |
| ORANG (primate) with the ‘G’ moved to the middle | ||
I loved it because I finished it.
ASTRADDLE was no problem for me as my best friends have always kept horses and of course that is how ladies ride nowadays!
Thank you both.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
A typically enjoyable puzzle from JH again and must agree the TWIST clue was a pearler. I also liked the reversals in 1a and 11a.
Sounds like I had a different solving experience with the top part going in first and ending up in the SE corner with BRICOLAGE (a new word for me), ORANG (a cunningly clued one) and TRESTLE (surprisingly in retrospect) my last ones in.
I often learn new words from these crosswords but rarely from the comments on the blog. So, Bruce, thank you for ‘pearler’ (informal Austral something impressive).
Thanks to Pete and Mudd
I enjoyed this a lot, for the clues already mentioned and also for BRICOLAGE – new to me and I’m sure I’ll be using it soon.The clue doesn’t really reflect it’s meaning as described by Collins though.
Thanks for the crossword Mudd, I found it hard going at first with only about half solved on my first attempt but after a good night’s sleep the rest went in as if by magic over breakfast. Enjoyed Bifurcate (word and clue), twist and organ. Bricolage to me is some sort of French DIY shop so the clue made sense although I had no idea it was also used in English.
My LOI was also Trestle as I had for some reason fixated on Theatre as the answer before a late revelation just as I was about to pop the clipping into the envelope. And I’m sure I saw addle = turn (or similar) elsewhere recently so that one was fine.
Thanks for the blog Pete and especially for parsing Exalt which I entered but couldn’t justify despite ‘knowing’ it must be right (I reasoned EX for “then” as in former, of course with truncated ALL, but couldn’t see what gave the final T). Also I didn’t know pearler was Australian – have heard it used by my dad and others (British) to describe unplayable cricketing deliveries but an Antipodean origin would make sense.
Gazzh, Thank you for commenting. Like you, I knew ‘bricolage’ from seeing it on signs in continental Europe without knowing that it was also considered an English word.