Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of May 25, 2019
Julius, the setter who gave us an Alphabetical Jigsaw for the occasion of FT 16,000, is back with a puzzle that has a somewhat different character to our usual ones in this space. It also has the unannounced theme of footwear with the four long answers around the edges included plus 22ac and 14dn. My favourite clue is 22ac (LEATHERY) and I also especially like 2dn (HARD NUT) for its clever definition of TUNDRA and 3dn (LUNCHEON) for its spiffy surface.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CHELSEA BOOTS | Sports loosest beach shoes (7,5) |
| Anagram (sports) of LOOSEST BEACH | ||
| 10 | PARSNIP | Root’s average cut (7) |
| PAR (average) + SNIP (cut) | ||
| 11 | LADDISH | Typical of the boy – left his dad drunk! (7) |
| Anagram (drunk) of L HIS DAD | ||
| 12 | TENCH | Smell headless fish (5) |
| [s]TENCH (smell headless) | ||
| 13 | SWINDLER | Hero German with Liszt, we hear, trafficking whisky for chief fraudster (8) |
| SCHINDLER (hero German with Liszt, we hear) with ‘CH’ (chief) replaced (trafficking) by ‘W’ (whisky) | ||
| 15 | NOT SO DUSTY | Well …. I beg to differ, Ms Springfield (3,2,5) |
| Double definition. I was unfamiliar with the expression “not so dusty” but know the very similar “not so shabby”. | ||
| 16 | EDDY | Nelson: “English Duke died on the stern of Victory” (4) |
| E (English) + D (duke) + D (died) + [victor]Y. The definition refers to Nelson Eddy, an American singer and film actor of the 1930s and 40s. | ||
| 18 | PEAK | Summit to provoke resentment, it’s rumoured (4) |
| Homophone (it’s rumoured) of “pique” (to provoke resentment) | ||
| 20 | OBJECT BALL | One disturbed by Q-Tip during break in commentary? (6,4) |
| CUE TIP homophone (in commentary) of “Q-Tip” in what I suppose we must call a cryptic definition. I enjoyed playing billiards in my misspent youth but did not know the term OBJECT BALL which refers to the billiard ball that is intended to be the first ball struck by the cue ball. | ||
| 22 | LEATHERY | I’ll eat her yakitori skewers; very tough to chew (8) |
| Hidden word (skewers) | ||
| 24 | RAGES | King gets older, becomes furious (5) |
| R (king) + AGES (gets older) | ||
| 26 | SO-AND-SO | Cursed individual barking orders at seamstress? (2-3-2) |
| Homophone (barking) of “sew and sew” (orders at seamstress) | ||
| 27 | OTHELLO | Play old Lionel Richie hit; about time! (7) |
| O (old) + T (time) in HELLO (Lionel Richie hit) | ||
| 28 | ON ONES UPPERS | Where to rub 9 when skint? (2,4,6) |
| Double definition with “9” referring to 9 down, Cherry Blossom being a well known brand of shoe polish | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | HARD NUT | A violent criminal, Henry …. flipping cold, miserable sod (4,3) |
| H (henry, as in a unit of inductance) + TUNDRA (cold, miserable sod!!!) backwards (flipping) | ||
| 3 | LUNCHEON | Turkey going for a pound on Police Club midday menu (8) |
| TRUNCHEON (police club) with the ‘TR’ (Turkey) replaced by (going for) ‘L’ (a pound) | ||
| 4 | EXPO | Next spot opened for trade fair (4) |
| [n]EX[t [s]PO[t] | ||
| 5 | BELLWETHER | Tell Hebrew off, being leader of the flock (10) |
| Anagram (off) of TELL HEBREW. This clue led me to learn what I guess is the original meaning of ‘bellwether’, the one leading sheep in a flock that is given a bell. | ||
| 6 | OGDEN | Nash’s defensive howler at home for Millwall (5) |
| OG (defensive howler, that is an Own Goal, abbreviated) + DEN (home for Millwall). Millwall FC play at a ground called The Den. Ogden Nash was a C20 American poet who produced some delightful humourous works. Thanks to Peter for helping this largely football-illiterate solver with this one. | ||
| 7 | STIFLED | Having smothered good person, I ran away (7) |
| ST (good person) + I (I) + fled (ran away) | ||
| 8 | SPIT AND POLISH | Swap old Spanish tip for smartening up 1? (4,3,6) |
| Anagram (swap) of OLD SPANISH TIP with “1” in the definition referring to 1 across (CHELSEA BOOTS) | ||
| 9 | CHERRY BLOSSOM | Ageing diva, extremely raunchy, jiggling large bosoms – the Japanese love it (6,7) |
| CHER (ageing diva) + R[aunch]Y + anagram (jiggling) of L BOSOMS | ||
| 14 | RUBBER SOLE | Recording of Beatles album conducive to a soft shoe shuffle? (6,4) |
| Homophone (recording of) “Rubber Soul” (Beatles album) | ||
| 17 | STARSHIP | Enterprise on show when casting his parts? (8) |
| Anagram (casting) of HIS PARTS with a nice slightly cryptic definition | ||
| 19 | ARAPAHO | Native American gangsta rap a homie sampled (7) |
| Hidden word (sampled) | ||
| 21 | ANGULAR | Bony Arab, nursing a lung disorder (7) |
| Anagram (disorder) of A LUNG in (nursing) AR (arab) | ||
| 23 | HYDRO | Start of hundred yard run over Bath Spa? (5) |
| H[undred] + YD (yard) + R (run) + O (over). Surely “Bath” is superfluous here, no? | ||
| 25 | TOFU | Model, perhaps 17, chucked up soybean curd (4) |
| T (model) + anagram (chucked up) olf UFO (perhaps 17, i.e. starship) | ||
I was pleased when I saw the setter. I don’t recall him of a Saturday before, and I really enjoyed the puzzle I did on one of my rare midweek forays.
Some lovely elegant witty cluing here but overall pitched a little too easy perhaps? We were done in ten minutes.
9d – Cherry Blossom is a brand of shoe polish in the UK
Andrew, You must be much more in tune with Julius than I am. I cannot remember how long the puzzle took me but it was certainly way more than 10 minutes.
Skinny, Thanks for mentioning that. I had intended to do so myself.
Did get 20a, but had no idea what it meant. Thank you for the explanation. I had totally forgotten about cherry blossom polish, took me back to school days. 6d knew the Den part, but didn’t realise own goal abbreviation.
Great crossword thanks Julius and Pete.
Thanks to Julius and Pete. I enjoyed the struggle but OBJECT BALL and NOT SO DUSTY defeated me.
Thanks Pete for the review of the puzzle and thanks to those who have commented. Too easy, huh? Funnily enough, I have a puzzle in today’s Toughie series in The Telegraph which has also been described as (way too) easy for the slot. Then again, my puzzle in Monday’s Indy was perceived as being hard. Tricky business, this “degree of difficulty” lark…
warmest regards to all, Julius/Rob
Thanks Julius and Pete
Didn’t find this easy, especially with all of the general knowledge required – numerous singers / songs (which almost constituted a mini-theme by themselves), the film, the poet, the TV series, the Native Americans, the snooker term, the soccer reference and the nugget !! Still enjoyed working through it though …
Didn’t know the type of footwear at 1a nor the stuff to clean them with at 9d (although I didn’t need to get the answer there). Thought that the definition for TUNDRA was a gem and it was worth the solve just to get that clue ! Thought that the play with Schindler’s List was very good as well.
Had no idea of the parsing for OGDEN Nash, but the answer was clear.
Finished with RUBBER SOLE (clever homophone) and OBJECT BALL (another new entity for me). Easy peasy … pfft it was !
Julius, Thank you for honouring us with your comments. And, of course, for the puzzle itself which, I would say, was not too easy but just nice in terms of a challenge.