Financial Times 16,248 by Rosa Klebb

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Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 17, 2019

My favourites, all typical Rosa gems, are 12ac (SERVITUDE), 14ac (BEDE), 8dn (TOGOLESE), 15dn (EMPIRICAL) and 21dn (SOLVENT).

Across
1 WANTONLY Desire purely, or in a lewd way? (8)
WANT (desire) + ONLY (purely)
5 AFFECT Simulate emotion (6)
Double definition
9 LAMBASTE Roast meat to rear of ship shunned by sailors (8)
LAMB (meat) + ASTE[rn] (rear of ship shunned by sailors)
10 ASKING Requesting llama skin Gladstone bags (6)
Hidden word (bags)
12 SERVITUDE Bondage perversely riveted us (9)
Anagram (perversely) of RIVETED US
13 FLAIL Thrash about and be sick on floor (5)
FL (floor) + AIL (be sick)
14 BEDE Have sex with Head of Ethics, venerable chap (4)
BED (have sex with) + E[thics]
16 LEGLESS Learner driver perhaps not so drunk (7)
L (learner driver) + EG (perhaps) + LESS (not so)
19 HEXAPOD Wizard school incorporating academy for cricket? (7)
HEX (wizard) + A (academy) + POD (school)
21 SITE Setting sun is terrifically exciting at first (4)
S[un] I[s] T[errifically] E[xciting]
24 ODOUR Smell of unclothed body sours (5)
[b]OD[y] [s]OUR[s]
25 SOLEMNISE Observe angry lioness eating setter, backside first (9)
ME (setter) backwards (backside first) in anagram (angry) of LIONESS
27 HAUNCH Husband scratching front of belly, buttock and thigh (6)
H (husband) + [p]AUNCH (scratching front of belly)
28 READJUST Dare to change – simply adapt again (8)
Anagram (to change) of DARE + JUST (simply)
29 ONEILL A certain poorly playwright (6)
ONE (a certain) + ILL (poorly)
30 STICKLER Singular problem for punctilious person (8)
S (singular) + TICKLER (problem)
Down
1 WALESA Famous son of Poland, a country on the rise (6)
WALES (a country) + A (a) with the definition referring to Lech Walesa
2 NO MORE Passed on some revolting pheromones (2,4)
Reverse hidden word (some revolting)
3 OMANI Arab banks pulled out of EU nation (5)
[r]OMANI[a] (banks pulled out of EU nation)
4 LETTUCE Old-fashioned Latvian regularly mulches plant (7)
LETT (old-fashioned Latvian) + [m]U[l]C[h]E[s]
6 FISTFIGHT Female is drunk, grabbing fellow in punch-up (9)
F (female) + IS (is) + F (fellow) in TIGHT (drunk)
7 EPILATED Journalist welcomes man who washed hands and shaved? (8)
PILATE (man who washed hands) in (welcomes) ED (journalist)
8 TOGOLESE African goose let loose (8)
Anagram (loose) of GOOSE LET
11 REAL Authentic case of egomania in sport (4)
E[gomani]A in (in) RL (sport, i.e. Rugby League)
15 EMPIRICAL Observed sanctimonious dons performing miracle (9)
PI (sanctimonious) in (dons) anagram (performing) of MIRACLE
17 CHOO-CHOO Fancy hiding booze in train (4- 4)
HOOCH (booze) in (hiding) COO (fancy)
18 EXPOSURE Criminally sex up second of dossiers about openness to danger (8)
Anagram (criminally) of SEX UP [d]O[ssiers] + RE (about)
20 DOSS Half-heartedly finishes small piece of cake (4)
DO[e]S (half-heartedly finishes) + S (small) with the definition referring to something easily done.  Apparently ‘doss’ colloquially can mean this but I have never heard such usage.  I find this clue rather unsatisfactory and know I am not alone in doing so.  I fancy it would have been next to impossible for me to solve without checked letters.  For one thing the pertinent meaning of DOSS is colloquial and little known, never mind that the definition is already slightly cryptic.  The wordplay is not easy but it works okay:  One might say, “That does it” to mean that a job is finished.
21 SOLVENT What you do next, leaving former partner able to pay debts (7)
SOLVE (what you do) + N[ex]T
22 RITUAL Uninitiated, curtail bizarre ceremony (6)
Anagram (bizarre) of [c]URTIAL
23 MENTOR People serve up rhubarb for tutor (6)
MEN (people) + ROT (rhubarb) backwards (serve up)
26 MEDIC Pinch bottom of Italian family doctor (5)
MEDIC[i]

17 comments on “Financial Times 16,248 by Rosa Klebb”

  1. A few things I didn’t know here. Either of the two meanings for 5a for a start. Also, only knew HEX as a spell. A quick check in Chambers showed these were all OK. No problem with DOSS. Didn’t realise it was particularly colloquial. Growing up in Yorkshire, it was commonly used.

    1d seems strange to me. “On the rise” suggests a reversal. The only reversal seems to be related to “a country” = A WALES with WALES rising to the top. Don’t like this.

    Thanks to Rosa and Pete.

  2. Hovis, I also wondered about how appropriate ‘simulate’ is to clue AFFECT and how ‘wizard’ could clue HEX.  And I agree that “on the rise” in 1dn seems a bit awkward.

  5. Thanks, Pete. I’ll add EMPIRICAL to your list of favourites.

    I had no problem at all with affect [to make a show or pretence of] = simulate: I was bothered by the second definition [I’ve spent enough years teaching students the difference between affect and effect and thought affect could only be a verb] but know Rosa too well to doubt her precision: Chambers tells me it’s a psychological term – ‘the emotion that lies behind action’.

    A lovely puzzle, which I really enjoyed – many thanks, Rosa.

  6. Never heard of doss so where is it colloquially used? I have unfortunately never heard of hexapod meaning cricket, but I did put it in has it was the only word that would fit! Than you Rosa and Pete

  9. Thanks to Pete and Rosa Klebb

    To say “great puzzle” is a bit redundant with Rosa Klebb because when is it ever not?

    I wondered about the second def in 5a because I couldn’t think of an equivalence, and my Chambers Thesaurus specifically states “Affect is always a verb”. But then in the dictionary section it lists it as a noun in the sense given by Eileen @5. Chambers really is a very poor dictionary, but it’s the one we’re stuck with.

    “Doss” as in “that job was a doss/easy was common parlance in my youth, but I don’t hear it much now.

    I wasn’t over keen on 1d either but as he is one of the few Poles I can name, it wasn’t a hindrance.

     

  10. Dansar, Thank you for this.  It seems clear now that ‘doss’ in the piece-of-cake sense is regional both geographically and temporally.

    I guess I have spent enough time around psychologists to be very familiar with ‘affect’ in the sense of emotion (spoken with the emphasis on the first syllable).

  11. Have come across “to doss around” which is a common saying here in GOC but generally taken to mean to be lazy. A dosser is a lazy good for nothing.

  12. Agree that ‘doss’ meaning easy was a commonplace where I grew up in Yorkshire but less commonly used now. And agree that ‘affect’ is rampant in the world of cultural geography, with that very heavy emphasis. But like many people I was stumped by ‘cricket’. Ha!

     

  13. Thanks Rosa Klebb and Pete

    Did this one on a pleasant last day of winter down at Inverloch and was able to get it out in a single sitting.  All of the normal RK flair to be found throughout the puzzle with a mix of gentle clues to get one going and some with a twist in them to keep one on one’s toes.

    Hadn’t seen TOGOLESE as the descriptor of the folk from TOGO before and did have to check up on it.  Had to also go to references to settle on AFFECT over EFFECT at 5a.  SOLEMNISE to mean ‘observe’ was another reference check.

    Thought that BEDE was cheeky but nice and liked ‘cricket’ as an example of a HEXAPOD at 19a.

    Finished in the SW corner with DOSS (another definition which I had to confirm), EMPIRICAL and O’NEILL as the last few in.

  14. David, Thank you for commenting.  The only meaning of ‘doss’ that I knew before was to sleep rough.  Now I see from my dictionaries that it can also mean, as you say, to spend time idly.

  16. I didn’t like 29 being (6), although I have to acknowledge that (1,5) or (a fortiori) (1’5) would have been a bit of a giveaway!

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