Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 2, 2019
I finished this puzzle in what may be my record time for a Goliath. And I found it very entertaining. First I was delighted with the combination of two clues, 9ac + 15dn (YELLOW SUBMARINE) and 5dn (BOATY MCBOATFACE). I imagine any Brit must know the story of Boaty McBoatface but some non-Brits may be mystified. In short, it is the name given to an autonomous underwater vehicle that happens to be yellow. I will not recount the full story here but suggest that, if you want to read it, you head to Wikipedia.
Beyond these two my favourite clue is the very Goliathy 14ac (ESOTERIC). And others that I would give honourable mention to are 10ac (ACOLYTES) and 20dn (SALOON).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DOORKNOB | Sleep with crucifix, turning handle (8) |
| BONK (sleep with) + ROOD (crucifix) all backwards (turning) | ||
| 6 | BUDGET | Treasury’s first to follow shift in economic plan (6) |
| BUDGE (shift) + T[reasury] | ||
| 9, 15 | YELLOW SUBMARINE | “Cry in Pain” potentially as number 1 album (6,9) |
| YELL OW (cry in pain) + anagram (potentially) of AS NUMBER I. I note that 2019 includes the 50th anniversary of the release of this album (which I once owned a copy of). | ||
| 10 | ACOLYTES | Those who follow a firm and innovative style (8) |
| A (a) + CO (firm) + anagram (innovative) of STYLE | ||
| 11, 16 | KILOBYTE | See times in flier for some information (8) |
| LO (see) + BY (times) together in KITE (flier). The definition strikes me as a little off since a kilobyte is a measure of information stored in a particular form, not the information itself. | ||
| 12 | EGYPTOLOGY | Study, as an example, the essence of cryptic and primarily old Luxor obelisk’s golden years (10) |
| EG (as an example) + YPT (the essence of cryptic) + O[ld] L[uxor] O[belisk’s] G[olden] Y[ears] | ||
| 14 | ESOTERIC | Arcane Eurosceptic’s cup runneth over (8) |
| Anagram (over) of E[u]ROS[c]E[p]TIC (EUROSCEPTIC with the letters of CUP removed) | ||
| 16 | See 11 | |
| 18 | UBER | Type of carriage from Chateau Bernadotte (4) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 19 | OBDURACY | Occasional hobby of the French – risqué intransigence (8) |
| [h]O[b]B + DU (of the French) + RACY (risque) | ||
| 21 | MALEFACTOR | Criminal Y chromosome? (10) |
| MALE FACTOR (Y chromosome) | ||
| 22 | See 25 | |
| 24 | DIASPORA | DIY as sport? An endless mass escape (8) |
| DI[y[ A[s] SPOR[t] A[n] | ||
| 26 | BLIMEY | My brave leader: an Englishman abroad (6) |
| B[rave] + LIMEY (an Englishman abroad) | ||
| 27 | KENYAN | Livingstone seen with any strange African (6) |
| KEN (Livingstone) + anagram (strange) of ANY. The Livingstone referred to here is British politician and former mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. | ||
| 28 | ETERNITY | Time in entirety, perhaps (8) |
| Anagram (perhaps) of ENTIRETY | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | OBELI | Cartoon hero almost signs for division (5) |
| OBELI[x] (cartoon hero almost). An obelus is a sign for arithmetic division “÷”. The cartoon hero is of course Asterix’ sidekick and menhir maestro, Obelix. | ||
| 3 | RULE OF THREE | Triumvirate’s effective communication device (4,2,5) |
| Double definition. This clue had me do some googling because I was not aware of any meaning for ‘rule of three’ other than a triumvirate, Wikipedia lists no fewer than ten rules referred to as ‘rules of three’, two of them, embarrassingly, in my field of professional expertise (computer programming). Even with that list I am unsure what rule Goliath is referring to although my best guess is “a writing principle that suggests that a trio of events or characters is more humorous, satisfying, or effective than other numbers”. Maybe someone can clarify this? — And someone did. See Andrew B’s comment #3 below. | ||
| 4, 7 | NEW YEARS DAY | When resolutions take effect in New York, say, we dare to change (3,5,3) |
| Anagram (to change) of SAY WE DARE in (in) NY (New York) | ||
| 5 | BOATY MCBOATFACE | Tobacco, when combined with fat, may be 9 15 (5,10) |
| Anagram (when combined with) of TOBACCO FAT MAY BE with definition ‘yellow submarine’ from 9 ac, 15dn. | ||
| 6 | BLOTTO | Bail out thicko, extremely drunk (6) |
| B[ai]L O[u]T T[hick]O | ||
| 7 | See 4 | |
| 8 | ENERGETIC | Active in Europe’s first revolutionary green movement (9) |
| E[urope] + anagram (revolutionary) of GREEN + TIC (movement) | ||
| 13 | LIBERTARIAN | Turning irritable with an advocate of free will (11) |
| Anagram (turning) of IRRITABLE + AN (an). I am more familiar with ‘libertarian’ used in the political sense but the word also means a believer in free will. | ||
| 15 | See 9 Across | |
| 17 | ADORABLE | Charming Romeo in a feasible setting (8) |
| R (Romeo) in (in) A (a) DOABLE (feasible) | ||
| 20 | SALOON | Car overturned since maniac may be also working for bar (6) |
| AS (since) backwards (overturned) + LOON (maniac) with two definitions. This was my original interpretation of the clue but, in a comment, Hovis suggests that there are two sets of wordplay as well as two definitions. And, yes, I see that now with: Anagram (may be) of ALSO + ON (working). Thank you Hovis! | ||
| 23 | ADEPT | A division, briefly proficient (5) |
| A (a) + DEPT (division briefly) | ||
| 25, 22 | SHY AWAY | Take avoiding action from county path, reportedly (3,4) |
| Homophone (reportedly) of “shire way” (county path) | ||
I also had a question mark against 3d.
My parsing for 20d is AS< + LOON (as in blog) & (ALSO)* + ON (may be also + working) with the two definitions as in blog.
Thanks to Goliath and Pete.
Just spotted a couple of minor errors in blog. For 12a, the first O from O(ld) is missing and in 14a the “over” denotes an anagram which isn’t mentioned.
Hovis, Thank you! I am with you on your expanded interpretation of 20d and have corrected the explanation of 12a. I believe I had 14a correct already with ‘over’ referenced as the anagram indicator.
Rule of three is indeed a rhetorical guide. I have nothing to offer but blood, sweat and tears. Not blood and sweat. Not blood, sweat, tears, and grief. Google “rule of three speech” for more discussion and examples.
Thanks. An enjoyable puzzle
Sorry about 14a comment. Must have skimmed over initial bit somehow.
Thanks to Pete and Goliath
Not tough but jolly good fun.
I hadn’t heard of the “rule of three”, but it seems obvious now.
I had a slightly different parsing of 20d – ( all those without at least an upper second in Applied Pedantry should look away now):
because Goliath chose “may be”, instead of “maybe”, I took “working” as the anagrind for “also” with “for” providing “on”, as in “Lidl won’t be beaten on/for price by Tesco”.
But I could easily be wrong.
For those who, like me, cheated (you know who you are) on 5D, you will have been delighted to find that anagram-solver.net knows about “Boaty McBoatface” – I sure didn’t, and I don’t think that one’s in the dictionary!
Andrew B. Thank you. I did the googling and am now clear on the concept.
Dansar, Thank you for your vision of 20d. I agree it works but I slightly favour Hovis’ idea.
Thanks Goliath and Pete
Afraid I didn’t find this easy at all, well at least until I came to 5d. Spent over an hour of solving time across five days trying to work it out – at one stage had even identified the right anagram fodder and still could not work it out with all crossers in. Eventually got a friend to look up the answer and tell me if a) my crossing letters were right .. and b) was it even a proper phrase, name, etc. She ended up giving too much away for me to get, so a technical DNF with the puzzle. Don’t think that I would ever have found it on my own anyway, having never heard of the research sub. (Clever clue if you did know it though !!)
Also missed parsing the first part of BLOTTO – kicking myself for not seeing it – got caught with the word meaning ‘extremely drunk’.
Think I’m with you on the strict definition for KILOBYTE – can’t remember seeing it used like it, but is it similar to a PINT as reference for the amount of beer in the glass and also for the drink itself.