Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 18, 2020
Another clever and entertaining puzzle from Redshank. My top clue is 16dn (WAGNERIAN) and I also like 12ac (TOWN CRIER), 22ac (ENTER), 1dn (OASIS) and 25dn (ROD).
| Across | ||
| 1 | OSSO BUCCO | Ring manager about oddly quick cool dish (4,5) |
| O (ring) + BOSS (manager) reversed (about) [q]U[i]C[k] C[ol]O[l]
Osso Buco is a specialty of Lombard cuisine. It consists of cross-cut veal shanks braised with vegetables, white wine and broth. For me, this clue raises a question about the use of ‘oddly’ in our crosswords. Some people would say that ‘evenly’ should be used here instead of ‘oddly’ to give the appropriate cryptic reading. So, does Redshank have any justification in using ‘oddly’? We take ‘oddly’ to mean pick the odd-numbered letters out of some word or phrase. And this seems very sensible although, as best I can determine, there is absolutely no dictionary-based justification for it. English dictionaries would countenance using ‘oddly’ only as an anagram indicator. Could ‘oddly’ mean pick off all but the odd-numbered letters? This seems a bit too, uh, odd. But could we accept letters in a word being numbered from zero rather than one? And, if so, would that make ‘0ddly’ work here? I am unsure. Then again maybe ‘oddly’ was just a mistake on Redshank’s part. Comments? |
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| 6 | SPRIG | Shoot when it first appears, ignoring name (5) |
| SPRI[n]G (when it first appears ignoring name) | ||
| 9 | SHIATSU | A hotel suits refreshing finger buffet (7) |
| Anagram (refreshing) of A H SUITS with a difficult cryptic definition | ||
| 10 | BROADEN | Extend route into mountain (7) |
| ROAD (route) in (into) BEN (mountain) | ||
| 11 | SAUCE | Relish brief accompaniment for cup (5) |
| SAUCE[r] (brief accompaniment for cup) | ||
| 12 | TOWN CRIER | Row involving Crown upset former newsreader (4,5) |
| Anagram (upset) of CROWN in (involving) TIER (row) | ||
| 14 | DOE | Rabbit suffices without its tail (3) |
| DOE[s] (suffices without its tail) | ||
| 15 | FERRIS WHEEL | Where fliers are spinning? (6,5) |
| Anagram (are spinning) of WHERE FLIERS | ||
| 17 | SHORTCOMING | Failing business invested in scarce porcelain (11) |
| SHORT (scarce) + CO (business) + MING (porcelain) | ||
| 19 | LAY | Amateur drama doesn’t start (3) |
| [p]LAY (drama doesn’t start) | ||
| 20 | BREAK A LEG | Encouragement to actor to pause on a stage (5,1,3) |
| BREAK (to pause) + A (a) + LEG (stage) | ||
| 22 | ENTER | Key in “problem with colon”? It is missing (5) |
| ENTER[itis] (problem with colon IT IS missing) | ||
| 24 | ADAPTER | Plug more suitable behind another plug (7) |
| AD (plug) + APTER (more suitable) | ||
| 26 | ORIFICE | Crack troops provided rocks (7) |
| OR (troops, i.e. Other Ranks) + IF (provided) + ICE (rocks) | ||
| 27 | DUTCH | French duke hosts tense husband and wife (5) |
| T (tense) in (hosts) DUC (French duke) + H (husband) with the definition referring to Cockney rhyming slang | ||
| 28 | DOMINANCE | Take steps to keep order in authority (9) |
| OM (order, i.e. Order of Merit) + IN (in) together in (to keep) DANCE (take steps) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | OASIS | Ring sibling about a place to park caravan (5) |
| O (ring) + A (a) + SIS (sibling) with a slightly cryptic definition | ||
| 2 | SEIZURE | Game over during the sixteenth French attack (7) |
| RU (game, i.e. Rugby Union) backwards (over) in (during) SEIZE (the sixteenth French).
This clue raises a question: ‘sixteenth French’ should really clue ‘seizième’ while ‘seize’ would be clued by ‘sixteen French’. There is one excuse I can see for having the clue the way it is, something that arises from the way the French number monarchs. We Brits would call Louis XVI “Louis the Sixteenth” but the French say “Louis Seize”. Does this justify the wordplay? |
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| 3 | BUTTERFAT | In club, deliver fine dairy product (9) |
| UTTER (deliver) + F (fine) together in (in) BAT (club) | ||
| 4 | COUNTERFOIL | Twice frustrate evidence of PO (11) |
| COUNTER (frustrate) + FOIL (frustrate) with ‘PO’ in the definition referring to Postal Order.
This may have been a tough clue for non-Brits. Postal Orders are money orders issued by the British Post Office. I frequently used them in my young days (before PayPal and its like). Such a PO comes with a bit that one tears off before sending or giving away the negotiable part of it; this piece is called the counterfoil. |
||
| 5 | ORB | What’s round, yellow and black (3) |
| OR (yellow, as in gold I guess) + B (black) | ||
| 6 | STOIC | One’s resigned to opening this way (5) |
| TO (to) in (opening) SIC (this way) | ||
| 7 | RED WINE | About to eat outside with drink (3,4) |
| RE (about) + W (with) in (outside) DINE (to eat) | ||
| 8 | GENERALLY | How the top brass operate as a rule? (9) |
| GENERAL-LY (how the top brass operate) | ||
| 13 | WAITING ROOM | Patients here serve hot curry (7,4) |
| WAIT (serve) + IN (hot) + GROOM (curry) | ||
| 14 | DASHBOARD | Pinch directors’ display of instruments (9) |
| DASH (pinch) + BOARD (directors) | ||
| 16 | WAGNERIAN | Orchestrate a new Ring, including one in same style (9) |
| A (one) in anagram (orchestrate) of A NEW RING | ||
| 18 | OVERACT | Ham’s old and green, containing one calorie (7) |
| O (old) + A C (one calorie) in (containing) VERT (green). ‘Vert’ is the French word for ‘green’ and is also an English word used in heraldry. | ||
| 19 | LATVIAN | Left flyer to entertain model European (7) |
| L (left) + T (model) in AVIAN (flyer) | ||
| 21 | KETCH | Complain, having lost the fifth boat (5) |
| K[v]ETCH (complain having lost the fifth) | ||
| 23 | REEVE | Officer dealing with the First Lady (5) |
| RE (dealing with) + EVE (the first lady) | ||
| 25 | ROD | Perch or what’s used to catch it (3) |
| Double definition | ||
Thanks, Redshank and Grant. Not too difficult; thanks for explaining 4d.
A mini Wagner or opera theme? 16d; several clues with “Ring” in them; BREAK A LEG, maybe DUTCH(man), (p)LAY, OVERACT? I’m in the chorus of the Ring cycle in Chicago this spring so it’s on my mind.
Pete, not Grant! Sorry – wrong blogger – looking somewhere else. Thanks, Pete.
I’m with you on oddly@Pete although I hate to criticize Duggie’s puzzles-he’s so consistent
Thanks, Pete – great blog. I had ticks for the same ones as you, with the addition of 26 and 27ac. The definition of 9ac made me smile.
I’m with copmus’ entire comment. I have to confess that, having got OSSO B, I entered the rest without a thought but now see what you mean.
I wondered about SEIZE, too but I like Pete’s explanation, which didn’t occur to me. English does exactly the same with regnal numbers: Henry V = Henry the Fifth.
Re 5ac: OR is the heraldic term for gold / yellow and occurs a lot in crosswords.
Many thanks for another lovely puzzle, Redshank.
Quite challenging and I failed to finish (five short). I agree with you Pete on 2d that it is probably the way the French say things. It is one of those I did get.
Not sure 27 ac is cockney rhyming slang. I though the Cockney was “trouble” as in trouble and strife. I’d thought “Dutch” was a Cockneyism for “Duchess”
And I’ve just looked up “Dutch” in Cockney and of course you are correct.
Oddly in the general sense means “in an unusual way” so it technically can cover a lot of ground in cryptic clues. I did get delayed in solving OSSO BUCCO, however, because I was thinking odd vs. even. I expect to be thrown off balance while solving cryptics so I’m not complaining. Thanks Pete for your thoughts and Redshank for a superior crossword.
Thanks to Pete and Redshank
Marvellous! A discussion about the correct use of “oddly” between those that many (most?), would regard as “odd” people on the internet – I’m in.
Collins lists many possible meanings of “odd”, including the use normally relied on in this sort of clue i.e. “in relation to numbers, not divisible by two”.
I take your point about none of the definitions specifically saying “only the odd numbers of a sequence”, but at the end of the list of definitions, derived forms are given as “oddly”, and “oddness” without excluding the application of these to any of the foregoing.
I take this to imply that the use traditionally relied upon in crosswords is valid.
On the face of it then Redshank has either 1. Made a mistake, or 2. Isn’t that bothered either way.
There is one more possibility though – one of the definitions of “odd” is “occasional” (e.g. “I have the odd glass or two now and then”), and in this sense “oddly” can mean “occasionally” – thereby legitimising any sequence that works.
Very nice crossword by the way- “place to park a caravan” is a cracking definition.
I love “kvetch”, what a great word.
Of course the setter goofed. (Or perhaps the crossword editor at FT – is there one?) And nobody starts a count with zero.
Anyone following this week’s impeachment hearings will spot the difference between what’s obvious versus what a lawyer tries to get away with!
1ac bugged me since I never heard of “osso bucco”.
Thanks Redshank and Pete
Found this a very interesting puzzle with a couple of key take aways – the three letter words were very gettable straight away (they are usually the ones that hold me up for ages) and the cleverly deceptive definitions that were used throughout – ‘former newsreader’, ‘place to park caravan’, ‘evidence of PO’, ‘one’s resigned’ and ‘the First Lady’. The best of all of them I think was how he defined WAGNERIAN – it was clearly my cod as well.
KVETCH was new to me, so needed to come here to understand why KETCH was the obviously right answer.
As for the discussion on ‘oddly’ used in 1a. Firstly, I assume that we all or most of us got the answer and worked out that the UCCO came from alternate letters of ‘quick cool’. I personally cut setters a lot of slack, it after all, being their job to make us think laterally in all senses. In this case, if we look at odd as ‘being part of a pair, set, or series of which the rest is lacking: as in an ‘odd glove’, it doesn’t matter if it is the left or right glove – here it just happens to be the right ones of the pairs in the phrase that are kept.
Brucew@aus: Charitable of you. But after about a million puzzles where “odd” means either “unusual” or “odd vs. even”, I’m in no mood for Aleister Crowley declaring “everything is permitted”! (Or whoever said that.)
I guess those familiar with Italian dishes had an easier time with it. I’m a vegetarian myself.
I agree with Dansar’s last suggestion about ‘oddly’ (certainly that’s what I was thinking while solving), that here it means ‘occasionally’, in which case Redshank gets away with it, though not without a feeling that we have a case of gratuitous difficulty. Surely he could have used ‘oddly lacking’ in some way, or somehow avoided this.
I enjoyed this puzzle for the most part – FERRIS WHEEL being my favourite – but I did have a few minor niggles. Including those already highlighted, but also a couple more:
20a: Is it fair to use the word ‘on’ as a juxtaposition ‘preceding’ indicator in across clues? It works as such in down clues of course, because it implies ‘on top of’, but I can’t think of any justification for it in across clues.
21d: How/why does ‘fifth’ = V? Five and fifth are not interchangeable as far as I’m aware.
Yes I was a bit uncomfortable with five and fifth, likewise sixteenth and seize. although Louis Seize I suppose (as in the blog); does sixteenth actually translate as seize rather than as seizième?
In my opinion A on B for AB or BA is fine, but I know some crosswords don’t allow it, the Times and the Independent for example. But Azed is perfectly happy with it. The house on the lake means that the house and the lake are in juxtaposition, with nothing said about the order.
Good point about ‘on the side of‘ being a justification, Wil. I withdraw that objection.
I think KVETCH is a very fine word. It seems onomatopoeic although I cannot really say why. It is a word I heard a lot during the years I lived in New York City.
Dansar, Thank you for pointing out that ‘odd’ can mean occasional. I hope however this is not how Redshank intended us to understand it. I do not recall coming across any clues that relied on telling the solver to pick just certain letters from a word or phrase, presumably in the order they appear but otherwise unspecified. And I think that’s getting just too loose.
Peter Mork, Maybe I should have explained what Osso Buco is.