Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 15, 2020
This puzzle has some fine clues that are typical of Goliath but it also has a couple that seem questionable to me. I find issues or uncertainties with 1,5,8 (THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING), 25ac (KETTERING) and 2dn (OBSESS). I actually did a poor job with this puzzle and missed the proper parsing of a few clues in the original posting of the blog. Thanks to commenters, I think we have everything complete now. My favourite clues are 30ac (SWEETIES) and 22dn (DIWALI).
| Across | ||
| 1, 5, 8 | THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING | Mix for stern-sounding salad dish? (8,6,8) |
| Anagram (mix for) of STERN SOUNDING SALAD DISH. Is “mix” intended to serve double duty and be the definition? Or is the whole whole intended to serve as definition? Neither seems quite right to me. | ||
| 9 | INSOLENT | On the way to Ryde, being cheeky (8) |
| IN SOLENT (on the way to Ryde). Ryde is a town on the Solent coast of the Isle of Wight. | ||
| 10 | MYRTLE | Back within tree, go evergreen (6) |
| TRY (go) in ELM (tree) all backwards (back) | ||
| 12 | See 29 | |
| 13 | AUNTS | Eases relatives (5) |
| [t]AUNTS ([t]eases). I was originally unable to explain this clue and thank Dansar for his insight (see comments). And I have to say that I do not care for Goliath’s construction. | ||
| 14 | JOHN | Jack of hearts never leads flush here (4) |
| J (jack) + O[f] H[earts] N[ever] | ||
| 16 | POKEMON | Second and third of January, following endless card game and video game (7) |
| POKE[r] (endless card game) + MO (second) + [ja]N[uary]. I originally misinterpreted this clue and thank Sil for correcting me. | ||
| 19 | GABRIEL | Cheese eaten by female angel (7) |
| BRIE (cheese) in (eaten by) GAL (female) | ||
| 21 | MARK | Degree at last, for weak grade (4) |
| MA (degree) + [fo]R [wea]K | ||
| 24 | PAY UP | Dad standing by informal agreement to foot the bill (3,2) |
| PA (dad) + YUP (informal agreement) | ||
| 25 | KETTERING | Perhaps street walking laws ignored in this town (9) |
| Anagram (perhaps) of [s]TREET [wal]KING. This is one of Goliath’s subtraction anagrams. It never occurred to me that ‘perhaps’ could be an anagram indicator. | ||
| 27 | See 21 down | |
| 28 | SHIITAKE | Quiet ones eat mushrooms (8) |
| SH (quiet) + II (ones) + TAKE (eat) | ||
| 29, 12 | THE NEW TESTAMENT | Possible statement by 21 down, 21 across, 20 and 14 (3,3,9) |
| Reverse anagram “new testament” for STATEMENT | ||
| 30 | SWEETIES | Pens containing tiny bits of candy (8) |
| WEE (tiny) in (containing) STIES (pens) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | THIRTY | Needing water, not Howards End, for the previous clue (6) |
| THIR[s]TY (needing water, not Howards end) | ||
| 2 | OBSESS | Preoccupy managers by switching leaders (6) |
| BOSSES (managers) ???. Switching leaders would give OBSSES. | ||
| 3 | SALSA | Vicious Alsatian’s dance (5) |
| Hidden word. With no hidden indicator other than an apostrophe and S. Maybe it hardly matters. | ||
| 4 | NANKEEN | Grandmother avid for fabric (7) |
| NAN (grandmother) + KEEN (avid). ‘Nankeen’ has turned up in our FT Weekend crosswords before. It identifies a durable fabric formerly loomed by hand in China from natural cotton having a yellowish color. | ||
| 6 | See 20 | |
| 7 | AUTONOMY | Independence from you? Not amused! (8) |
| Anagram (used) of YOU NOT AM | ||
| 8 | See 1 across | |
| 11 | STEP | Raise cats and dogs’ pace (4) |
| PETS (cats and dogs) backwards (raise) | ||
| 15 | ON IMPULSE | Emulsion paint originally spattered without thinking (2,7) |
| Anagram (spattered) of EMULSION P[aint] | ||
| 17 | EGGPLANT | Urge factory to make a vegetable (8) |
| EGG (urge) + PLANT (factory) | ||
| 18 | ABEYANCE | A pop singer’s love replaced by a pause (8) |
| A (a) + BEYONCE (pop singer) with ‘O’ (love) replaced by ‘A’ (a) | ||
| 20, 6 | LUKE SKYWALKER | Film hero’s stroke of luck, missing start by broadcaster, one who rambles (4,9) |
| [f]LUKE (stroke of luck, missing start) + SKY (broadcaster) + WALKER (one who rambles) | ||
| 21, 27 | MATTHEW ARNOLD | Man told off for capturing the war poet (7,6) |
| THE WAR (the war) in (capturing) anagram (off) of MAN TOLD | ||
| 22 | DIWALI | One rule: Goliath would upset festival (6) |
| I (one) + LAW (rule) + ID (Goliath would) all backwards (upset) | ||
| 23 | OGRESS | Advance spin off monster (6) |
| [pr]OGRESS (advance spin off) | ||
| 26 | EXILE | Banish from previously French island (5) |
| EX (previously) + ILE (French island) | ||
Thanks to Pete and Goliath
13a is one of Goliath’s commendable attempts to create a new clue type – Teases / Taunts.
I’m not keen on this one, but I hope he keeps trying.
Thanks, Pete.
Dansar already explained AUNTS.
Typical Goliath/Philistine stuff, as is the split ‘am/used’ in 7d.
2d seems to be a mistake, doesn’t it?
Yes, in the next clue (SALSA, 3d) ‘apostrophe s’ is the indicator – fine by me.
16ac is indeed POKEMON: it’s MO = ‘second’ that you missed.
Finally, KETTERING is one of those subtraction anagrams: (STREET WALKING)* minus L,A,W,S.
Beaten to the punch. The only clues I had issue with were 3d (surely wrong) and 1,5,8 where I took it to be a very, very poor &lit. I have no problem with 13a and have seen clues like this before.
Thanks Goliath and Pete
Had parsed the clues the same as above in what I generally found to be an easier offering than is usual from this setter. The only minor holdups were with the spelling of SHIITAKE and having to chase down the Northamptonshire town once I’d untangled the subtraction anagram.
Liked the authors of the start of the NEW TESTAMENT and how they all came together in the end. Interesting way of getting to AUNTS and did go ‘ahhh’ when the penny did drop. Had parsed THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING as a quirky &lit … and then just got on with the rest.
Finished in the SE corner with OGRESS (not as tricky in hindsight but took a while to get), DIWALI and that KETTERING as the last few in.
Many thanks for your wonderful answers here.
I couldn’t find myself on this setters wavelength at all.
Now I can look through what I didn’t manage.
Jake.
Well I must be totally stupid. I can’t see how 13ac works at all. OK if you take the t off teases you get eases, but how does this tell you to take the t off taunts?
Jake, Thanks for commenting. I think this puzzle may have been, of all the crosswords I have blogged, the one where I was most off the setter’s wavelength!
I’m with Will R on this one.
Sorry I’m late to the party. Being newish to the FT I haven’t got used to the just-shy-of-a-fortnight cycle for prize puzzles yet. It was only while sitting down this afternoon with this week’s prize – and finding what I feel sure is another error, unfortunately – that I remembered having had problems with this one.
13a: I too failed to parse this so thanks to Dansar @1 for explaining it. Like Pete, I can’t say I’m enamoured by the construction.
25a: The subtraction fodder isn’t in the same order in the source fodder, so I felt it needed a second anagram indicator. That, in combination with the rather tenuous ‘Perhaps’ indicator, made it… well, if not unfair, unnecessarily difficult.
2d: This is the only other clue that bothered me: I agree it’s probably a mistake, unless ‘switching’ can be taken to just mean ‘moving’, but that’s quite a stretch.
On the positive side, I did actually enjoy this puzzle despite the above. The remaining clues had enough satisfying penny-drop moments to compensate for those few issues – none of which prevented me from solving them.
As for 3d: I’m quite surprised it’s – i.e. “it has” – apparently bothered some of you here. ‘Has’ seems like a perfectly acceptable hidden answer indicator to me.
Thanks to all.