Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 14, 2020
This puzzle looked a bit formidable to me at first but then I surprised myself by completing it rather quickly. My favourites are 18ac (POTTY-TRAINED), 3dn (BEER BELLY), 16dn (SPIFFING) and, with qualifications, 19dn (LAMBDA).
| Across | ||
| 1 | DRAWBACK | It suggests minor snag (8) |
| Someone’s ward would necessarily be a minor.
I like this clue and believe I understand perfectly how it is supposed to work but I find it hard to categorize. I want to call it a reverse clue but cannot quite get there. It is all a bit awkWARD. P.S. Maybe we could call it a reverse definition? |
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| 5 | BLOTTO | Drunk left behind briefly outside (6) |
| L (left) in (outside) BOTTO[m] (behind briefly) | ||
| 10 | ROE DEER | European monarch following evil doer’s game (3,4) |
| Anagram (evil) of DOER + E (European) + ER (monarch) | ||
| 11 | IMAGINE | Independent state acquires grand picture (7) |
| I (independent) + G (grand) in (acquires) MAINE (state) | ||
| 12 | SQUIB | Pyrotechnicians quibble about it (5) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 13 | UNGUARDED | Defenceless antelope in retreat somehow dread you coming in (9) |
| GNU (antelope) backwards (in retreat) + U (you) + anagram (somehow) of DREAD | ||
| 14 | CLOTHES-PRESS | Regularly call on the papers to cover small storage unit (7-5) |
| C[a]L[l] O[n] + S (small) + PRESS (the papers). I do not remember coming across the term ‘clothespress’ (it can be written as one word) before. Apparently it is a generic term for a storage unit for clothes. | ||
| 18 | POTTY-TRAINED | Lunatic went by rail, knowing where to go? (5-7) |
| POTTY (lunatic) + TRAINED (went by rail). In case you are not sure, ‘train’ as a verb can mean to travel by train. I rarely hear the word used this way but do occasionally use it myself. | ||
| 21 | FOOTBOARD | Pay poet to retain old part of bed (9) |
| FOOT (pay) + O (old) in BARD (poet). I am not sure if I have come across the term ‘footboard’ before but it certainly goes with headboard. | ||
| 23 | CRATE | Missing last of explosive, produce banger (5) |
| CR[e]ATE (produce, missing E) | ||
| 24 | INGRATE | One doesn’t appreciate where to find coal (7) |
| IN GRATE (where to find coal) | ||
| 25 | DRIBBLE | Old folks tend to do this initially down by river (7) |
| D[own] + RIBBLE (river). The Ribble is a river in Yorkshire. | ||
| 26 | GEYSER | Picked up bloke that may spout a lot (6) |
| Homophone (picked up) of “geezer” (bloke). These two words are homonyms for Brits but Americans pronounce the spouter as guy-zer. | ||
| 27 | TYPEFACE | Times, say, offers class features (8) |
| TYPE (class) + FACE (features) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DURESS | Squeeze you into outfit, twisting your arm (6) |
| U (you) in (squeeze) DRESS (outfit) | ||
| 2 | AVENUE | Approach a stunner backing off close to me (6) |
| A (a) + VENU[s] (stunner backing off) + [m]E | ||
| 3 | BEER BELLY | What identifies and precedes a stout drinker? (4,5) |
| Dual definition | ||
| 4 | CIRCUIT BREAKER | Lap on white horse leads to current safety device (7,7) |
| CIRCUIT (lap) + BREAKER (white horse, as on a wave) | ||
| 6 | LLAMA | Before noon everyone’s given up wool supplier (5) |
| AM (before noon) + ALL (everyone) all backwards (‘s given up) | ||
| 7 | TWIDDLED | Tweed turned aimlessly (8) |
| T (t)…WIDDLED (weed) | ||
| 8 | OVERDOSE | Old poem about party excess that may be fatal (8) |
| O (old) + DO (party) in (about) VERSE (poem) | ||
| 9 | SINGLE-MINDEDLY | How risky batsman plays maybe, with determination (6- 8) |
| Double definition | ||
| 15 | PRESCRIBE | Advocate and priest on hack (9) |
| P (priest) + RE (on) + SCRIBE (hack) | ||
| 16 | SPIFFING | Perhaps Wodehouse’s superb grass inspires devoted females (8) |
| PI (devoted) + FF (females) together in SING (grass) | ||
| 17 | STRONGLY | The way Republican just drinks gallons to a large degree (8) |
| ST (the way) + R (Republican) + G (gallons) in (drinks) ONLY (just) | ||
| 19 | LAMBDA | Character in Sophocles, essayist and lawyer (6) |
| LAMB (essayist, that is Charles Lamb) + DA (lawyer, as in District Attorney). I think the definition, while cleverly cryptic, is a bit of a stretch. ‘Sophocles’ contains a lambda but only when written in Greek and then only as one of six letters total. (I attempted to include Sophocles written in Greek here but it got turned into “????????”.) | ||
| 20 | SEVERE | Notice enshrining remarkably short grave (6) |
| VER[y] (remarkably short) in (enshrining) SEE (notice) | ||
| 22 | BRAVE | British party weather (5) |
| B (British) + RAVE (party) | ||
Thanks Pete and Redshank.
Had unparsed SERENE for 30d.
Picaroon also had INGRATE in his weekend puzzle – the same day – surprisingly…
That should be 20d.
Failed to parse 4d so thanks for that.
I found this easier than I thought it would be.
I knew “clotheshorse” as many of my family had been in the fashion industry.
Because of, or perhaps, despite my O-level in Greek I stared at 19d for too long, going mentally through his plays. When the drachma finally dropped I read “Sophocles” as “Greek” as I read quite often that, say, “nice” is taken for “French”, but I take your point.
Thank you both.
Thanks. Redshank. Many great clues, liked FOOTBOARD and LAMBDA especially. Thanks Pete for parsing, particularly the mysterious (to me) SPIFFING.
Thanks Redshank and Pete
Enjoyed doing this one, although it did take longer than some others here across a number of short sessions, so maybe distractions stretched the solve.
How about ‘reversal by definition’ as the clue type for 1a ? Had solved LAMBDA by just using Sophocles as an example of a Greek who would have written it – the fact that his name would have included it gives the clue even greater depth – hadn’t noticed it at the time.
We have what mum called a CLOTHES PRESS in the home that I grew up in – it was just a cupboard at the end of our hallway that clothes and other articles such as sheets, sundry linen, etc. was stored in.
Pondered on why a ‘risky batsman’ would be SINGLE-MINDED unless they were cheeky runs that were taken – could be just as risky taking a quick second run.
Finished in the SE corner with DRIBBLE, SEVERE and the clever TYPEFACE.
Struggled with this one. Clues like 1ac, 7dn don’t suit me. I have no Greek so getting Lambda from Sophocles was never going to happen.
25ac Always thought of the Ribble as a Lancashire river; Preston is on it, but checking the map I find that it does rise in North Yorkshire. I tend to think Yorkshire rivers always flow East to the North Sea, and Lancashire rivers West to the Irish Sea. Clearly not.
Bruce, I wondered that about a ‘risky batsman’ too.
Malcolm, I first knew Ribble as the name of a bus line, only later realizing that the name was adopted from a river.
I also crate as “crater” ( potentially explosive) missing the last letter “r”.
Hugh