Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of May 2, 2020
We have a new setter for our space this week. Artexlen (an anagram of external) is Steve Bartlett who also sets for The Independent as eXternal. Often I find a challenge in getting tuned into a new setter but in this case it was easy. Only a few clues in the bottom-left quadrant left me puzzling for a time. Many of Artexlen’s clues have very nice surface readings. My favourites are 1ac (FLOWED), 25ac (EMULATOR), 27ac (HOEING), 3dn (WISCONSIN) and 7dn (ROOST).
Welcome and thank you, Artexlen.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FLOWED | Ran and ran, bearing pained expression (6) |
| OW (pained expression) in (bearing) FLED (ran) | ||
| 5 | OBSTRUCT | Stop tutor with BSc that’s forged (8) |
| Anagram (that’s forged) of TUTOR BSC | ||
| 9 | MASSACRE | Butcher’s block as carver regularly used (8) |
| MASS (block) + A[s] C[a]R[v]E[r] | ||
| 10 | AGOUTI | For all to see in uncovered wagon, note rodent (6) |
| U (for all to see) in (in) [w]AGO[n] TI (note) | ||
| 11 | REFORM | Get back together, on condition (6) |
| RE (on) + FORM (condition) | ||
| 12 | IMMATURE | Mum struggling with irate juvenile (8) |
| Anagram (struggling) of MUM IRATE | ||
| 13 | SHOCKING PINK | Small joint stuffed with big cheese that’s vivid colour (8,4) |
| S (small) + KINGPIN (big cheese) in (stuffed with) HOCK (joint) | ||
| 17 | COUNTERFEITS | Pirates in cutter engaged with foes (12) |
| Anagram (engaged with) of IN CUTTER FOES | ||
| 20 | BESSEMER | Confusion about parting drink for inventor (8) |
| MESS (confusion) backwards (about) in (parting) BEER (drink)
From Wikipedia: Sir Henry Bessemer FRS (19 January 1813 – 15 March 1898) was an English inventor, whose steel-making process would become the most important technique for making steel in the nineteenth century for almost one hundred years from 1856 to 1950. |
||
| 23 | BOUGHT | Believed tattoo’s third or fourth on limb (6) |
| BOUGH (limb) + T (tattoo’s third or fourth) | ||
| 24 | COWARD | Retired doctor eating uncooked chicken (6) |
| RAW (uncooked) in DOC (doctor) all backwards (retired) | ||
| 25 | EMULATOR | One copies amulet fashioned with gold (8) |
| Anagram (fashioned) of AMULET + OR (gold) | ||
| 26 | STAGNANT | Foul male beast beginning to turn on female relative (8) |
| STAG (male beast) + NAN (female relative) + T[urn] | ||
| 27 | HOEING | Swine restricts a German tidying bed, perhaps (6) |
| EIN (a German) in (restricts) HOG (swine) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | LEAVES | Way to get between the Parisian’s sheets (6) |
| AVE (way) in (to get between) LES (the Parisian) | ||
| 3 | WISCONSIN | State wife is opposed to immorality (9) |
| W (wife) + IS (is) + CON (opposed to) + SIN (immorality) | ||
| 4 | DECOMPOSE | Break up with model after Medoc gets drunk (9) |
| Anagram (gets drunk) of MEDOC + POSE (model) | ||
| 5 | OBELISK | Monument of Nobel is kitschy (7) |
| Hidden word (of) | ||
| 6 | SPASM | Resort’s opening in May for brief period (5) |
| SPA (resort) + S (‘s) + M[ay] | ||
| 7 | ROOST | Milne character atop stone, perch for Owl? (5) |
| ROO (Milne character) + ST (stone) | ||
| 8 | CATERING | Get in car ordered to find supply of food (8) |
| Anagram (ordered) of GET IN CAR | ||
| 14 | NAILBRUSH | Article on counter one pound – stampede for cleaning implement (9) |
| AN (article) backwards (on counter) + I (one) + LB (pound) + RUSH (stampede) | ||
| 15 | POSTULATE | Suppose uniform in mail delayed (9) |
| U (uniform) in POST (mail) LATE (delayed) | ||
| 16 | FOREMOST | Primary source of timber stifles second (8) |
| MO (second) in (stifles) FOREST (source of timber) | ||
| 18 | FERVENT | Hot iron and lead in repellent discharge (7) |
| FE (iron) + R[epellent] + VENT (discharge) | ||
| 19 | THROWN | Pitched week in north rambling (6) |
| W (week) in anagram (rambling) of NORTH | ||
| 21 | SLANG | Gave information to secure learner in jargon (5) |
| L (learner) in (to secure) SANG (gave information) | ||
| 22 | MEDIA | Male assistant set up channels of communication (5) |
| M (male) + AIDE (assistant) backwards (set up) | ||
Had FEBRILE for 18d, being fe + bile with r inserted. Isn’t English wonderful! By the way, Artexlen has been setting FT puzzles for a few years now, maybe not on Satudays though? Thanks both.
I couldn’t parse AGOUTI, because I got stuck on thinking UT was the note (it was replaced by do but still shows its face in crosswords) and also I was convinced TI is spelled TE (needless to say Pete is right and it isn’t) Thanks for the explanation. Is U still used as a cinema classification ?
Excellent crossword. Great surfaces for COWARD, FLOWED, and FERVENT and satisfying parsing all around. BESSEMER was a favorite. Thanks to Artexlen and Pete.
Jaydee, I pay very little attention to FT puzzles other than the Weekend one so had not realized that Artexlen was already well known as an FT setter. I have verified that this was his first puzzle in the FT Weekend.
I did not find this puzzle too difficult but 20a brought back fond memories.
Amongst others Bertrand Russell complained that the History taught in schools was too narrow as essentially it was the History of Power and other aspects should be taught. I agreed completely with this and fortunately my school introduced Economic History as an A level subject which I took. Of course the Industrial Revolutions were important and Bessemer, who was still alive, became a schoolboy’s hero.
Thank you both.
trenodia, I strongly agree with you about history. As a schoolboy, history was the one subject I loathed and did poorly at — for exactly the reasons you state. I was very glad when I reached a level of electives and was able to give it up. I thought I would never study any history again. Then at university, where I was a science student, I did something unusual and chose to take one arts course, The History of Science. (Okay, not the artiest of arts subjects!) And it proved to be the course I enjoyed most in my uni days.
Couldn’t do NW corner (and a few others). I also remember Bessemer from school though I think it was physics.
Thanks Artexlen and Pete
Good to see that you get to sample this setter on a weekend puzzle. This was probably at the easier end of his difficulty spectrum but still highlighted the neat and clearcut style of his clues. Breezed through it in about half the time it would normally take to do one of his crosswords.
No real standout clues, although did enjoy untangling the word play for SHOCKING PINK. Finished in the SE corner with POSTULATE and BOUGHT.
Pete, I also did my degree in Applied Science (Maths) and remember doing an elective subject called History of Science which focused on the Ancient Greek philosophers and astronomers – Anaxagoras, Anaximander, Thales, etc. A deviation from the calculus, differential equations, numerical analysis and analytic geometry !
Bruce, How interesting! If memory serves, my course started with Thales and continued chronologically up to the nineteenth century. I do not remember Anaxagoras but Anaximander rings a bell. Other names from that time were Ptolemy and Aristarchus.
Aha … sounds very much like a similar course … from distant memory, I think that the main reference book was:
The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man’s Changing Vision of the Universe by Arthur Koestler
I wouldn’t mention it, but I know you are very exacting – there’s a mistake in 5d. Sadly, I took Economic History to degree level and still couldn’t get to Bessemer.