Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 29, 2020
My first-in was 12ac (MELA), I quickly completed the right half and struggled a little to finish the top left. My favourite clues are 25ac (TOSCANINI), 8dn (POLYANDRY), 14dn (TEMPLATES) and 21dn (MESON).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | HONEYTRAP | Lover taking gin, cunning fox? (9) |
| HONEY (lover) + TRAP (gin) | ||
| 6 | PINUP | Flag raised, a beauty? (5) |
| PIN (flag) + UP (raised) | ||
| 9 | TOWEL | Eight, it’s inferred, gathering old cloth (5) |
| O (old) in (gathering) TWEL[ve] (eight it’s inferred). Two-thirds of ‘twelve’ is eight.
Do we like the fraction device here? On one hand, it seems weak because, in principle, it could clue a countably infinite number of partial numbers — although only a small number if one considers the enumeration. On the other hand, it does not make the clue too hard to solve. Almost certainly one has to guess the answer from definition and checked letters and then apply the wordplay only for confirmation. |
||
| 10 | SUPER BOWL | Big game hunter’s ultimate weapon: pulse’s erratic holding it? (5,4) |
| [hunte]R + BOW (weapon) together in anagram (erratic) of PULSE | ||
| 11 | PIANO STOOL | Player positioned here, also with option to adjust? (5,5) |
| Anagram (to adjust) of ALSO OPTION. I do not remember ever hearing a piano stool referred to by any other name but I now discover that Americans call the thing a piano bench. | ||
| 12 | MELA | Hosted by Rome, latest religious festival (4) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 14 | TREACLE | Spilling of claret at end of movie, sentimental stuff (7) |
| Anagram (spilling of) CLARET + [movi]E | ||
| 15 | NOTICED | Saw undecorated? (7) |
| NOT ICED (undecorated?). As of a cake. | ||
| 17 | MOTORED | Went at speed, requiring second to stop at traffic lights (7) |
| MO (second) + TO (to) + RED (stop at traffic lights) | ||
| 19 | HEALTHY | Well hot, lady’s skirts melting with heat (7) |
| H (hot) + anagram (melting) of L[ad]Y HEAT | ||
| 20 | LAMB | Innocent essayist (4) |
| Double definition.
Someone pointed out to me that POPE would also work as an answer to this clue. There have been 13 popes named Innocent and Alexander Pope, while better known as a poet, was also an essayist. |
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| 22 | CODSWALLOP | Rubbish kind of dive not completed by swimmer, ending in heap (10) |
| COD (swimmer) + SWALLO[w] (kind of dive) + [hea]P | ||
| 25 | TOSCANINI | Popular twins lying back alongside opera maestro (9) |
| TOSCA (opera) + IN IN (popular twins) reversed (lying back). I like the “popular twins”. | ||
| 26 | INNER | Essential offender gets guillotined (5) |
| [s]INNER | ||
| 27 | SANDY | Yellowish lips of secretary? (5) |
| S AND Y (lips of secretary). I do not remember seeing ‘lips’ used to clue the first and last letters of something before. At first I wondered but looking up ‘lip’ in my Chambers confirmed that this works. | ||
| 28 | EPHESIANS | Spanish and English twice translated in book (9) |
| Anagram (translated) of SPANISH EE. Ephesians is a book of the Bible. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | HET UP | Male sheep in a state (3,2) |
| HE (male) + TUP (sheep) | ||
| 2 | NEWSAGENT | Shop pond life smuggling dope from South Africa? (9) |
| SA (South Africa) + GEN (dope) together in NEWT (pond life) | ||
| 3 | YELLOW CARD | Caution, cowardly character! (6,4) |
| YELLOW (cowardly) + CARD (character) | ||
| 4 | ROSETTE | Burrow inside eggs to find prize (7) |
| SETT (burrow, that is a badger’s) in (inside) ROE (eggs) | ||
| 5 | POPCORN | Drink and cheese snack (7) |
| POP (drink) + CORN (cheese) | ||
| 6 | PERU | Country with some culture, presently turning up (4) |
| Reverse hidden word | ||
| 7 | NOOSE | Nothing up nostrils, it’s suggested – is that catching? (5) |
| O (nothing) in (up) NOSE (nostrils). I do not understand what role “it’s suggested” is intended to play in the clue.
If you are wondering about the definition, note that ‘noose’ can mean lasso. I am not sure if it was exactly a noose/lasso in this sense that was involved but this clue reminded me of the horrible death of PC Andrew Harper. |
||
| 8 | POLYANDRY | Randy ploy slyly taking more than one husband (9) |
| Anagram (slyly) of RANDY PLOY | ||
| 13 | STEAL A KISS | Grab an affectionate moment – as would son for Saxon? (5,1,4) |
| A X (a kiss) in (would steal) SON | ||
| 14 | TEMPLATES | Reversal of the law on crockery patterns (9) |
| MET (the law, as in the Metropolitan Police) + PLATES (crockery) | ||
| 16 | CATALONIA | Look to invade Sicilian city, European territory (9) |
| LO (look) in (to invade) CATANIA (Sicilian city) | ||
| 18 | DIOXIDE | Compound eleven fed to electronic device (7) |
| XI (eleven) in (fed to) DIODE (electronic device) | ||
| 19 | HASHISH | Pot contains that man’s goulash, ultimately (7) |
| HAS (contains) + HIS (that man’s) + [goulas]H | ||
| 21 | MESON | Mass one’s recalculated for subatomic particle (5) |
| M (mass) + anagram (recalculated) of ONES | ||
| 23 | PARIS | Almost all flock to see European city (5) |
| PARIS[h] (almost all flock) | ||
| 24 | RACY | Blue fish rounding cape (4) |
| C (cape) in (surrounding) RAY (fish) | ||
This grid, while very entertaining, was equal parts head-scratching and gotcha moments for me. I like the clever NOTICED, as well as PARIS, POLYANDRY and TOSCANINI. The ‘lips’ device for 27ac was smart too. It was here in the SW corner, though, where I struggled as I had pencilled in POPE for 20ac. Of course TEMPLATES meant a rethink was necessary but I still failed on MESON. Pete, thanks for explaining INNER and especially TOWEL which I would never have parsed in a month of Sundays!
Still, I enjoyed ruminating on this puzzle so thank you, Mudd.
Thought this was excellent. As Diane says, lots of head-scratching and gotcha moments. Fortunately, I didn’t fall into the Pope/Lamb trap. May have already got MESON by then but can’t remember. I liked the TOWEL construction which took some working out..
Of course Americans don’t call a piano stool a bench. A stool is for one person, a bench could seat more than one. We have both, don’t you?
I’m happy with 9 across, though you’re right I had to reverse engineer the clue from the answer. I didn’t have a problem with 20 across because the word essayist always triggers Lamb for me, my dad had a collection of his works. I’m less sure about “steal” in 13 down: in what sense does “steal” mean “in” ?
Thanks to Pete and Mudd.
Derek, Thank you for commenting. You raise an interesting question about 13 down. Considering it now, it does not seem as obvious to me that “steal” works as it did when I solved the clue. However after some thought, I conclude that it does work, in the sense of “to secrete”.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Thought that this was Mudd at his very best and although the time taken was better than average, the solving experience didn’t feel like that. Lots of variety in the types of clues, especially the clever tricks used with TOWEL and STEAL A KISS. Also liked TOSCANINI with it’s ‘popular twins lying back’.
MELA was in the first part of the solve, but it is a word that was unfamiliar with … and only the hidden word standing out that enabled it to be seen.
Finished in the SE corner with PARIS, EPHESIANS and DIOXIDE – strange how different folk get to complete these puzzles.
Many thanks to Mudd and Pete. I had a chuckle when I realised how TOWEL worked. Such things keep us on our mental toes. Wth MELA it was a case of “I wonder if” followed by a dictionary search – these crosswords keep impressing me with my own ignorance.