A pangrammatic puzzle from Goliath in today's FT.
When I looked at the clue to 1 across, my heart sank as it looked really contrived at first glance. I worked my way through the rest of the puzzle, with my eye occasionally being drawn back to 1 across. About two-thirds of the way through solving, I could see that the answer had to be VAPING die to crossing letters, but I could not see the wordplay, so I kicked on with the rest of the crossword and once hat was complete, I looked up VANG in Chambers, which was not particularly helpful as it said something about a rope on a ship. Not being of a nautical bent, I still couldn't see what that had to do with "kicking strap". A Google search came to the rescue, and I realised that "vang" and "kicking strap" are the same thing.
As to the rest of the puzzle, there were some very clever diversions (see the clues for BAKER'S DOZEN and MY FRIEND, for example) and a wee bit of general knowledge, which I like in my puzzles.
And every letter appears in the puzzle at least once…
Thanks Goliath
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | VAPING | One way to kick the habit by wrapping kicking strap round compiler’s middle (6) |
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VANG ("kicking strap") round (com)PI(ler) A vang (or kicking strap) is a "piece of rope that connects the lower end of the mast and the boom in order to provide a means for exerting downward force on the boom and thus controlling the shape of the sail" according to Wiktionary. |
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| 4 | COMMUTER | One travels to work, avoiding a true disaster (8) |
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COMM(a) ("," avoiding A) + *(true) [anag:disaster] |
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| 10 | SOLICIT | Very legal tout (7) |
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SO ("very") + LICIT ("legal") |
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| 11 | YANKEES | Americans heading west look for denial (7) |
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[heading west] <=(SEEK ("look for") + NAY ("denial")) The "heading west" part of the clue tells us to put the solution in from east to west (i.e. backwards) |
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| 12 | AHEM | A bit of skirt that’s used to attract attention (4) |
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A + HEM ("bit of skirt") |
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| 13 | XENOPHOBES | Bigots’ hobby, regularly engaging in kinky phone sex (10) |
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(h)O(b)B(y) [regularly] engaging in *(phone sex) [anag:kinky] |
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| 16 | LOG OFF | Leave computer brand staffing centre (3,3) |
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LOGO ("brand") + (sta)FF(ing) [centre] |
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| 17 | FORSAKE | Ask somehow to be in front or quit (7) |
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*(ask) [anag:somehow] to be in FORE ("front") |
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| 20 | FISHEYE | Suspicious about early start, finally wipe lens (7) |
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FISHY ("suspicious") about E(arly) [start] + [finally] (wip)E |
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| 21 | JEERED | Heckled and perhaps rejected: court dismissed (6) |
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*(rejeed) [anag:perhaps], where REJEED is REJE(ct)ED with CT (court) dismissed |
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| 24 | NOTEWORTHY | Remarkable theory won’t get modified (10) |
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*(theory wont) [anag:get modified] |
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| 25 | ODES | Poetry’s not extremely modest (4) |
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[not extremely] (m)ODES(t) |
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| 27 | QUIXOTE | Don providing citation around 9 (7) |
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QUOTE ("citation") around IX (nine, in Roman numerals) |
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| 29 | DRIZZLE | Perhaps some olive oil, and pizza filling found in Doctor Livingstone’s cases (7) |
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(p)IZZ(a) [filling] found in D(octo)R L(ivingston)E ['s cases] |
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| 30 | EAST SIDE | Start of tropical disease outbreak in part of Manhattan (4,4) |
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*(t disease) [anag:outbreak] where T is [start of] T(ropical) |
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| 31 | HYENAS | Have you ever noticed anxious students? At first, they laugh (6) |
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H(ave) Y(ou) E(ver) N(oticed) A(nxious) S(tudents) [at first] |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | VISUALLY | Six normally start off, as far as one can see (8) |
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VI (six, in Roman numerals) + (u)SUALLY ("normally", with its start off) |
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| 2 | POLTERGEIST | Even bits of toilet are seen in prestige production film (11) |
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[even bits of] (t)O(i)L(e)T are seen in *(prestige) [anag:production] Poltergeist is a 1982 horror movie starring Craig T Nelson, JoBeth Willians and Heather O'Rourke. |
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| 3, 15 | NECK OF THE WOODS | Kiss frequently and try to seduce in dilapidated shed area (4,2,3,5) |
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NECK ("kiss") + OFT ("frequently") + WOO ("try to seduce") in *(shed) [anag:dilapidated] |
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| 5 | OXYMORON | Oscar coordinates fool’s original copy? (8) |
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O (Oscar, in the phonetic alphabet) + X,Y ("co-ordinates", in maths) + MORON = O-XY-MORON, of which "original copy" is an example. |
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| 6, 26 | MANCHESTER CITY | Nice terms negotiated with yacht club (10,4) |
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*(nice terms yacht) [anag:negotiated] |
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| 7, 28 | TIE-INS | Links with Bangkok hotels may be on the radio (3-3) |
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Homophone [may be on the radio] of THAI INNS ("Bangkok hotels") |
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| 8 | RESIST | Explores Istanbul’s stonewall (6) |
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Hidden in "exploRES ISTanbul" |
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| 9 | UTTER | Speak outright (5) |
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Double definition |
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| 14 | BAKER'S DOZEN | Here xenophobes break out and sleep with Poles outside (6,5) |
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*(break) [anag:out] + DOZE with N,S (North and South, so "poles") outside The definition refers to the solution to 13 across, 13 being a "baker's dozen". |
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| 15 | See 3 | |
| 18 | MY FRIEND | Why said figurehead is protected by clumsy minder, surely not David! (2,6) |
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Homophone of [said] WHY (i.e. Y) + F(igure) [head] is protected by *(minder) [anag:clumsy] David was surely not a friend of Goliath (today's setter). |
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| 19 | ODYSSEUS | Doctor Seuss to underwrite non- standard parody of a legendary traveller (8) |
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*(seuss) [anag:doctor] to underwrite (par)ODY ("non-standard" = remove PAR) |
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| 22 | UNIQUE | One and only one in French intelligence superficially usable (6) |
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UN ("one in French") + IQ ("intelligence") + [superficially] U(sabl)E |
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| 23 | CHIDE | Slap on the wrist from backbench idealists (5) |
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Hidden in [from] "backbenCH IDEalists" |
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| 26 | See 6 | |
| 28 | See 7 | |
Brilliant stuff from Goliath today. Thoroughly enjoyed it. VANG was the only unknown (wonder if any solver knew this). So many excellent clues: COMMUTER, XENOPHOBES, QUIXOTE, MY FRIEND to name a few. Thought for a while that the initial letters for the solutions might give the pangram. Only 4 letters short (GKWZ) if you include the I from 28d. Thanks to Goliath and loonapick.
Loved some of the inventiveness, esp. 4 , 14 & 18. Great puzzle!
Shame having XENOHOBE as part of a clue and an answer. but with that and QUIXOTE I forgot to check for a pangram.
Really liked the puzzle though. never heard of a VANG but it was VAPINGLY obvious.
Really liked the surface for MANCHESTER CITY.
Thanks Goliath and loonapic
Once I saw the blog was up, it was hard to resist looking but I’m so glad I did and pursued this absorbing challenge from Goliath to the very end. The pangram helped, certainly, with the obscure 1ac. Stopped looking for a double pangram as soon as I saw Ys sprinkled like confetti and the narrowing window for another q,j and v.
So many admirable clues: AHEM, HYENAS, ODYSSEUS, the list goes on.
The FT has provided some winners this week. Gleeful thanks to Goliath and Loonapick.
Goliath (= Philistine@Guardian) is one of my favorites – I love his surfaces, his creativity (like using punctuation in the wordplay), and yet I am able to solve the puzzles in reasonable time (which for me is under an hour).
Unfortunately, today was a DNF for me as I lazily wrote LEG OFF as in leave, and convinced myself there were some LEGO computers. Very sloppy of me. Thank you loonapick, and thank you Goliath!
A most enjoyable morning – solving and blogging the Guardian Qaos puzzle, followed by a superb Hob (the FT’s Wanderer) in the Indy and now an excellent Goliath here to complete a trio of my favourite setters.
Favourites today (and I could name more): 4ac COMMUTER, 21ac JEERED, 24ac NOTEWORTHY, 29ac DRIZZLE, 5dn OXYMORON, and 19dn ODYSSEUS.
Many thanks to Goliath for another super puzzle and loonapick for a great blog.
Enjoyed that one.
No obscure words I’ve never heard of before, so even I could finish it with ease 🙂
Punctuation is often used just to improve the surface and can usually be ignored – but ignore it at your peril with setters such as Goliath. We must have been on the ball today as we spotted the sneaky comma in 4ac. We thought at first that XENOPHOBES as both an answer and a word in a (different) clue was a bit unusual but it was a very neat device.
Plenty more to enjoy, too, such as DRIZZLE, OXYMORON and ODYSSEUS.
Thanks, Goliath and loonapick
I usually enjoy Goliath’s crosswords.
This was an exception despite a few fine clues.
Hi Loonapick – I am another who lacked VANG in my life so resorted to looking up that and kicking strap in my eChambers. That was when there was a click. Thanks for your blog and thanks to Goliath for the afternoon amusement. OXYMORON was probably my pick from a good bunch of clues. Lots of smiles.
Thanks Goliath. This was enjoyable with OXYMORON, QUIXOTE, and UNIQUE being favourites. MY FRIEND mystified me until I read the blog — my own density can be irksome at times. Thanks Loonapick.
Thanks Goliath and loonapick
An enjoyable puzzle that I was able to get through pretty quickly for this setter again – must be getting closer to his wavelength. VISUALLY was the first one that was quickly followed by LOG OFF and AHEM. Lots of the usual interesting clues throughout the rest of the crossword with FISHEYE, QUIXOTE and the two long clues amongst the favourites.
Was initially troubled by seeing ‘xenophobes’ appear again at 14d, but all was forgiven when its context became clear – do think that this type of clue works a little better with a not so ‘exotic’ word. Also got VAPING at about the 3/4 mark and likewise had to go searching for VANG which I didn’t know – always thought that it was just another method of smoking rather than a ‘way to kick the habit’ though.
Finished in the SW corner after finally finding the pangrammic Q in 27a and 22d.