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Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of October 10, 2020
I enjoyed this much more than the last couple of Mudds. My favourite clues are 10ac (COASTER), 14dn (NATTERJACK), 17dn (ALGERIANS) and 23dn (RIGHT). There’s also two rather good hidden-word clues: 24ac (HISTRIONIC) and 6dn (EVERYTHING). And did you notice the vertical stripe of GROIN…SEX ORGAN?
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TRIFLE | Sweet, small beer (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 4 | SOMERSET | English county Republican place, little bit to the left (8) |
| SOME (little bit) + R (Republican) + SET (place) | ||
| 10 | COASTER | Might schooner be supported by this vessel? (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 11 | FRETFUL | Worried, patching up fur with felt (7) |
| Anagram (patching up) FUR FELT | ||
| 12 | TWIG | Grasp piece of wood (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 13 | DISNEYLAND | Send lady in to design theme park (10) |
| Anagram (to design) of SEND LADY IN | ||
| 15 | REAGAN | On with old commander, new president (6) |
| RE (on) + AGA (old commander) + N (new) | ||
| 16 | GO AHEAD | Progressive authorisation (2-5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 20 | WEATHER | Deterioration around the elements, say? (7) |
| THE (the) in (around) WEAR (deterioration) | ||
| 21 | KNIGHT | Last seen of dark, dark piece (6) |
| [dar]K + NIGHT (dark) | ||
| 24 | HISTRIONIC | Penned by Bach, is trio nicely dramatic? (10) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 26 | ORCA | Giant a tailless bird knocked over (4) |
| A (a) + CRO[w] (tailless bird) all backwards (knocked over) | ||
| 28 | SHEBANG | Situation where report written after book (7) |
| SHE (book) + BANG (report) | ||
| 29 | HILLARY | Mountainous around a mountaineer ultimately – like him? (7) |
| A (a) + [mountainee]R together in (around) HILLY (mountainous) | ||
| 30 | STRIKING | Batting – when out? (8) |
| Double definition | ||
| 31 | LESSON | Fewer appointments. one’s learned (6) |
| LESS ON (fewer appointments) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TACITURN | Silent act I developed with short performance (8) |
| Anagram (developed) of ACT I + TURN (short performance) | ||
| 2 | INANIMATE | Relative collected by two individuals, friend not moving (9) |
| NAN (relative) in (collected by) I I (two individuals) + MATE (friend) | ||
| 3 | LOTS | Those drawn in great quantity (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | OFF AND ON | Occasionally relating to cooler teacher (3,3,2) |
| OF (relating to) + FAN (cooler) + DON (teacher) | ||
| 6 | EVERYTHING | All inside bandage, very thin gauze (10) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 7 | SOFIA | Capital up until now cut, one’s assumed (5) |
| I (one) in (‘s assumed) SO FA[r] (up until now cut) | ||
| 8 | TOLEDO | Spanish city shepherded in as well (6) |
| LED (shepherded) in (in) TOO (as well) | ||
| 9 | GROIN | Move round first of rooms in private area (5) |
| R[ooms] in (round) GO (move) + IN (in) | ||
| 14 | NATTERJACK | Yak sitting on male toad (10) |
| NATTER (yak) + JACK (male) | ||
| 17 | ALGERIANS | African people in a Salinger novel (9) |
| Anagram (novel) of A SALINGER | ||
| 18 | SEX ORGAN | Member perhaps with good reason to worry about mark on ballot paper (3,5) |
| X (mark on ballot paper) in (about) anagram (to worry) of G REASON | ||
| 19 | STEADY ON | That’s too much to say: end broadcast (6,2) |
| Anagram (broadcast) of TO SAY END | ||
| 22 | THESES | Items identified here with introduction of scholar’s essays (6) |
| THESE (items identified here) + S[cholar] | ||
| 23 | RIGHT | Just one side (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 25 | SHEER | Fine cut, by the sound of it? (5) |
| Homophone (by the sound of it) of “shear” (cut) | ||
| 27 | FLOE | Sheet of ice in continuous stream, we hear? (4) |
| Homophone (we hear) of “flow” (continuous stream) | ||
Oh, I noticed that vertical stripe, alright! Oo-er Missus, and 19a, Mudd!
I always admire this setter’s double definitions – like the excellent TWIG – but in common with Pete this week, it was the two hidden answers at 24a and 6d that I especially liked. COASTER was another favourite among quite a few gems.
LOI was ORCA, my instinctive reply due to the crossers but I couldn’t parse it as I was toying with ‘rhea’ and ‘moa’. Only now, looking at the blog do I get the parsing. Duh!
Thanks Pete and to Mudd for the excitement!
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Found this at the easier end of the ‘Mudd difficulty spectrum’ and was able to complete it in a single session. Thought that all of the double definitions were excellent, the two hiddens were well disguised and liked the HILLARY clue. Have seen the NATTERJACK toad before but had to work it out from first principles again.
Finished in the SW corner with the clever STRIKING, SHEBANG (and that most favoured book for crosswords) and those SEX ORGANS as the last one in.
The most enjoyable Mudd in awhile for me — I agree with Pete’s view. I liked clues such as KNIGHT, HISTRIONIC for having a smooth surface hiding the answer, SHEBANG, OFF AND ON, and SEX ORGAN because it wouldn’t be a Mudd work without some bawdiness. Thanks to both.
I only started doing the crossword with the Covid lockdown, and I found this one very challenging. I think this was due to the unusual use of words. For example, I had never heard “sex organ”, “shebang” means things not a situation to me, and it took a visit to the dictionary to learn that Yak can be a variation of yack. I continue to feel that if one is STRIKING, one is still in. It is only when one has struck that one is out.
I agree with Diane and particularly liked TWIG and COASTER, as well as ON AND OFF.
It is always interesting to see how different people solve the crossword in different order – for me I went anti-clockwise from the top, right quadrant.
Finally, I will remember SHE for future use. So saying, care of bookfinder, I realised there is a book for almost every short word in the English language…..
Thank you Pete for your excellent explanations every week – they are part of my newfound enjoyment of the crossword.
Martyn, Thank you for commenting and welcome to the club. It is good to know that the blog is helping folks new to crosswords. May you have much more enjoyment!
I am just catching up on things again so this is a bit late. I always appreciate the blog Pete, so thanks. Given the vertical message it would appear a little more of the Paul persona is leaking into the Mudd.
I found the SW corner more difficult for some reason but I cannot work out why. Enjoyed finding HISTRIONIC and HILLARY always rings a bell with kiwis.
Thanks for the entertainment Mudd.