Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 20, 2021
I was delighted to find a Goliath puzzle for this weekend and it proved to be my fastest solve in a long time. My favourites are 2 (EDENTATE) for its alliterative clue, 14 (ESCAPE) for its fine surface and 18 (BUSHBABY) for its particular crypticity.
Thank you, Goliath.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8, 18 | LAID-BACK |
Relaxed face? (4-4)
|
| Reverse clue: DIAL (face) backwards | ||
| 9 | EVISCERATE |
Tea service upset gut (10)
|
| Anagram (upset) of TEA SERVICE | ||
| 10 | QUINCE |
1 in 5 getting cheese rind and fruit (6)
|
| QUIN (1 in 5) + C[hees]E. And it is quince season! | ||
| 11 | SKI SLOPE |
Pole, drunk after sloppy kiss, going downhill here (3,5)
|
| Anagram (sloppy) of KISS + anagram (drunk) of POLE | ||
| 12 | CALAMITY |
Some energy and friendship for Jane (8)
|
| CAL (some energy — think calorie) + AMITY (friendship) | ||
| 14 | ESCAPE |
Get away to read Howards End in peace, perhaps (6)
|
| [howard]S in (in) anagram (perhaps) of PEACE | ||
| 16, 28 | BASEBALL |
Sport labels designed by graduate (8)
|
| BA (graduate) + anagram (designed) of LABELS | ||
| 17 | BEAST |
Ideal to imprison a brute (5)
|
| A (a) in (to imprison) BEST (ideal) | ||
| 18 |
See 8
|
|
| 19 | CAESAR |
Ruler’s vehicle sunk in rising sea? On the contrary! (6)
|
| Anagram (rising) of SEA in (sunk) CAR (vehicle) | ||
| 21 | TALISMAN |
Charm of legendary island sources in antipodean waters (8)
|
| L[egendary] I[sland] in (in) TASMAN [sea] (antipodean waters) | ||
| 23 | APERIENT |
A cat or dog should eat nothing foreign as treatment for constipation (8)
|
| A (a) + RIEN (nothing foreign, i.e. French) in (should eat) PET (cat or dog)
I think the word ‘aperient’ (which means laxative) is not much used these days. However I happen to know it well because it is the word my mother always used. |
||
| 26 | DUBLIN |
Capital said to be showin’ 100% appreciation (6)
|
| Homophone (said to be) of “doublin'” | ||
| 27 | AGONY UNCLE |
In the past, drunken party ends with relative becoming a personal advisor (5,5)
|
| AGO (in the past) + [drunke]N [part]Y + UNCLE (relative) | ||
| 28 |
See 16
|
|
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TABULA RASA |
You will finally enter as Arab uprising at an open-minded state (6,4)
|
| [yo]U [wil]L in (enter) + anagram (uprising) of AS ARAB + AT
In my original posting, I had the wordplay wrong leaving the ‘T’ unaccounted for. It seemed to several other people that this clue does not work properly and Goliath has acknowledged that he misplaced the reversal indicator — see comment 10. |
||
| 2 | EDENTATE |
Gummy garden gallery (8)
|
| EDEN (garden) + TATE (gallery) | ||
| 3 | YEMENI |
National enemy crushed by Indian leader (6)
|
| Anagram (crushed) of ENEMY + I[ndian] | ||
| 4, 25 | LIPSTICK |
Slip out to get second cosmetic (8)
|
| Anagram (out) of SLIP + TICK (second) | ||
| 5 | ACCIDENT |
Mishap when the west has a change of leader (8)
|
| OCCIDENT (the west) with the ‘O’ changed to an ‘A’ (has a change of leader) | ||
| 6 | FROLIC |
Have fun drawing up pencil or felt-tip circles (6)
|
| Reverse (drawing up) hidden word (circles) | ||
| 7, 24 | STOPPAGE |
Prevent servant strike (8)
|
| STOP (prevent) + PAGE (servant) | ||
| 13 | YEAST |
Bread essential for another poet Eliot upset (5)
|
| I see two possible interpretations of the wordplay here:
YEA (for, as in a vote) + TS (another poet Eliot) backwards (upset) YEATS (another poet) with the TS (Eliot) upset I had started out thinking that “another poet” had to refer to YEATS but failed to see how the rest of the wordplay would then work. In my original posting I gave the second interpretation but the comments now leave me thinking that the first may be correct. |
||
| 15 | PICCALILLI |
Relish saying “choose a flower” (10)
|
| Homophone of “pick a lily” (choose a flower) | ||
| 17 | BARBECUE |
Cube thrown in naked flame (8)
|
| Anagram (thrown) of CUBE in BARE (naked) | ||
| 18 | BUSHBABY |
Young Kate a cute creature (8)
|
| BUSH BABY (young Kate!) | ||
| 20 | SARONG |
Wrap and transplant organs (6)
|
| Anagram (transplant) of ORGANS | ||
| 22 | LADIES |
City ceases to be the place to go (6)
|
| LA (city) + DIES (ceases) | ||
| 24 |
See 7
|
|
| 25 |
See 4
|
|
Thanks for the blog, Pete.
Yes indeed, a quick solve.
But there’s something not right about 1dn (where the T is missing) and 13d (in which something has to be done with YEATS – but does the clue tell me that?).
It’s too late in the day to let my braincells do the work, so someone else may properly explain.
I share your enthusian, Pete – I’ve never met a Goliath grid I didn’t enjoy yet! This was no exception and a steady solve, LOI being the amusing 22d (LADIES). Also earmarked CALAMITY, LAID BACK, PICCALILLI and SARONG as favourites.
Thanks to Goliath and Pete.
I ripped through much of this, even managing PICCALLILI without having heard of it previously. But, then Goliath brought me to my knees.
SARONG took longer than it should, and APERIENT was a word I did not know, so it took a while to flush out. Then, the NW corner undid me. QUINCE was an effort, and as I am not familiar with EDENTATE, I had to chew on 10ac for a while. I then stared at 1 down for a long, long time. I suspect I may have actually got it early without realising it, but it took running several different letter combinations through the internet to find the correct answer.
BTW, in answer to @Sil van den Hoek, I think the anagram of 1 DN is actually AS ARAB AT (with U and L added). Also, I do not fully understand 13 dn either. I too thought it was an anagram of YEATS. While I like Pete’s parsing, I do not understand why it is “another poet Eliot” and not just “Eliot”, or “poet Eliot”. I am sure it is obvious ……
Anyway, enough from me. Enjoyable crossword, with some great challenges thrown in. Not sure I have a favourite this week, but I will always think of the Ladies differently.
I am still awake, for some reason.
Yes, Martyn, I considered AS ARAB AT too.
However, I think that the reversal indicator (‘uprising’) – no anagram – is in the wrong place.
In 13dn I think, Goliath wants us to change the last two letters of YEATS – fine by me but still ‘another’ is in the wrong place, IMO.
Sil van den Hoek – I wrote “anagram” and realised my mistake all of 2 seconds after posting the comment.
Now you remind me, I also wondered about the placement of the reversal indicator in 1 down. It will be interesting to hear what others think.
Looking at my copy of this crossword I must have loved it because I ticked a large number of clues — LAID BACK, EVISCERATE, CALAMITY, APERIENT, DUBLIN, LIPSTICK, and ACCIDENT all satisfied me. Thanks Goliath, and Pete for the blog.
Personally, I had no issue with 1d or 13d but, on looking again, I do agree that the placing of “uprising” before “at” doesn’t really work. 13d with YEATS as “another poet” (as opposed to Eliot) with TS upset is fine for me.
Agree with Hovis re parsing of 13d.
Thank you all for these comments. I am left very unsure about 1d while leaning towards Sil’s and Hovis’ interpretation of 13d.
Apologies for tabula rasa: the reversal indicator is indeed misplaced. My fault entirely.
Liked the puzzle and the blog. Goliath’s apology accepted.
In 19a, “rising” would be a reversal rather than an anagram indicator – if this were a down clue instead of across.
Thanks to both Goliath and Pete.
This was indeed a good puzzle, no doubt about that, and I also accept Goliath’s apology.
These things happen (and will be forgotten about very quickly).
EdK@USA, what you say about 19ac is something that I missed.
As an anagram indicator ‘rising’ doesn’t work – as one for a reversal it does, but only in a Down clue.
Perhaps, another glitch that the editor should have seen?
Talking about ‘another’, my point about 13dn was that, for me, ‘another’ is out of place because first came Yeats and then came Eliot.
But ultimately I’m fine with it (like Hovis and Diane).
Thanks Goliath and Pete
A typically entertaining puzzle from this setter that was able to be solved in a single sitting over a long coffee. Had YEAST as Hovis and Diane and was so pleased to remember TABULA RASA as a phrase and to reverse the charade that I missed the reversal indicator to be placed a bit early in the clue.
Thought that BUSHBABY was clever and actually ‘grinned out loud’ at LADIES when my penny dropped.
LAID-BACK was an immediate write in to start off proceedings and basically went clockwise around the grid from there. Wrote PICCADILLO in initially at 15a, until a more rigorous parsing effort corrected that and finished with that TABULA RASA, EVISCERATE and YEMENI the last few in.
Thanks, Goliath and Pete. Entertaining but not too difficult. Once I got BASEBALL, the other two-part clues came when the pattern became evident.
Everyone’s right on YEAST, I think; it’s one of those beautiful multi-layered clues that works one way but also refers to something else.
APERIENT was a new word for me.