Started this one at a canter but then finished at a crawl. Thank you Monk.
I can’t spot what is going on in the grid. All the letters in the first column are F, except one which is P. This does not look like chance but does it look not like Monk’s best effort at a grid-fill either. Can anyone help out?
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | FRICTION |
Lie about Romeo in disagreement (8)
|
| FICTION (lie) contains (about) R (Romeo, phonetic alphabet) | ||
| 9 | EFFORT |
Anything made in France beneficial to stopping European market’s closure (6)
|
| F (France) FOR (beneficial to) inside (stopping, like a cork) E (European) markeT (last letter, closure) | ||
| 10 | FISTIC |
Possibly punchy first line in Liverpool, for example (6)
|
| IST (1st, first) and I (line??) inside FC (Liverpool FC for example). I can’t explain why I (uppercase i ?) is “line” | ||
| 11 | EFFLUENT |
Graceful after only hints of excuse for discharge (8)
|
| FLUENT (graceful) follows first letters (only hints) of Excuse For | ||
| 12 | FOR THE TIME BEING |
Temporarily staying in position after me fortieth shot (3,3,4,5)
|
| BEING (staying in position) following anagram (shot) of ME FORTIETH | ||
| 13 | FAT CITY |
One side of Manchester chasing money for profitable conditions (3,4)
|
| CITY (Manchester City, one football side in Manchester) follows FAT (money) | ||
| 15 | DRAFTER |
Doctor following writer (7)
|
| DR (doctor) and AFTER (following) | ||
| 18 | PAR FOR THE COURSE |
Fancy treacherous prof getting what one expected? (3,3,3,6)
|
| anagram (fancy) of TREACHEROUS PROF | ||
| 21 | FRACTION |
A bit of fighting on Friday (8)
|
| ACTION (fighting) following (on) FR (Friday) | ||
| 22 | TUFTED |
Caught hard old hooligan sporting a goatee? (6)
|
| TUF sounds like (caught) then TED (old hooligan) | ||
| 23 | FOETAL |
Some diplomats and others like what’s yet to be delivered? (6)
|
| FO (Foreign Office, some diplomats) then ET AL (and others) | ||
| 24 | CONFETTI |
Paper coverage offered to recently inaugurated union members (8)
|
| cryptic definition | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ORSINO |
Fictional duke captured by actors in Othello (6)
|
| found inside (captured by) actORS IN Othello – the Duke of Illyria from Twelfth Night | ||
| 2 | ECSTATIC |
City still jubilant (8)
|
| EC (abbreviation for The City of London, from East Central the postal code) STATIC (even, unchanging) | ||
| 3 | WINCHESTER RIFLE |
Hauls associated with amended awful weapon (10,5)
|
| WINCHES (hauls) then TERRIbLE (awful) with B changed to F (amended). It seems unusual for the FT that there is no indication of how TERRIBLE is to be amended, perhaps I have missed something? | ||
| 4 | INHERIT |
Succeed because of their supply (7)
|
| IN (because of) then anagram (supply, in a supple way) of THEIR | ||
| 5 | SELF DEPRECATING |
Horrid deflating creeps belittling themselves (4-11)
|
| anagram (horrid) of DEFLATING CREEPS | ||
| 6 | EFFUSE |
Force needed to enter unopened, rubbish shed (6)
|
| F (force) inside rEFUSE (rubbish, unopened) | ||
| 7 | ORDNANCE |
Big guns planning to sack international (8)
|
| ORDINANCE (planning) missing (sacking) I (international) | ||
| 14 | ANACREON |
Unusually arcane about Greek lyric poet (8)
|
| anagram (unusually) of ARCANE then ON (about) | ||
| 16 | FLUFFIER |
One cutting crewman who keeps members up? More like down (8)
|
| I (one) inside (cutting) FLUFFER (a member of the crew on a pornographic film who keeps the actor happy between takes) | ||
| 17 | PHONICS |
Composition of Chopin’s evoked science of sound (7)
|
| anagram (composition) of CHOPIN’S | ||
| 19 | FACETS |
Views temperature dials going round (6)
|
| T (temperature) inside (with…going round) FACES (dials) | ||
| 20 | SLEUTH |
Floozie hot about introduction to Endeavour Morse, perhaps (6)
|
| SLUT (floozie) H (hot) contains (about) Endeavour (first letter, introduction to) |
Found this very hard and cheated a little. Didn’t know “fat” as slang for money, so FAT CITY was my loi.
I noticed that every across answer contains the letters FT so maybe that’s the nina?
Had the same misgivings about 3d (one of the answers I needed to cheat with). ANACREON was new to me. Met FISTIC for the first time recently. Bit too hard to really enjoy, but pleased to finish.
Wow, what a puzzle; like Hovis I didn’t know the Greek poet at 14D. My education has really expanded with the explanation for 16D – I managed to guess the answer but had no idea of the construction: the crew member (excuse the pun) was new to me. Maybe I should have read Hovis’ “Bit too hard to really enjoy” first!
Like Pee Dee except I didnt quite finish being beaten by a rather cute clue-TUF TED
Didnt much like FAT CITY but thought FOETAL was great
Strange grid with a very loud LHS with a quick soft break, Eric’s partner lurking in top row
Odd bits like OTT RED, compass points-not yer typical Monk,maybe he can pop in and explain his cunning plan. Or is he hungover from setting for the Graun
Thanks Monk and PeeDee. I assumed that the nina was in the fact (mentioned already by Hovis@1) that every across answer has an F and a T in that order. I certainly used that assumption to help me get some of the answers.
10ac: Perhaps the fact that (at least in a sans serif font) a capital I is simply a vertical line gives the second I, but I would be glad if there is a better explanation.
Hi Pelham, I wondered about “I” being just a line too, but as you say it only looks that way when printed in certain fonts. I was taught to write I with a bar across the top and the bottom, and that is what it would look like in my grid.
Phew. I’m almost as “scared” these days of Monk as I am of Io/Nimrod/Enigmatist and this one was true to his recent form. Even though I’d seen the FT Nina I had no hope with FISTIC or ANACREON and I had to guess FAT for ‘money’ at 13a. Several others unparsed and many were entered first and parsed later.
Very hard but enjoyable – just!
Thanks to Monk and PeeDee
Thanks for the blog. Was lucky to get this passed on to me, very impressive on the whole apart from vertical line mentioned and the change in terrible which does need a little bit more. Fluffer is outrageous but the clue does work very well.
“fluffier” is the bawdiest thing I’ve seen in an FT crossword since we lost Cinephile. Shocked, I am, shocked.
I also started fine with this, enjoying eg CONFETTI, but it ended up as something of an arm-wrestle. I share the reservations above and there were a few meanings I wasn’t happy with, though perhaps I’ve just missed the obvious. How does “anything made” equal EFFORT? Does “being” really mean “staying in position” ? Glad to say I’d never heard of “fluffer” and it’s not in any dictionary I possess. So, not my favourite.
Hi Perplexus, sorry I can’t help you in your queries other than to say I looked them up and they are in the dictionary (except for fluffer, which I did expect to see there and was surprised not to find). One hopes that Chambers has done their research!
9Ac A thing made …. or Something made ….. would be much better. I suspect it may even be a misprint for A thing …
Thanks Monk and PeeDee
Certainly was a toughie. I wonder if it was an abandoned effort of having the FT’s in order of all across clues and having all F’s in column 1 and all T’s in column 15.
Still a fun solve in two sittings and a laugh out loud moment when the dictionary helped with the parsing of 16d (have obviously led too sheltered a life) !
Had to cheat with a word finder to get the poet after the theme helped to change TIN CITY to FAT CITY at 13a. They were the last two in.
I really enjoyed this although like Copmus I found FAT CITY a bit unsatisfactory. Thanks Monk & PeeDee
Thanks PeeDee @10 for responding and to Roz@11 for sharing some of my slight bafflement. I should also have thanked PeeDee for the admirable blog of (what I thought was) a not so admirable puzzle.
Thank you PeeDee for your usual fine blog. Looks to have been a bit of a Marmite puzzle, which (a) I couldn’t have predicted at the time of setting, and (b) raised no flags at the editing/vetting stage, as all blog-queried definitions were confirmed in standard references.
To address all queries (citing only the first commenter when repeated, and omitting throughout the qualifier IMHO!):
PeeDee @10ac — “a line” is as good a suggestion for I as the unquestioned globally used “1”. Pernicketiness, font-based or otherwise, on such suggestions would also preclude the old chestnut “spectacles” for OO as well as “girder” for H and “junction” for T, all of which I have seen used.
PeeDee @3dn — the non-explicit flagging of the precise change to be made is fair if the target is unambiguous; such a view is incidentally a result of discussing with an(other) editor the notion of being too algorithmic. I have since that discussion accepted that clues may fall in a sliding scale between often-abstract cryptic definition clues and forensically-complete-wordplay-definition clues — bay far the norm — with the caveat that no ambiguity must arise.
PeeDee @16dn — your marvellously diplomatic note made me LOL.
Copmus #3 — I don’t understand your comment re “OTT RED, compass points”?!
Pelham Barton #4 — yes, the Nina was as you describe. To have enforced only a single F and T in that order invited (I gridded it several times and rejected them all) too many very abstract entries.
grahamsw #8 — Perhaps a large stiff gin or a whisky will relieve the nerves?
Perplexus #9 — (a) Chambers: effort = anything done or produced (informal), and (b) Oxford Dictionary of English: be = stay in the same place or condition: “he’s a tough customer—let him be.”
PeeDee #10 — Collins: fluffer = a person employed on a pornographic film set to ensure that male actors are kept aroused.
Roz #11 — see response to #9 above.
brucew@aus #12 — see response to #4 above.
Thanks very much Monk for dropping in with the detailed explanations and clarifications. I hope you won’t take my comments in the blog as criticism. The blog is intended to be an explanation of how the clues work rather than as a critical review of the puzzle.
PS I always assumed that I is one because I is the Roman numeral for one. It is based on the meaning of the symbol rather than its appearance.
Thanks Monk, I stand corrected on effort.
Still disagree for the vertical line, H and T are fine because there is actually an H-girder and T-junction, both in Chambers. There is also an I-beam but this is shaped like a traditional capital I.
Not a Marmite for me, more a Golden Syrup which I love,
Late start on this.. ground to a rapid halt n has continued to not yield an inch .. all the doubts already mentioned plus a few others like “IN” for “BECAUSE OF” .. but actually I managed to get that one! So my favourite comes down to CONFETTI.. at least it was all my own effort..
Thanks MONK n PeeDee
I must have posted without refreshing so Monk’s response revealed itself after the fact… good rebuttal.. still toughest for me for a while… I may well resort to that stiff drink u recommended … cheers
PeeDee @16 … no criticism taken! I just wanted to explain to solvers the thinking behind the setting, rather than ignoring the feedback or reading it and remaining silent 🙂
This was one of the most perverse crossword puzzles I had ever come across! None of the clues makes any sense even after seeing the answers. Setters must show intelligence and knowledge and ability to guide in a clever manner toward answers and not to fine totally obscure and meangless rubbish as clues simply because they themselves know the answers when making up the grid! Cannot understand the.motice!