Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 24, 2021
My first-in was 1 (BANGLADESH) and I finished it easily except for my last-in 15 (PLUMPISH). My favourites are 1, 4 (APPENDIX), 6 (HAMLET) and 19 (TREADING).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BANGLADESH |
Outlaw pleased he’s abandoned country (10)
|
| BAN (outlaw) + GLAD (pleased) + anagram (abandoned) of HES | ||
| 7 | MOPE |
Person depressed device for cleaner energy (4)
|
| MOP (device for cleaner) + E (energy) | ||
| 9 | EMIT |
Leak unfortunate pitmen uncovered (4)
|
| Anagram (unfortunate) of [p]ITME[n] | ||
| 10 | PARAMETERS |
Gunners and me restricted by posh old man’s guidelines (10)
|
| RA (gunners, i.e. Royal Artillery) + ME (me) together in (restricted by) PATERS (posh old man’s) | ||
| 11 | DRYDEN |
Writer’s uninteresting study (6)
|
| DRY (uninteresting) + DEN (study) | ||
| 12 | HEEDLESS |
Rash is undesired with head becoming hot (8)
|
| NEEDLESS (undesired) with the ‘N’ (head) changed to ‘H’ (becoming hot) | ||
| 13 | PLUMPISH |
Portly clod is occupying pub (8)
|
| LUMP (clod) + IS (is) in (occupying) PH (pub) | ||
| 15 | TALE |
Listened to back story (4)
|
| Homophone (listened to) of “tail” (back) | ||
| 17 | STEN |
One shot in EastEnders (4)
|
| Hidden word (in) | ||
| 19 | TREADING |
Pressing foot traffic covering England’s capital (8)
|
| E (England’s capital) in (covering) TRADING (traffic) | ||
| 22 | MEAT SAFE |
Heard event outside of Santa Fe food repository (4,4)
|
| MEAT (homophone of “meet”) + S[ant]A FE | ||
| 23 | STRIPE |
Having developed following, street band (6)
|
| ST (street) + RIPE (having developed) | ||
| 25 | DETRACTIVE |
Cite advert broadcast as disparaging (10)
|
| Anagram (broadcast) of CITE ADVERT | ||
| 26 | ACES |
Experts taking away first in competitions (4)
|
| [r]ACES (taking away first in competitions) | ||
| 27 | EYED |
Retreated once the journalist is observed (4)
|
| YE (once the) backwards (retreated) + ED (journalist) | ||
| 28 | LEGITIMISE |
Sanction on Italy is interrupting season (10)
|
| LEG (on, as in cricket) + IT (Italy) + IS (is) in (interrupting) TIME (season) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | ADMIRAL |
Commander these days on the French border to the north (7)
|
| AD (these days) + {LA (the French) + RIM (border)} backwards (to the north) | ||
| 3 | GATED |
Worried trapped in empty ground with barrier (5)
|
| ATE (worried) in G[roun]D | ||
| 4 | APPENDIX |
Pass, disregarding top ten in Le Monde supplement (8)
|
| [h]APPEN (pass disregarding top) + DIX (ten in Le Monde) | ||
| 5 | EARTHSHATTERING |
Modelled this range around milliner that’s critical (15)
|
| HATTER (milliner) in (around) anagram (modelled) of THIS RANGE | ||
| 6 | HAMLET |
One acting poorly over rent settlement (6)
|
| HAM (one acting poorly) + LET (rent) | ||
| 7 | MUTILATED |
One with stomach upset delayed, day ruined (9)
|
| I (one) + TUM (stomach) together backwards (upset) + LATE (delayed) + D (day) | ||
| 8 | PERUSAL |
A regular forgetting second uniform inspection (7)
|
| PER USUAL (a regular) with the second ‘U’ removed | ||
| 14 | MONITORED |
Checked daughter after Mint Oreo goes astray (9)
|
| Anagram (goes astray) of MINT OREO + D (daughter) | ||
| 16 | BED-SHEET |
Cover vegetable boxes strewn around shed (3-5)
|
| Anagram (strewn around) of SHED in (boxes) BEET (vegetable) | ||
| 18 | THEREBY |
As a result, article on eBay oddly disappeared (7)
|
| THE (article) + [e]B[a]Y | ||
| 20 | NEPHEWS |
Recent information across page on that man’s relatives (7)
|
| P (page) + HE (that man) together in (across) NEWS (recent information) | ||
| 21 | PARCEL |
Package trucker regularly brought into China (6)
|
| [t]R[u]C[k]E[r] in (brought into) PAL (china) | ||
| 24 | REALM |
Concrete over top of marshy land (5)
|
| REAL (concrete) + M[arshy] |
Very fine, almost ‘good old-fashioned’, tight clueing.
That said, a clue like 9ac (EMIT) nearly always confuses me.
If you read from left to right, it looks like it is (PITMEN)* with then the outer letters removed.
It isn’t, it’s an anagram of “PITMEN, after first having removed the outer letters”.
It is probably all right but I think I would like to avoid a construction like this.
Many thanks to Pete & Artexlen (for a, this time, not too challenging crossie).
Thanks Pete and Artexlen
Favourites were TREADING, THEREBY, PERUSAL and ADMIRAL. New expressions were MEAT SAFE and MOPE to mean a person. I wonder whether EARTHSHATTERING really means “critical” and whether one can refer to a gun as “one shot”.
Agree with Sil van den Hoek @1 – fine puzzle!
Sorry, hit send too soon – PAL = China was completely new to me too. Presumably, it is some sort of rhyming slang, along the lines of “China plate” = “mate” = “pal”? Thanks again Pete and Artexlen
Martyn, you have the rhyming slang for China exactly right. (I admit I had to look it up.) As for gun – one shot, I interpret “one” as “the thing”, e.g., the gun is the one (the thing) shot, or just as a car might be one driven.
Thanks for the super blog, nice puzzle . Agree with Sil @1 , do not like this doubled construction.
LEGITIMISE does not quite work, we end up with T twice. Need just I for Italy which I do not like.
Minor omission in blog, need ON=RE in THEREBY.
HAMLET is very neat with nice misdirection, I thought PERUSAL was very elegant and precisely clued.
An absolute delight, one of my favourite prizes of the year — thanks Artlexen. BANGLADESH, PLUMPISH, ADMIRAL, APPENDIX, HAMLET, and PARCEL were all ticked as noteworthy. I was particularly pleased by PARCEL because as a relative newcomer to British puzzles “regularly” and rhyming slang used to be a foreign language to me and now I’m learning the mother tongue. Thanks Pete for the blog.
Thanks Artexlen
28ac: Roz@5 is right that Italy must just give I. This is the International Vehicle Registration, which to my mind is the most acceptable set of national abbreviations.
Pelham Barton @ 7, yes you are quite correct , I forgot about the car thing. IT is more ITALIAN as in gin and IT.
A fine puzzle and matching blog. It is with a sense of trepidation that I disagree with Sil (and Roz), but I didn’t have a problem with the construction of 9a. Thanks to Artelexen and Pete
Is there anything to disagree with, WhiteKing?
I mentioned two options to read the clue, I gave my preference and – important! – thought what Artexlen chose was OK (although not my choice).
Thanks Artexlen and Pete
Didn’t get to do this one until yesterday and enjoyed it when I did. GATED was first in, with most of the NW corner falling soon after. Some interesting devices with numerous clever charades. Really liked the use of ‘Santa Fe’ in 22a and untangling the word play of LEGITIMISE.
Finished in the NE corner with PERUSAL (not the first definition that came to mind for ‘inspection’), MOPE (don’t know if I’d seen it used as a noun before) and TALE (which took longer than it should to see the ‘back’ part of it).