Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of December 4, 2021
For me this was the toughest Mudd puzzle in a while, especially because the two twelve-letter clues took me a long time to solve. My first-in was 4 and I finished with 7. My favourites are 15 (STROP) and 24 (SMART).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MIDWAY |
Naval battle in deep water, primarily in spring? (6)
|
| I[n] D[eep] W[ater] in (in) MAY (spring) | ||
| 4 | ISOTOPIC |
Iodine like that: matter like tritium? (8)
|
| I (iodine) + SO (like that) + TOPIC (matter). Tritium is an isotope of Hydrogen. | ||
| 9 | DEMISE |
Passing some trees, I meditate, looking west (6)
|
| Reverse (looking west) hidden word (some) | ||
| 10 | CUT-GLASS |
Grand invested in weapon fine, so to speak? (3-5)
|
| G (grand) in (invested in) CUTLASS (weapon) | ||
| 12 | INCH |
Measure piece of cake having missed starter (4)
|
| [c]INCH (piece of cake having missed starter) | ||
| 13 | GAFFE |
Mistake, boss kicking rear (5)
|
| GAFFE[r] (boss kicking rear) | ||
| 14 | SURE |
Confident in power, usually laid back (4)
|
| Reverse (laid back) hidden word (in) | ||
| 17 | HEART-RENDING |
Style in faculty, pitiful (5-7)
|
| TREND (style) in (in) HEARING (faculty) | ||
| 20 | DO THE HONOURS |
Serve aces for example: point he required to go ahead? (2,3,7)
|
| DO T (point) + HE (he) + HONOURS (aces for example). I originally parsed this clue wrongly and suspected that I might have. My thanks to Sil and others for setting me straight. | ||
| 23 | TILL |
Work drawer filled with money (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 24 | SMART |
Sting turned out beautifully (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 25 | ABUT |
Border: area for all that (4)
|
| A (a) + BUT (for all that) | ||
| 28 | NAMELESS |
Unknown, rogue salesmen (8)
|
| Anagram (rogue) of SALESMEN | ||
| 29 | DENIER |
Measure of hose does circles in being reeled back (6)
|
| REINED (being reeled back) backwards (does circles) -or- it could be IN (in) backwards (being reeled back) in (circles) DEER (does) | ||
| 30 | DIPSTICK |
Ass drops parasite (8)
|
| DIPS (drops) + TICK (parasite) | ||
| 31 | TRAGIC |
Awful end in sight, smoke returning (6)
|
| [sigh]T + CIGAR (smoke) backwards (returning) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MIDNIGHT |
Twelve good? (8)
|
| Reverse wordplay: mid-night is G (good) | ||
| 2 | DEMOCRAT |
US politician in rally, dude punched by Republican (8)
|
| DEMO (rally) + R (Republican) in (punched by) CAT (dude) | ||
| 3 | ALSO |
A group of players on top (4)
|
| A (a) + LSO (group of players, i.e. the London Symphony Orchestra) | ||
| 5 | STUFFED SHIRT |
Fossil squeezed on top (7,5)
|
| STUFFED (squeezed) + SHIRT (top) | ||
| 6 | TOGO |
South American capital avoiding extremes after revolution in country (4)
|
| [b]OGOT[a] (South American capital avoiding extremes) backwards | ||
| 7 | PLAQUE |
Undesirable film panel (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 8 | CASHEW |
Eat sandwiches like seed (6)
|
| AS (like) in (sandwiches) CHEW (eat) | ||
| 11 | FACE THE MUSIC |
Pay the piper – look at what one plays? (4,3,5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 15 | STROP |
Pet labrador’s back in park (5)
|
| [labrado]R in (in) STOP (park) | ||
| 16 | INANE |
Batting, an opener for England lacking purpose (5)
|
| IN (batting) + AN (an) + E[ngland] | ||
| 18 | MUMBLING |
Parent taking expensive jewellery, difficult to catch? (8)
|
| MUM (parent) + BLING (expensive jewellery) | ||
| 19 | ESOTERIC |
Private quarters, awfully erotic (8)
|
| ES (quarters, i.e. East and South) + anagram (awfully) of EROTIC | ||
| 21 | STONED |
As is a cherry, wasted (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | CLAM UP |
Choke when hit in competition (4,2)
|
| LAM (hit) in (in) CUP (competition) | ||
| 26 | SLIT |
Opening presents, all bambini wept, ultimately (4)
|
| [present]S [al]L [bambin]I [wep]T | ||
| 27 | BEAR |
Hairy animal bald, by the sound of it? (4)
|
| Homophone (by the sound of it) of “bare” (bald) |
Thanks Pete, I just filled things in at 20ac without much thinking.
But now that I look at again, I think it is different from your take on this clue.
The definition is just ‘Serve’.
And the wordplay is DOT + HE + HONOURS.
The latter can apparently mean cards like ‘Aces’ (like in bridge).
‘Required to go ahead’ tells you that DOT + HE comes before HONOURS.
I think this is it.
I was so relieved to see Pete thought this was difficult – I completely agree. I even had the same LOI as him this week.
My parsing of 20ac was similar to Pete, and I also thought about golf and bridge to mean HONOURS. But, “required to go ahead” is such an odd phrase in this context, it did not sit well with me. I think Sil’s suggestion has a lot going for it.
I do not really get the use of CUTGLASS to mean fine. Is it slang somewhere?
Favourites were DIPSTICK (classic Mudd), HEART-RENDING and MUMBLING
Thanks again to Pete and thanks also to Mudd
While this was a bit more difficult than the last couple by Mudd I found it to be more satisfying than usual. (For once I needed no outside help to complete this non-prize.) I loved MIDNIGHT and I ticked MIDWAY, DIPSTICK (yes, Martyn, classic Mudd indeed), PLAQUE, and MUMBLING as noteworthy. I parsed DO THE HONOURS like Sil did. Thanks Pete for the blog.
This certainly took a bit more time.
DO THE HONOURS is another way of talking about serving things like tea at a table and aces are honours cards, so I agree with the definition being just “serve”.
When I saw “Iodine like” at the start of 4a I tossed in ASTATINE and thought I would parse it later – I found I was wrong rather quickly.
I think “fine” in 10a is referring to language so should it be “refined”.
I did enjoy MIDNIGHT.
Thanks for the fun Mudd and the explanations Pete.
DO THE HONOURS, agree with Sil @1 and Mystogre @ 4 , yes aces and court cards are honours in bridge.
Used in this sense the phrase used to mean “pour the tea” when people used teapots, ” should I do the honours ” means serve everyone at the table with a cup of tea. A similar phrase was ” should I be mother “.
Thanks for the blog , it cleared up a lot of points for me.
DENIER I thought differently , a doe is a deer so does are also deer. IN being reeled back is NI , so we have DEER circles NI.
I thought PLAQUE and SMART were both very clever.
Martyn@2 a CUT GLASS accent is very posh, as MYSTOGRE@4 says, refined would actually be a better word to use.
Thanks Pete and Mudd. Enjoyed this puzzle. Martyn@2, Roz@7, I assumed the “fine, so to speak” referred to speaking with a posh accent, having vowels that could cut glass.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Also found this quite tough across two longish sittings, starting with SURE as the first one in. Seemed to bounce all around the grid to fill in answers. A good mix of clues and thought that after just watching the final session of Day 4 of the Adelaide Test, the surface of 16d pretty much summed it up.
Didn’t properly parse DENIER with those ‘does’, although I am sure that I’ve parsed it when similarly clued in other puzzles 🙁
Finished in the NE corner with PLAQUE, GAFFE and CUT GLASS (having not heard of the posh accent meaning of it)