Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of May 7, 2022
Starting with 6ac (SCATTY) and ending with 17 (ENORMITY), I worked quickly through this puzzle. I especially like 10 (LEATHERY), 21 (MADAGASCAR) and 20 (MALIGN).
P.S. It has been four years since we had a puzzle by Dogberry, a.k.a. John Young in this space. Maybe some of you will remember him; he was also Shed in the Guardian. And he has died, age 62. You can read his Guardian obituary, written by its Crossword Editor Hugh Stephenson, here.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BRACKISH |
Disgusting, arrogant defending initially costly, keeper insinuated (8)
|
| C[ostly] K[eeper] I[nsinuated) in BRASH (arrogant) | ||
| 6 | SCATTY |
Ditzy mog entering another animal’s home (6)
|
| CAT (mog) in (entering) STY (another animal’s home) | ||
| 9 | COWARD |
Character claiming that hurt, timorous type (6)
|
| OW (that hurt) in (claiming) CARD (character) | ||
| 10 | LEATHERY |
Tough article penned by high society advocate? (8)
|
| THE (article) in (penned by) LEARY (advocate for high society, as in Timothy) | ||
| 11 | TART |
Cutting pastry (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | BRANDY SNAP |
Warmer pots brought back for crispy food (6,4)
|
| BRANDY (warmer) + PANS (pots) backwards (brought back) | ||
| 14 | CORNMEAL |
Impressing miller finally, coalmen ground flour (8)
|
| [mille]R in (impressing) anagram (ground) of COALMEN | ||
| 16 | CHOW |
Sound greeting dog (4)
|
| Homophone (sound) of “ciao” (greeting) | ||
| 18 | ALTO |
Voice in comical tones (4)
|
| Hidden word (in) | ||
| 19 | HEN PARTY |
Drunk, then pray for ladies’ night (3,5)
|
| Anagram (drunk) of THEN PRAY | ||
| 21 | MADAGASCAR |
Vehicle driven by crazed military leader in African country (10)
|
| MAD AGA’S CAR (vehicle driven by crazed military leader) | ||
| 22 | MITE |
Shrimp power, reportedly? (4)
|
| Homophone (reportedly) of “might” (power) | ||
| 24 | SKIMPIER |
Rogue in winter sportsman, more indecent (8)
|
| IMP (rogue) in (in) SKIER (winter sportsman) | ||
| 26 | IODINE |
Chemical I eat after duck (6)
|
| I (I) + O (duck) + DINE (eat) | ||
| 27 | CRAYON |
Drawer where adversary keeps fish (6)
|
| RAY (fish) in (keeps) CON (adversary) | ||
| 28 | SOY SAUCE |
East Asian food causes you a problem having binned last of tofu (3,5)
|
| Anagram (a problem) of CA[u]SES YOU | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | RIOJA |
Drink in atmosphere after lifting Spanish tipple (5)
|
| OJ (drink) in (in) AIR (atmosphere) backwards (after lifting) | ||
| 3 | CHATTANOOGA |
Attach screws onto a hood that’s raised in US city (11)
|
| Anagram (screws) of ATTACH + A GOON (a hood) backwards (that’s raised). Somehow I looked at this clue and instantly knew the answer. It happens occasionally. | ||
| 4 | INDEBTED |
Bound, certainly around both thighs originally (8)
|
| B[oth] T[highs] in (around) INDEED (certainly) | ||
| 5 | HOLD ALL THE CARDS |
Bag and starched pants occupy the driver’s seat? (4,3,3,5)
|
| HOLDALL (bag) + anagram (pants) of STARCHED | ||
| 6 | SHANDY |
Throw cups with drink (6)
|
| AND (with) in (cups) SHY (throw) | ||
| 7 | ASH |
Tree among jacarandas, hickory (3)
|
| Hidden word (among) | ||
| 8 | TURNABOUT |
Giddy spell before a fight, unexpected development (9)
|
| TURN (giddy spell) + A (a) + BOUT (fight) | ||
| 13 | SOCIAL MEDIA |
Very upsetting I claimed, a communication online (6,5)
|
| SO (very) + anagram (upsetting) of I CLAIMED A | ||
| 15 | OIL TANKER |
Ship I learnt, OK at sea (3,6)
|
| Anagram (at sea) of I LEARNT OK | ||
| 17 | ENORMITY |
Wickedness however in antipathy (8)
|
| OR (however) in (in) ENMITY (antipathy) | ||
| 20 | MALIGN |
Denigrate country with good name (6)
|
| MALI (country) + G (good) + N (name) | ||
| 23 | TONIC |
Shot in the arm, note (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 25 | MAY |
Tree, one of twelve (3)
|
| Double definition |
More sad news in crossword land. RIP Dogberry. I haven’t had the pleasure of solving his puzzles but this stirs me to seek them out.
I agree with Pete’s favourites, especially the definition for LEATHERY. I had ticks for BRANDY SNAP and the pithy TART too. I even had the same instinctive response to CHATTANOOGA.
It was an enjoyably swift solve with nothing too challenging. ENORMITY reminded me of its ‘wickedness’ definition where I usually think of ‘immensity’ first.
I parsed everything as per the blog but there are still two things which I’m not sure I understand; is ‘impressing’ the anagrind for 14a? And how does ‘cups’ give ‘shy’?
Thanks to Mudd and Pete.
Hmm, on second thought, not an anagrind but ‘impressing’ in the sense that the ‘r’ of miller is pressing into ‘coalmen’?
I found this one a bit of a struggle, and I am not sure why. I completed about half the puzzle in good time, then needed 2-3 visits before making any progress at all. BRACKISH was the clue that broke the drought, and I finished the remaining clues in that same session. Most of the clues that I failed to solve in round 1 do not appear overly complex or taxing – but something made me balk.
Pete and I share the same favourites this week. I quite liked TURNABOUT for its clever surface too.
I did not know LEARY, and I confess that I thought a mog was a dog, which rather delayed my solving 6a. I wonder whether CON really means adversary and I cannot remember seeing pants as an anagram indicator before. I will tuck that away for future use.
Diane – in 6d SHY is derived from “throw” (as in coconut shy), with “cups” indicating SHY contains (cups) AND. I agree that “impressing” in 14 means pressing r into coal men.
Thanks Pete, thanks Mudd, and thanks Diane too!
Thanks Mudd for the Saturday entertainment. I found this to be a steady solve though I had to use a reference to learn what “mog” meant. My favourites were LEATHERY, CHATTANOOGA, and INDEBTED. Thanks Pete for the blog.
Thanks for the blog , as usual I agree with your favourites and the comments above.
LEATHERY in particular for the Timothy Leary reference, he was made famous by the Moody Blues song.
CHATTANOOGA also only came to me because of the song.
MOG is an old name for a cat but also a famous series of books by Judith Kerr who also wrote The Tiger Who Came to Tea.
Martyn@ 3 – Pants means rubbish , it did have quite a moment for anagrams for a while, it is well used here.
BRACKISH- does it mean disgusting ? I just think of it as water that is salty.
In 17D does “OR” really equate to “HOWEVER”?
To Diane, “SHY” is a throw which cups (surrounds) “AND” (with).
Thank you Martyn and Brian. I get it at last! I remember considering coconut shy but was rather ‘thrown’ by the wordplay. Now I see the role of ‘cups’. Doh.
Roz, you reminded me of the lovely Meg and MOG books!
Thank you Roz @5.
I did not realize “pants” can mean “rubbish”, either. I will try to remember that too.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Strange how differently we solve crosswords – CHATTANOOGA was my last in and presented all kinds of problems. Solved this one last Sunday across a couple of sittings that added up to about average solve time with TART my first one in. I think that Timothy Leary was the only unknown and was interested to read up about him.
Finished in the NW corner with RIOJA (where it took a minute or two for the OJ drink penny to drop), COWARD and that CHATANOOGA.
bruce@10 there was a song – Chattanooga Choo Choo recorded by Glenn Miller.
It was used in the 70s in the UK to advertise something called a Toffee Crisp, people of a certain age will remember this.
Hi Roz@11 – I may be of a certain age that remembers that song 🙁 – recognised the city when it finally dropped, was just having one of those blank times to remember it and the word play only came afterwards – went down the path of ‘hood’ = BONNET initially, which unfortunately fitted beautifully at the bottom.