Weekend puzzle from the FT of November 26, 2022
As usual with Artexlen I found this puzzle fairly easy. You may notice a theme of food and drinks around the edges.
My favourites are 1a (GRAND MARNIER), 2d (ALGEBRA) and 7 (CORNISH PASTY).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | GRAND MARNIER |
Nan and niece leaving church splitting bishop’s liqueur (5,7)
|
| GRANDMA (nan) + NIE[ce] in (splitting) RR (bishop – that is Right Reverend). I was initially unable to see how ‘bishop’ served in the wordplay not knowing that “Right Reverend” is the proper address for one. Given that I have known two bishops in my life, I should perhaps have known better! Later a fellow solver pointed out to me that this same device had been used in the FT’s crossword of the previous day. (See 22d.) It’s not a big deal but an editor might be expected to spot and avoid such a thing. Thanks, PG. | ||
| 8 | ORANGES |
Fruit an ogre’s pulped (7)
|
| Anagram (pulped) of AN OGRES | ||
| 9 | IN TRUTH |
Really current books and old book (2,5)
|
| I (current) + NT (books) + RUTH (old book) | ||
| 11 | NOTABLE |
Famous aristo hiding at back (7)
|
| AT (at) backwards (back) in (hiding) NOBLE (aristo) | ||
| 12 | GALLANT |
Good six-footer comprising everything heroic (7)
|
| G (good) + ALL (everything) + ANT (six-footer) | ||
| 13 | SYRIA |
Revolutionary songs about unknown land (5)
|
| Y (unknown) in (about) AIRS (songs) backwards (revolutionary) | ||
| 14 | BUCKTEETH |
Aboard vessel, note husband’s prominent facial features (9)
|
| TE (note) in (aboard) BUCKET (vessel) + H (husband) | ||
| 16 | PATRONESS |
Female supporter at person’s broadcast (9)
|
| Anagram (broadcast) of AT PERSONS | ||
| 19 | BASIC |
Important horse not well, we’re told (5)
|
| Homophone (we’re told) of BAY SICK (horse not well) | ||
| 21 | SHAKE UP |
Moment over for reorganisation (5-2)
|
| SHAKE (moment) + UP (over) | ||
| 23 | ARRIVAL |
A round’s beginning with opponent’s entry (7)
|
| A (a) + R[ound] + RIVAL (opponent) | ||
| 24 | YELTSIN |
Former leader and the old soldier fall from grace (7)
|
| YE (the old) + LT (soldier, i.e. lieutenant) + SIN (fall from grace) | ||
| 25 | IRON OUT |
Settle one negative in defeat (4,3)
|
| I (one) + NO (negative) in (in) ROUT (defeat) | ||
| 26 | PRAWN CRACKER |
Asian snack reflected new twist — great thing! (5,7)
|
| N (new) + WARP (twist) backwards (reflected) + CRACKER (great thing) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | GO AFTER |
Chase farm animal biting fine queen (2,5)
|
| F (fine) in (biting) GOAT (farm animal) + ER (queen) | ||
| 2 | ALGEBRA |
Symbolic system a garble when misrepresented (7)
|
| Anagram (when misrepresented) of A GARBLE | ||
| 3 | DISSEMBLE |
Pretend dive heartless, involving Argentine player overturned on ball oddly (9)
|
| MESSI (Argentine player) backwards (overturned) + B[a]L[l] in (involving) D[iv]E | ||
| 4 | AGING |
Getting on part of crag in gorge (5)
|
| Hidden word (part of) | ||
| 5 | NOTELET |
Spill the beans about alien’s short message (7)
|
| LET ON (spill the beans) backwards (about) + ET (alien) | ||
| 6 | EMULATE |
Mimic native Australian beast and others climbing (7)
|
| EMU (native Australian beast) + ET AL (others) backwards (climbing) | ||
| 7 | CORNISH PASTY |
Cereal is first of products in fast food item (7,5)
|
| CORN (cereal) + IS (is) + P[roducts] in (in) HASTY (fast) | ||
| 10 | HOT CHOCOLATE |
Moving to coach with hotel drink (3,9)
|
| Anagram (moving) of TO COACH HOTEL | ||
| 15 | COSTA RICA |
Fellow player mostly sour, from south country (5,4)
|
| COSTAR (fellow player) + ACI[d] (mostly sour) backwards (from south) | ||
| 17 | TRAILER |
Preview something that’s drawn (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 18 | OVERSAW |
Supervised deliveries put on cutter (7)
|
| OVER (deliveries – referring to cricket) + SAW (cutter) | ||
| 19 | BURDOCK |
Not completely set in ground, trim plant (7)
|
| BUR[y] (not completely set in ground) + DOCK (trim) | ||
| 20 | SAVIOUR |
Rescuer of various bats (7)
|
| Anagram (bats) of VARIOUS | ||
| 22 | PANIC |
Face: I see pronounced terror (5)
|
| PAN (face – in slang usage) + I (I) + C (see pronounced) |
Thanks for the blog, very enjoyable puzzle , I thought the clues were put together very neatly, GRAND MARNIER and CORNISH PASTY being good examples.
I only know bishop=RR from many crosswords, I thought you addressed them as “My Lord” but have never met one .
For IRON OUT I had negative=NO , I suspect the typo gremlin has stolen your O.
A shame there was no dandelion to go with the BURDOCK.
Thanks Artexlen and Pete
1ac: My understanding is that a bishop should be addressed as “My Lord” in speech, but “The Right Reverend” goes before the name on an envelope or when announcing the name.
My fastest weekend crossword by a long way.
Not having a hangover that Saturday morning probably helped.
Thanks Artexlen for a good set of clues including GALLANT, BUCKTEETH, BASIC, DISSEMBLE, AGING, CORNISH PASTY, and SAVIOUR. I needed a word finder for BURDOCK, an unfamiliar plant to me. Thanks Pete for the blog.
Mostly completed fairly quickly but we were held up on 26ac, uncertain as to the definition (Asian snack or great thing) – we should have realised it was part of the theme. And we couldn’t parse 21ac, never having encountered shake = moment.
But an enjoyable puzzle; favourites were IN TRUTH and ALGEBRA.
Thanks, Artexlen and Pete.
Enjoyed this offering from Artexlen.
Allan @5,
My father often says he’ll “be back in two shakes” to mean “in a moment” so I liked that clue very much along with theme ones such as Grand Marnier and Cornish Pasty.
As Roz said, a ‘dandelion’ somewhere would have been nice.
Thanks to Artexlen for a fun puzzle and to Pete for unraveling a few holdouts.
Diane @6: Growing up I often heard a moment referred to as “two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”
Exactly, Tony.
Diane/Tony S: Now you mention it we have heard ‘in a couple of shakes’ or a similar expression meaning very soon or quickly; we just didn’t make the connection to ‘moment’.
Diane, Tony ,, Two shakes of a ducks tail is what I say from childhood , but I think lamb is the original. Does it mean shake is HALF a moment ?
Roz, you’re amazing — your mathematical brain never has down time, does it?
An easy puzzle for a relaxing weekend. I’m not sure that I agree with 19a ‘basic’ as a synonym for ‘important’ or am I missing something there? But I am looking forward to the bottle of Dandy and Burdock we always have at Christmas.