Weekend puzzle from the FT of June 24, 2023
Another gem from Rosa with a tricky lower-right quadrant. My favourites are 4 (STATIC), 11 (LEMONGRASS), 14 (PRIMEVAL) and 22 (CALVE). Three answers were new words to me: 17 (CAPELIN), 19 (THEURGY) and 24 (NITRILE). Thank you, Rosa.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | RENOWN |
Celebrity currently in middle of arena (6)
|
| NOW (currently) in (in) [a]REN[a] | ||
| 4 | STATIC |
Fixed in just a tick (6)
|
| Hidden word (in) | ||
| 8 | ADVISOR |
Doctor avoids initially rancorous consultant (7)
|
| Anagram (doctor) of AVOIDS R[ancorous] | ||
| 9 | MAHATMA |
Adept old lady pinching a hospital cash machine (7)
|
| A (a) + H (hospital) + ATM (cash machine) together in (pinching) MA (old lady) | ||
| 11 | LEMONGRASS |
Gormless and mostly corrupt oil producer (10)
|
| Anagram (corrupt) of GORMLESS AN[d] | ||
| 12 | DIAL |
Regularly scrubbing admirable face (4)
|
| [a]D[m]I[r]A[b]L[e] | ||
| 13 | PLEAT |
Soft cry of sheep losing head in fold (5)
|
| P (soft) + [b]LEAT (cry of sheep losing head) | ||
| 14 | PRIMEVAL |
Prehistoric vampire bats fly without wings (8)
|
| Anagram (bats) of VAMPIRE + [f]L[y] | ||
| 16 | SAUCEPAN |
Cooking utensil of brass and slate (8)
|
| SAUCE (brass) + PAN (slate) | ||
| 18 | PATEN |
Plate carried by Sherpa Tenzing (5)
|
| Hidden word (carried by). A paten is a plate, typically of silver or gold, on which bread is placed during religious ceremonies (Eucharists). | ||
| 20 | SNAP |
Break spell (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | INSISTENCE |
Importuning nun endlessly in pub before church (10)
|
| SISTE[r] (nun endlessly) in (in) INN (pub) + CE (church) | ||
| 23 | WITLESS |
Foolish onlooker having change of heart (7)
|
| WITNESS (onlooker) with the ‘N’ changed to ‘L’ (having a change of heart) | ||
| 24 | NITRILE |
Idiot upset cyanide (7)
|
| NIT (idiot) + RILE (upset) | ||
| 25 | FINGER |
Identify lunatic fringe (6)
|
| Anagram (lunatic) of FRINGE | ||
| 26 | RETYPE |
Once again enter flash car after conclusion of encounter (6)
|
| [encounte]R + E TYPE (flash car, referring to the Jaguar E-Type) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | RIDGE |
Travel over hog’s back and hill range (5)
|
| [ho]G in (over) RIDE (travel) | ||
| 2 | NOISOME |
Timeless emotions, unexpectedly disagreeable (7)
|
| Anagram (unexpectedly) of EMO[t]IONS | ||
| 3 | WROUGHT-UP |
Inexperienced ram, reportedly over-excited (7-2)
|
| WROUGH (homophone of “raw” [inexperienced]) + TUP (ram) | ||
| 5 | TRAMS |
Set up computer-controlled transport system (5)
|
| SMART (computer-controlled, as in a smart home) backwards (set up) | ||
| 6 | TWADDLE |
Start to talk and walk like a duck or cock (7)
|
| T[alk] + WADDLE (walk like a duck) | ||
| 7 | COME AGAIN |
Reformed egomaniac is sorry (4,5)
|
| Anagram (is sorry) of EGOMANIAC | ||
| 10 | SAPPINESS |
Fatuity of small joy at first unnoticed (9)
|
| S (small) + [h]APPINESS (joy at first unnoticed) | ||
| 13 | PLAINTIFF |
Former claimant’s ugly pet (9)
|
| PLAIN (ugly) + TIFF (pet) | ||
| 15 | IMPASSIVE |
Amorous advance after instant messaging? One’s unperturbed (9)
|
| IM (instant messaging) + PASS (amorous advance) + IVE (one’s) | ||
| 17 | CAPELIN |
Smelt relative’s garment left at home (7)
|
| CAPE (garment) + L (left) + IN (at home). A capelin is a fish of the smelt family. | ||
| 19 | THEURGY |
People nursing brief desire for miracles (7)
|
| URG[e] (brief desire) in (nursing) THEY (people). Theurgy, a new word to me, means the working of miracles by the intervention of divine or supernatural agents. | ||
| 21 | ISSUE |
Children matter (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | CALVE |
Drop a little lower? (5)
|
| Cryptic definition |
So pleased to be able to comment on this – another gem, as you say, Pete – after thinking it was lost.
I, too, liked LEMONGRASS, PRIMEVAL (top favourite) and CALVE – also PATEN, NITRILE, which I had to look up, and MAHATMA and INSISTENCE, both for the amusing surfaces.
Many thanks to Rosa for the fun and to Pete for the blog.
Exactly what Eileen said ?
The ? was supposed to be a smile ?
I concur with the above comments, especially LEMONGRASS. It seems an eternity since I did this but I remember loving it. Great surfaces, as usual.
To Eileen’s well-considered list, I’ll add my personal favourite of RETYPE for the fond memories it brings back of my Dad’s restoration skills and some rather cramped journeys from the Midlands to Cornwall with my sister in the back of one!
Thanks Rosa and Pete.
Thanks for the blog, a few new words but very fairly clued and I found them all in Chambers.
Thanks Rosa for another super crossword. My top picks were LEMONGRASS, PRIMEVAL (great integration of wordplay elements into a smooth surface), WITLESS, NOISOME, PLAINTIFF, and IMPASSIVE. I needed a reference for “fatuity,” a new word for me and I needed a word finder to solve THEURGY. Thanks Pete for the blog.
Thanks Pete.
Good puzzle as always from Rosa Klebb, thanks.
‘Adept’ as definition for MAHATMA felt a little weird.
Mohandas Gandhi and Jyotirao Phule are the only two Indians (that I am aware of) ever called MAHATMA.
I hope this does not spread and create usages like: ‘I am Mahatma at chess’.
7dn. I got “come again” as “sorry”, (I didn’t hear you).
I parsed 7dn as Peter T did.
Peter T and Eileen, I thought I might have that one wrong. Thank you for the correction.
My second try at a Rosa Klebb puzzle. Really enjoyed it. Will be watching out for more.
Thanks Pete
I agree – the surfaces are great again. I shared favourites with those who wrote before me, so I will not repeat them. The only one I do not see mentioned above was SAUCEPAN – for no other reason that it is a lovely clue.
I had no idea LEMONGRASS produces oil. I have never seen TIFF as pet – and my dictionary (Chambers no less) does not help. Would someone explain it for me, please? And, I have never heard the expression WROUGHT UP – but seeing no-one else mentioned it, it must be a British expression I have yet to hear. No idea that cyanide is a NITRILE. And, while it is good to learn, I must confess I have no desire to know that a CAPELIN is a relative of the smelt. My only criticism of our setter is she expects a lot of detailed knowledge from the solvers, across a wide range of topics
Thanks for your great blog, as always, Pete. And thanks Rosa Klebb for an enjoyable and beautifully constructed set of clues
Martyn @12: Collins defines pet as a “fit of sulkiness;” it defines tiff as a “fit of ill humour.” That’s close enough for a crossword in my opinion.
Martyn@13 I agree with Tony and they are both the same as huff . Chambers93 has Tiff= a pet .
I was surprised by WROUGHT-UP but it is in Chambers, common usage is overwrought.
Thank you Tony S and Roz for “joining the dots” – much appreciated.
Always pleased to see Rosa Klebb, even when she expects you to know about fish families. I also had to look up THEURGY and NITRILE. But I enjoyed NOISOME, TWADDLE, LEMONGRASS… many more. (And a smile for the little lower).
I agree with PeterT and Eileen re the parsing for COME AGAIN.
ilippu@7: I think “adept” here is a noun, not an adjective.
Rosa is always too clever for me, but I got and liked “calve” a lot.
gladys16 – I agree that “adept” is a noun here, but still have difficulty equating with MAHATMA
A great puzzle, as ever, from this setter….
Many thanks to Rosa and Pete
[Every cloud…. the recent 15² “shutdown” meant time saved (reading comments often takes longer than solving the puzzle itself!) So I tried the FT online puzzles (I used to solve FT puzzles daily in the ’90s) and am pleasantly surprised by its user friendliness. I’d love to know if it’s possible to search their archive so that, for example, I can pick out some previous Rosa Klebbs to enjoy. Can anyone offer any guidance I wonder…..]
That’s a good question. I do not know the answer. Does anyone?
William F P @19: You can find Rosa Klebb crosswords going back to Nov 2, 2018 by entering “Rosa Klebb crossword” in the FT search box. Similarly, you can find Arachne crosswords by entering “Arachne crossword” in the Guardian’s search box. Rosa is Arachne in the G but she hasn’t set a crossword under that name for quite some time.
[Several years ago I went on a hiking and rafting trip where there wasn’t any mobile phone or internet access; in order to feed my addiction I printed out several Arachne crosswords from the Guardian archive that pre-dated my current obsession with British puzzles.]
Tony@21 – Bless you! I hadn’t thought of something that simple. I have solved all Arachne’s puzzles at least twice and used the Guardian archive to do so – and was hoping the FT had something similar. I’ve been a fan of Sarah Hayes for many years (what crossword devotee isn’t?!) – she also used to set as Anarche in the Indy, I’m not sure if she still does.
Many thanks again for a route to all those Rosa Klebbs….
Tony @ 22 – I’ve just tried; I think you misunderstood my question; I wish to solve online (not by having to print it out – one has always been able to do that!!)
William F P @23: The FT only recently added the capability to solve online. When I’m at home I still print out a paper copy because I find it more useful for making notes and working out anagrams; I only solve online when I travel. Sometimes local libraries allow users to print from their computers.
Tony – thank you for not giving up! Actually, the first sentence of your last text tells me everything I need to know (and everything I didn’t already know!) Bless and thanks again
I think 9ac is Cockney rhyming slang.
Mahatma – Ghandi – handy – adept?
Late to the party. My solve was indeed on a printed copy, I prefer paper over pixels for the reasons cited above, including and especially vacation portability. I parsed 5D as “the SMART set” going upwards and “computer-controlled transport system” was then the definition. Got there in the end, which is after all the point of any kind of transport system!
Completely baffled by NITRILE & THEURGY. CAPELIN new but gettable from crossers & clue.
I miss the spider-woman! But here she is kicking James Bond again, so that’ll have to do for now. Thanks to Rosa, and Eileen.