Moo is the setter of today’s FT puzzle.
This was one of those puzzles that took longer to parse than solve. Maybe it was too early in the morning, but I couldn’t see PARTON for some reason, and then it took me ages to parse CHATTER because I couldn’t get past CHA = tea. What a fun puzzle though!
Thanks Moo, and a Happy New Year to all.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BUCKLE |
Defy the French or cave in? (6)
|
| BUCK (“defy”) + LE (“the” in “French”) | ||
| 4 | PARTON |
Country girl bringing back no gin (6)
|
| [bringing back] <=(NO + TRAP (“gin”))
The country girl referred to is of course Dolly Parton. |
||
| 8 | NO CAN DO |
A party without tinnies? Impossible (2,3,2)
|
| NO CAN (“without tinnies”) + DO (“party”) | ||
| 9 | VERTIGO |
Somehow rig vote? It makes my head spin (7)
|
| *(rig vote) [anag:somehow] | ||
| 11 | SETTLEMENT |
Hamlet maybe making a decision (10)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | NUTS |
On way back startle cuckoo (4)
|
| [on way back] <=STUN (“startle”) | ||
| 13 | HAREM |
Many women here are seduced by His Majesty (5)
|
| ARE seduced (i.e. taken in) by HM (His Majesty) | ||
| 14 | PREACHER |
Child’s hero attracted to quiet evangelist (8)
|
| (Jack) REACHER ((Lee) Child’s hero) attracted to P (piano in music, so “quiet”)
Jack Reacher is the hero of a series of books by English writer Lee Child, which have also spawned a movie and TV series. |
||
| 16 | DAMPENER |
Bad dream about prison? It gets one down (8)
|
| *(dream) [anag:bad] about PEN (penitentiary, so “prison”) | ||
| 18 | ODDER |
Commie cook from the east giving you more rum? (5)
|
| <=(RED (“commie”) + DO (“cook”), from the east, i.e from right to left) | ||
| 20 | PSST |
Listen, ship entering port empty (4)
|
| SS ((steam)ship) entering [empty] P(or)T | ||
| 21 | JUST AS WELL |
Quite a stylish chap? Thank goodness for that (4,2,4)
|
| JUST (“quite”) + A + SWELL (“stylish chap”) | ||
| 23 | CALLING |
Job on the line? (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 24 | DIGITAL |
Idiot poking face with finger (7)
|
| GIT (“idiot”) poking DIAL (“face”) | ||
| 25 | TRASHY |
Attempt to entertain remains substandard (6)
|
| TRY (“attempt”) to entertain ASH (“remains”) | ||
| 26 | REASON |
Sense we’re as one, to some extent (6)
|
| Hidden in [to some extent] “we’RE AS ONe” | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BOOZE |
In speech expresses disappointment with Manhattan? (5)
|
| Homophone [in speech] of BOOS (“expresses disappointment”)
Manhattan here refers to the cocktail of that name. |
||
| 2 | CHATTER |
Gossip about tea party host (7)
|
| C (circa, so “about”) + HATTER (“tea party host”)
The Hatter in question is the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. |
||
| 3 | LADIES MAN |
Maidens almost all desperate for a Romeo (6,3)
|
| *(maidens al) [anag:desperate] where AL is [almost] AL(l) | ||
| 5 | ADEPT |
Brilliant article on measure to ban heroin (5)
|
| A (article) on DEPT(h) (“measure” banning H (heroin)) | ||
| 6 | TITANIC |
Jumbo that went down? (7)
|
| Double definition, the second referring to the ship that sunk in 1912. | ||
| 7 | NIGHTWEAR |
You’ll be done up like a kipper in this (9)
|
| Cryptic definition, the kipper in question being “one who kips”, so someone sleeping. | ||
| 10 | TEMPTRESS |
Flirt with military policeman amid disordered streets (9)
|
| MP (military policeman) amid *(streets) [anag:disordered] | ||
| 13 | HEAD START |
Principal’s bit on the side enjoying an advantage (4,5)
|
| HEAD’S (“principal’s”) + TART (“bit ont he side”) | ||
| 15 | EVOCATIVE |
English case so haunting (9)
|
| E (English) + VOCATIVE (“case” in grammar) | ||
| 17 | PATELLA |
Girls showing a bit of leg? (7)
|
| PAT & ELLA (two “girls”) | ||
| 19 | DOWRIES |
Payments made by weirdos? (7)
|
| *(weirdos) [anag:made by] | ||
| 21 | JONAH |
Most of Hanoi upset with judge, bringer of bad luck (5)
|
| <=(HANO + J) [upset] where HANO is [most of] HANO(i) and J = judge | ||
| 22 | LEARN |
Discover love at last in the French navy (5)
|
| (lov)E [at last] in LA (“the” in “French”) + RN (Royal Navy) |
I’d never heard of Child’s hero — nor, for that matter, Child, so it took me a while to figure that one out. “Brilliant” is a bit stronger than “adept”, methinks, the latter only a little stronger than “capable”.
Very enjoyable, nothing too obscure, and thankfully no rhyming slang (like yesterday’s, which did my head in).
Thank you, Moo & Loonapick
Worth doing this for NIGHTWEAR alone. What a delightful cryptic def and the biggest pdm of the puzzle for me. LADIES MAN has a lovely relevant surface and EVOCATIVE is a good spot. Not 100% sure ‘bit on the side’ truly equates with TART, even if both are sexual partners but that is being a bit picky, I know.
Thanks Moo and loonapick
I managed to solve this one with a bit of help during a sleepless spell last night. Lots of misdirection but I managed to parse everything once I had the answers. It took me ages to see LADIESMAN and agree with GDU that adept and brilliant aren’t exactly synonymous but saw HEADSTART straight away! One small correction to the blog if I may…on this occasion ‘the French’ is LA not LE. Many thanks to Moo and Loonapick.
LA referring to 22dn rather than 1ac!
Good spot, newbie@3. Now amended.
adept – ‘Well skilled; completely versed; thoroughly proficient’ – seems brilliant enough to me.
Penny dropped moment perhaps ?
Thanks Moo and Loonapick
For the fourth time this week I was not completely happy with 13ac, but “seduce” is in the list of insertion indicators in the Wordgame Companion included with Chambers 2011. It is not clear why it is not under “Containment indicators”, where “take in” may be found.
Peter @7 and SM@8: The FAQ page on this site gives PDM as “Penny drop moment”. I would have said “Penny dropping moment”, but what is a ping between friends?
[Peter@7: proverbially two mistresses, or a wife and a mistress, are enough. Then each will think you are with the other, and you can get on with what you really want to do.]
PB@10
I would have said “Penny dropping moment”, but what is a ping between friends?
LOL!
Thanks for the blog, I think NO CAN DO was once a clue for BOTTLE PARTY , it could have been reversed here, maybe Rufus who also had a famous clue for PATELLA. I liked SETTLEMENT with the clever capital at the front.
On 13A, I have not been able to find any justification for “seduce” = “take in” in Chambers, Collins or the Oxford Dictionary of English. The fact that “seduce” appears in a Chambers list of inclusion indicators (PB @ 10 mentions the 2011 wordgame supplement, but it also features in the Chambers Crossword Dictionary) is bizarre: but that is not sufficient to justify employing the word for that purpose without a supporting dictionary definition. The indicators in that source are not wholly reliable – several entries in the list of anagram indicators are, at best, questionable.
My impression is Chambers dictionaries include every possible meaning of a word, regardless of how often any meaning has been used. I have a picture in my mind of the Chambers rep popping up from behind the sofa, pen and paper in hand, to record and report every slip of the tongue. Recording every meaning works fine for a dictionary, which we cannot expect to be an arbiter of “correct” usage.
I wonder whether Chambers used the same “no arbitration” approach for its list of crossword indicators and whether it is as useful.
Rudolf@14: At the top of page 51 of the Wordgame Companion within Chambers 2011, it says “The following are words that may be used in these ways as indicators …” The problem we then have is whether to interpret “may be used” to mean that they may be found in published crosswords, or that setters are fully justified in using them. I suspect that the lists were compiled on the first meaning. Martyn@15 has made a similar point, which I read after typing most of this comment.
I would prefer it if editors did not extend the principle “if it is in Chambers, setters may use it without complaint” to the Wordgame Companion lists, but it is not my call. Especially in the blogs and comments on a particular puzzle, we are dealing as much with trying to explain the setter’s intent as with asking whether we approve of what is being done, although I will certainly indicate disapproval when I feel impelled to do so. The advice I would give to any setter is that you are more likely to cause discontent by using a dubious indicator or meaning than you are by steering clear of it, and that is really as far as I want to go down that line.
[KVa@12: I think the answer is palpingally [PING between PAL and ALLY], but that seems to be missing from the dictionaries. I think the meaning is vaguely related to palpate, but without a dictionary definition I cannot be certain.]
PB@16 Well said. Like you, I suspect these lists were compiled from published crosswords without any reference to what it actually says in Chambers Dictionary. As I’ve mentioned here previously, I pay a good deal of regard to the Clue Clinic lists when compiling my own puzzles.