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Puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 17, 2024
This puzzle, a pangram as usual for Zamorca, has a few clues with complex wordplay. My first-in was 10 (MOVIE STARS) and I filled the top half fairly quickly in spite of not understanding the wordplay of of 13 (THIRTEEN) at all. Then the bottom half proved a challenge with 25 (QUICK TO ACT) especially difficult. And it was worth the effort. In addition to 13, I do not fully understand the wordplay of 27 (USER).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PAGE-TURNER |
Thriller has Maigret regularly chasing priest with revolver (4-6)
|
| P (priest) + [m]A[i]G[r]E[t] + TURNER (revolver) | ||
| 7 | EYES |
Examines key agreement (4)
|
| E (key) + YES (agreement) | ||
| 9 | WOOD |
Courtyard at the back has trees (4)
|
| WOO (court) + [yar]D | ||
| 10 | MOVIE STARS |
Initially Mary Astor perhaps struggles to be included with screen legends (5,5)
|
| M[ary] + VIES (struggles) in (to be included) anagram (perhaps) of ASTOR | ||
| 11 | MIRROR |
Follow motorway slip heading off (6)
|
| MI (motorway) + [e]RROR (slip heading off) | ||
| 12 | RE-EDITED |
Engineers computers, indeed malfunctioning, tweaked once more (2-6)
|
| RE (engineers, i.e. Royal Engineers) + IT (computers) in (in) anagram (malfunctioning) of DEED | ||
| 13 | THIRTEEN |
This clue’s next, comprising anagram of tree (8)
|
| I was completely stumped by this wordplay. Commenters have suggested how it might work but I am not convinced. | ||
| 15 | ANTI |
Not in favour of AI penning books (4)
|
| NT (books, i.e. New Testament) in (penning) AI (AI) | ||
| 17 | SPEC |
Design with pronounced flaw (4)
|
| Homophone (with pronounced) of “speck” (flaw) | ||
| 19 | ICEBERGS |
Chief Engineer’s to live among mobile rigs which float in cold seas (8)
|
| CE (chief engineer) + BE (to live) all in anagram (mobile) of RIGS | ||
| 22 | JAUNTING |
Jack’s good squeezing relative in and going for a spin (8)
|
| J (Jack) + AUNT (relative) + IN (in) + G (good) | ||
| 23 | BLAZER |
Brother has adopted lounge jacket (6)
|
| LAZE (lounge) in (has adopted) BR (brother) | ||
| 25 | QUICK TO ACT |
Shrewd diplomacy admitting nothing decisive (5,2,3)
|
| QUICK (shrewd) + O (nothing) in (admitting) TACT (diplomacy) | ||
| 26 | AFAR |
Armistice for aggressive Russian leaders is a long way away (4)
|
| A[emistice] F[or] A[ggressive] R[ussian] | ||
| 27 | USER |
Employer requires uniform, on contracts ending, to be returned (4)
|
| U (uniform) + RE (on) + [contract]S backwards (to be returned). I was originally unable to parse this fully and thank commenters for setting me straight. | ||
| 28 | LIKE-MINDED |
Of the same opinion as journalist about intelligence (4-6)
|
| LIKE (as) + MIND (intelligence) + ED (journalist) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | ABOLISH |
Sailor’s fishy oils hard to get rid of (7)
|
| AB (sailor) + anagram (fishy) of OILS + H (hard) | ||
| 3 | ELDER |
Central characters in Daniel Deronda are more mature (5)
|
| Hidden word (central characters in) | ||
| 4 | UP-MARKET |
University degree received by blue-eyed boy’s unaffordable to most people (2-6)
|
| U (university) + MARK (degree) in (received by) PET (blue-eyed boy) | ||
| 5 | NEVER-ENDING TASK |
Demand support for running trendy evening, not unknown to be a non-stop mission (5-6,4)
|
| Anagram (running) of TREND[y] EVENING + ASK (demand) | ||
| 6 | REEKED |
Aagh! Wine brought round smelt disgusting (6)
|
| EEK (aagh) in (brought round) RED (wine) | ||
| 7 | EXTRICATE |
Rescue old fraud briefly put away (9)
|
| EX (old) + TRIC[k] (fraud briefly) + ATE (put away) | ||
| 8 | EARNEST |
Keen to make way without drug (7)
|
| EARN (to make) + E (drug) + ST (way) | ||
| 14 | RACING CAR |
Circuit’s consuming a conservative half of carbon that’s used in F1 (6,3)
|
| A (a) + C (conservative) in (consuming) RING (circuit) + CAR[bon] | ||
| 16 | VERBATIM |
Reproduced brave review of US college word for word (8)
|
| Anagram (reproduced) of BRAVE + MIT (US college) backwards (review of) | ||
| 18 | PEANUTS |
Paltry amount of snacks (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 20 | GRENADE |
Weapon’s prepared off ‘en garde!’ (7)
|
| Anagram (prepare off) of EN GARDE | ||
| 21 | LINTEL |
Allow new girl, ignoring the odds, to mount beam (6)
|
| LET (allow) + N (new) + [g]I[r]L all backwards (to mount) | ||
| 24 | AGAIN |
Addiction support group’s welcoming girl in one more time (5)
|
| G (girl) in (welcoming) AA (addiction support group) + IN (in) |
I also found that the top half went in quickly then I slowed right down.
Loved WOOD
Also liked EYES, JAUNTING, REEKING, EXTRICATE
Thanks Zamorca and Pete Maclean
Thanks Zamorca (except of course for 9ac and 12ac) and Pete
13ac: The best I can do for this is that the wordplay gives us anagram of TREE inside THEN (next), but the answer needs anagram of TREE inside THIN.
27ac: I took this as U + reversal of (RE + S), with RE = on = concerning.
9ac and 12ac: I cannot stop setters using the unsignalled requirement to split a clue word, but I will not thank them for doing it.
I’m really enjoying Zamorca in this weekend slot; COURTYARD, QUICK TO ACT, VERBATIM and PEANUTS were among my picks.
By now, we’ve come to expect a pangram but this was a pretty natural route from A-Z, for me, with none of the high Scrabble-scoring letters screaming their presence (except possibly ‘J’). I certainly didn’t need a pangram to finish this time but I was unsure, like Pete, how to parse THIRTEEN. I wondered if is was an anagram of ‘tree’ inside ‘thin’, an anagram of ‘hint’ (this clue’, which is also the definition, of course)?
As for USER, it’s contained backwards in ‘requires uniform’ but then I don’t understand what role ‘on contracts ending’.
As I write, I see Pelham has offered explanations.
Meanwhile, thanks to our setter and to Pete.
I concur with PB@2 about the four clues he mentioned.
I had a tick against PEANUTS – I thought it clever.
I found this one a bit monotonous, due to a large number of wordy clues with fiddly solutions. As they are not the sort clue I like much, I am afraid I also found it a bit tedious.
Thanks Zamorca and Pete
I agree with Pelham @2 re USER.
And like Fiona, I meant WOOD, not COURTYARD!
I agree with PB@2 about THIRTEEN and USER. I marked THIRTEEN as an unfortunate editing mistake in the clue.
USER
Parsed it as PB@2 did.
THIRTEEN
Tried the same tricks as others did here. Unable to parse.
I loved WOOD (I am cool with the splitting of the word).
Thanks Zamorca and Pete!
I’m with Pelham Barton for the parsing of THIRTEEN and USER.
Thank you to Zamorca and Pete MacLean.
Thanks Zamorca for an enjoyable crossword. My top picks included ICEBERGS, LIKE-MINDED, LINTEL, AGAIN, WOOD, and RE-EDITED, the latter two for the split word tricks. I didn’t know pet=blue-eyed boy nor could I parse THIRTEEN. Thanks Pete for the blog.
I’m with Pelham Barton @2. User seemed fine to me.
By contrast thirteen looked right to be begin with (“ah, there’s the mixed up tree”) but you’ve got thin unaccounted for. I can’t see how that being an anagram of hint really helps in spite of Diane’s ingenious try @3.
Overall we rather enjoyed this. The setter’s first appearance of a Saturday was a bit too easy but this was a nice elegant balance.
Thanks for the blog, very nice puzzle and I agree with Fiona and Diane for favourite clues.
I put in THIRTEEN without a thought , sometimes we see what we expect , maybe the setter did the same.
MIRROR – a tiny slip on the heading of error, or is this a subtle comment on the nature of mistakes ?
Same here with THIRTEEN – wrote in the answer assuming the intended wordplay was as per PB@2 and only subsequently noticed the mistake. Unfortunate – almost a brilliant clue! Must be galling for a setter when it happens but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of a fun puzzle.
Thanks, Zamorca and Cineraria!
13 THIRTEEN This clue’s next, comprising anagram of tree (8)
TREE* in HINT*(clue)
Or Pete, not Cineraria. Getting my bloggers mixed up. Sorry.
I had exactly the same problem with 13, and precisely the same explanation – an error within Thin / Then. Be interest to see whether we get confirmation.
Otherwise, I found this a bit of a curate’s egg. Some incredibly easy clues, but others which were tricky.
Spec held me up as I don’t really think of this is a real word.
Thanks to all.
Interesting “Hint” explanation of 13 from Frankie @13 and Diane@3. Not convinced it works though.
Moly @16, Diane @3 and FrankieG @13 the problem with using HINT is it’s an indirect anagram, which are frowned on. THIN could be clued as hint cycling, but there’s no indication of that in the clue.
Sorry Diane@3, I hadn’t read your post properly, assuming from all the posts further down that the problem with THIRTEEN hadn’t been settled.
My post @13 about 13a THIRTEEN underlines, using a blank link “This” as the def.
Then the wordplay can use “clue” = HINT in the anagram with TREE
As often as not “This” in a clue turns out to be the definition.
I’m a relative newcomer to 225, but I can’t see anything wrong with an indirect anagram. I think an extra step just makes for a harder, therefore better clue.
The trouble is Frankie where do you draw the line ? Allowing a synonym to become an anagram leads to ridiculous clues. An anagram should be from letters visble in the clue.
This provoked resistance ( 8,7 )
FrankieG@18
THIRTEEN
After leaving out the ‘this’ as the def (which seems fair), we have the remaining clue reading
‘clue’s next comprising anagram of tree’
In the cryptic reading it will be HINT’s next (???) including TREE*
You took the ‘next’ as the anagrind? If you can somehow establish it’s (next) a cycling indicator, then it could be better accepted.
Indirect anagrams are usually frowned upon. And we don’t generally come across them. However, ‘cycling’ of a synonym of a word in the clue is acceptable to most.
Frankie@19: There is certainly room within the world of crosswords for people who agree with the idea of “harder, therefore better”. Will you please also allow room for those who do not agree with that?
Anything that involves two steps to the solution is harder to solve – I find deletions can often be very tricky for this reason, where you have to think of a synonym and delete that from another word. But hard is ok as long as it’s fair – eg by not making those synonyms too obscure.
I don’t mind a degree of indirectness in an anagram. Indirectly clueing half of the letters in an eight letter word seems unnecessarily confusing though. Also out of keeping with the overall difficulty level of the puzzle.
Occam’s razor suggests 13a here was simply a mistake. Unfortunate but it happens.
Roz@20 meet Roz@66 from 14 months ago. Just before my time.
I suspect there’s either a typo or a mistake in 13 across. To me it read as if it was meant to be THEN around (TREE)*, but that gives THERTEEN not THIRTEEN, as Pelham Barton said @2. I didn’t double check the letters properly when I was solving it.
However, it would work if it was:
13 This clue’s cycling, comprising anagram of tree (8)
which gives THIS = THIRTEEN, clue = HINT cycling to THIN around (TREE)*
or 13 This clue’s weak, comprising anagram of tree (8)
giving THIS CLUE = THIRTEEN, weak = THIN around (TREE)*
I echo Widdersbel@23
[FrankieG @19: Nit cried foul for this type of anagram (8)]
I agree with Roz@11 re THIRTEEN. What seems obvious turns out to be in error. Stuff happens, no big deal. I like Shanne’s revised clue at 25, simply substituting ‘weak’ for’next’.
I share Widdersbel’s view on indirect anagrams. Indirectness is acceptable in other devices, so why not for anagrams? The key is that the indirect component should be clearly clued and not unduly obscure. If those criteria are met, then the argument that the clue is unfair (because there are too many possibilities) becomes weaker. Excellent clue, Tony@27.
Thanks Zamorca for the fun puzzle (including the presumed mini-goof at 13a), and Pete for the yeoman’s service with the blog.
Cellomaniac@28 what does *not unduly obscure ” mean? Surely it is entirely subjective ?
Provoked=incited , Resistance=r incitedr = indirect anagram , unduly obscure ?
The point about indirectness in other devices is that the letters are not then mixed up.
The point about an anagram is that the letters should already be there to be mixed up.
Rant over.
13 could be THEN containing an anagram of TRIE, which oed.com has as ‘Old English … variant of tree, n.’ and Wkipedia has a more modern IT-based definition:
TRIE – ‘In computer science, a trie aka digital tree or prefix tree, is a type of k-ary search tree, a tree data structure used for locating specific keys from within a set.’ Etymology from reTRIEval.
The increasingly tortuous attempts to explain 13ac suggest to me that it is simply a mistake. Zamorca has played fast and loose here in my opinion with courtyard and indeed, and in 27ac not saying contracts’, but wouldn’t I suspect sink to having an indirect anagram.