Puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 16, 2024
Another enjoyable puzzle from Rosa with one word I did not know, 17 (HORTATIVE). My favourites are 8 (MASSEUR), 11 (MAJORLY) and 24 (BASRA).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | JIGSAW |
Bob understood puzzle (6)
|
| JIG (bob) + SAW (understood) | ||
| 4 | LAUDANUM |
Number of old miners chasing extremely fast driver (8)
|
| LAUDA (extremely fast driver) + NUM (old miners, i.e. National Union of Minerworkers) with a cryptic definition that is commonly seen | ||
| 9 | SISKIN |
Bird in front of scythe risking losing wings (6)
|
| S[cythe] + [r]ISKIN]g]. A siskin is yellow-and-black Eurasian finch. | ||
| 10 | TOPSIDES |
Cuts deposits drastically (8)
|
| Anagram (drastically) of DEPOSITS. ‘Cut’ here refers to a “top side” haircut. | ||
| 12 | NORSEMAN |
Old Scandinavian calls DeSantis reactionary (8)
|
| NAMES (calls) + RON (DeSantis) backwards (reactionary) | ||
| 13 | SOIREE |
Bye-byes put back after children left evening party (6)
|
| [ch]EERIOS (bye-byes) reversed (put back) | ||
| 15 | WEPT |
Soppy nurses softly blubbed (4)
|
| P (softly) in (nurses) WET (soppy) | ||
| 16 | COME-HITHER |
Heavenly body briefly struck female as alluring (4-6)
|
| COME[t] (heavenly body briefly) + HIT (struck) + HER (female) | ||
| 19 | CODSWALLOP |
Nonsense about Oswald spread by hack (10)
|
| C (about) + anagram (spread) of OSWALD + LOP (hack) | ||
| 20 | IRKS |
Fiery kiss regularly drives one mad (4)
|
| [f]I[e]R[y] K[i]S[s] | ||
| 23 | EMBALM |
Mummify poor Mabel with myrrh initially (6)
|
| Anagram (poor) of MABEL + M[yrrh] | ||
| 25 | HEAT RASH |
Spots extremely hostile American deplorables (4,4)
|
| H[ostil]E + A (American) + TRASH (deplorables) | ||
| 27 | NESCIENT |
Ignorant of normal etiquette at first, I sniff trousers (8)
|
| N (normal) E[tiquette] + I (I) in (trousers) SCENT (sniff) | ||
| 28 | DATIVE |
US prosecutor heartily rebutting one’s case (6)
|
| DA (US prosecutor) + [rebu]T[ring] + IVE (one’s) | ||
| 29 | PLAYGOER |
Romp with libertine, one fond of drama (8)
|
| PLAY (romp) + GOER (libertine) | ||
| 30 | ATHENE |
Goddess of heathen Europe (6)
|
| Hidden word (of) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | JUST NOW |
Presently one’s shunned by Trudeau, and it hurts (4,3)
|
| JUST[i]N (one’s shunned by Trudeau) + OW (it hurts) | ||
| 2 | GASTROPOD |
Setter perhaps about to acquire a pet slug? (9)
|
| A (a) + STROP (pet) in (to acquire) DOG (setter perhaps) backwards (about) | ||
| 3 | APICES |
Tips from priapic escorts (6)
|
| HIdden word (from) | ||
| 5 | AMOK |
Reassuring statement to friends in a frenzy? (4)
|
| AM OK (reassuring statement to friends). ‘Amok’ is a variant of what I believe is the more common ‘amuck’. | ||
| 6 | DESPOTIC |
Tyrannical leader opposite retired over small idiosyncrasy (8)
|
| S (small) in (over) OP-ED (leader) backwards (retired) + TIC (idiosyncrasy) | ||
| 7 | NADIR |
Low point of daughter in rain, shivering (5)
|
| D (daughter) in (in) anagram (shivering) of RAIN | ||
| 8 | MASSEUR |
Erasmus invented rubber (7)
|
| Anagram (invented) of ERASMUS | ||
| 11 | MAJORLY |
Much trouble over Charles de Gaulle’s rival (7)
|
| JAM (trouble) backwards (over) + ORLY (CDG’s rival!) | ||
| 14 | XEROXES |
Carrying nothing, Persian king runs off (7)
|
| O (nothing) in (carrying) XERXES (Persian king) | ||
| 17 | HORTATIVE |
Encouraging uncertain Thai voter (9)
|
| Anagram (uncertain) of THAI VOTER. This is a new word to me. | ||
| 18 | DWELLING |
Residence is favourably placed in outskirts of Dorking (8)
|
| WELL IN (favourably placed) + IN (in) D[orkin]G | ||
| 19 | CLEAN UP |
Make large profits, free from corruption (5,2)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | SCHIELE |
Austrian who painted school Nile blue oddly dismissed (7)
|
| SCH (school) + [n]I[l]E [b]L[u]E | ||
| 22 | AT LAST |
Finally places book on top of table (2,4)
|
| ATLAS (book) + T[able] | ||
| 24 | BASRA |
A senior wearing burka inside out in Iraqi city (5)
|
| A (a) + SR (senior) in (wearing) B[urk]A | ||
| 26 | ANTE |
Wished to shed clothes for a bet (4)
|
| [w]ANTE[d] (wished to shed clothes) |
Another crowd-pleaser from Rosa Klebb. So many ticks but GASTROPOD, SOIREE, MAJORLY and CODSWALLOP were the best of the bunch for me.
Needed Pete’s parsing of DESPOTIC for the ‘op-ed’. I had TOPSIDE as a cut of beef but I’m sure both work.
Learned APICES, NESCIENT, HORTATIVE, all happily obtained from the wordplay.
Thanks to Rosa and Pete.
Lots of nice surfaces and plenty of ticks. Who could not admire a great word such as CODSWALLOP? I also liked TOPSIDES, EMBALM, JUST NOW, the clever CLEAN UP, and AT LAST.
Similar to Diane, I had trouble parsing DESPOTIC, and thought of meat in relation to TOPSIDES (completely irrelevant to the clue).
I am a big fan of Rosa Klebb, but I did not enjoy this as much as previous puzzles. Given my mention of the great surfaces and favourites, it could partly have been me in the wrong mood. But there seemed to be too many fiddly clues and a lack of the humour demonstrated in previous puzzles. I also feel RK likes to show off her superior knowledge of the language, which has started to feel a bit condescending.
I did enjoy it, and more than many puzzles. But RK has created such a high bar for herself, I simply felt this was not one of her best
Talking of best, as usual Pete’s blog was top class.
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Pete
As a postscript, the blog got me thinking more about DWELLING: there seem to be too many INs in the blog.
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Pete Maclean!
Enjoyed the puzzle and the blog!
Top faves: SOIREE (great surface), COME-HITHER (out-of-the-world), GASTROPOD (Someone may say it’s creepy! Taste differs!) and DESPOTIC (Nicely Put In…)!
TOPSIDES
‘Cuts as cuts of beef’ works better. Agree with Diane.
COME-HITHER
Thought it would be better to consider the ‘ struck female’ together to lead to HIT HER.
DESPOTIC
leader opposite=OP-ED
AMOK
Is the question mark to be ‘applied’ to the wordplay (as the def looks all right without it) in the cryptic reading?
Found this harder than previous RK puzzles and took longer to work it out – SOIREE was my LOI and didn’t get AMOK or MAJORLY.
But there were some lovely clues including (as mentioned) CODSWALLOP, COME-HITHER, GASTROPOD, JUST NOW.
Didn’t get the OP-ED in 6d and only got XEROXES because the Persian King had recently been in another puzzle.
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Pete
Thanks for the blog, very good as per usual , I did not know HORTATIVE but the clue was very fair and letters very helpful , perhaps only one word would fit. I agree with the beef for TOPSIDES .
COME-HITHER is nicely done, Pete your COMEt needs to lose its tail.
For PLAYGOER I liked the use of libertine, very neutral.
In the UK AMOK has prevailed over amuck since 1902. In the US that took till 1954.
APICES greatly outnumber APEXES, on either side of the pond. Thought the OP in OP-ED stood for “opinion”, but it’s “opposite” – TTLI
Thanks RK&PM
I actually knew HORTATIVE, no idea why, though. It took me ages to see XEROXES, my LOI, as I listed Xerxes, Darius and Cyrus – so long since I’ve seen or used the word.
Thank you to Pete Maclean and Rosa Klebb.
I think I might have encountered the XEROXES trick before but it is a very good one. I liked the OSWALD anagram in CODSWALLOP, the surfaces for COME HITHER and DWELLING, the cunning airport ploy in MAJORLY and the fun involved in both GASTROPOD and NORSEMAN. What a spot for the latter.
Thanks Rosa and Pete.
I’m maybe being slow, but how is “strop” “pet” ?
Dellers @9: Chambers defines ‘pet’ as
pet2 /pet/
noun
A slighted and offended feeling
A slight or childish fit of aggrieved or resentful sulkiness
The sulks, huff
Pet = tantrum = strop – turns up in crosswords regularly, I have heard it in real life – Hugh Stephenson blogged about it 2007
A strop=pet is a fit of temper , a sulk , a hissy fit , very popular with teenagers.
Thanks Rosa for another super crossword. My top picks were NORSEMAN, COME-HITHER, NESCIENT, MAJORLY, XEROXES, and BURKA, the latter for ‘inside out’. I failed with LAUDANUM and I was disappointed with the surface in DESPOTIC, surprisingly clunky for a Rosa clue. Thanks Pete for the blog.
GASTROPOD
In the last week or so this is the third time (to my knowledge) ‘pet’ has represented ‘STROP’.
Fortified wine’s knocked back, in a bad mood (5 G Quiptic)
Lion perhaps a pet? That leads to explosive disaster (11 G Cryptic)
Maybe it’s a geographic thing. Here in Scotland I’ve often heard of someone being in a strop but never of being in ? having ? a pet
I could parse all of this fine except for the OP-ED bit of DESPOTIC, so thanks for the clarification.
I can’t see how the fact that topsides are also topsides of beef is completely irrelevant to the clue: it’s the definition, surely. I have never heard of the haircut. But perhaps that’s because I have so little hair.
The answer is TOPSIDES, whether it is the cut of meat or the haircut. True, when I wrote it is completely irrelevant I was using hyperbole. In the end, whichever the setter had in mind does not matter
Martyn @19. Are you. “showing off” your “superior knowledge of the language” with your comment about hyperbole?
Gradely!
Would anyone be so kind as to help me, a relative newcomer to cryptics, understand the relationship between Laudanum and Number please?
Steve, Cryptically ‘number’ can mean something that numbs. Numbs the flesh or whatever. Similarly Laudanum is a medicine containing opium that was used in the past as a painkiller.
@Pete, Thank you! I’d cautiously say I was familiar with Laudanum but just couldn’t, for the life of me, connect it to the clue. I’ll add numb-er to my rapidly growing cryptic vocabulary! Again, my thanks.
Thought “extremely” in fast driver was unnecessary. Particularly as he drives fast no more…
6D: op-ed stands for opinion-editorial and it seems to me that “opposite” is unnecessary.
12D: hortative is derived from the deponent verb hortor hortari hortatus sum as seen in exhort (but not cohort).