The monthly geographically themed crossword. Find it to solve online or download and print at the FT website.
The standard preamble:
A cryptic puzzle themed on one particular place in the world. Its name should be inserted at 24 down. Work out the place by solving the * asterisked clues, all undefined – their solutions have some relevance to the place, such as its places, famous people, landmarks, culture and language.
A pretty tricky offering, I thought – aside from the general knowledge test element of these World puzzles, Gaff is one of those setters who doesn’t mind mangling the grammar of the wordplay a bit for the sake of making the surface read more smoothly, which isn’t really a problem as long as you can get on his wavelength. Which I admit I struggled with today. Still, it’s all good fun and there’s plenty to like here – 15d and 27a were my faves. Can’t fully parse 25d though and would welcome help.
Thanks, Gaff!
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | FLAMENCO |
* Love sergeant major (8)
|
| FLAME (love) + NCO (non-commissioned officer – of which sergeant major is an example)
Spanish music and dance style based on folkloric traditions. |
||
| 5 | LAPTOP |
Clip holding suitable notebook (6)
|
| LOP (clip) containing (holding) APT (suitable) | ||
| 9 | LA GOMERA |
* Delay order for a time (2,6)
|
| LAG (delay) + OM (Order [of Merit]) + [for a] ERA (time)
One of the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. |
||
| 10 | PROPER |
Fit line into communication (6)
|
| ROPE (line) inserted into PR (communication) | ||
| 12 | ORBIT |
Gold piece, of course (5)
|
| OR (gold) + BIT (piece) | ||
| 13 | ANDALUSIA |
* Top shoe in fashion with songstress (9)
|
| Remove the first letter from (top) [s]ANDAL (shoe) + U (in fashion) + SIA (songstress – Australian pop singer)
An autonomous community of southern Spain. |
||
| 14 | GAMBAS |
* Degree in idle talk (6)
|
| MBA (degree) inserted in GAS (idle talk)
Spanish for prawns. |
||
| 16 | OLOROSO |
* Sad to be beheaded (7)
|
| [d]OLOROSO (sad) with first letter removed (to be beheaded)
A variety of sherry, which comes from Spain. Doloroso is a musical instruction to play sadly. |
||
| 19 |
See 22 Down
|
|
| 21 | SPLASH |
Impact of waterfall (6)
|
| Cryptic-ish definition | ||
| 23 | POSSESSOR |
Supreme set-back dogs gang owner (9)
|
| [Diana] ROSS (one of the Supremes) reversed (set-back) following (dogs) POSSE (gang) | ||
| 25 | ENEMA |
Cause of movement by middle men to reject agreement (5)
|
| Middle [letter of] mEn + reversal (to reject) of AMEN (agreement) | ||
| 26 | ORATOR |
One who speaks for volunteers in ferry going west (6)
|
| TA (volunteers – Territorial Army, former name of the Army Reserve) inserted in RO-RO ([roll-on, roll-off] ferry) reversed (going west) | ||
| 27 | CASCABEL |
* Roman assassin runs into first victim (8)
|
| [Publius Servilius] CASCA (assassin [of Julius Caesar]) sharing its final letter with (runs into) ABEL (first [murder] victim)
A variety of chilli pepper – native to Mexico rather than Spain, but it is a Spanish-speaking country. Is there a more direct Spanish connection I’m missing? |
||
| 28 | ANNUAL |
Void filled by a flower (6)
|
| ANNUL (void) containing (filled by) A | ||
| 29 | BANDERAS |
* Lineages (8)
|
| BAND (line) + ERAS (ages)
Antonio Banderas is a Spanish-born actor. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | FALCON |
River fraud could be a hobby (6)
|
| FAL (river) + CON (fraud)
A hobby is a type of small falcon. |
||
| 2 | ALGEBRAIC |
A large middle-aged supporter heartily sick of maths (9)
|
| A + L (large) + middle [letters of] aGEd + BRA (supporter) + middle letters (heartily) of sICk | ||
| 3 | EMMET |
Team’s even encountered an ant (5)
|
| Even [letters of] tEaM + MET (encountered)
Old English word for an ant. |
||
| 4 | CARCASS |
Body of cheerleader to curve and jerk (7)
|
| First letter (leader) of Cheer + ARC (curve) + ASS (jerk) | ||
| 6 | APRIL FOOL |
Cut pillow for a bad joke (5,4)
|
| Anagram (bad) of PILLO[w] with last letter removed (cut) + FOR A | ||
| 7 | TAPAS |
* Cooked pasta (5)
|
| Anagram (cooked) of PASTA
Small plates of food served as bar snacks in Spain. |
||
| 8 | POR FAVOR |
* Raise redstart eggs almost from first principle (3,5)
|
| Reversal (raise) of the first letter (start) of Red + OVA (eggs) + all but the last letter of (almost) FRO[m] + first [letter of] Principle
Spanish for please. |
||
| 11 | EDDO |
Turned down extract of root (4)
|
| Selection (extract) from turnED DOwn
Eddo or eddoe is a tropical root vegetable. |
||
| 15 | BARCELONA |
* Balance or collapse (9)
|
| Anagram (collapse) of BALANCE OR
City in northeast Spain. |
||
| 17 | OYSTER BAR |
Tory bears terrible eatery (6,3)
|
| Anagram (terrible) of TORY BEARS | ||
| 18 | PAMPLONA |
* A short operation turns out to be nearly enough (8)
|
| AN OP (a short operation) reversed (turns) + an anagram (out) of all but the last letter of ([to be] nearly) AMPL[e]
The wordplay here feels a bit confused but I think it works well enough to point us in the general direction of the solution, which is a city in northern Spain. |
||
| 20 | ZEST |
Punch with vigour (4)
|
| Two definitions
Essentially the same definition twice. The cryptic element is that the first definition is presented as a verb in the surface reading but is to be taken as a noun, and ‘with’ is strictly superfluous but aids the deception. |
||
| 21 | SARDANA |
* Short country road to central urban area (7)
|
| SA (short country, ie short for South Africa) + RD (road) + central [letters of] urbAN Area
Style of music and dance from the Catalonia region of northern Spain. |
||
| 22/19 | CARLOS ALCARAZ |
* All so confused between two vehicles of state (6,7)
|
| Anagram (confused) of ALL SO between CAR CAR (two vehicles) + AZ (state – Arizona)
Spanish tennis player. |
||
| 24 | SPAIN |
[See Setter Notes] (5)
|
| The country to which all asterisked clues refer. | ||
| 25 | EL CID |
* Turn up volume to interrupt croak (2,3)
|
| Reversal (turn up) of LC (volume?) inserted in (to interrupt) DIE (croak)
Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, known as El Cid, was a Castilian knight and ruler in medieval Spain, played by Charlton Heston in the epic film of his life. Can’t fathom why LC means “volume” – any ideas? |
Thanks Gaff and Widdersbel!
Liked POSSESSOR, ENEMA, POR FAVOR, PAMPLONA and SARDANA.
EL CID
I think it is CL (centilitre) reversed.
PAMPLONA
I took the ‘out’ as an instruction to place PONA outside AMPL.
CL… of course! I read it as CL and then double-reversed it for some reason. Doh! Thanks, KVa. You’re probably right about ‘out’ as well, though it feels a bit imprecise.
PAMPLONA
True. It sounds odd. PONA out-AMPL. We may be missing something.
PAMPLONA
Could it be a reverse whatever type?
PONA out to be AMPL. If you remove PONA, you get AMPL.
I wonder why many FT regulars don’t do these Sunday puzzles.
These puzzles and the blogs are quite different from the routine
ones.
21a Is this clue ambiguous wouldnt splosh work as well
I tend to do the news and world puzzles when I see them, and other puzzles out of order when I’m travelling, so I don’t always post.
I found this chewy.
Thank you to Gaff and Widdersbel.
Chewier than a bar of Turon, I thought.
Apparently, there is a Spanish film titled Cascabel, but I had never heard of it. Thanks for the blog.
Thanks Gaff and Widdersbel. I thought 21a was a double definition – a waterfall splashes, and “make a splash” = make an impact? These world themed puzzles (and the news ones) are some of my favorites; I do them more than standard cryptics.
We need to look up the meaning of CASCABEL in a Spanish dictionary: it’s one of those little round bells that a cat should wear on its collar to warn all the birds that it’s coming – a sleigh bell or a jingle bell. Other meanings apply to cannon and rattlesnakes’ tails…
…(which the Mexican chlili resembles).