A tricky puzzle from Monk.
This was very enjoyable to solve, but I needed extra time on some of the trickier constructions. I found the name ‘George’ running down right of centre of the grid, and tried to work out a theme/nina but could not see much beyond that! Many thanks to Monk for a good puzzle.
DOLLY* (*mistakenly)
Marie Lloyd sang the popular British music hall song, ‘Don’t dilly dally on the way’, in 1919.
FLAG (tire) + STAFF (employees)
‘Blue Peter’ is a nautical flag, raised by a ship to show it is about to leave port
IL (Israel, ISO code) by A + H (hotel, NATO alphabet) in SW1 (Kensington?)
SW1 is a London postcode area in South West London, and a small part of Kensington is within SW1. I think there are better ways to refer to SW1, but won’t grumble too much
Cryptic definition
Given the ‘left’ (Labour Party) is currently in power in the UK, present-day Tories (Conservative Party, centre-right) want them out
(DEALING with SO (half of so-so))* (*cast)
[au]THOR N[aively] (pens)
We also, unusually, have two definitions
MILL (box, as in fight with fists) + NO. 1< (number one, <withdrawn)
TO + AGE (date) includes N, N (a couple of unspecified numbers)
OR (military men, other ranks) in STAGE (field of action)
STRAITS* (*dire)
AID (help) to catch P[riggis]H (inane)
‘Inane’ comes from the Latin word ‘inanis’ meaning ’empty’. We tend to use it differently in the modern day but it is correctly synonymous with ’empty’, in the sense of void of purpose/substance.
A (American) + R (Republican) covering up DIE (fail) by BRIG (US naval prison)
ROAR (bellow) about LLB (legal graduate)
A roll bar is part of a car’s frame serving as protection to the occupants if it were to overturn
[Colorad[O (back in) + DESERT* (*base)
WOME[n] (females, mostly) tackling HOLES (difficult situations)
W (wife) that’s left LA[w]YER (attorney)
Bed/layer can be synonyms in geology
LASS (miss) going around PALMA (Balearic capital, of Mallorca)
Double/cryptic definition
DING[o] (wild dog, with raised tail)
‘With raised tail’ tells us to take the last letter (tail) and ‘raise it’ or bring it higher up in the down clue word
IS< (<returning) + AN (article) after FRI (one day)
AIN’T (isn’t, commonly) restricting [c]L[i]M[b]E[r] (at intervals)
SAFE (peter) + NET (clear of all charges) including T[otall]Y (void)
MOROS[e] (sullen, for the most part) amongst AA (teetotallers, Alcoholics Anonymous)
F[eel] U[ncomfortable] T[urning] O[ver] N[ew] (starts to)
LINE* (*scrawled) around (DI[al] (half of clock face) in AU (gold) and B (black))
RIDER (legal clause); EASY (presenting few difficulties) initially
O[ver-confiden]T (extremely) + HELLO (greeting)
OGRE< (bad-tempered sort, <upset) about MBA (business qualification)
DIP (creamy mixture) covered by [l]A[r]O[u]S[s]E (off and on)
SIFT (examine in detail) + L[epros]Y (case of); W (with) probes
[n]ARROW (thin, remove cap from)
PR (publicity section) in AIL (trouble)
Thanks Oriel. liked it despite an absence of really good anagrams and too many ‘understand after writing in/read 225″. Agree SW1 is geographically much better defined by other parts of London rather than Kensington. Never Heard of Marie Lloyd or Oersted. But so far a good week from the FT!
A good puzzle indeed and a blog to match. Thank you Monk and Oriel.
OERSTED was a jorum.
Connect George to 1 across
Nice to discover OERSTED is actually a Thing! nho for me, as is DOING = scolding. WHOLESOME and LAYER made me laugh.
Thanks Monk and Oriel
Connect 1 across and George to rows 6 and 10.
How does SWAHILI equate to people? My understanding is that Swahili is a lingua Franca derived from the Arab slave traders in East Africa and not a language native to a particular tribe.
RH@5: I saw LLOYD and GEORGE, but what is the rest of the theme/nina supposed to mean?
Cine @7 – it’s the place where he was raised, and buried.
Thanks Monk and Oriel
9ac: Chambers 2016 p 1569 gives Swahili n the people of Zanzibar and the opposite coast; one of them; loosely, their language (Kiswahili), a Bantu tongue modified by Arabic, spoken in Kenya, Tanzania and other parts of E Africa
Collins 2023 p 1994 and ODE 2010 p 1974 also give definitions relating both to the language and to the people.
Incidentally, I am sure that Oriel is correct that IL is the two character ISO code for Israel, but it is also the International Vehicle Registration code, and it is the IVR code that is referenced in the three dictionaries mentioned above.
Ørsted/Oersted was a newie. Did matric Physics and a unit of undergrad, pretty sure I’d have remembered it. Be curious to know if anyone learned of it via curriculum.
[grantinfreo@10: I did physics through to a PhD and then taught it to undergrads and then in school for 20 years and never once used the Oersted – but all my learning was based in the SI system, not the older cgs metric system which largely predated it. The Oe is the unit of the magnetic field strength in that older system, H, which is only learned about at undergraduate level (as opposed to B, magnetic flux density, studied here at A level). I’d say it was unlikely that many solvers will have met it through curriculum, unless they were undergraduates in the USA, which kept up non-SI units for much longer than most of the rest of the world, or did undergrad physics elsewhere up to the 1960s or so.
I had heard of Ørsted as a person and his famous demonstration of the magnetic effect of electrical current, and was vaguely aware of a magnetic unit associated with his name, but only because I am interested in the history of physics. I could not have given you a definition of it. So yeah, I think I’d chalk that one up as pretty darned specialised knowledge but with the Nina the setter was rather limited in choice.]
“Engage smug mode”. Managed this over lunch without aids. Lovely crossword.
To be explicit, Llanystumdwy is where David Lloyd George was raised until the age of 16 and where he is buried.
Thanks both.
Thanks Monk for the challenge. I enjoyed many of the clues including APHID, ROLLBAR (liked the def.), ON A ROLL, SAFETY NET, AMOROSO, and EMBARGO. I revealed SWAHILI (didn’t know IL or SW), OERSTED (nho, didn’t realise ‘base’ could indicate an anagram), and the clever SWIFTLY. Thanks Oriel for the blog.