Gurney is the setter of the Thursday FT puzzle.
This was a puzzle where solving the long entries, none of which were overly difficult, opened up so many crossers that most of the rest of the puzzle fell into place and parsing came second to slotting in the answers. There is one exception though, as I can’t work out what’s going on with HANDOUT at 18dn. The wordplay and. crossers suggest that HANDOUT is the only possible solution, but there is nothing to indicate either charity or documentation? I’m sure the hive mind will put me right though. [edit: Muffyword has put me right immediately – it’s HANGOUT, not HANDOUT! Mea culpa]
Thanks Gurney.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DINING |
Noise is not good at the outset at table? (6)
|
| DIN (“noise”) + I(s) N(o) G(ood) [at the outset] | ||
| 4 | BIBULOUS |
Bye! One boorish fellow arrested in public transport, drinking too much (8)
|
| B (bye, in cricket) + I (one) + LOU(t) (“boorish fellow”, arrested) in BUS (“public transport”) | ||
| 9 | MARVEL |
Very involved in horse trial ultimately quite something (6)
|
| V (very) involved in MARE (“horse”) + (tria)L [ultimately] | ||
| 10 | CARDIGAN |
Top dog (8)
|
| Double definition, the first referring to a knitted jacket, the second to the Cardigan Welsh corgi, a breed of dog. | ||
| 12 | ST ANDREWS |
Course stewards on move about noon (2,7)
|
| *(stewards) [anag:on move] about N (noon) | ||
| 13 | RANGE |
Limits of solid fuel stove (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 14 | INSIGNIFICANCE |
At home Leo maybe providing one opportunity (not hard) — nothing much (14)
|
| IN (“at home”) + (star) SIGN (“Leo maybe”) + IF (“providing”) + I (one) + C(h)ANCE (“opportunity”, not H (hard)) | ||
| 17 | THE RAIN IN SPAIN |
Ate in parish inn possibly as this is outside — plain feature mainly? (3,4,2,5)
|
| *(ate in parish inn) [anag:possibly]
Referring to the song in My Fair Lady, where Professor Higgins tries to get Eliza to pronoun ce the long A sound in some words by repeating “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain”, but I’m not sure why “as this is outside” is in the clue. |
||
| 21 | OUNCE |
Resilience as British leave? Small amount (5)
|
| (b)OUNCE (“resilence” with B (British) leaving) | ||
| 22 | A MUGS GAME |
Initially guess a mum’s age — silly, like this (1,4,4)
|
| *(g a mums age) [anag:silly] where G is [initially] G(uess) and semi &lit. | ||
| 24 | PROLIFIC |
Fruitful crop Filipino not half cultivated (8)
|
| *(crop fili) [anag:cultivated] where FILI is FILI(pino) [not half] | ||
| 25 | MAGNET |
Publication, final, that’s attractive (6)
|
| MAG(azine) (“publication”) + NET (“final”, after any deductions, as in “net pay”) | ||
| 26 | LITIGATE |
Excellent, I entrance Sue! (8)
|
| LIT (slang for “excellent”) + I + GATE (“entrance”) | ||
| 27 | BETTER |
Gambler on the mend (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DOMESTIC |
Dignitary in Paris is in charge of Home (8)
|
| DOM (Portuguese “dignitary”) + EST I”in Paris, is”) + IC (in charge) | ||
| 2 | NORMANS |
Arrivals from France — usual standard, all new, staying principally (7)
|
| NORM (“usual standard”) + A(ll) N(ew) S(taying) [anag:principally] | ||
| 3 | NO END |
Very much ungoverned, regularly missing (2,3)
|
| (u)N(g)O(v)E(r)N(e)D [regularly missing] | ||
| 5 | INAUSPICIOUS |
Unlucky Bianca periodically distrustful, losing head (12)
|
| (b)I(a)N(c)A [periodically] + (s)USPICIOUS (“distrustful”, losing head) | ||
| 6 | UNDERPASS |
Foreign articles — I don’t know the way to go (9)
|
| UN + DER (“foreign articles”) + PASS (“I don’t know”) | ||
| 7 | ORGANIC |
Natural old doctor — caring (7)
|
| O (old) + *(caring) [anag:doctor] | ||
| 8 | SUNSET |
Smaller group with name for bishop’s daily event (6)
|
| SU(B)SET (“smaller group”) with N (name) for (i.e. instead of) B (bishop) is SU(N)SET | ||
| 11 | SEMIFINALIST |
Competitor as tie-in film’s prepared (12)
|
| *(as tie in films) [anag:prepared] | ||
| 15 | GARDENING |
Somewhat evoking Arden in growth, this maybe? (9)
|
| Hidden in [somewhat] “evokinG ARDEN IN Growth” | ||
| 16 | INVENTOR |
Popular release as alternative to Biro, say (8)
|
| IN (“popular”) + VENT (“release”) + OR (“as alternative to”) | ||
| 18 | HANGOUT |
Bash in lively haunt — this one? (7)
|
| GO (“bash”) in *(haunt) [anag:lively]
I originally had HANDOUT and couldn’t parse it, but of course it’s HANGOUT. |
||
| 19 | AGAINST |
Contrary to assumptions at first, profits over time (7)
|
| A(ssumptions) [at first] + GAINS (“profits”) over T (time) | ||
| 20 | GOSPEL |
Music — leave session, the last to depart (6)
|
| GO (“leave”) + SPEL(l) (“session”, the last (letter) to depart) | ||
| 23 | SKATE |
Ray’s part of task at exercises (5)
|
| Hidden in [part of] “taSK AT Exercises” |
Thanks loonapick and Gurney,
INVENTOR was tricky, but very nice.
18d will be HANGOUT.
Did the same, not bash/party/do but have a bash/go. 2d topical on evolutionary scale 🙂 . All fun, ta both.
Enjoyable and relatively straightforward. I also fell into the handout trap. Liked organic. Thanks both.
I also thought it was Handout, ah well.
As usual I cane up short on a few, but there was plenty to enjoy, my favourites – The Rain In Spain, A Mugs Game, Semifinalist, and many more.
Thanks to Gurney and loonapick
Very enjoyable. I was unaware of the canine cardigan and the Portuguese dignitary, and couldn’t parse BIBULOUS, which was only vaguely familiar.
Presumably somebody ate in the parish inn as the rain in Spain was outside. Great puzzle.
Like others, I did eventually twig that 18d required bash/go to make sense and thought it a nice clue, along with PROLIFIC, A MUG’S GAME, SUNSET and OUNCE.
Thanks to Gurney and Loonapick, whose experience largely mirrored my own.
Very enjoyable, but another mystified by HANDOUT.
Thanks Gurney and Loonapick.
Thanks Gurney. I found this difficult and I ended up revealing DOMESTIC, GOSPEL, and BIBULOUS. I did enjoy clues like MARVEL, NORMANS, ORGANIC, and AGAINST. I got HANGOUT as ‘handout’ never occurred to me. Thanks loonapick for the blog.
We had no problems with HANGOUT but failed to get INVENTOR – we were too focussed on Biro as the pen, not its inventor; all we could think of to fit the crossing letters was ‘unfetter’, which is hardly a popular term and the rest of the clue then didn’t make sense. We liked THE RAIN IN SPAIN and the earworm it’s now given us.
Thanks, Gurney and loonapick.
Bash = GO is not a thing in American English, so I naturally was another recipient of a HANDOUT, until the app corrected me. Obviously the right answer makes more sense, and in fact makes it a pretty good clue. I also had wondered in what world B stood for “Bye,” because the average American doesn’t exactly sit around reading cricket scoresheets either. (Crosswords have greatly improved my cricket vocabulary, but I don’t think that one comes up here too often. Maybe one day a setter will clue “BB” as “walk,” from baseball scoresheets (it stands for “base on balls,” the official name for what everyone but umpires calls a walk), but I’m not holding my breath.) Anyway, that didn’t help with the parsing of BIBULOUS, my last one in.
NO END was a great clue, and I also liked. INVENTOR. A scratch of the head after entering HANDOUT, working out the correct answer after revisiting the clue later. For me the standout clues were a couple of great anagrams in ST ANDREWS, and A MUGS GAME. THE RAIN IN SPAIN would have had a tick, but for that mysterious “as this is outside “.
All parsed today
Thanks Gurney and loonapick
Thanks Gurney and loonapick
18dn: I was another who stopped at HANDOUT, but on reflection the definition is not near enough and I should have considered the possibility that there would be a better answer here.
My last one in was CARDIGAN at 10ac, which is not my favourite type of double definition: a dog named after an area of Wales following a garment named after an earl whose title relates to the same area. I knew the garment and took the dog on trust when solving.
Many thanks for the excellent blog, loonapick, and thanks also to all who commented.