Jason has set this morning’s FT puzzle.
An average difficulty puzzle from Jason. A couple of passes was enough to solve all but MANUKA, which held out for a bit because I was trying to find a parsing for LAPUTA until inspiration stuck. I think the second meaning of ULTRA is a bit niche, but that may just be because I had never heard of the wartime designation.
Thanks, Jason.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TROOPS |
Backing good chap taking in old soldiers (6)
|
| [backing] <=SPORT (“good chap”) taking in O (old) | ||
| 5 | SHUTTLES |
Travel services closed for fear that last character comes first (8)
|
| SHUT (“closed”) + LES(T) (‘for fear that”) with last character coming first, so (T)LES | ||
| 9 | TAKE HEED |
Pay attention to appropriate notice (4,4)
|
| TAKE (“to appropriate”) + HEED (“notice”) | ||
| 10 | TUNDRA |
A part of wet, undrained plain (6)
|
| Hidden in [a part of] “weT UNDRAined” | ||
| 11 | BANDIT |
Pirate also taken in scrap (6)
|
| AND (“also”) taken in BIT (“scrap”) | ||
| 12 | CHASTISE |
Immaculate clothing is correct (8)
|
| CHASTE (“immaculate”) clothing IS | ||
| 14 | ASPIRATIONAL |
A Parisian lot struggling to be hopeful (12)
|
| A + *(parisian lot) [anag:struggliing] | ||
| 18 | MULTITASKING |
It’s said men fail at this: ultimately it is hidden by hiding (12)
|
| (Ult. (ultimately) + IT) is hidden by MASKING (“hiding”) | ||
| 22 | SPACE BAR |
Box containing outstanding book that’s key for breaks (5,3)
|
| SPAR (“box”) containing ACE (“outstanding”) + B (book) | ||
| 25 | KINDLE |
Fan of cordial French article (6)
|
| KIND (“cordial”) + LE (“French article”) | ||
| 26 | MANUKA |
Island near Britain with a source of medicinal nectar (6)
|
| (Isle of) MAN (“island”) near UK (“Britain”) with A | ||
| 27 | WHIMSIES |
Doctor wishes I’m getting fanciful ideas (8)
|
| *(wishes im) [anag:doctor] | ||
| 28 | STANDARD |
Flag’s set in place near a road (8)
|
| STAND (“set in place”) near A + Rd. (road) | ||
| 29 | GARDEN |
Yard overturned newspaper study (6)
|
| [overturned] <=RAG (“newspaper”) + DEN (“study”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | REAGAN |
Unfettered anger about a former president (6)
|
| *(anger) [anag:unfettered] about A | ||
| 3 | OVERDRAFT |
Done with run in foolish banker’s agreement (9)
|
| OVER (“done”) with R (run, in cricket) in DAFT (“foolish”) | ||
| 4 | SWEET SPOT |
Jar of candies is the ideal place to make contact (5,4)
|
| SWEETS POT (“jar of candies”) | ||
| 5 | SIDECAR |
Small one careered about in Gromit’s vehicle? (7)
|
| S (small) + I (one) + <=RACED (“careered”, about)
In the animated Wallace & Gromit films, Wallace rides a motorcycle with a sidecar, in which Gromit, his dog, is often a passenger. |
||
| 6 | ULTRA |
Extreme intelligence? (5)
|
| Double definition, the second relating to wartime communications in the Second World War (Google it!) | ||
| 7 | TENET |
Principle which could also be set up (5)
|
| TENET (“principle”) is a palindrome, so would be thr same “set up” | ||
| 8 | EUROSTAR |
Our rates being wasted for travel service (8)
|
| *(our rates) [anag:being wasted] | ||
| 13 | SKI |
Runner is bound to lose power (3)
|
| SKI(p) (“bound” to lose P (power)) | ||
| 15 | TWINKLING |
Blinking double line held by Charles (9)
|
| TWIN (“double”) + L (line) held by KING (Charles) | ||
| 16 | ORGANISER |
Some figures in a group turned over a diary or similar (9)
|
| Hidden backwards in [some…turned over] “figuRES IN A GROup” | ||
| 17 | SUPPLANT |
Replace plans put off (8)
|
| *(plans put) [anag:off] | ||
| 19 | IRE |
Passion that is about end of Labour (3)
|
| i.e. (id est, so “that is”) about [end of] (labou)R | ||
| 20 | SCREWED |
Week in plaster finds you done for (7)
|
| W (week) in SCREED (“plaster”) | ||
| 21 | ALLEGE |
Declare member to be overcome by booze (6)
|
| LEG (“member”) to be overcome by ALE (“booze”) | ||
| 23 | CHURN |
Central heating boiler to rumble (5)
|
| CH (central heating) + URN (“boiler”) | ||
| 24 | BRAVA |
Support Victor over a shout for female excellence (5)
|
| BRA (“support”) + V (Victor, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) over A |
I’ve not seen ult as an abbreviation for ultimately. And I wasn’t aware that MULTITASKING is a failing of men. Several synonyms puzzled me — ski/runner, churn/rumble, chastise/correct. And ultra/intelligence, but I’ll do as you suggest, Loonapick, and google it. Never heard of BRAVA — all these years I’ve been using bravo for both genders. I hope I didn’t offend anyone.
Well constructed clues.
I loved ASPIRATIONAL as both a great anagram and excellent surface, and also ticked CHASTISE as concise and neat.
I could not parse MULTITASKING and could not find ULTRA = intelligence in my dictionary, so thanks to loonapick for both.
I ask: as BRAVA is the female version of bravo, is there a male version? And finally, I have been to MANUKA in Canberra (an up-market suburb in a down-market city), but had no idea it was the source of healing.
Thanks Jason and loonapick
Martyn@2 bravo is the male version, BRAVA the female – I’ve heard/seen it used by the same people that use alumna, alumnus and alumni.
MANUKA honey is used to heal – so has a premium price (and a lot of fakes around).
I did this last night – I’m usually on the wavelength for Jason. ULTRA for intelligence rang a very vague bell – but I’ve read a lot of books about WWI and WWII.
Thank you to loonapick and Jason.
I struggled with BRAVA and MANUKA but otherwise an entertaining distraction on a crowded Tube journey along the Metropolitan Line. Thanks Jason and Loonapick
Thanks Jason and loonapick
24dn further to Shanne@3: Chambers 2016 p 186 has bravo interj well done; excellent (also brava when addressed to a woman, bravi to a number of persons).
Apparently the original (1926) version of Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage recommended the various forms still given in Chambers, but the 2015 update of Fowler (p 119) says “It would be a brave person who would follow Fowler’s (1926) advice … [as given above]. Gender and number distinctions have been abandoned in such circumstances, and bravo is the only cry of the three heard, if it is heard at all, in theatres now.”
Manuka was beyond me, and I struggle to equate a garden with a yard. Otherwise all fine, though I am with GDU@1 with not realising that we hopeless men are not much good at multitasking.
Lots of argy bargy back and forth across the ditch about Manuka. The Kiwis seem to think it’s theirs and that we shouldn’t use the name, like the French re Champagne etc.
Eric E @6 – what we in the UK call a GARDEN, the Americans call a yard.
A little too subtle and obscure in parts for my modest abilities but still plenty to enjoy – Overdraft, Twinkling Aspirational my main favourites.
Thanks to JASON and loonapick
Hi Shanne@8. Yes, I know that, but they’re wrong, aren’t they?
I found this harder than yesterday but got there in the end.
Liked aspirational, space bar, organiser.
I have noticed a shift from bravo to brava for female singers during my opera going lifetime. Italian sopranos were regularly puzzled by calls meaning they were good male singers in my younger days.
Re ultra, wasn’t the ability to solve the Times cryptic crossword part of the Bletchley recruitment process? Those were the days.
I toyed with “Utter” for ULTRA (with intelligence as a verb) but was CHASTISEd into rethinking it. I liked SCREWED, ORGANISER , TWIŃKLING and SPACE BAR.
Geoff @1: it isn’t wrong to say bravo for both genders. There’s a sort of person who says brava and bravi, and it’s the same sort of person who walks into a panini shop and pointedly orders a panino.
Eric @10: it’s useful to have a distinction between a plot of land planted with vegetables, herbs, or flowers (a garden) and a greenspace behind or beside one’s house (a yard). Many Americans have gardens in their yards.
mrpenny@13: a greenspace, if it’s a space that’s green (say, an area of nothing but grass and weeds, rather than “planted”) is a garden. A yard, on the other hand, should be free of greenery and resplendent with concrete and a rusty bicycle. But I am being English, and have enough American friends to know that we and they are divided by a common language. And they refuse to learn.
Interesting this use of the term “yard“ to mean “garden”. I had always thought of a yard as being something paved, or at least put to some use such as a farmyard. I’m interested to see from my Chambers dictionary that the etymology is Old English “geard” meaning fence, dwelling, enclosure, and the German word “garten”, and that this is connected with the Latin word “hortus” and the Greek word “chortos”. Yards have come a long way
Eric E @14 – another place I use online with a transatlantic community would call what you’re doing “starting a Pond War” and the hosts would tell you to cease and desist.
I will also observe that I spent a fair bit of my childhood in deepest darkest Dorset where the locals also have sidewalks and autumn is the fall. Many so-called Americanisms can often be traced to much older English dialects. That yards in northern towns became areas with hard surfaces doesn’t mean that’s the case in other areas of the country.
I was about to write something similar, Shanne, so thanks for saving me the trouble. I think the word ‘patio’ also differs in meaning dependent on where you are. It comes from Spanish for a courtyard.
Thanks Shanne@3 – yep, I looked up MANUKA and knew the general meaning when I wrote my post@2.
What I was trying to say is I know an area called MANUKA in Canberra, but had no idea before today about the honey of the same name.
Shanne@16 & Hovis@17: whatever. I would have replied sooner but I was on the balcony overlooking the Capability Brown. Forgive me, but I am perfectly happy with yards and gardens and gardens and yards, and with American usages in a British newspaper’s cryptic crosswords. If only the New York Times’s “Spelling Bee” were so open to British words and usages! Thank you for the entertainment.
Eric @19: yes, I have the same frustration with Spelling Bee, believe it or not. Even some basic Britishisms that most Americans know and actually even use are off the list!
Also, I can tell that you were almost entirely joking (@10). No worries.
We usually use yard but occasionally garden. I’d like to think that the latter is a slightly more pleasant, cared-for place.
People in new housing estates in rapidly expanding metropolitan fringes don’t need to worry which to use. Their identical grey-roofed boxes are so close together there’s barely any room for a yard or garden.