Fieldfare challenged Spectator solvers this week with a puzzle entitled Top left
This seemed to be a fairly gentle puzzle with very clear wordplay. There were a few entries that I don’t use very often, if at all, but they were all clued fairly even if I had to check the resulting words in a dictionary.
It was seeing the possibility of WILSON, BLAIR and ATTLEE that set me on the path to the theme.
The ‘left’ in the title is interpreted as a political term indicating the Labour Party. ‘Top’ refers to the leaders of the party, the surnames of ten of whom appear as the unclued lights.
In normal clue order, these gentlemen (yes, all men) are:
| Clue | Leader’s name | Period of Office | Prime Minister |
| 15a | Tony BLAIR [born 1953] | July 1994 to June 2007 | 1997 – 2007 |
| 19a | Arthur HENDERSON [1863 – 1935] |
January 1908 to February 1910 August 1914 to October 1917 August 1931 to October 1932 |
Never |
| 25a | Ramsay MACDONALD [1836 – 1937] |
February 1911 to August 1914 November 1922 to August 1931 |
1924 1929 – 1931 |
| 38a | Neil KINNOCK [born 1942] | October 1983 to July 1992 | Never |
| 2d | John SMITH [1938 – 1994] | July 1992 – May 1994 | Never |
| 5d | Clement ATTLEE [1883 – 1967] | October 1935 to December 1955 | 1945 – 1951 |
| 13d | Ed MILIBAND [born 1969] | September 2010 to May 2015 | Never |
| 28d | Harold WILSON [1916 – 1995] |
February 1963 – April 1976 |
1964 – 1970 1974 – 1976 |
| 30d | Jeremy CORBYN [born 1949] | September 2015 to April 2020 | Never |
| 35d | Michael FOOT [1913 – 2010] | November 1980 to October 1983 | Never |
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Eruption as aerosol explodes (7)
ROSEOLA (rose-coloured rash or skin eruption) Anagram of (explodes) AEROSOL ROSEOLA* |
| 6 | Almost snap at man’s trite remarks (7)
CLICHES (stereotyped phrases; trite remarks) CLICk (snap) excluding the final letter K (almost) + HE’S (man’s) CLIC HES |
| 11 | Austen’s creation, American village where Jesus was seen (6)
EMMAUS (The Road to EMMAUS, found in Luke 24:13-35, is a post-resurrection story where Jesus joins two dejected disciples walking to the village EMMAUS, unrecognised) EMMA (name of novel written by Jane Austen [1775 – 1817]) + US (United States; American) EMMA US |
| 12 | Painting taken back to storehouse ruined (7)
TRASHED (ruined) ART (painting) reversed (taken back) + SHED (a storehouse) TRA< SHED |
| 14 | Bear mark, a ritual emblem (5)
TOTEM (a ritual emblem) TOTE (carry; bear) + M (mark, former German currency) TOTE M |
| 15 |
Unclued thematic entry BLAIR |
| 16 | Delays handling pose taken by boy (4,2)
SITS ON (delays) SIT (pose) + SON (boy) SIT S ON |
| 17 | Sparky schoolteacher regularly told to slice cheese (6)
BRODIE (reference the novel. The Prime of Miss Jean BRODIE‘, written by Muriel Spark [1918 – 2006]. Jean BRODIE is a schoolteacher; Sparky schoolteacher) OD (letters 2 and 4 [regularly] of tOlD) contained in (to slice) BRIE (a type of cheese) BR (OD) IE |
| 19 |
Unclued thematic entry HENDERSON |
| 21 | Fine character finally dropped armour plate (7)
AILETTE (a plate of armour for the shoulder) AI (A one; first rate) + LETTEr (character) excluding the last letter R (finally dropped) AI LETTE |
| 25 |
Unclued thematic entry MACDONALD |
| 27 | In the grounds a couple reading say books issued over time (9)
PARTWORKS (one of a series of publications, especially magazines, issued at regular intervals, eventually forming a complete course or book; books issued over time) (TWO [a couple] + R [one of the three Rs in education, Reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmentic]) contained in (in) PARKS ([recreation] grounds) PAR (TWO R) KS |
| 29 | After the event researcher cancels date for hospital (4,3)
POST HOC (after the event) POST dOC (a person engaged in POST DOCtoral research) with an H (hospital) instead of (for) D (date) to form POST HOC POST HOC |
| 31 | Side I lead out considered perfect (9)
IDEALISED (considered perfect) Anagram of (out) SIDE I LEAD IDEALISED* |
| 33 | Short story about dunes that shift at the back (6)
TERGAL (the back of an arthropod) TALe (story) excluding the final letter E (short) containing (about) ERG (a Saharan area of shifting sand dunes.) T (ERG) AL |
| 34 | Run behind man on floating platform (6)
RAFTER (someone on a RAFT [floating platform]) R (run) + AFTER (following; behind) R AFTER |
| 36 | In hide, at last see birds in flight (5)
SKEIN (a flock of wild geese in flight) E (final letter of [at last] seE) contained in (in) SKIN (hide) SK (E) IN |
| 37 | Arab is back carrying gold and diamonds (5)
SAUDI (native of SAUDI Arabia; an Arab) IS reversed (back) containing (carrying) (AU [chemical symbol for gold] + D [diamonds]) S (AU D) I< |
| 38 |
Unclued thematic entry KINNOCK |
| 39 | Intricate section of book not typed (6)
KNOTTY (intricate) KNOTTY (hidden word in [section of] booK NOT TYped) KNOTTY |
| 40 | Not breaking wooden edges of bridge (7)
PONTINE (of or relating to a bridge) Anagram of (breaking) NOT contained in ([with] … edges) PINE (a type of wood) P (ONT*) INE |
| 41 | Step out with a German sculptor (7)
EPSTEIN (reference Jacob EPSTEIN [1880 – 1959] American-British sculptor) Anagram of (out) STEP + EIN (one of the German forms of the indefinite article ‘a’) EPST* EIN |
| Down | |
| 1 | Perhaps Chinese cargo initially said to be steaming here? (3,3)
RED SEA (a SEA between Africa and Asia where a ship may be seen steaming) RED (The Chinese Communist party runs China; communists are referred to as RED) + SEA (place where ships steam) RED SEA |
| 2 |
Unclued thematic entry SMITH |
| 3 | Bitter vetch holds active seeds in these (4)
EARS (the part of a cereal plant containing the seeds) ERS (bitter vetch) containing (holds) A (active) E (A) RS |
| 4 | Unpopular? Regularly admit many big stores are now (3-2-4)
OUT-OF-TOWN (an area where you will find many big retail stores these days) OUT (unpopular) + OFT (OFTen; regularly) + OWN (admit) OUT OF T OWN |
| 5 |
Unclued thematic entry ATTLEE |
| 6 | Sailors drink in such a jersey (4,4)
CREW NECK (a jersey with a round, close-fitting style of neck) CREW (sailors) + NECK (to drink) CREW NECK |
|
7 |
Young Jacob died, a character (6)
LAMBDA (character of the Greek alphabet) LAMB (a Jacob is a breed of sheep, so a young Jacob is a LAMB) + D (died) + A LAMB D A |
| 8 | Charlie not trained to use steriliser (10)
CHLORINATE (sterilise with chlorine; use steriliser) Anagram of (trained) CHARLIE NOT CHLORINATE* |
| 9 | Leader engages second executioner (8)
HEADSMAN (executioner) HEADMAN (leader) containing (engages) S (second) HEAD (S) MAN |
| 10 | Bill breaks into peaceful love song (8)
SERENADE (a song with a romantic theme sung or played under a lady’s window by a suitor; love song) AD (ADvertisement; bill) contained in (breaks into) SERENE (peaceful SEREN (AD) E |
| 13 |
Unclued thematic entry MILIBAND |
| 18 | Upsetting, a translated Greek text (10)
SEPTUAGINT (the Greek Old Testament; Greek text) Anagram of (translated) UPSETTING A SEPTUAGINT* |
| 20 | Attractive person available at first for Spectator (8)
ONLOOKER (spectator) ON (willing to participate; available) + LOOKER (a person with good looks; an attractive person) ON LOOKER |
| 22 | They steer apple cart through ship (9)
COXSWAINS (people who steer boats; they steer) COX (reference COX‘s orange pippin, a variety of apple) + (WAIN [wagon or cart] contained in [through] SS [{steam}ship]) COX S (WAIN) S |
| 23 | Divides banana dish and drink (6,2)
SPLITS UP (divides) SPLIT (reference a Banana SPLIT dessert) + SUP (drink) SPLIT S UP |
| 24 | Carte blanche to remove restrictions from announced rule (4,4)
FREE REIN (freedom of action; carte blanche) FREE (remove restrictions from) + REIN (sounds like [announced] REIGN [rule]) FREE REIN |
| 26 | War preparations give a marine bad scare (4,4)
ARMS RACE (competition among nations in building up armaments; war preparations) A + RM ([Royal] Marine) + an anagram of (bad) SCARE A RM S RACE* |
| 28 |
Unclued thematic entry WILSON |
| 29 | Fringe benefit includes uniform and, at the head, expensive wig (6)
PERUKE (wig) (PERK [fringe benefit] containing [includes] U [uniform is the international radio communication code for the letter U] + E (first letter of [a the head] Expensive) PER (U) K E |
| 30 |
Unclued thematic entry CORBYN |
| 32 | Only the last balls promptly bounce (5)
STYTE (Scottish word for bounce) S (final letter of [only the last] ballS) + TYTE (obsolete word for promptly) S TYTE |
| 35 |
Unclued thematic entry FOOT |
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