A real wrong ‘un (or, if you prefer, curveball) from Gozo here. I think this is the first FT puzzle I’ve blogged that comes with special instructions; the theme may well have a few non-sports-savvy solvers tearing their hair, and even those au fait with card games and cricket jargon might find themselves taking issue with some of Gozo’s liberties and contrivances – but, for all that, I thought it was a really enjoyable solve.
ACROSS
All of the Across solutions are either the names of sports or games or terms associated with sports or games.
1. KARATE Ra(t) [rodent] within Kate [the ‘shrew’, Katharine, in Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew]
4. LACROSSE La [‘the’ in French] + anagram of scores
9. TENNIS Reversal of s(ervice) + in net [in the net, i.e. where you wouldn’t want your first serve to go in tennis]
10. CRIBBAGE Anagram of big caber
11. BREAKS Double definition
12. BASEBALL Base [low class] + ball [dance]
13, 25. LEG BYE Leg [member] + bye [farewell]; in cricket, a leg bye is a run earned through a deflection off the batsman’s pads, and is classified as an ‘extra’
14. SQUASH S + quash [crush]; a very odd clue – I suppose we’re intended to think of the definition, crush, in the sense of a fruit drink, or ‘squash’, but we might just as well take squash and quash to be synonymous
17. TOURNEY Tour [trip] + reversal of yen [desire] to give a US term for a sports tournament
21. PELOTA PE [Physical Education, exercise] + lot [patch of ground] + a [amateur] to give the Basque ball game
25. See 13ac.
26. DOMINOES Double definition: a Venetian mask and cloak often worn to masquerades, and a mistake in music (the latter was a new one on me)
27. BRIDGE Double definition, referring to the card games and the floating bridge known as a pontoon
28. ROULETTE Let [give the okay] within route [journey]: two slightly questionable usages there, I think
29. HAZARD (M)az(e) within hard [severe]; ‘hazard’, as well as being a difficulty, is a dice game
30. SPEEDWAY Speed [amphetamine] + way [will: perhaps as in where there’s a will…]
31. HOCKEY Hock [a German white wine] + e(arl)y; the nameless artist is David Hock(n)ey
DOWN
1. KATE BUSH Anagram of teak + Bush [former US president George ‘Dubya‘] to give the pop singer
2. RUNNER-UP Runner [fugitive] + up [in court, on trial]
3. THICKEST Hick [rustic] within test [international match]
5. AIRBAG AI [A1, top-quality – posh?] + anagram of garb
6. RUBBER Double definition: an eraser, or a game of bridge (see 27ac.)
7. SEAMAN Seam [join] + an [one]
8. EVENLY Eve [girl] + n(e)l(l)y
12. BETRAYS Bet [young girl?] + ray [boy’s name] + S(unday)
15. HOT Slang term for ‘stolen’ hidden within pHOTograph
16. REP Reversal of per [for each]
18. YEARS AGO Anagram of yore saga
19. HOLD BACK Double definition
20. BAKER DAY Anagram of drake within bay [inlet] to give a term for a teacher-training day or inset day derived from the name of the former Education Secretary Kenneth Baker
22. ADORES Anagram of oreads
23. IMPURE I [single, 1] + MP [Member (of Parliament)] + Ure [river]
24. INDEED In [popular] + deed [act]
25. BERTHA Anagram of the bar; the allusion is to ‘Big Bertha’, a large-bore mortar in the first World War
I think you have the clue and the answer out of synch at 27a!
A pleasant puzzle, but a fairly odd mix of indoor and outdoor sports and games. I started off thinking Olympic sports, but CRIBBAGE and DOMINOES soon put an end to that idea. LACROSSE and BASEBALL have featured in the Olympics in the past.
Oop, well spotted Duncan! Corrected now – thanks.
As for the sports and games, yes, my thoughts exactly.
Thanks Ringo for the blog and Gozo for an enjoyable puzzle
Was at a loss at first with the across clues, wondering what the theme was, then got LEG BYE, and thought it was going to be things cricket, but was glad it turned out to be much broader than that.
BTW there’s another sporting connection to HAZARD, which is golf, eg. A water hazard where one can easily lose one’s balls.
Got Karate straight out of the box so to speak. Finished all but 20d. Never heard of Baker day so I thought it was Break Day. But then I knew 27a had to be bridge, so I knew I was in trouble.