Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of October 27, 2012
The last Mudd in this space was unusually, surprisingly difficult. This one was a breeze; I finished it in a single sitting. My top clues in it are 3D (RUGGED), 4D (CHATELAINE) and 21D (CHARGE).
Across
1. FLAT RACE – FLAT (note) + RACE (people)
5. SOCCER – homophone (“socker”). ‘American football’ presumably defining football as it is called by Americans.
9. INTEGRAL – anagram of LARGE TIN
10. DETAIL – DE-TAIL (remove the end, you might say)
11. LISTENER – E[ars] N[ormally] in LISTER (recorder)
12. PRESTO – anagram of TOPERS
14. PALINDROME – D (daughter) in PAL IN ROME (amico)
18. PURITANISM – anagram of PRIM AUNT
22. THANKS – H (hospital) in TANKS (military)
23. SLAPDASH – SLAP (strike) + DASH (career)
24. EDITOR – hidden word
25. CO-WORKER – OW (pained cry) in CORKER (something great)
26. SHEATH – HEAT (fever) in SH (mum)
27. ENTRANCE – double definition
Down
1. FRILLY – ILL (green around the gills) in FRY (fish)
2. ATTEST – AT TEST (watching over). Watching an over in cricket, that is!
3. RUGGED – cryptic/double definition
4. CHATELAINE – anagram of ETHICAL AN + E (English)
6. OVERRIDE – anagram of DRIVER O[n]E
7. CHAT SHOW – HATS (pillboxes, say) in CHOW (dog)
8. ROLLOVER – ROLL (bread) + OVER (finished)
13. TINSELTOWN – anagram of WENT LOST IN. I asked a Los Angeleno friend what she understood Tinseltown to mean. She told me she considers it to be Hollywood as an idea, and largely Hollywood as an idea from a different era. So definitely part of LA but perhaps not a geographical part.
15. SPOTLESS – S[ylph] + POTLESS (with a flat stomach)
16. ORGANISE – anagram of IS ORANGE
17. STAKEOUT – S (seconds) + TAKEOUT (kill)
19. UPROAR – UP (out of bed) + ROAR (homophone of “raw” meaning bloody)
20. PARKIN – PARKIN[g] (stoppin’)
21. CHARGE – double definition. When my father finished a meal in a restaurant and wanted to know the cost, he would typically ask, “What’s the damage?”.
It may have been a breeze for you but it was a hurricane for me.
I couldn’t get
1d , 2d,,7d, 5a , 10a &.11a.
I think 7d is very hard -may be a doddle if you have all the crossing letter but not so without them.
11a Lister =recorder is not something that ever would have occured to me.
That said I got very little of Dogberry 14152 out and can’t wait until next week to see how hard that was thought to be.
I grant you that 7d would be a tough clue to solve in isolation.
The DogBerry was a challenge for me, more I think because I am unfamiliar with the setter’s style than because it was hard. It took me a while to get started and then another good while to finish off the last few clues. And I had trouble fully understanding a couple such as 5a and 18a.
Typo from the FT in 12ac, saying ‘gettig’, which didn’t mislead me because I didn’t notice it, but it might have done.
Good crossword but I didn’t like the dreadful grid, which really makes it into four separate little crosswords once you’ve got the long ones.
Wil, Ah I remember now that I noticed that typo when I solved the puzzle. But I must have forgotten about it and failed to spot it again when I wrote the blog. Thanks for mentioning it.