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An enjoyable puzzle by Redshank, which might well have been compiled for a certain sporting event this year, but only now published. References abound in the clues and answers. Thank you, Redshank. Definitions are underlined in the clues. [[The pictures at the bottom have unidentified links to the puzzle.]]
Across
1 Nationality of drunk holding prow of canoe (8)
SCOTTISH : SOTTISH(drunk, as an adjective, and for once not as an anagram indicator) containing(holding) C{first letter of(prow of) “canoe”}.
6 Fight against Iceland inter alia (6)
RESIST : IS(the International Organisation of Standards code for Iceland) contained in REST(inter alia;Latin for amongst other things;within the rest).
9 He scratches 20 runs (6)
SCORER : SCORE(a group or set of twenty items) + R(abbrev. for “runs” in cricket notation).
Answer: One who makes a score;a scratch mark.
10 Manage a match in mini perhaps (8)
RUNABOUT : RUN(to manage, say, an organisation) + A + BOUT(a match, especially in boxing).
Answer: A small vehicle, especially one for running about in town;a minicar perhaps, or even a Mini.
11 That mad London lecturer quit after cool event (10)
HEPTATHLON : [Anagram of(mad) “THAT ” + LON{“London” minus(… quit) “don”(a lecturer in a university)}] placed after(after) HEP(cool;trendy;forerunner of “hip”).
12 Joe returned in a couple of hours for jump (4)
HIGH : Reversal of(returned) GI(Joe, a personification of the American soldier) contained in(in) H,H(a couple of the abbrev. for “hours”).
Answer: A field event in the jumping category.
13 In middle of winter a bronze for swimming? (6)
NATANT : NT(the middle letters of “winter”) containing(in …) [ A + TAN(the bronze colour)].
Defn. and Answer: As adjectives.
15 Takes in females clearing barrier (8)
SWALLOWS : SOWS(adult female of swine or other animals) containing(clearing) WALL(a barrier).
18 Range had seen changes after terrible start (3,5)
THE ANDES : Anagram of(changes) HAD SEEN pf(after) T{initial letter of(… start) “terrible”}.
Answer: The South American mountain range.
20 Female’s covering a short distance in event (6)
HAMMER : HER(possessive pronoun for a female;female’s) containing(covering)[ A + MM(abbrev. for millimetre, a very short distance indeed)].
And here’s the Scot from 1across
21 Briton’s last to break record in jump (4)
LONG : N{ last letter of(…’s last) “Briton”} contained in(to break) LOG(a record of events, etc.).
Answer: Another field event in the jumping category.
23 Medal winners greatly value old arena (5,5)
PRIZE LIST : PRIZE(to greatly value) + LISTS(the arena for competitive events, like the jousts, in olden days).
Answer: Not the list of prizes, but of those who have won.
25 Old venue‘s choice of brothels in Kingsway (8)
HELSINKI : Hidden in(choice of) brotHELS IN KIngsway.
Answer: Venue of the 1952 Summer Olympics.
26 No information on private parts of Roman’s home (6)
ITALIA : “genitalia”(the private reproductive parts of animals) minus(no) “gen”(information).
Answer: What a Roman would call his home country.
27 Debate truncated event (6)
DISCUS : “discuss” minus its last letter(… truncated).
Answer: A field event in the throwing category, dating back to the ancient Greeks.
28 Greenhorns try what 20 competitor does (8)
GOSLINGS : GO(an attempt;a try at a game, as in “go ahead, have a go”) + SLINGS{what the hammer(answer to 20across) thrower does}.
Answer: Young inexperienced persons. If they don’t learn, then they’ll grow up to be geese.
Down
2 Children etc play freely within velodrome track (5,4)
CYCLE PATH : CH(abbrev. for “children”) containing(… within) anagram of(freely) ETC PLAY.
3 A brief argument during racing event card (5)
TAROT : A + RO{“row”(an argument) minus its last letter(brief)} contained in(during) TT(abbrev. for the Tourist Trophy motorcycle racing event held annually on the Isle of Man).
Answer: A card from the deck used by fortune tellers and the like to supposedly read your future.
4 Stimulated and watered, with time for golf (9)
IRRITATED : “irrigated”(watered) with “t”(abbrev. for “time”) replacing(for) “g(the letter denoted by “golf” in the phonetic alphabet).
5 So this event dislocates shoulders? (7)
HURDLES : [“so” + the answer] is an anagram of(dislocates) “shoulders”, or vice versa.
6 Dispute final stages of race (3-2)
RUN-IN : Double defn.
7 Many families wary about wobbly pub chimney (9)
SUBPHYLUM : [SHY(to be wary of, eg. a child in front of strangers) containing(about) anagram of(wobbly) PUB] + LUM(a chimney).
Answer: In biology, life forms are ordered by the following classifications: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and lastly Species. In linguistics, a phylum is a category of related languages. In both cases, the subphylum consists of many families.
8 Star drinks with German, like the 20 (5)
SWUNG : [SUN(the star round which the earth revolves) containing(drinks) W(abbrev. for “with”)] + G(abbrev. for “German”).
Answer: What is done with the hammer(answer to 20across) before being released.
14 I left 19 ace floundering to make up number (9)
ANALGESIC : Anagram of(floundering) [“sailing”(answer to 19across) minus(… left) “i” + ACE].
Answer: A substance, eg. aspirin that relieves pain by numbing;a number.
16 Regularly helped break top stories in field events (9)
ATHLETICS : {H,L,E(1st, 3rd, and 5th letters of (regularly) “helped”} contained in(break) ATTICS(the parts of buildings directly under the roof;the top stories).
Answer: Not only field, but also track, events, I thought.
17 Girls went swimming in event (9)
WRESTLING : Anagram of(swimming) GIRLS WENT.
19 Confess having trouble in event (7)
SAILING : SING(to confess, especially to criminal activities to the police) containing(having) AIL(to trouble, as in “what ails you?”).
22 They refer to bottom medal, large one (5)
OBELI : OBE(abbrev. for Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, an honour bestowed by the British monarch, which presumably has a medal thrown in as well) + L(abbrev. for “large”, as in clothing sizes) +I(Roman numeral for “one”).
Answer: Plural of obelus, a variant of which is the dagger sign, †, which is used in text to refer to footnotes at the bottom of the page. By convention, it used for a second footnote, after an asterisk has already been used.
23 Throws weight around north for kicks (5)
PUNTS : PUTS(throws weight, as in the shot put field event) containing(around) N(abbrev. for “north”).
Answer: Where a ball is released and kicked before it touches the ground, used in certain sports, eg. in rugby.
24 One Qatari’s bad at escaping other Arab (5)
IRAQI : I(Roman numeral for “one”) + anagram of(bad){“Qatari” minus(… escaping) “at”}.
Answer: Another Arab besides a Qatari.
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Well, yes scchua, this should have appeared a month or two back, but still a good work out. Good clues, as we have come to expect in the FT.
Many thanks
Rowly.
I found this quite difficult, although I’m not sure why in retrospect. Good puzzle, though, and it doesn’t matter if it missed the event.
Thanks scchua; SUBPHYLUM defeated me, although it shouldn’t have.
[[A.Roy, Ben Okri, Salman Rushdie and Michael Ondaatje all won the Man-Booker PRIZE. Have to work on the other two]]
[[?? Barbara Carrera showed her PRIVATE PARTS in I, THE JURY??]]
[[Barbara Carrera and Christopher Lee were in Dracula where a dagger or cross (OBELUS) is needed to kill the vampires]]
[[Hi Robi, you’re right about the Man-Booker PRIZE LIST. I’ve added links to answers for the remaining 2 (you’re so near yet so far – you’ll probably kick yourself when you see the answers 🙂 )]]
[[Thanks scchua; nice ones. HAMMER horror – so close, but not close enough!]]
Thanks S – and R for another smooth puzzle.
11a I wondered if “cool” should have been “cooler” giving PEN for pentathlon – not so.
Very much not my subject but that caused no problems in the end.