Solving time : about 30 mins with phone calls interrupting
This is my first FT blog. All week the FT online site has been one day behind with the crossword and I was wondering how I was going to do the blog. By the time I went to bed last night (already breakfast time in the UK) there was no crossword. But this morning it is there. And not only that, Saturday’s crossword is already available!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 4 | HIP PIC |
| 9 | AS(=when) OC (co reversed) fInAlLy (even letters of finally) |
| 11 | CHAR (lets)* ON |
| 12 | brancheS OF Tree |
| 13 | DUO MO reflect here would imply OM surely? |
| 14 | VIS COUNT boundaries are sixes = VIs in Roman Numerals. Consider is an odd definition for Count though |
| 20 | K (=close to Black) in DYE. A drystone wall in Scotland is a drystone dyke |
| 21 | SPELL BOUND. I’ve never heard of the movie but I presume it exists |
| 23 | LEANDER famous (I’ve heard of it anyway) rowing club in Henley and also a mythical character paired with Hero, who despite the name is actually a woman |
| 24 | SHOOTER last one to go in. TO reversed in horse* |
| 25 | A MP in RED reversed. Converts seems pretty weak to indicate reversal |
| 26 | MESS hEaD |
| Down | |
| 1 | BLUSH = brush with L for R |
| 2 | tO GRAB MEths upwards |
| 6 | P.I. ASS in CO. Crosswords’ favorite artist, or drawer in this case |
| 7 | A=area FF=very loudly InN=emptying pub, all in CH CH = checks (as in chess), giving CHAFFINCH. Phew |
| 10 | VATS reversed + ANGER |
| 13 | DAIRY HERD. Cows is the definition but I don’t quite get the wordplay here. Dai is the welshman but I’m not sure why Ryherd is “man on drive” unless Ry is the man (as in Ry Cooder) and Herd is drive, which all seems a bit weak since that’s barely a different meaning for Herd. Any famoous driving Ryherd I’ve never heard of? |
| 15 | L in (cheers up)* |
| 17 | TERN in SUM |
| 19 | (room)* in AU + S |
| 22 | SUE is the lady briefly and DE is some in French |
| 22 | NO END Neon is the element and revolutionary indicates reversal |
13A: I agree with “reflect” implying OM. So I assume that “require” is meant to indicate contents/container wordplay (making it OM in DUO)?
13D: The wordplay is DAI,RY,HE,RD (Welshman, tracks, man, drive [rev]).
I don’t time myself, but I suspect that this one took me slightly longer than average for the FT.
Aardvark is Scorpion in the Independent; his puzzles are usually very tough indeed so perhaps it’s not surprising that this one was harder than average.