Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 31, 2013
I praised the last Cinephile in this space for being exceptionally good (despite a couple of flaws). This one I find to be rather the opposite. It has some flashes of brilliance, most notably in 11A (STOKER) and 8D (SPOONER), but on the whole is perhaps not up to scratch. I find fault with 13A, 28A, 2D, 4D, 16D, 20D and 24D.
ACROSS
1 Minor injury – wife eaten by dog – after reversal of personality (5,5)
FLESH WOUND – SELF (personality) reversed + W (wife) in HOUND (dog)
7, 26 Quick profit for gazelles, say (4,4)
FAST BUCK – double definition. ‘Buck’ as a collective plural for gazelles? It’s okay I think.
9 Flower of the Bronx (4)
EBRO – hidden word. The Ebro is a river in Spain. ‘Of’ by itself is not a great hidden-word indicator but it is one Cinephile often uses and I think we just have to accept that.
10 Jolly good guard of the eyes from the gaffer? (10)
SUPERVISOR – SUPER (jolly good) + VISOR (guard of the eyes)
11 Vampires were subject to fireman (6)
STOKER – double definition. “Vampires were subject to” is hardly a straight definition of [Bram] Stoker. “Vampires were subject to ______” might be better but still this clue is eminently solvable and I have no problem with it. Indeed I think it is very good.
12 Wader gives revolutionaries some rope (8)
REDSHANK – REDS (revolutionaries) + HANK (some rope)
13 Badger detailed with genus of bacteria in vegetable (8)
BROCCOLI – BROC[k] (badger detailed) + COLI (genus of bacteria). E. Coli (or, in full, Escherichia Coli) is a well enough known type of bacteria that this clue is easily solved. I think it may nevertheless be broken since, if my sense is correct, Escherichia is the genus, not Coli. Perhaps a microbiologist can give us a final verdict? (And indeed one did — see comment 7 below.)
15, 17 Study group from town in Nottinghamshire outside its centre (8)
WORKSHOP – [notting]H[amshire] in WORKSOP (town in Nottinghamshire)
19 Old bird drinking a drink to setter’s union within the law (8)
MONOGAMY – NOG (drink) in MOA (old bird) + MY (setter’s)
22 Substance of charge, live as first person in sort of image (8)
GRAVAMEN – AM (live as first person) in GRAVEN (sort of image). I have come across this word before but had to use a look up tool to find it for this clue.
23 Holiday to make the most out of economic inactivity (6)
RECESS – double definition. Does the second definition really work? Is it intended to be cryptic? I am unsure.
25 Vehicle with a rocket possibly cooked in the oven (6,4)
CARROT CAKE – CAR (vehicle) + anagram of A ROCKET
26 See 7
27 Advantage for one side? (4)
EDGE – double definition
28 Horse given Scylla with deed (10)
CLYDESDALE – anagram of SCYLLA DEED. With no anagram indicator?! And a clue with no surface sense that could have been generated by a sloppy computer program.
DOWN
2 Slow bowler may be potted (7)
LOBSTER – double/cryptic definition. I like the cryptic definition (“could be potted”) here but, while “slow bowler” accurately defines ‘lobster’, the use of the word in this sense is way out of date. Certainly unknown to me. It seems that before bowling in cricket was standardized to the form known today, bowlers could lob the ball and those who did were sometimes called lobsters.
3 Backing for theatrical performances authorised by ghost (5)
SPOOK – OPS (theatrical performances) reversed + OK (authorised). I take it that ‘theatrical performances’ here refers to ones in an operating theatre.
4 Be quiet during conflict with South African relation in US loo (8)
WASHROOM – SH (be quiet) in WAR (conflict) + OOM (South African relation). Did anyone out there (except maybe a South African) know this word ‘oom’? I gather it is a South African word for uncle.
5 A French father keeps small boy to a line such as calling one a liar (15)
UNPARLIAMENTARY – UN (a French) + LIAM (small boy) in PARENT (father) + A (a) + RY (line, as in railway line). Why is Liam a small boy rather than just a boy?
6 Ridicule returning colour to fish (6)
DERIDE – RED (colour) backwards + IDE (fish). ‘Ide’ is not a commonly known fish but a good one to keep in mind for these puzzles.
7 Hairstyle for day with changes among strings (6,3)
FRIGHT WIG – FRI (day) + anagram of WITH in GG (strings)
8 One that would kill and boo? (7)
SPOONER – cryptic definition? This clue must refer to the expression “bill and coo” (meaning to sweet-talk and kiss, like some birds). So we have SPOONER as someone who would say “kill and boo” — only there is no “say” here — and SPOONER as someone who spoons (very similar to bills and coos). So perhaps not a perfect clue but a masterfully clever one nonetheless.
14 Rebel keeps quiet permanently in westernmost Africa (4,5)
CAPE VERDE – P (quiet) + EVER (permanently) together in CADE (rebel). Jack Cade was the leader of a popular revolt in 1450 during the reign of King Henry VI of England. Fortunately I remembered the name from history lessons although I could not have told you what he did.
16 Abandon formality of funereal dress, with zeal swapping parts? (8)
UNFREEZE – anagram of FUNERE[al ZE[al]. At first I thought this swapping business was rather clever. Later I decided it was just a nuisance, firstly because it is not clear how many letters have to be swapped, and secondly because it does not buy anything. If it led to some stunning surface sense then it would be great.
18 University is difficult with variation in admittance (7)
HARVARD – VAR (variation) in HARD (difficult)
20 What the cat said to the reaper recorded in show (7)
MUSICAL – MU (homophone of “mew” – what the cat said) + SICKLE (homphone of “sickle” – reaper). It is rare that a homophone is perfect and I do not expect one to be so. Nevertheless, ‘sickle’ for ‘[mu]sical’ is scraping the bottom of the barrel, don’t you think?
21 Quote me back – it will make one sick (6)
EMETIC – CITE (quote) + ME (me) all backwards
24 Copper’s marriage symbol could come to 27 (5)
CU (copper) + BED (marriage symbol). What is the definition here? “Could come to 27?” Not a reference to 27A but just the integer. “Three cubed could come to 27.” Does not sound right. “X cubed could come to 27”. Well, any rational number has a cube root. Okay, 27 is a particularly recognizable cube in being the cube of a small integer but still…
I also had reservations about 24D. I thought that ‘3’ should have been mentioned in the clue eg when 3 became 27.
Thanks to Pete for the blog
I think you’ve missed the other sense of SPOONER in 8d. One who spoons does (not says) bill and coo, while the Rev. Spooner would render this “kill and boo.” Works for me.
Apart from these minor criticisms we should, above all, be happy and thankful to be given another puzzle by Cinephile.
Recently, the editor of the Guardian told the world that Mr Graham was too ill to write a Bank Holiday special.
Therefore, I was all the more surprised, no – delighted, to see an Araubetical in last Saturday’s Guardian.
These are hard times for the UK’s most famous setter but it felt good to see C & A pop up again!
Sil, Yes indeed, thank you. You leave me feeling bad for not saying something myself to the effect of being grateful that we still have the reverend and his puzzles with us. I had not known about the Bank Holiday special. As I have said often, I am willing to criticise his crosswords but I am a great fan of many years standing.
Ian, Thank you for pointing that out about SPOONER. That meaning, “one who spoons”, actually occurred to me when I solved the clue but I guess I forgot about it when I wrote the blog. I am now going to amend my criticism of 8d and make it more positive.
Ernie, yes, thanks. A mention of 3 would have done it.
Surely, the definition of Stoker is “Vampires were subject” rather than “Vampires were subject to”?
AdamH, Hmm, interesting question. Certainly one could interpret “Vampires were subject” as the definition and “to” as a link word. However I do not see that that makes for a better clue. Am I missing something?
Apologies for the late comment, but as a lapsed microbiologist I can confirm that you are right about 13a, Pete.
Bacteria are named using the same Latin binomial system as plants and animals, so in the case of E. coli, Escherichia (abbreviated to E.) is the genus, and coli is the species. The clue was perfectly gettable, though, and I don’t suppose many will have spotted the error.
Tom_I, Thank you for chiming in and clearing that up.
I agree with most of your criticsms Pete. 28ac struck me as dreadful — missing an anagram indicator and the surface quite remarkably feeble. In 4dn I had actually heard of an oom, but through barred crosswords and perhaps a daily puzzle like this is the wrong place for it. And in 24dn yes I agree with Ernie@1 that 3 should have been mentioned.
The good reverend is clearly a quite delightful person and we obviously all wish him well in his present ill-health. But our liking for the man should not prevent us from judging his crosswords by the high standards that he has set.