Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of April 18
A nice, moderately difficult puzzle from Cinephile with a memorable clue in 3D. I was stumped on 10A for a while as I was unfamiliar with the term “pack drill”.
Across
1. SUSPEND – US (America) reversed + SPEND (save the economy?)
9. AIMER – double definition (“aimer” is French for to love)
10. PACK DRILL – PACK (wolves) + BABOON (drill). Technically I believe that the baboon is not a drill. Close though.
11. OFFENSIVE – O (round) + FENS (low ground) in FIVE (number)
12. ALONG – hidden word
13, 5. SANTA BARBARA – TA (volunteers) + BAR BAR (pubs) in SANA (Arab capital). Sana (more commonly spelt Sanaa, I believe) is the capital of Yemen.
15. ARMADILLO – A (a) + R (royal) + MAD (out of his mind) + ILL (sick) + O (love). I spotted an armadillo once at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
18. POLAR BEAR – anagram of PARABLE OR
19. DAVID – D (died) + AVID (wanting too much)
21. ANGEL – cryptic definition
25. HOT POTATO – HOT POT (stew) + [tom]ATO
26. ACCRA – AC (Bill) + anagram of CAR
27. ROYALTY – double definition
28. SANDPIT – S (southern) + AND (also) + PIT (part of theatre)
Down
1, 23. SEASONS GREETINGS – SEASONS (salt) + GREETINGS (tears in Scotland)
2. SEMIFINAL – IF (if) in SEMINAL (of major importance)
3. ENRON – &lit. with R (right) in NONE (none) reversed
4. DUPLICATE – D (number) + UP (up) + CAT (cat) in LIE (story)
5. BOCHE – homophone (“bosh”)
6. RED-HANDED – cryptic definition
7. AMIGO – AM I (Is Cinephile) + GO (ready to act)
8. ALLEGRO – ALL (completely) + [n]EGRO (black except for the head)
14. APRIL FOOL – [c]APRI (Conservation leaving island) + FOOL (sweet)
16. MURDERORS – anagram of RUMOURED + S[cotland]
17. LOVING CUP – V (5) + IN (in) in LOG (record) + C (100) + UP (winning)
18. POACHER – cryptic definition
20. DESCANT – DE (of French) + SCANT (not much)
22. GETTY – reference to the Gettysburg address. The name Getty is well known in San Francisco where I lived for many years. Sir John Paul Getty was educated in the city, made a fortune in the oil business and became a philanthropist.
23, 24. GRAVY TRAIN – GRAVY (what goes in a boat) + TRAIN (following)
Hi Pete
9ac is AIMER; an “aimer” is one who directs a missile and, translated from French, it means “to love.”
Aha! Yes, thank you.
In the published answers 16d is MURDEROUS, not murderors. Even with the answers I needed your explanations so thanks!
Liz
Pete’s wordplay is correct *(RUMOURED) S[cotland] which gives MURDEROUS. Unfortunately he has a typo in his answer, which of course correctly spelt would be ‘murderers’ and this would clash with 25a.