Looks like my honeymoon period of blogging is over. This was a monumental struggle which had me scrambling all over Chambers and Wikipedia.
It is not GAFF’s fault that I was unaware of the euphemisms for the theme word, but I think I managed to get there in the end. There might be some questions marks, so jump in to enlighten wherever I was done for.
I’m not a fan of puzzles which send solvers all over the place when reading clues to find an answer. So I relished the few non 1 down clues more. Nevertheless, thanks to GAFF for the extensive workout.
Definitions in clues are marked like this.
* anagram, + charade, – deletion, ~ sounds like, <= reversal, H hidden, DD double definition, CD cryptic definition
ACROSS
1 Mythical creature with diamond lead on (6) ENTICE [ENT + ICE]
4 Pressed lock to release culprits (4,4) SPIT CURL [CULPRITS]*
10, 7, 29 1 down is anguished with the piss-up I arranged (7,2,3,7) PUSHING UP THE DAISIES [ANGUISHED THE PISS-UP I]*
11 Delightful body sporting nothing (5,2) SWEET FA [SWEET + Football Association]
12 Finished epitaph for 1 down at the end (4) RIPE [RIP + thE]
13, 18 1 down has finished book on morality Church leader left with producer (4,2,4,3,5) GONE TO MEET HIS MAKER [GONE + TOME + ETHIcS + MAKER]
15 See 21
16, 3 1 down no longer burdened by inner remorse applies powder and grease (6,4) MORTAL COIL [reMORse + TALC + OIL]
20 Delicacy bird nibbled (6) TITBIT [TIT + BIT]
21, 15 1 down is to continue admitting free loft conversion provided (6,2,4) BEREFT OF LIFE [BE outside (FREE LOFT* + IF)]
24 Sticks to shipping explosive (6,4) LIMPET MINE [CD]
26 See 31
28 I don’t want starters eaten by inheritors tomorrow (3-4) MID-WEEK [I Don’t Want inside MEEK]
29 See 10
30 1 down’s state trampling Moonies under foot (2,2,4) IS NO MORE [MOONIES undeR]*
31, 26 1 down has left off option for prince (6,2,2) CEASED TO BE [CEASED + TO BE or not to be]
DOWN
1 Sketched polygon (2-6) EX-PARROT [CD] May be I’m missing something clever, otherwise I can muster no enthusiasm for connecting ‘ex-parrot’ to ‘polly gone’ to ‘polygon’ without a sounds like indicator.
2 One highly likely to find fault with kites? (4,5) TEST PILOT [CD]
3 See 16
5 1 down has old-fashioned academic (6,2) PASSED ON [PASSE + DON]
6 Blasts rip-roaring decade (3,7) THE FORTIES [DD]
7 See 10
8 Shed every other illegal notion (4-2) LEAN-TO [iLlEgAl NoTiOn]
9 Where to find lapse in coverage of radio? (5) IGLOO (Place for ~Lapps)
14 Where another ship may be // getting it wrong (3,3,4) OFF THE BEAM [DD]
17, 27 Insisted I lose orientation as passing goldfish does (4,2,3,4) LIES ON ITS SIDE [INSISTED I LOSE]*
18 See 13
19 Freaked out by climbing courses (8) STRESSED [DESSERTS]<=
22 Students earlier involved in maul (6) ALUMNI [IN MAUL]*
23 Nasty tin fish (5) SNIDE [Chemical symbol for tin SN + IDE]
25 Bits of salami do nothing for one trying to stop the runs (3-2) MID-ON [H]
27 See 17
Thanks Bhavan and Gaff,
Re EX-PARROT – I think in the context of a puzzle themed around direct quotes from the sketch in question, the absence of a sounds like indicator is fine.
I thought this was great fun. I didn’t help myself by entering “dragon” at 1 across, but sorted that out in the end. I especially liked the clue for MID-WEEK.
Gaff does it again. (He always does.) I admit that it was my live-in Nina spotter who got me the rather wonderful gateway clue, and then I was away. I liked meek as inheritors and to be as option for prince. And much more.
Perhaps it was expecting too much when I went hunting for ‘joined the choir invisible’ and ‘shagged out after a long squawk’.
Thanks Bhavan and Gaff,
Thanks Gaff and Bhavan
I don’t often do FT puzzles, but having finished today’s graun Brummie quickly (for me anyway) I was lured by the description of this as a monumental struggle, as the graun blog wasn’t up yet.
I was about half-way through when I realised that we had another puzzle themed around Monty Python’s dead parrot sketch (there was one in the graun recently too), so things sped up: I guess this one may be timed to coincide with the run of shows in London?
Good fun anyhow
Like Conrad I was looking for the rest of the sketch. Guessed 1d immediately but didn’t put it in until my first 10a etc as my first to go in.
knowing the first reunion show is tonight probably helped.
Thanks Bhavan, just you wait for Io or Monk…
Sorry that this made you suffer, Bhavan…
…this crossword is the unsatisfactory result of a setter trying to be too clever.
Selece @ 15
In the light of this site’s policy that “The reason for any dissatisfaction should be clearly indicated” could you expand on that please
Simon S.
This was impossible to solve without obscure Tolkien knowledge for 1ac, having knowledge of just one verse of the New Testament for 28ac and knowledge of a single forty year old TV comedy sketch for most of the rest. 2dn just seemed a very weak clue, and the homophone indicator in 9dn doesn’t work for me.
Thanks Selece
I suspect that we may have to agree to differ (and, OK, I’m of a certain age), but for me:
I got 2A from the crossers, so didn’t need any Tolkien knowledge
The single verse for 28A is pretty well known – I’ve been an atheist for >45 years and I’m aware of it – I thought it was an inspired sideways move without being too contrived
Ref the 40 year old sketch, the Pythons have been repeated on TV many times and are readily available on DVD. They are doing a much publicised (it made the entertainment page of the BBC news website only yesterday) ‘farewell’ run of live shows in London at the moment, which makes them pretty topical. And the dead parrot sketch is one of their best known, and was also (as I alluded to in my first comment) the subject of a themed Guardian crossword in May, timed to coincide with the announcement of the shows
2D & 9D I can see the objections, but they don’t worry me overmuch (ie I solved ’em & worked out why)
Horses for courses? 🙂
[Sorry, delayed because the captcha 8+8=16 didn’t work]
Well,Bhavan, I think you are a genius !I struggled and I tried everything, but with no results. At all.Well done. I have been having a go at the FT crossword for a few months now and this is my first total failure (I usually get 3/4 or 5/6 or all).if this is Gaff’s normal type of crossword , I won’t go near it again in a hurry.
Muffyword @1, DRAGON was my initial thought too, but luckily didn’t fit the wordplay.
flashling @4, I’m counting on the time zone advantage when I meet more challenging setters!
Selece @5, like I said at the beginning, I’m not fond of recursively reading clues to find answers. If it wasn’t my turn to blog today, I might not have even persevered with the puzzle to be honest.
Simon S @8, for someone with a better understanding/appreciation of the theme than I, this must have been a lot of fun.
grimalkin @9, hang in there. I’m meeting some of these setters for the first time too, so don’t yet have any strong opinions one way or the other.
Just one more thing.
My final (non-) entry was IGLOO (9d).
I am happy with the homophone indicator but since when do Lapps live in igloos?
Lapps live in Northern Scandinavia. Ever seen an igloo there.
Eskimos live (perhaps) in igloos.
A case of mistaken identities?
A themed puzzle always runs the risk of being unsatisfactory for solvers who are unfamiliar with the theme, so even a theme as familiar this will miss the mark with some solvers. In order to disappoint no-one, however, one would have to forsake themes altogether which, it seems to me, would be a shame as they provide the opportunity to provide an additional dimension to the solving entertainment. Creating a puzzle with thematic content (even if shagged out after a long squawk wouldn’t fit!) takes a lot of time and effort and it is done to entertain and not to appear clever. And if you are going to restrict your clues to be soluble even by those who don’t know that the meek shall inherit the earth, then your clues are going to be very dull indeed!
Well done to Bhavan for an excellent analysis, apparently achieved without getting the Python connection.
Loved this, thought it a work of genius. Brilliant timing and i especially liked midweek, which showed great timing, and forethought. Did not get titbits though, despite having half the letters!
Thanks Gaff and Bhavan
Only a recent FT solver too – this is my third puzzle by this setter and all of them have been a delight!!
I was stuck for ages to get the theme … even after getting PASSED ON, it didn’t twig. It was only after getting GONE TO MEET HIS MAKER and realising that DRAGON was wrong that the Monty Python sketch lit up. The puzzle broke open after that with IGLOO and the tenuous Lapps my last in.
Thoroughly enjoyed it.