Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of September 13, 2014
The top-left of this puzzle was tricky but on the whole it was a jolly good one with some nifty clues, especially 8a (UNCANNY), 11a (SOUBRIQUET), 7d (WIMBLEDON) and 17d (PATELLA). I also like 1d (DINGO).
ACROSS
1 Cook’s type of art: originally cheeky and titillating (6)
DECOCT – DECO (type of art) + C[heeky] + T[itillating]. I had come across this word before and knew it meant something to do with cooking but could not have said exactly what. And even after looking it up I am not clear!
4 Use jaws to consume a second nut (6)
CASHEW – A (a) + S (second) together in CHEW (use jaws)
8 Strange, but not initially so, outside prison (7)
UNCANNY – CAN (prison) in [f]UNNY (strange, but not initially so)
9 Craftwork gets butter coated with spice (7)
MACRAME – RAM (butter!) in MACE (spice)
11 Alternative name for first and third parts of Respighi’s Boutique fantasque (10)
SOUBRIQUET – anagram of R[e]S[ighi] BOUTIQUE. Strictly speaking the piece in question is “La Boutique Fantasque” but we won’t quibble about that.
12 Little 16 showing bit of leg (4)
CALF – double definition (with 16 referring to ELEPHANT)
13 Eat too much Cheddar, perhaps (5)
GORGE – double definition
14 Point of contact welcoming return of domestic worm (8)
NEMATODE – TAME (domestic) backwards in NODE (point of contact)
16 Maybe Nellie crashed the plane (8)
ELEPHANT – anagram of THE PLANE
18 Symbol giving name to Puff the Magic Dragon? (5)
TOKEN – TOKE (Puff the Magic Dragon?) + N (name)
20 Dispute (about water sources?) (4)
SPAT – TAPS (water sources) backwards
21 Restrictive manoeuvres restricting birds to peninsula (10)
HOLDERNESS – ERNES (birds) in HOLDS (restrictive manoeuvres)
23 Nimbleness of soldier in Italy running amok (7)
AGILITY – GI (soldier) in anagram of ITALY
24 Divert with wonky tripods (7)
DISPORT – anagram of TRIPODS
25 Rogue female catching cold (6)
SCALLY – C (cold) in SALLY (female). ‘Scally’, probably short for scalawag, is a slang word for ‘rogue’.
26 Operator of hollow 13 across seized by whim losing head (6)
AGENCY – G[org]E (hollow 13 across) in [f]ANCY (whim losing head)
DOWN
1 Canine wrongdoing? (5)
DINGO – anagram of DOING
2 Convexity concealing 21 down room (7)
CHAMBER – H (21 down- HOTEL) in CAMBER (convexity)
3 Song of the French in Hispanic watering hole (9)
CANTILENA – LE (the French) in CANTINA (Hispanic watering hole). I had not come across this word before but guessed it from the wordplay and checked letters. It means a lyrical vocal or instrumental melody in a composition.
5 A role that’s distinct (5)
APART – A (a) + PART (role)
6 Hard fruit, not soft vegetable (7)
HARICOT – H (hard) + A[p]RICOT (fruit, not soft)
7 Mind bowel movement in tournament? (9)
WIMBLEDON – anagram of MIND BOWEL
10 Entrance restriction changes direction of domino, perhaps (9)
TURNSTILE – TURNS (changes direction of) + TILE domino, perhaps()
13 Hence omission gets a jailbird sent back to island group (9)
GALAPAGOS – SO (hence) + GAP (omission) + A (a) + LAG (jailbird) all backwards
15 Dynasty about to make statement (but not doing so very distinctly) (9)
MUTTERING – UTTER (to make statement) in MING (dynasty)
17 Dish involving T-bone (7)
PATELLA – T (T) in PAELLA (dish)
19 Top dog stirring pink gin (4-3)
KING-PIN – anagram of PINK GIN
21 Stop-off point when travelling back from Seattle to Harlem (5)
HOTEL – reverse hidden word
22 Ill-humoured, doubtless lacking energy (5)
SURLY – SUR[e]LY (doubtless lacking energy)
Yes, this was an excellent Dogberry puzzle.
I always like the kind of musical name-dropping as in 11ac.
But I don’t like double duty as applied in 8ac (even if the clue as such is nice).
Favourite was PATELLA (17d) in which Dogberry avoided any similarity to the famous Rufus clue.
BTW, Pete, the word “bone” should be underlined, not “Dish”.
The only one I didn’t understand was 18ac (TOKEN).
Any further explanation would be much appreciated.
Thanks for pointing out my error in 17d, now fixed.
I cannot offer any further explanation of 18a (TOKEN) and hope someone else can.
18a There is a theory that the children’s song Puff the Magic Dragon is about cannabis smoking but whatever toking is puffing the magic dragon.
Couldn’t get any of the NW nor 26a where I thought a peninsula was a ness and was trying to get something meaning restrictive manoeuvres by adding birds to ness.
18a Toke according to my Chambers is a puff on a cigarette especially one containing marijuana.
Peter Paul & Mary recorded the song ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ the lyrics of which were falsely interpreted as Bamberger says at 3#
Thanks to Pete and Dogberry
Yes, I took ‘toke’ to mean that straight away. A terrific crossword, well annotated by Pete. Thanks, Dogberry
Thanks Dogberry and Pete
Entertaining puzzle done early this morning. Finished up in the NW corner – DECOCT and DINGO the last couple to go in.
Didn’t manage to parse TOKEN, but think that it has been nailed in the above comments. Also had not heard of CANTILENA before.
Thought PATELLA was excellent !