Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of October 18, 2014
This was a quick and easy solve for me. My top clues are 25a (MERGANSER) and 5d (WHISTLE-BLOWER).
ACROSS
1 Exact time to interrupt kiss (4,2)
SPOT ON – T (time) in SPOON (kiss)
4 Activate bad speller in boy (6,2)
SWITCH ON – WITCH (bad speller!) in SON (boy)
9 Old saw (5)
DATED – double definition
10 First to prove after terrible crash, tin helmet securer? (9)
CHINSTRAP – anagram of CRASH TIN + P[rove]
11 Male in tights rent asunder (7)
DANSEUR – anagram of ASUNDER
12 Slow down, no thanks to metal behind vehicle (7)
TRAMMEL – TRAM (vehicle) + ME[ta]L (no thanks to metal)
13 Block vessels in retreat (4)
STOP – POTS (vessels) backwards
14 Free-for-all in vehicle, one driving in the desert (8)
CAMELEER – MELEE (free-for-all) in CAR (vehicle)
17 Confusion about sides in rhombi – this having one fewer? (8)
TRIANGLE – R[homb]I in TANGLE (confusion)
19 Ring placed backwards (4)
DIAL – LAID (placed) backwards
22 Artier broadcast touring classy old Italian region (7)
ETRURIA – U (classy) in anagram of ARTIER
24 Cosmetic substance from tungsten and a lot of bananas (4,3)
WOOL FAT – W (tungsten) + anagram of A LOT OF
25 Opener for England right after Germans out for a duck (9)
MERGANSER – anagram of GERMANS + E[ngland) + R (right). Clever use of cricket terms to make a smooth surface.
26 Body temperature measured roughly (5)
TORSO – T (temperature) + OR SO (measured roughly)
27 Delivery finally on order is terribly insulting (8)
DERISORY – anagram of ORDER IS + [deliver]Y
28 Greek ship-launcher west of a US state capital (6)
HELENA – HELEN (Greek ship-launcher) + A (a). Helena is the capital of Montana.
DOWN
1 Extra tasty thing, face on beauty (4,4)
SIDE DISH – SIDE (face) + DISH (beauty)
2 A couple of dismissals in total (3-3-3)
OUT-AND-OUT – OUT AND OUT (a couple of dismissals)
3 Those in a parlour getting head shaved a lot (6)
OODLES – [p]OODLES
5 Grass wet, brollies out after wind and hail for starters (7-6)
WHISTLE-BLOWER – W[ind] + H[ail] + anagram of WET BROLLIES
6 Having the will, set up location for art (7)
TESTATE – SET (set) backwards + TATE (location for art)
7 Boxer overcoming male in female quarters (5)
HAREM – HARE (boxer) + M (male)
8 Long-distance runner drinking pint after pint initially, as source of milk (6)
NIPPLE – P[int] + P[int] in NILE (long-distance runner!)
10 Change of air in the end with Queen opening event (7-6)
CURTAIN-RAISER – anagram of AIR in CURTAINS (the end) + ER (Queen)
15 Above church, check for further support (9)
REINFORCE – REIN (check) + FOR (for) + CE (church)
16 God enters request for abundance (8)
PLETHORA – THOR (god) in PLEA (request)
18 Sudden attacks in part of Greece discussed (7)
INROADS – homophone (“in Rhodes”)
20 River before sea is considered (6)
DEEMED – DEE (river) + MED (sea)
21 Nerve that’s hit by a heavy drinker? (6)
BOTTLE – double definition
23 Five in number are required – more unlikely (5)
RARER – hidden word
An enjoyable solve.
23D – the ‘five’ at the start of the clue is presumably telling us to take five hidden letters from what follows but we already knew from the enumeration that we were looking for a five-letter word.
Thanks to Mudd and Pete
Why is a hare a boxer in 7a–thanks
In 7a why is a hare a boxer? thanks
oldham, Thanks for commenting. I think I should perhaps have explained this matter. Wikipedia does it well, saying:
Gave up with 14a,22a, 24a 25a and 18d unsolved so not easy for me.
14a, 22a and 25a were unknown and I’d never have got them.
I am not sure if I ever came across the word CAMELEER before but it was easy for me to guess. ETRURIA and MERGANSER I knew. I think it helps to know the names of some ducks; they seem to come up a lot.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
A welcome relief this one … have struggled with quite a few puzzles this week – both with FT and Guardian (thankfully don’t have the time for Independent !)
Didn’t know about the boxing ritual of hares … I’d plumped for the boxer James Hare (a Brit middleweight fighter) although he doesn’t look as if he has been that prominent !
Had beheaded ‘noodles’ at 3d and wondered about the parlour bit – ‘poodles’ makes much more sense.
Cameleers were prominent in early Australian history up in the northern parts – there’s still a lot of feral camels running around up there today!
Liked the ‘Greek ship launcher’ and the two long down clues.
I was about to post and say that this crossword hadn’t been blogged. I did it very late in the day this morning and the paper says that it’s 14765. Then I looked at this because I thought that there was an outside chance that it would be the right one and it was.