Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of June 27, 2015
Here we have another great puzzle from Mudd. My clue of the week is the &lit. 12a (CUBA). Other excellent clues are 31a (THORAX), 6d (DEFINITION) and 18d (HASTINGS).
ACROSS
1 Tom given low grade, as bad speller (6)
HECATE – HE CAT (tom) + E (low grade)
4 Half absorbed by great book that’s going viral? (8)
EPIDEMIC – DEMI (half) in EPIC (great book)
10 Confident priest in diatribe (7)
RELIANT – ELI (priest) in RANT (diatribe)
11 Pleasant story by Virginia Woolf, two endings (7)
AFFABLE – [Virgini]A [Wool]F + FABLE (story)
12 Country, little one with autocratic leader (4)
CUBA – CUB (little one) + A[utocratic] &lit.
13 Where an American finds space to see leader in patrol, maybe? (7,3)
PARKING LOT – KING (leader) in anagram of PATROL
16 Are you sure? Very! (6)
REALLY – double definition
17 Arrange to get fat eating belly of pork (4,3)
SORT OUT – [p]OR[k] in STOUT (fat)
20 River, river to river, ebbing (7)
POTOMAC – PO (river) + TO (to) + CAM (river) reversed. I am very familiar with all three rivers concerned but wonder if I would ever solve this clue without some checked letters.
21 Manx feline and cat going in opposite directions – one could go either way (4-2)
TOSS UP – TO[m] (Manx feline) + PUSS (cat)
24 Cell in boring crime (3,7)
DRY BATTERY – DRY (boring) + BATTERY (crime)
25 Philanthropist finally put in charge for charity function (4)
FETE – [philanthropis]T in FEE (charge)
27 Bend in roots, twisting (7)
TORSION – anagram of IN ROOTS
29 Tired and beaten (7)
WHACKED – double definition
30 Lewd nature in French dramatist sucks when vacant (8)
RACINESS – RACINE (French dramatist) + S[uck]S
31 Girl marked position of the buried treasure chest (6)
THORAX – THORA (girl) + X (marked position of the buried treasure)
DOWN
1 Pieces of broken brick and stone, filthy when dashed? (8)
HARDCORE -double definition, the latter being when hyphenated (hard-core)
2 Triumphant beating of tabor breaking sticks (11)
CELEBRATORY – anagram of TABOR in CELERY (sticks)
3 A bit upset? It’s a trick (4)
TRAP – PART (a bit) backwards (upset)
5 Seafood – fool needing a lot (8)
PLANKTON – PLANK (fool) + TON (a lot)
6 Final contribution from Mudd, I fit one in cryptically? (10)
DEFINITION – anagram of [mud]D I FIT ONE IN
7 Plebs tick first of boxes (3)
MOB – MO (tick) + B[oxes]
8 Mould – container required to keep in shape, ultimately (6)
CREATE – [shap]E in CRATE (conatiner)
9 Animal perfectly squashed by foot of Tyrannosaurus (5)
STOAT – [Tyrannosauru]S + TO A T (perfectly)
14 Old user struggling to maintain top audio equipment (11)
LOUDSPEAKER – PEAK (top) in anagram of OLD USER
15 Quota in place under a Liberal (10)
ALLOCATION – A (a) + L (Liberal) + LOCATION (place)
18 Battle with companion of a solver? (8)
HASTINGS – double definition (the second referring to Hercule Poirot’s sidekick)
19 Extra notes a page before the back, among pictures (8)
APPENDIX – A (a) + P (page) + END (back) in PIX (pictures)
22 Ruler describing the same, heartless, publisher (6)
EDITOR – DI[t]TO (the same, heartless) in ER (ruler)
23 Fighting between leaders in legendary battle, up for a fight (5)
BRAWL – WAR (bfighting) in L[egendary] B[attle] all backwards (up)
26 Attempt to strike hard (4)
BASH – double definition
28 Legendary giant confection from Blackpool, say? (3)
ROC – homophone (“rock”)
My paper says it was set by Goliath, not Mudd?
Struggled. Liked Potomac which I got with only one cross letter, and Stoat. Guessed Editor but couldn’t work out why, got Racine as the French dramatist but couldn’t get it to fit an answer, and otherwise did not do well getting only half the answers. Thanks as ever Peter for doing the job for me!
A had more blanks than I would have hoped for , failing on 13a, 20a , 21a (thought I was looking for a palindrone)3d, 6d, 8d and 18d .
I think 18d was really hard -I wonder how many knew that.
You raise a good point about 18d. It would be tough even for some people familiar with the Hercule Poirot stories and a big challenge for those that do not.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Started this last Friday and must admit that I struggled more than I usually do with this setter and only finished it off this evening. Had problems, particularly up in the NE corner, where it took an age to get a foothold. Eventually worked out EPIDEMIC by thinking of solutions to ‘viral’. MOB quickly followed, but then more thinking time required until PLANKTON submitted and eventually the rest with DEFINITION the last one in.
Had a couple initially entered wrongly in the SE as well – WEARIED instead of WHACKED (thinking that it was pretty weak) and CLAM UP instead of TOSS UP (looking at a backward ‘puma’). Come to think of it, I also had HECUBA instead of HECATE at 1a (but I guess A doesn’t really cut it as a low grade!) 🙂 So … no wonder it was hard work !!
Lots of good stuff when reflecting after it was over – and then wondering why it caused so much trouble.
Ah, that’s interesting; I also got stuck in the top-left for a while by confusing HECUBA and HECATE.
To difficult for me, lots of gaps. Thank goodness for Pete.