| Across | ||
| 1 | HOBART |
Pub in torrid island capital (6)
BAR (pub) in HOT (torrid) |
| 4 | SOMALIAN |
Arrest prophet, revolutionary African (8)
NAIL (arrest) + AMOS (prophet) all backwards |
| 9 | TOO BAD |
Daughter has a shoe the wrong way round – never mind (3,3)
D (daughter) + A (a) + BOOT (shoe) all backwards |
| 10 | TESTATOR |
One with a will to try a hill (8)
TEST (try) + A (a) + TOR (hill) |
| 12 | MEAN |
Average is tight (4)
Double definition |
| 13 | TAMPA |
Tinker reported in US city (5)
Homophone (“tamper”) |
| 14 | EMMA |
Covers torn off, tool returned book (4)
[h]AMME[r] (tool with covers torn off) backwards |
| 17 | INCOMPARABLE |
Story on wages not entirely without equal (12)
INCOM[e] (wages not entirely) + FABLE (story) |
| 20 | ECCLESIASTES |
Book is about a retro group east of Greater Manchester town (12)
ECCLES (Greater Manchester town) + A (a) in IS (is) backwards + SET (group) backwards |
| 23 | QUID |
Small amount of dough, something to chew on (4)
Double definition |
| 24 | FLAIR |
Bent, right around left (5)
L (left) in FAIR (right) |
| 25 | PUMA |
First glimpse of pussy, I’m not sure a cougar (4)
P[ussy] + UM (I’m not sure) + A (a). Thanks to Sil for enlightening me on the UM part of this wordplay — see comments below. |
| 28 | AMERICAN |
US army came in, not my bombs! (8)
Anagram of AR[my] CAME IN |
| 29 | TAICHI |
Coda and note, both short, in slow movements (3,3)
TAI[l] (coda…short) + CHI[t] (note…short) |
| 30 | HARMLESS |
Safe house’s opening, short of members? (8)
H[ouse] + ARMLESS (short of members) |
| 31 | DINNER |
Starter of duck with private meal (6)
D[uck] + INNER (private) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | HATEMAIL |
Hamlet, I suspect, receives a communication sealed with venom? (4,4)
A (a) in anagram of HAMLET I |
| 2 | BROMANCE |
Country separating couple, not wanting a loving relationship between men (8)
OMAN (country) in BR[a]CE (couple not wanting a) |
| 3 | ROAN |
Horse galloped around ring (4)
O (ring) in RAN (galloped) |
| 5 | ONE-UPMANSHIP |
Narrowly ahead, staff on boat successfully outwitting opponents (3-9)
ONE UP (narrowly ahead) + MAN (staff) + SHIP (boat) |
| 6 | ACTS |
Top statistics for book (4)
[f]ACTS (top statistics). Is this right? Some people would strongly object thzt statistics are not facts! |
| 7 | INTIME |
Eventually, I’m here? (2,4)
I am unsure how the wordplay is supposed to work here. “I’m here” could simply indicate that IM appears in the answer. But that makes for an incomplete clue, albeit a rather cute one. It could also work as a double definition but, if it is that, then I see no reason for the question mark. |
| 8 | NORWAY |
Country never welcoming Russians, primarily (6)
R[ussians] in NO WAY (never) |
| 11 | PARALLEL BARS |
Swimmers grabbing everyone fit to climb gymnastic equipment (8,4)
ALL (everyone) + ABLE (fit) backwards in PARS (swimmers) |
| 15 | SMACK |
Blow – or heroin? (5)
Double definition |
| 16 | BLEAK |
Raw fish (5)
Double definition. But for the obscurity of the little freshwater fish called a bleak this is a stand-out clue! |
| 18 | ETRUSCAN |
Centaurs translated old language (8)
Anagram of CENTAURS |
| 19 | ESPALIER |
Garden frame, where rotten pear lies (8)
Anagram of PEAR LIES |
| 21 | SQUASH |
Force juice from fruit (6)
Double definition |
| 22 | LINEAR |
Going straight, one having lost head admitted to fraud (6)
[o]NE in LIAR (fraud) |
| 26 | VIAL |
Small glass container, nasty by the sound of it (4)
Homophone (“vile”) |
| 27 | BALI |
Island into cruciverbalism (4)
Hidden word |
Financial Times 14,980 by Mudd
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 11, 2015.
My clue of the week has to be 16d, “Raw fish”, (BLEAK) in spite of its use of a rather obscure meaning of the word (the name of a small freshwater fish). I also especially like 27d (BALI).
*anagram
25c: P[ussy] + UM (I’m not sure) + A
7d: yes, that’s it, Pete.
I’M is to be found in TIME – literally (without the apostrophe, of course).
Another great puzzle from Mudd. With two of the five letter clues with only two crossers – Bleak and Flair – the last ones in.
I parsed 7dn in exactly the same way and actually thought it first rate.
25ac was worthy of Mudd’s alter-ego.
So highly enjoyable and thanks again to Mudd and thanks also to Pete for the blog.
Not too many missing 1a,5d,
6d -as you say statistics are not facts and how does book =acts ? Something to do with booking turns in a working mens club?
7d,22d,24a and 26a -didn’t know the musical term meant end
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Typically enjoyable puzzle from Mudd which I only did yesterday in a couple of short stints. Ended up in the centre with three of the sparsely crossed 5-letter clues – SMACK, BLEAK and TAMPA the final ones in.
Liked the clever IN TIME and smiled at the Guardianesque Paul PUMA.
Nice to see HOBART make an appearance as an island capital … a gorgeous place where an English person would feel right at home with many classically preserved sandstone buildings and old stone bridges.
Bamberger, the Acts of the Apostles (abbreviated as ACTS) is the fifth book of the New Testament
I have made a couple of visits to Australia but did not make it as far as Tasmania. Hope to one day…
Never heard of 2 down and nor have my dictionaries!!!
Ah, yes, ‘bromance’ is I believe a word of recent coinage and one that I do not much like. Perhaps no print dictionaries include it yet but an online dictionary gives it the meaning of “a close but non-sexual relationship between two men.”