Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of September 26, 2015
After being wowed by Goliath’s last Weekend puzzle, I found this one a bit frustrating. As usual it has some good clues but also some difficulties and obscure references. My clue of the week is 5a (STIFFS) and I also especially like 16a (IWO JIMA) and 24a (OWING). I have a few quibbles. Always assuming that my understanding of the clues is correct, the answer to 9,10 is a term I had never heard of while the clue has wordplay some of which I can make no sense of; 12a (STATUS QUO) involves a fairly obscure reference; and there is something in 22d (ATTAIN) that I do not understand.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CARDAMOM |
Season with this unfolding drama: income reduced (8)
Anagram of DRAMA in COM[e] |
| 5 | STIFFS |
Several dead as a result of quarrel on board (6)
TIFF (quarrel) in SS (on board) |
| 9, 10 | BIG GIRLS BLOUSE |
Clue to father’s top sissy (3,5,6)
BIG GIRLS (fat…hers) + BLOUSE (top). This was a tough clue for me because, even with all the crossing letters in place, I had no idea of an answer although I did suspect that the last word might be blouse. A friend helped me with BIG GIRL’S BLOUSE (thanks, Bob) which is a phrase that means ‘sissy’ but which I have never come across before. Originally I failed to see how BIG GIRLS was clued and am grateful to Muffyword for explaining it (see comment 1 below). |
| 12 | STATUS QUO |
Source of Caroline’s current situation (6,3)
Double definition. The pop group Status Quo (which I remember from way back) had a minor hit named “Caroline” (which I determined only with some searching). |
| 13 |
See 11 Down
|
|
| 14, 19 | DIRE STRAITS |
Artists and musicians (4,7)
Reverse anagram for ARTISTS. I wish Goliath would include some indication of the reverseness in such a clue. |
| 16 | IWO JIMA |
It was one Japanese island marines attacked at first (3,4)
Acrostic &lit. |
| 19 |
See 14
|
|
| 21 | QUOD |
Which Latin prison? (4)
Double definition. I remembered that the Latin word for ‘which’ was something like QUID or QUOD but I do not recall ever coming across ‘quod’ meaning prison. |
| 24 | OWING |
Outstanding somehow, in gymnastics (5)
Hidden word |
| 25 | IDIOMATIC |
Like cats and dogs for hard mother, daft on the outside (9)
MA (mother) in IDIOTIC (daft) |
| 27 | IN-TRAY |
Train crash on the 4th of July: there’s work to be done (2-4)
Anagram of TRAIN + [jul]Y |
| 28 | HANDRAIL |
Support taking steps for both sides to honour ahead of trouble (8)
H AND R (both sides to honour) + AIL (trouble) |
| 29 | NICEST |
Rue being the best (6)
NICE ST[reet] (rue being the best). ‘Rue’, meaning street, is of course basically a French word but it also appears in English dictionaries. I am unable to decide whether this is an especially clever clue or a slightly deficient one. Please comment if you will. |
| 30 | EYELINER |
Look at ship’s make-up (8)
EYE (look at) + LINER (ship) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | CUBISM |
Every other crumb hid some 18 movement (6)
C[r]U[m]B[h]I[d]S[o]M[e] |
| 2 | REGGAE |
After discord, agree to admit grunge primarily is music (6)
G[runge] in anagram of AGREE |
| 3 | ADIEU |
What’s cast in gold is so long! (5)
DIE (what’s cast) in AU (gold) |
| 4 | OBLIQUE |
Sounds dreary if love goes indirect (7)
Homophone (“bleak”) |
| 6 | TELEPHOTO |
Lens used to see someone’s bottom in top hotel wobbling (9)
[someon]E in anagram of TOP HOTEL |
| 7 | FAUX NAIF |
Ten animals outside provided (not as simple as suggested) (4,4)
X (ten) in FAUNA (animals) + IF (provided) |
| 8 | SKELETAL |
Wasted introduction to Shakespeare, Keats, Edward Lear and others (8)
S[hakespeare] K[eats] E[dward] L[ear] + ET AL (and others) |
| 11, 20, 21 down, 13 | HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE |
Motto of Homo Sapiens: “quietly in evolution” (4,4,3,3,1,5)
Anagram of HOMO SAPIENS QUIETLY IN. A great find! The motto in question is that of the Order of the Garter and means, “May he be shamed who thinks badly of it”.
|
| 15 | ISINGLASS |
Carol, girl supporting compiler, gets some jelly (9)
I (compiler) + SING (carol) + LASS (girl) |
| 17 | ESTONIAN |
Schoolboy assimilating southern language (8)
S (southern) in ETONIAN (schoolboy) |
| 18 | ARTISTIC |
“Heart” is “ticker”? That’s not completely creative! (8)
Hidden word |
| 20 |
See 11
|
|
| 21 |
See 11
|
|
| 22 | ATTAIN |
Regatta insurance within reach? The opposite! (6)
Hidden word. But, if this is correct, I cannot understand what role “The opposite!” plays. ‘Reach’ can serve perfectly well as a definition of attain but I suppose there is also a sense in which ‘reach’ can mean to try to attain something without succeeding. However in the latter sense, I do not see ‘attain’ meaning the opposite. |
| 23 | OCULAR |
Viewer’s top comic (6)
[j]OCULAR (top comic) |
| 26 | MEDAL |
Said to interfere with prize (5)
Homophone (“meddle”) |
Thanks Pete and Goliath,
I think Goliath has used ‘lift and separate” in 1 ac and 9/10:
*(drama) in com(e)
and fat her top (the top or blouse of a female of elevated BMI).
Regarding ATTAIN 22d: The clue means that reach or attain is within regatta insurance rather than the opposite.
Muffyword, Thank you — I totally should have seen that in 1ac. But I don’t understand your comment about 22d — sorry.
By the way, a couple of days ago I heard the expression “big girl’s blouse” used in conversation in an episode of Downton Abbey.
Regatta insurance is not within reach, but reach (attain) is (hidden) within regatta insurance. Unusually, you actually have to pay heed to the surface reading.
Thanks Pete and Goliath and Muffyword fir the parsing if 9/10 and 1ac.
New words for me were QUOD for prison and ISINGLASS jelly.
I thought that the clues for DIRE STRAITS and SKELETAL were excellent and enjoyed STIFFS at 5.
Somewhat dismayed at having 3 simple hidden words – OWING, ARTISTIC and ATTAIN – in one puzzle but there are worse sins so thanks.
29a rue is a street in Nice (city in France) so the clue works for me.
Thanks to Pete and Muffyword
I absolutely loathed this. As soon as I saw who was the setter panic set in. Needless to say I didn’t finish it even though I found 2 mire answers yesterday. Totally did not get the Latin quote so gaps anyway even after trying Google to find anything useful. I did get status quo as I vaguely remembered sweet Caroline!! But Dire Straits??? Where’s the Dire from??? 7d never heard of it. Didn’t get 25a and seeing the answer still don’t think I would of got it. I was thinking raining cats and dogs or fighting like cats and dogs. So the next Goliath I will totally avoid as they give me no pleasure only irritation. Sorry my moan is so long but UTStarcom been on the boil a while.
Darn predictive text doesn’t even make sense should read ‘but it has been’ Thank you for trying to explain the answers much appreciated.
Hi Karen, STRAITS is an anagram of ARTISTS – and hence ‘DIRE’.
I took one at the clues and on seeing 11,20,21,13 and 1d requiring the answer to 18, I decided not to bother. I’m glad I didn’t or I think my experience would have been that of Karen at 6. 7d and 15d would have finished me off
My fellow citizen really divided opinions ‘today’.
As ever, I liked Goliath’s brainchild a lot.
I missed the (what some call) ‘lift & separate’ device in 9,10ac.
I should have known better – it’s Goliath, after all.
Agree, Pete, that DIRE STRAITS needed some kind of indication like just a question mark.
And I actually think that ‘musicians’ are ‘artists’, so for me “Artists? (4,7)” would have been even better.
No problem to find the solution – it was in my cryptic notebook for quite a while.
And Tramp (or his alter ego Jambazi – dunno) did something similar not so long ago.
‘Caroline’ obscure or a minor hit for the Quo?
Don’t think so.
In the end, it’s all about what you know and what you like but ‘Caroline’ was a massive hit for the boys.
A kind of signature tune of their oeuvre.
I’m afraid I cannot see a hidden indicator in 24ac – can anyone?
And while I enjoyed this puzzle, I still don’t get what’s going on 4d.
I see O (love) and the homophone for ‘bleak’ but other than that?
Thanks Pete (& Goliath).
Thanks Goliath and Pete.
Sil@10 re 24ac: The indicator is “some”: an unsignalled splitting of the clue word “some/how” analogous to “in/come” in 1ac.
4dn: The clue is saying that if O is removed from the answer (“love goes”), then the remainder sounds like “bleak” (= “dreary”).
Thanks PB, that makes sense.
Having said that, I know that Goliath (aka Philistine) likes his libertarian trickery.
Yet, for some reason, I do accept ‘in/come’ more than ‘some/how’.
There’s perhaps no real difference but the latter feels like one step too far for me.
Guardian adepts may love it – I am, however, not sure what to think of it.
Thanks Goliath and Pete
Two harder prize puzzles last week …
Sorry that a couple of you guys didn’t like it … you should persist with him, get used to his style and I’m sure that you will eventually get to appreciate his puzzles.
Find that there is always learning from them – this one brought the Latin motto and the French term, FAUX NAIF. Couldn’t remember the Status Quo hit ‘Caroline’ either.
Saw the lift & separate eventually with CARDOMOM (3rd last in), but the one in BIG GIRL’S BLOUSE (2nd last in) was too good for me – pity, because it was even better !!! Last in was the very clever FAUX NAIF.
With 29a – it is a clever clue, which took a while to drop for me. A street in the city of Nice, France would of course be called a ‘rue’ by the folk who lived there.
Pleased I am not the only one who struggles with Goliath. Having said that I solved all but the SW corner. “Big girl’s blouse” and “quod” are both expressions locally used so I had no problem with them. Reverse cluing and split words however fool me. Got Iwo Jima early on (somehow) and, giving a four letter word ending in “i” made getting the motto easy though I did not realise that it was an anagram until I read these answers. Thank you as ever Pete.
So, there’s a lot of comments here as I suspected there would be. Thank you all for the input and feedback.
Like some others, I have difficulty with “lift and separate” mechanisms. I have seen them only a few times before. Unlike some other people I have come across, I do think they should be considered legitimate. But I still tend to miss them.
I sympathize with Karen and others who find Goliath forbidding. I do like reverse cluing but feel strongly that it should be indicated. And I am still struggling to understand 22d.
One more comment from me following some late consideration of 11,20,21d (HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE). Although I did not get it immediately, this seemed at first to be a bit of a give-away to me and one that helped a lot in providing some checked letters around the grid. But it seems this motto is not as well known as I would have guessed and is perhaps unfairly difficult for non-British solvers. One might even ask if it should be considered legitimate given that the words are old French and it may be that not a single one of them appears in an English dictionary.
Pete at #16
For what its worth the expression does appear in my old version of Chambers (at the back amongst the foreign phrases).
ernie, Thank you for that. I see now that it appears in my Chambers too, in that section at the back. Definitely a valuable observation, I think, but still one that may not decide the matter. Does the fact that the phrase appears in an English dictionary (and specifically in the the English dictionary that many cruciverbalists consider the reference one) mean that it is legit? Or does the very fact that it is relegated to the “foreign” section mean that it is not!? I lean to the former.
Hi Pete
The opposite of “regatta insurance within reach” is “reach within regatta insurance”.
If Goliath had just written the clue as “Reach within regatta insurance” – it becomes a trivial hidden word clue.
So he inverses the phrase to “Regatta insurance within reach?” and tells you to ‘un-inverse’ it with the comment “Just the opposite”. He can then turn the surface into a question as a bit of misdirection !
Hope that helps …
brucew, It does help. Thank you! I finally understand it now.
Thanks for explanations on all I didn’t understand.
There’s an interesting exchange on the Crossword Centre Message Board on the subject of ‘lift and separate’ (although one point that is made is that ‘lift and separate’, which was a term coined by Mark Goodliffe, is being misused when people refer to the unindicated splitting of a word). I am rather on the side of the traditionalists. Where will it all end?
This is a thorny issue. As the practice is endorsed by The Guardian and at least allowed by the FT, it is unlikely to go away. And I can see an argument for allowing it: solving cryptic clues often involves re-punctuating them and one could well argue that spaces are punctuation just as much as commas and colons are. But there does seem to be a real problem in that it can go too far.