I thought the puzzle today was on the tougher end of the Bradman spectrum. Nevertheless, it was an entertaining puzzle with a healthy mix of straight fixes, flirtatiously cryptic and the odd seemingly inscrutable clue. I did have a couple of quibbles which I have highlighted in the solve. Overall, a pleasant experience and a much deserved thanks to the Don.
FF: 9 DD: 9
| Across | ||
| 1 | DISCOMPOSURE | Old politician in party certain to generate unease (12) |
| { [ O (old) MP (politician) ] in DISCO (party) } SURE (certain) | ||
| 8 | OFFENDS | Leaving leftovers creates anger (7) |
| OFF (leaving) ENDS (leftovers) | ||
| 9 | STAMNOS | Boys crossing rug knocked over Greek jar (7) |
| SONS (boys) around MAT (rug), all reversed. I didnt know the word but the word play made it evident. | ||
| 11 | LAUNDER | Clean US city below (7) |
| LA (US city, Los Angeles) UNDER (below) | ||
| 12 | TRIREME | Engineers coming in to decorate English ship (7) |
| [ RE (engineers, Royal Engineers) in TRIM (decorate) ] E (english) | ||
| 13 | RATHE | Some flower at Heligan blooming early (5) |
| Hidden in “..floweR AT HEligan…” | ||
| 14 | GATEHOUSE | Gun – what is found by river in estate building (9) |
| GAT (gun, Gatling) EH (~what?) OUSE (river) | ||
| 16 | KITCHENER | Old soldier in a place where the heat is felt with little hesitation (9) |
| KITCHEN (place where heat is felt) ER (little hesitation) – Herbert Kitchener – wiki here | ||
| 19 | PROWL | Sneak responsible for quarrel in place (5) |
| ROW (quarrel) in PL (place) | ||
| 21 | TINGLED | After time by fireside daughter felt prickling sensation (7) |
| T (time) INGLE (fireplace) D (daughter) | ||
| 23 | LANCING | Heather holds party for Africans in school (7) |
| LING (heather) holding ANC (party for africans, African National Congress) – Referring to the Lancing College in West Sussex. I thought this clue was a tad unfair as even after solving it from the clue itself, I had no idea about the defiition until I googled to confirm. | ||
| 24 | SHEBANG | Affair making “the one who must be obeyed” explode? (7) |
| SHE (“the one who must be obeyed”, the wife) BANG (explode) | ||
| 25 | IGNORES | Refuses to acknowledge regions needing redevelopment (7) |
| Anagram of REGIONS | ||
| 26 | BOWLING GREEN | Jack is here for a sporting event (7,5) |
| The Jack is the target in lawn bowling. The bowling green is what lawn bowling is played on. I am still wondering if I have this right, as I expect protocol to demand that the definition lie at either end of the clue. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DEFAULT | See fraudulent criminal run off and fail to pay (7) |
| Anagram of FrAuDULEnT (i.e without letters of RUN) | ||
| 2 | SINE DIE | Mathematical function to cease existence, not having a date fixed (4,3) |
| SINE (math function) DIE (cease existence) | ||
| 3 | OESTROGEN | Tenor goes wild — something stimulating sexuality in women (9) |
| Anagram of TENOR GOES | ||
| 4 | POSIT | Advance of vessel is being held up (5) |
| POT (vessel) containing SI ( IS, reversed) | ||
| 5 | SPANISH | Spelling is hard when grasping a new language (7) |
| [ SP (spelling) IS H (hard) ] containing A N (new) | ||
| 6 | RONDEAU | Men turned up wanting new Auden poem (7) |
| RO (men = OR [Other Ranks], reversed) anagram of AUDEN | ||
| 7 | ROLLER SKATES | Society girl into posh cars and special boots (6,6) |
| [ S (society) KATE (girls) ] in ROLLERS (posh cars, Rolls Royces) | ||
| 10 | SPELEOLOGIST | Piglet’s loose unfortunately – one going underground (12) |
| Anagram of PIGLET’S LOOSE – one who studies caves | ||
| 15 | THRILLING | Soul-stirring singing around hospital (9) |
| TRILLING (singing) around H (hospital) | ||
| 17 | TANGELO | Having set inside, not a runny fruit (7) |
| GEL (set) in anagram of NOT A | ||
| 18 | HOLDALL | Room in which to keep ancient bag (7) |
| HALL (room) keeping OLD (ancient) | ||
| 19 | PENANCE | Remorse of writer joining a new church (7) |
| PEN (writer) A N (new) CE (church) | ||
| 20 | OMICRON | Greek character getting on, having grabbed small computer (7) |
| MICRO (small computer) in ON | ||
| 22 | DIG IN | Create a trench, as soldier beset by noise (3,2) |
| DIN (noise) around GI (soldier) | ||
*anagram
Thanks to the Don for a fun work out and TL for a clear blog. I knew Lancing as a school, so no problem there, but had met neither ‘rathe’ nor ‘Stamnos’ before, but both answers were gettable through wordplay once I had the crossing letters. I took 26ac as an &lit clue. Good stuff.
I agree with TL — tougher than usual, but a great head-tester. Thanks to the Don, and to TL
Re 26, the definition is “Jack is here”, so it’s at the beginning.
Thanks Bradman and Turbolegs. Is not 26ac just a cryptic definition?
Most enjoyable. A fine week of puzzles in the FT.
Thank you for your blog, turbolegs. I thought this was like a a typical Bradman only worse. Awful.
Thanks Turbolegs and Bradman.
I thought this a bit Danteish. Quite a few double/cryptic definitions with some new words thrown in – RATHE, STAMMOS, SINE DIE, SPELEOLOGIST.
I too took 26ac as a cryptic.
I assume that Lancing is only less known than Roedean since (as far as I am aware) there is no associated Rugby song!
Thanks Bradman and Turbolegs
Was one of those puzzles that was a work to be chipped away at on and off during the day – which is exactly what it panned out to be for me.
A couple of his traditional lesser known words – STAMNOS and LANCING were both new to me, easily enough derived from the word play and just needing a check in a dictionary or wiki (which I’m more than happy to do in the pursuit of learning something more). Was familiar with RATHE from poetry, an example in Milton’s “Lycidas” … “Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies”.
Finished in the NW corner with probably three of the easier clues – KITCHENER (which was much easier to see with all of the crossers in), DEFAULT (like the extraction anagram clues) and OFFENDS (which I looked at a couple of times earlier, couldn’t see but after it was done – wondered why).