I’m not sure if I enjoyed solving this or not…
…many of the clues were very good, with the occasional chuckle (1dn, 3dn, 9dn, eg) and the occasional “aha” moment (19dn), but there were an equal number of clues I’d seen before (15dn for example), or where the anagram was too obviously (11ac, 30 ac, 18dn, for example).
Perhaps I’m being a bit harsh because I expect puzzles to get more difficult towards the end of the week, and this one didn’t represent a tough enough challenge.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CHOPIN | Hack elected to be a composer (6) |
| CHOP + IN (“elected”) | ||
| 4 | HINDERED | Deer, deer unfortunately stopped (8) |
| HIND + *(deer) | ||
| 10 | LACTATE | Prepare to feed a baby wholesome food, the delicate thing eating rubbish (7) |
| LACE eating TAT | ||
| 11 | LIONESS | Utimately unusual, barking noises for a feline (7) |
| (unusua)L + *(noises) | ||
| 12 | BEER | Queen, perhaps, and king drink (4) |
| BEE (“queen” bee) + R (“king”) | ||
| 13 | GLOBALISES | Covering first of speeches, disseminination of bilge also extends around the world (10) |
| *(bilge also) covering S(peeches) | ||
| 16 | CUTTER | Ship beginning to capsize, say (6) |
| C(apsize) + UTTER | ||
| 17 | LUSTRUM | Passion odd for an odd number of years (7) |
| LUST + RUM
A “lustrum” is a period of five years. |
||
| 20 | TALIBAN | Political fundamentalists, a party to keep in the shade (7) |
| A LIB kept in TAN | ||
| 21 | BANKER | City worker, sure thing (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 24 | THERE THERE | Comforting words at that point repeated (5,5) |
| THERE (“at that point”) repeated | ||
| 25 | STEW | Cook in a lather (4) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 27 | MUSTANG | Horse ‘as to be ‘eld up (7) |
| MUST ‘ANG
I don’t think the first apostrophe is required (there’s no reason why it can’t be “has to”) as it is the indicator for MUST, and it is the ” ‘eld up” part which equates to ‘ANG |
||
| 29 | WHETHER | Elements under discussion, as if (7) |
| Homophone of WEATHER, indicated by “under discussion” | ||
| 30 | SERGEANT | Rank as regent in a sorry state (8) |
| *(as regent) | ||
| 31 | PUNNET | Basket in which to capture jokes? (6) |
| In a bizarre world where words flew threw the air, a PUN NET may be used to capture jokes. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CELIBACY | Fixing a bicycle? No fun in that! (8) |
| *(a bicycle) | ||
| 2 | ORCHESTRATE | Arrange to talk publicly about right bosom (11) |
| ORATE about R CHEST | ||
| 3 | IMAM | Muslim leader, don’t call me PM! (4) |
| I’M AM, so “don’t call me PM” | ||
| 5 | IN LABOUR | Thatcher wasn’t about to deliver (2,6) |
| Thatcher certainly wasn’t in the Labour party… | ||
| 6 | DIOCLETIAN | Roman emperor has moved to Iceland, Italian leader in hiding (10) |
| *(to iceland) hiding I(talian) | ||
| 7 | RYE | Grass for whiskey or old port (3) |
| Triple definition | ||
| 8 | DESIST | Stop moral type admitting sin, initially (6) |
| DEIST admitting S(in)
I’m not convinced by DEIST = “moral type”, but then that may be because I’m an atheist, and I’d like to think of myself as a “moral type”. |
||
| 9 | BELLY | Corporation describing a clanger? (5) |
| A clanger may be described as like a bell, so “belly”. | ||
| 14 | SOUP KITCHEN | Where free food supplied, ketchup is on jerky (4,7) |
| *(ketchup is on) | ||
| 15 | DELIBERATE | Consider being wilful (10) |
| Double definition | ||
| 18 | PATHOGEN | Heptagon-shaped virus (8) |
| *(heptagon) | ||
| 19 | BROWN RAT | Punk keeping private residence primarily for vermin (5,3) |
| BRAT keeping OWN R(esidence) | ||
| 22 | STUMPS | The end of a day’s cricket proves bewildering (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 23 | CROWN | Bird needing new headgear (5) |
| CROW + N | ||
| 26 | PERU | Land seen rising in picture postcard (4) |
| Found backwards in “pictURE Postcard” | ||
| 28 | SIR | Initially, “Strike It Rich” is the title (3) |
| Initials of Strike It Rich | ||
*anagram
I enjoyed solving it – I even recommended it to a friend.
Thanks to Mudd and Loonapick
I enjoyed it.
In my experience, FT crosswords are easy on Monday, often very hard on Wednesdays, and of a very even (mild) difficulty the rest of the time.
Yes, I think I was being a bit harsh this morning.
I was probably looking for more of a challenge.
Sorry, Mudd!
Oh dear. Now I’ve started doing a daily Guardian and an FT. Is this where it all begins to go wrong? Agreed was at the easier end of a Mudd. I almost said Paul. But I enjoyed it a lot. How curious that so few people comment on the FT blog. Of course I know no one will read this as I’m also a few days late. Fun to write into the void.
Thanks loonapick and Mudd.
I’m the perennial tail-end Charlie Xjplotter (well me and Brucew) so have read your comment and wish you welcome to the pink side! There are some fabulous puzzles over here.
Whilst I agree with your comments loonapick, I not only have to say I enjoyed this but also appreciated a more relaxing solve after tackling the previous day’s Picaroon.
So this one suited me perfectly – especially with a few chuckles thrown in.
Thanks Mudd and loonapick
Empathise with most of your overall comments on the clue examples that you gave loonapick althoughI must say that I liked the puzzle in an overall sense. Maybe having only a few spare minutes during the day and extending the elapsed solving time out helped. Some of the sheer fun that JH presents in his clues also raises the enjoyment factor.
Finished on the lhs of the puzzle with DIOCLETIAN (a new Roman emperor for me), BROWN RAT and BANKER the last few in.
An even later welcome Xjpotter … and by doing both sets of crosswords I expect that you will fall to the tailender position in the posting event as well – I find them an interesting combination of puzzles! It is only through some sense of wanting to retain sanity and some time in the day for other things that I don’t include the Independent ones as well. Maybe in dotage ….