Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 10, 2015
This was one of the toughest FT Weekend puzzles in my recent memory and a surprise after the last one by Redshank which was rather easy. I am tempted to call it a stinker (not meaning anything negative). I count eleven really difficult clues — some hard cryptically (such as 1a) and some hard because they require specialized knowledge (such as 24a). My clues of the week are 26a (SEANCE) and 2d (LENGTH).
ACROSS
1 Racing driver’s plan put off a big bank (8)
HILLSIDE – [Graham or Damon] HILL (racing driver) + S (‘s) + IDE[a] (plan put off a).
5 Drive off and break speed limit, short of time (6)
DISPEL – anagram of SPEED LIMIT with the letters of TIME removed
10 Article in Times mostly full of Hindu texts (7)
TANTRIC – AN (article) in TT (times) + RIC[h] (mostly full)
11 He exchanged letters amusingly before assuming power (7)
SPOONER – P (power) in SOONER (before). I think it would be more correct to say that the Reverend Spooner exchanged sounds (or perhaps phonemes) rather than letters. After all he only uttered them; he did not write them down.
12 Beat the top five in the Open? (5)
OUTDO – OUTDO[ors] (the top five in the Open)
13 Whatever happens in a Big Apple trial? (2,3,4)
IN ANY CASE – IN (any) + A (a) + NY (Big Apple) + CASE (trial)
14 Reps? They’re over opening beers among the lads (12)
SALESPERSONS – ALES (beers) + REPS (they) backwards together in SONS (the lads)
18 Left Janet dancing with Andrew, like Brucie? (7-5)
LANTERN-JAWED – anagram of L JANET ANDREW. For non-Brits who may have no idea who Brucie is, the clue refers to Bruce Forsyth a fixture on British televison for centuries (well, close) and especially on dancing programs. And he is indeed lantern-jawed (meaning that the lower jaw protrudes beyond the upper).
21 Start to pull fast one, nearly drunk in common (9)
PLENTIFUL – P[ull] + LENT (fast) + I (one) + FUL[l] (nearly drunk). Do I have this right? I don’t usually think of ‘full’ as meaning drunk.
23 Hardly any are able to cut stone (5)
SCANT – CAN (are able) in ST (stone)
24 Team whose manager swaps European for a novice (7)
ARSENAL – ARSENE with the final E (European) replace by AL (a novice). I guessed ARSENAL from crossing letters but hard to look up the name of the manager (Arsène Wenger) to understand the wordplay.
25 Make concrete expand to cover each line (7)
REALISE – EA (each) + L (line) together in RISE (expand)
26 Notice a knock occasionally intruding during this? (6)
SEANCE – A (a) + [k]N[o]C[k] together in SEE (notice)
27 Parade ground command’s not right in a sense (8)
EYESIGHT – EYES [r]IGHT (parade ground command’s not right)
DOWN
1 Munching this with gin spoils good night (3,3)
HOT DOG – anagram of GOOD NIGHT with letters of GIN removed
2 Measure litres then stupidly put in gallons (6)
LENGTH – L (litres) + G (gallons) in anagram of THEN
3 Old gun in coach sawn off for deputy (9)
SURROGATE – O (old) + GAT (gun) together in SURRE[y] (coach sawn off)
4 Rebuff everyone with fine opening novel (7,3,4)
DECLINE AND FALL – DECLINE (rebuff) + AND (with) + F (fine) + ALL (everyone). Decline and Fall is a novel by Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1928.
6 Creamy yellow plant that climbs banks (5)
IVORY – OR (yellow) in IVY (plant that climbs)
7 Quaker statesman tours square before top brass (8)
PENTAGON – T (square, as in T-square) + AGO (before) together in PENN (Quaker statesman). This clue refers to William Penn who was the founder of the state of Pennsylvania.
8 Big ship at heart of ocean – the Bounty? (8)
LARGESSE – LARGE (big) + SS (ship) + [oc]E[an]
9 Like Olivier in role of a prince in various “Harry” plays? (2,5,2,5)
AS HAPPY AS LARRY – AS (in role of) + AP (a prince) in anagram of HARRY PLAYS
15 Current regulators in Rio quoted US, not Spain (9)
RHEOSTATS – RHEO (homophone of “Rio”) + STAT[e]S (US not Spain)
16 Rocks cover edge where docks 4 (8)
SLIPWAYS – LIP (edge) in SWAYS (rocks). The implied definition is, presumably, “where docks decline and fall”. Well, slipways decline but do they fall?
17 Recycle and reuse submarine (8)
UNDERSEA – anagram of AND REUSE
19 How many watched TV rebuke? (6)
RATING – double definition
20 Mark to retain hedges on road (6)
STREET – RE (on) in STET (mark to retain)
22 Mixer unwrapped, put on ice (5)
TONIC – hidden word
Thanks Pete. I also thought this was a bit harder than usual for Redshank and I got bogged down in the NE quadrant for a while. Agree with your comment about PLENTIFUL but Chambers gives FULL = DRUNK (inf). A very good puzzle as usual from Redshank.
I got there in the end. However I needed your help with the parsing of some including 1A & 9D.
So many thanks, Pete. A stern test from Redshank.
Thanks Redshank and Pete
Nice puzzle that took a bit of work. Finished up in the NE corner with PENTAGON and SPOONER the last two in.
Being full meaning drunk was quite a common term term down here – a little dated now. Didn’t know Bruce Forsyth (Brucie) at 16 – when I googled Bruce and lantern jawed, I ended up with a Bruce Campbell (not Brucie), a US film and TV actor.
Some complex parsing going on, including a couple of the anagrams with removals at 5a and 1d. But all good fun.
Thought that ARSENAL was quite clever to include their manager in the mix as well !
It took me 20 minutes to solve my first clue and I gave up after an hour with only 1a,1d 5a 8d 13a 17d & 27a solved though as turns out left turn was not correct for 27a.
Duggie Anderson sets the Mail crossword Monday to Friday and how the finds time to set them and others such as this is a mystery to me. 5a is a trademark of his where you have to remove letters from the anagram fodder.
I can safely say that I would never have got 18a -I guessed it was Bruce Forsyth who would be in my top ten of annoying persons on tv but I have never heard of the expression.
I think 3d is really hard -gat for a gun out of the hundreds of guns and surrey for a coach out of the tens of expressions for that sort of coach -but of course it could have been been coach in the sense of teach -and all in one clue.
9d I can see the wordplay though getting “in the role of” to be “as” is hard I thought but I can’t see why Olivier is happy. Please enlighten me .
In my opinion the crossword editor should not have put in the Saturday (or Monday) FT. Way above the expected degree of difficulty and more in keeoing with the Saturday Indie or Grauniad.
Well done anyone who solved it -but was it enjoyable or just a slog?
jmac and brucew, Thank you for the word on ‘full’ meaning drunk.
bamberger, I did not find this puzzle to be nearly as much of a slog as Gozo’s Christmas one. That said, I probably would not have bothered trying to finish it but for the obligation to blog it. The one thing I found irritating about it was the amount of specialized knowledge it required (e.g. about Arsenal and William Penn).
Full for drunk is pretty common in Scotland but usually abbreviated to fu’. I do the FT crossword every weekend and thought this was horrible !
Of course living in America Arsene Wenger is a problem. He’s very well known to me in England and I’m not even a football fan.
When I was a small boy I went to the summer show at the King’s Theatre, Southsea, and a young Bruce Forsyth was on it. He was called Chinnie. “They call me Chinnie ‘cos I’ve got a chin as long as Southsea Pier”.
You have this as 14825, Pete. My paper said 14852.
Hi Wil, I have transcribed the number wrongly on previous occasions but this time I believe that I have it correct and that your paper must be wrong.