Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 31, 2015
I found it refreshing and delightful to have the now-rare treat of a Cincinnus puzzle. And as usual it proved to be fairly easy and very satisfying. My clue of the week has to be 15d (EARLY BIRD) and I also especially like 5a (GALLIC), 25a (SEPULCHRE) and 7d (LEMONADE).
ACROSS
1 Fish certainly from the right island (8)
ANGLESEY – ANGLE (fish) + YES (certainly) backwards
5 French impudence is charming at first (6)
GALLIC – GALL (impudence) + I[s] C[harming]. Great surface!
9 Playing darts? Yes, in leisure time (4,4)
REST DAYS – anagram of DARTS YES
10 Salesman about to cross border for textbook (6)
PRIMER – RIM (border) in REP (salesman) backwards
12 Shade in weather that’s changeable (4-5)
NEAR-WHITE – anagram of IN WEATHER
13 Appropriate amount of salt? (5)
PINCH – double definition
14 Uncle securing end of Auntie’s clothes line? (4)
SEAM – [aunti]E in SAM (uncle)
16 After climb, enjoy lively celebration (7)
SHINDIG – SHIN (climb) + DIG (enjoy)
19 This writer’s by lake holding one wing of sitting duck (7)
IMMERSE – IM (this writer’s) + S[itting] in MERE (lake)
21 Firm American lawyer closing bars (4)
CODA – CO (firm) + DA (American lawyer)
24 Cautious cleaner back from holiday (5)
CHARY – CHAR [cleaner] + [holida]Y
25 Tomb involving curse? Help! (9)
SEPULCHRE – anagram of CURSE HELP
27 Representation of Nubia’s god (6)
ANUBIS – anagram of NUBIAS
28 Blind one escaping from prison and falling into river (8)
JALOUSIE – JA[i]L (one escaping from prison) + I (one) in OUSE (river). This was difficult for me because, while I knew there was a word ‘jalousie’, I had no idea what it meant. I have now learned that it refers to a blind or shutter made of a row of angled slats.
29 Complaint of young man in springtime (6)
MALADY – LAD (young man) in MAY (springtime)
30 Gram’s not new measure in physics (8)
ANGSTROM – anagram of GRAMS NOT
DOWN
1 Garments from central Ukraine for Poles (6)
APRONS – [ukr]A[ine] + PRO (for) + NS (poles)
2 Air force, leaders in aviation, for Swedish king (6)
GUSTAV – GUST (air force) + AV[iation]
3 Finance some businessmen do without (5)
ENDOW – hidden word
4 Cathedral on isle protected by tot up in heaven (7)
ELYSIUM – ELY (cathedral) + I (isle) in SUM (tot up)
6 Aphrodite’s bust may be wasted (9)
ATROPHIED – anagram of APHRODITE
7 Pop art’s leader in French newspaper (8)
LEMONADE – A[rt] in LE MONDE (French newspaper)
8 Focus, say, on silver in the ancient city (8)
CARTHAGE – CAR (Focus, say — referring to the Ford Focus) + AG (silver) in THE (the). It took me some time to understand “Focus, say” here!
11 Place for eating hash (4)
MESS – double definition
15 Library slipping in limited edition for a lark (5,4)
EARLY BIRD – anagram of LIBRARY in ED[ition]
17 Deny policeman’s allegation (8)
DISCLAIM – DIS (policeman’s) + CLAIM (allegation)
18 Girl put up articles in French college (8)
EMMANUEL – EMMA (girl) + UN LE (articles in French) each reversed
20 Formerly employed in power station (4)
ERST – hidden word
21 Officer liable to plug marked man (7)
CAPTAIN – ART (liable) in CAIN (marked man)
22 One drink after another for horse (6)
CHASER – double definition
23 Deliver from sin in exchange for cash? (6)
REDEEM – double definition
26 Wind up in coils (5)
LOOPS – SPOOL (wind) backwards
Thanks Pete. Yes, a Cincinnus puzzle is always a delight.
I thought the SE corner was quite tricky and I had difficulty with JALOUSIE as well.
The crossing word LOOPS made life even harder!
Isn’t 2 down ambiguous?
“Air force, leaders in aviation, for” could generate GUSTAF or GUSTAV …
and both words, I think, are valid for “Swedish king” in English.
Well Pete you’re a lot sharper than I am if you found this fairly easy. I thought it was extraordinarily difficult for a Cincinnus.
mike04 @1, I think it’s clearly Gustav, since if it was Gustaf there would be nothing to give you ‘Gust’. With Gustav, the air force is the gust, and av are the leaders in aviation.
Sorry, I’ve just been blogging today’s Indy and forgot to sign out. 2 was me.
Wil @2/3
For GUSTAF, I’m reading the clue this way:
“Air force” = GUST
“leaders in aviation, for” = A+F where ‘leaders in’ means ‘first letters
of the following words.’ In this case, “for” is not used as a link word.
I had a John McEnroe moment when I read “And as usual it proved to be fairly easy and very satisfying.”.
I found it very hard and very unrewarding.
1a I think the whole clue is hard. Never heard of an angle fish and certainly from the right =yes is not something that sprang to mind.
4d I didn’t know this word
14a While I have heard of Uncle Sam, I don’t recall ever seeing Uncle clueing the word sam.
19a Just too hard for me.
18d With only ???a?u?? and thousands of girls names, hard.
28a Unknown word and the ouse is just one of hundreds of rivers.
There were a few others that I might have got but I’d given up.
I never was any good at Cincinnus and thought I might have got better but apparently not.
Given the comment at 2, I think you must just have been on fire.
Thanks Cincinnus and Pete
Another one who didn’t find this easy at all. Completed it on a flight from Melbourne to Sydney yesterday, so without aids, except for JALOUSIE, which I had to look for after we had landed. A lot of fun clues in it, including GUSTAV with the clever ‘air force’ and PINCH.
Originally had written EMMANUAL as the college using the female ‘the’ and although it is the name of a college in Queensland, AUST – the Cambridge EMMANUEL COLLEGE was a much more likely result in this one.
Yes Mike04, you’re quite right. It could also be GUSTAF. I missed the use of for as a provider of an initial letter.
But at least I think I’m right when I say to Bamberger @5 that an angler goes fishing.
Wil @7 -you are right -I never read it as a verb -I really thought it was a type of fish.