Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 14, 2015
I found this puzzle much easier than the last Goliath. And I enjoyed it more too. My clue of the week is 6d (NICKEL) and I also applaud 12a (OVERHEAD) and 16d (MONTREAL).
ACROSS
1 Not suitable for all hours, West Country follows the start of Easy Rider (10)
HORSEWOMAN – HO[u]RS + E[asy] + W (West) + OMAN (country)
7, 9 What may soothe and numb could become manoeuvrable (4,4)
ALOE VERA – anagram with NUMB of MANOEUVRABLE
10 An iPad application includes a non-alcoholic drink and an alcoholic one (4,6)
PINA COLADA – COLA (a non-alcoholic drink) in anagram of AN IPAD
11 Went off to develop educational module (6)
ELOPED – hidden word
12 Where skua finally hovered, perhaps (8)
OVERHEAD – anagram of [sku]A HOVERED
13 Extremely powerful in a break to get appreciation (8)
APPLAUSE – P[owerfu]L in A PAUSE (a break)
15 Underuse exposed (4)
NUDE- anagram of UNDE
17 See 26
19 Goes on making profit (8)
PROCEEDS – double definition
22 Heard father, 23, is a pain (8)
SCIATICA – SCIA (homophone of “sire”) + TICA (homophone of “ticker”)
23 Heart timer (6)
TICKER – double definition
25 Teams mix up with mounting style (10)
SIDESADDLE – SIDES (teams) + ADDLE (mix up)
26, 17 Loves welcoming copper superintendent back for some Italian food (4,4)
OSSO BUCO – O (love) + BOSS (superintendent) backwards + CU (copper) backwards + O (love)
27 See 8
28 Showing a bit of leg in dance certain to be revealing (10)
DISCLOSURE – L[eg] in DISCO (dance) + SURE (certain)
DOWN
2 Perhaps proverbial rib, if somehow removed, could give some common ground (7)
OVERLAP – anagram of PROVE[rbi]AL
3 Cutting s-strings? (5)
SHARP – S (s) + HARP (strings)
4 Married woman gets quiet instead of loud? Pronounced scepticism to be eliminated (5,3)
WIPED OUT – WIFE (married woman) with ‘F’ (loud) replaced by ‘P’ (quiet) + DOUT (homophone of “doubt”)
5 On demand, spins out lines said to be polite (4,4,2,3,2)
MIND ONES PS AND QS – anagram of ON DEMANDS SPINS + Qs (homophone of “queues”)
6 To begin with, Calvin Klein made very little money (6)
NICKEL – anagram of C[alvin] KLEIN
7 It’s the end of the line for every coin (3,6)
ALL CHANGE – double definition
8, 27 After dad nods off, send out for scraps (4,3,4)
ODDS AND ENDS – anagram of DAD NODS + anagram of SEND
14 Somehow makes inside toilets appear untidy (4,1,4)
LOOK A MESS – anagram of MAKES in LOOS (toilets)
16 City of Monte Carlo, except for the outskirts, is to be rebuilt (8)
MONTREAL – anagram of MONTE [c]ARL[o]. Good find!
18 Trapped in marriage, court with excessive charm and affectation (7)
UNCTION – CT (court) in UNION (marriage)
20 See 24
21 Magician is to speak in upcoming raffle (6)
WIZARD – IZ (homophone of “is”) in DRAW (raffle) backwards
24, 20 TV’s snappy furniture (5-7)
CROSS-DRESSER – CROSS (snappy) + DRESSER (furniture) with ‘TV’ standing for transvestite rather than the usual television
Thanks Goliath and Pete
Also found this a much easier puzzle than his previous one, with no real holdups at all.
Took a while to see that TV = transvestite (aka cross dresser). Did enjoy the multi-word clues – OSSO BUCO, ALOE VERA and ODDS AND ENDS. Also thought that the clue for MIND ONE’S P’S AND Q’S was very good.
Didn’t see the compound anagram for OVERLAP until coming here. Usually don’t comment on them, but thought that the homophone of SCIATICA (especially the first part) was on the flaky side … but not a problem in getting it.
Thanks Goliath and Pete.
This was one of the most enjoyable FT Weekend crosswords for ages.
I particularly like ALOE VERA
Homophones are often either imperfect or dependent on a particular (say regional) pronunciation but I agree that “sire” for the first two syllables of SCIATICA is stretching things a bit too far.
Thanks Pete. I also enjoyed this but share your reservation about SCIATICA.
Only one I wasn’t sure about was 15a. How does “use” mean an anagram indicator?
If I understand the clue correctly, the anagram indicator is “ruse”, not “use”. And ruse, meaning a deceptive tactic, seems an excellent anagram indicator — as long as it is worked properly into the clue. In the case of 15a, the question of how appropriately it is used may be debatable.