Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 28, 2015
My clue of the week here is 12a (WINGSPAN). I have some concerns about 27a (ERNE) and 2d (ADVANCE).
ACROSS
1 US composer’s dance music (10)
BARBERSHOP – BARBERS (US composer’s) + HOP (dance). Some people think that ‘music’ is an inappropriate definition asserting that barbershop is an arrangement or way of performing.
7 Game’s ending, partner! (4)
MATE – double definition
9 Banker, star in decline (4)
AVON – NOVA (star) backwards. I am fine with flower but do not much like ‘banker’ used to cryptically define a river. Still it is common enough and something we have to live with.
10 Composer very partial to music – heavens above! (10)
STRAVINSKY – V (very) in STRAIN (music) + SKY (heavens above)
11 Communicate, attending class (6)
IN FORM – IN (attending) + FORM (class)
12 Width of rails, for example? (8)
WINGSPAN – cryptic definition
13 Sailor miles away, prophet assumes (8)
SEAFARER – FAR (miles away) in SEER (prophet)
15 Leg perhaps, but not head, carrying a foot (4)
IAMB – A (a) in [l]IMB (leg perhaps, but not head)
17 End of enormous weed – this about a foot? (4)
SHOE – [enormou]S + HOE (weed)
19 Opener in team coming down for practice (8)
TRAINING – T[eam] + RAINING (coming down)
22 Author an old pro, might you say? (8)
TROLLOPE – homophone (“trollop”)
23 Swimmers boxing in the end (6)
FINISH – IN (in) in FISH (swimmers)
25 Cook can see milk as sweet food (6,4)
SIMNEL CAKE – anagram of CAN SEE MILK
26 Wife goes on to contend opinion (4)
VIEW – VIE (to contend) + W (wife)
27 Bird golden retriever bites back (4)
ERNE – reverse hidden word. This happens to be a poor clue because the answer could just as easily be TERN
28 Surveying equipment, the tool I’d possibly use in the end (10)
THEODOLITE – THE (the) + anagram of TOOL ID + [us]E
DOWN
2 Lend something one lends, article replacing one (7)
ADVANCE – ADVICE (something one lends) with AN (article) replacing ‘I’ (one). I do not care for this clue as I see advice as something one gives or sells and not something one lends.
3 Something to beat? Good try! (5)
BONGO – BON (good) + GO (try)
4 One or two girls? (8)
ROSEMARY – ROSE + MARY (two girls)
5 Old rebel in present custody, cut during capture (8,3,4)
HEREWARD THE WAKE – HERE (present) + WARD (custody) + HEW (cut) in TAKE (capture)
6 Seen through window, a victory dance (6)
PAVANE – A (a) + V (victory) in PANE (window)
7 Dash missing, un-twisted? (5,4)
MINUS SIGN – anagram oF MISSING UN
8 Prepare to shoot at Mike, a revolutionary (4,3)
TAKE AIM – anagram of AT MIKE A
14 Slippery character in Marseille, say, working alone? (9)
FREELANCE – EEL (slippery character) in FRANCE (Marseille, say)
16 Terribly fragile democrat, US president (8)
GARFIELD – anagram of FRAGILE + D (democrat)
18 Dog that can fly? (7)
HARRIER – double/cryptic definition
20 Antiperspirant redundant? That’s not a problem (2,5)
NO SWEAT – double definition
21 Call coming from flier on fire, calm down! (4,2)
COOL IT – COO (call coming from flier) + LIT (on fire)
24 One’s contemplated uniting part of church and council, finally (5)
NAVEL – NAVE (part of church) + [counci]L
27A I share Pete’s reservations about 27A. I seem to remember a similar clue where the same two birds were involved but on that occasion the setter did indicate that it was the second of the two that he or she was looking for.
Thanks to Pete & Mudd
Never met banker as a river before. Can’t say I like it.
I solved less than half this.
1a Not much to go on and if you have never heard of Barber as a composer ,you are a bit stuck especially if only have ???????h??.
10a All I had was ??r???n?k? -maybe I should have guessed the answer due to the K but music =strain I just did not knpw.
11a No checking letters and couldn’t see it.
13a I only had the final r and it was too much of an ask to get prophet =seer
22a Perhaps gettable with all with the checkers but not with only ????o?e
2d I agree the comment
3d How can bon =good work in a UK crossword? You might as well have gut
4d I don;t know how you are supposed to get this with ??s????
6d Totally unknown and with ????n? not very gettable
14d I ‘m convinced that Marseille , say. equates to France . How can a French city equal a country ?
18d With 27 confidently entered as tern , I was nover going to get this.
Sometimes I think I have missed a few sitters and sometimes I think I’ve been outclassed by the wordplay but here I think there were too many obscure words.
bamberger, I am sorry you had such a hard time with this. We think of ‘bon’ as a French word but my Chambers lists it as well (although not ‘gut’ in the same sense).
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Afraid that I didn’t have the same quibbles as others here and thought that it was a typically entertaining puzzle from Mr Halpern.
Sure at 27a, it can possibly be either ERNE or TERN in a blank grid … but that’s what the crossers are for surely. I have heard of the phrase to ‘lend some advice’, but could not locate it in any of the on-line dictionaries nor in my old copy of the Shorter OED.
BARBERSHOP MUSIC was the only term that I was unfamiliar with, but workable from the cryptic part of the clue. WINGSPAN brought a smile and IAMB took much longer than it should to have parsed.
Finished down in the SW corner with SIMNEL CAKE and TROLLOPE the last couple in.