Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 7, 2015
I enjoyed this Magwitch puzzle, finding it fairly easy except for 8d, 10a and 20d. My clue of the week is 12 (PROFITEER) and I also especially like 25a (AVIATE).
ACROSS
1 Set tough boundaries for election (6)
HARDEN – HARD (tough) + E[lectio]N
4 Depth of resistance in Germany I initially never expected so soon (8)
RICHNESS – R (resistance) + ICH (in Germany I) + N[ever] E[xpected] S[o] S[oon]
9 Learned to reverse vessel with a set of books (6)
SAVANT – VAS (vessel) backwards + A (a) + NT (set of books). That’s vas as in vas deferens, not vase!
10 Disputes really regularly with only a small number (8)
SPARSELY – SPARS (disputes) + [r]E[a]L[l]Y
12 Free to rip off beneficiary of the black market (9)
PROFITEER – anagram of FREE TO RIP
13 Cancel yearbook with one missing article (5)
ANNUL – ANNU[a]L
14 Leading politicians first arranged sit in among pitmen (5,9)
PRIME MINISTERS – PRIME (first) anagram of SIT in MINERS (pitmen)
17 Can’t not say no after a large drink (6,8)
DOUBLE NEGATIVE – DOUBLE (a large drink) + NEGATIVE (no)
21 Complete wreck (5)
TOTAL – double definition
22 Additional entrance at the back of the conservatory (9)
ACCESSORY – ACCESS (entrance) + [conservat]ORY
24 Impose ban in support of strike over British independence (8)
PROHIBIT – PRO (in support of) + B I (British independence) in HIT (strike)
25 Adult woman swallowed fly (6)
AVIATE – A (adult) + VI (woman) + ATE (swallowed)
26 Doctors are no help without introduction of latest hearing aid (8)
EARPHONE – anagram of ARE NO HE[l]P
27 A trial or possibly a plea bargain (6)
ORDEAL – OR (or) + DEAL (plea bargain)
DOWN
1 Piece of garden equipment reportedly weeds earth around seed (8)
HOSEPIPE – PIP (seed) in HOSE (homophone of “hoes”) + E (earth)
2 Italian food recipe with mayonnaise coating the gravlax core (7)
RAVIOLI – R (recipe) + [gra]V[lax] in AIOLI (mayonnaise )
3 Weariness in endless hours of darkness on the Somme (5)
ENNUI – EN NUI[t] (in endless hours of darkness on the Somme, i.e. in France)
5 International politician sacked EEC intern for disrespectful behaviour (12)
IMPERTINENCE – I (international) + MP (politician) + anagram of EEC INTERN
6 Graduate student tucks into semikosher meal of fennel say (6,3)
HERBAL TEA – [kos]HER + BA (graduate) + L (student) + TEA (meal)
7 Queen Elizabeth’s initial inclination is against gold (7)
ELEANOR – E[lizabeth] + LEAN (inclination) + OR (gold)
8 Singer said to be a monster (6)
SCYLLA – homophone (“Cilla”, as in Black)
11 Journalist backs freedom of thought (12)
DELIBERATION – ED (journalist) backwards + LIBERATION (freedom)
15 He bills me to repair and decorate (9)
EMBELLISH – anagram of HE BILLS ME
16 You and I will support unknown vicar to turn up OK (4,4)
VERY WELL – REV (vicar) backwards + Y (unknown) + WE (you and I) + LL (will)
18 Best sports centre is in the open air (7)
OUTDOOR – OUTDO (best) + [sp]OR[ts]
19 Is love dead? Divorce! (7)
ISOLATE – IS (is) + O (love) + LATE (dead)
20 Leading saint’s extremely approachable (6)
STAPLE – ST (saint) + AP[proachab]LE
23 Part of a Chinese verb (5)
SEVER – hidden word
That was tough -Gaff said in comments on FT14868 that “The editor likes Mondays’ puzzle to be towards the easier end of the spectrum” and I thought that this was also supposed to be true of the Saturday FT.
Failed on 1a as I thought that 3d was spelled innui -it made sense to me as it was in + nui(t).
I haven’t heard of 8d so even with s?y?l? I couldn’t get it.
20d I didn’t know staple had a meaning of leading -I’d come across a paper staple and rice as a staple diet. I don’t think I’ve come across “extremely” meaning anything than take the first and last letters.
Didn’t get 25a even with ?v?a?e -didn’t know aviate.
Re 17a , one of my pet hates is when someone says “I ain’t got no money” -I can’t resist asking how much money they do have then. Seems to be worse in America -is it acceptable there, Pete?
Ah, there is the story of Scylla and Charybdis. I know the title but forget the story itself.
“Ain’t got no ” is common enough here in the U.S. but I do not think it is considered acceptable except when used tongue-in-cheek.
Thanks Magwitch and Pete
Only completed this last night on the train home after a couple of end of week ales. They must’ve helped because I also found it quite straightforward – only held up momentarily with SCYLLA and RICHNESS, the last couple in.
Hadn’t heard of ‘fennel’ as a synonym of HERBAL TEA and took a bit of research to find out that it was actually used to make one. Had to think it through go separate ‘graduate’ (BA) and ‘student’ (L) when parsing it.
Liked OUTDOOR – simple, but did take a little time to see why.
Odd how different we are. I had no trouble with scylla and richness but couldn’t do much of the left hand side. Why is B I British independence?(24ac)
Ah, I was a bit lazy the way I put that. ‘British’ clues B and ‘independence’ independently clues I.
As I understand matters, the accepted rule is that if Chambers lists a word as a meaning of a single letter then that is usable. So ‘B’ could be clued by baron, bass, black, billion or barrels. And ‘I’ could be clued by institute, independent or island. I’m waiting for a clue in which every letter is clued in this way!