Wanderer returns this Friday. He returns to try and expose my facade as a solver/blogger. He nearly succeeded.
This easily has to be amongst the top 5 toughest FT crosswords I have solved. And I still half expect to see some corrections to the parsings below. My first run through of the clues resulted in a grand total of 1 clue being solved. The rest of the puzzle was easily solved with the alacrity of a pregnant pachyderm. I will not belittle this puzzle by pointing out a favorite clue – there are way too many of them.
FF: 9 DD: 10++
| Across | ||
| 7 | HOUSEMAN |
Doctor injecting poet with drug (8)
HOUSMAN (poet, A.E.Housman) injected with E (drug, Ecstasy) |
| 8 | INTEND |
Plan made by Home Guard (6)
IN (home) TEND (guard) |
| 11 | SALVO |
Saudi Arabia lost 5-0 due to sudden burst of shooting (5)
SA (Saudi Arabia) L (lost) V-O (5-0 in Roman numerals) |
| 12 | TALISMANS |
Left Italy, seduced by navigator’s charms (9)
[ L (left) I (Iatly) ] in TASMAN’S (navigator’s, Abel) |
| 13 | ONTHEGO |
Very busy month, eg October to an extent (2,3,2)
Hidden in “..mONTH EG October..” |
| 14 | CROFTER |
One farming a small area is frequently in credit, after 50% taken off starting rent (7)
[ OFT (frequently) in CRE ( Credit, 50% taken off) ] R (starting Rent) – Never seen this word before but could deconstruct the clue. |
| 15 | DEFINITE ARTICLE |
The CID inter a leftie criminal (8,7)
Anagram of CID INTER A LEFTIE; &Lit (CID being the noun). |
| 18 | AURICLE |
Golden labrador’s head, to right of the external ear (7)
AURIC (golden) L (Labrador’s head) E (right of thE) |
| 20 | PROPJET |
Predictor of future Hungary to Japan switch for aeroplane (7)
PROPhET (Predictor of future, H [Hungary] replaced by J [Japan] ) |
| 22 | EXORCISER |
One that drives out from Gold Coast’s first to wear sexier pants (9)
[ OR (gold) C (Coast’s first) ] in anagram of SEXIER |
| 23 | LEGIT |
It’s not against the law to run away (5)
Cryptic clue. Run away = LEG IT. |
| 24 | SENIOR |
Fourth-year student back home in south-eastern Oregon (6)
NI (home = in, reversed) in [SE (south-eastern) OR (Oregon) ] |
| 25 | COLORADO |
State of Wisconsin’s just left of centre (8)
Cryptic clue. Centre of “WISCONSIN” is ‘O’. Just left of centre is CO, which is the abbreviation for the state of COLORADO. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHEST OF DRAWERS |
Part of bedroom set from Knickerbox (5,2,7)
Cryptic clue. Box = Chest. Knicker = Drawer. I am taking ‘set’ here to indicate plurality. |
| 2 | OUTLET |
Unfashionable hire shop? (6)
OUT (Unfashionable) LET (hire) |
| 3 | MELODEON |
Short tune by one playing instrument (8)
MELODy (tune, short) EON (anagram of ONE) |
| 4 | EAST NORTHEAST |
Compass point briefly shown by the needle (4,9)
contained in “..thE NEedle.” – Abbreviation for the solution. Is Wanderer being extra devious today or have I got this wrong? |
| 5 | UNESCO |
International organisation initially comes up short, needing enhanced overseas supply (6)
Anagram of C U S N E O (initial letters of Comes Up Short Needing Enhanced Overseas, i am taking organization to be the anagrind. My parsing might be incorrect because I am unable to see what role ‘supply’ plays). |
| 6 | PEDANTIC |
Punctilious poet’s raised foot above head in photo (8)
EDANT [ poet = DANTE, foot above head means last letter moves up to the front] in PIC (photo) |
| 9 | DISORIENTATION |
Eat indoors? Tin is opened drunkedly, showing confusion regarding directions (14)
Anagram of EAT INDOORS TIN I (Is opened, first letter) |
| 10 | GLACIAL PERIOD |
Awfully cold April – start of Ice Age? (7,6)
Anagram of COLD APRIL I (start of Ice) AGE – What a surface !! |
| 16 | FORGOING |
Giving up strong drink, drinks nothing during endless orgy (8)
F (strong) [ { GIN (drink) containing O (drinks nothing) } in ORG (endless ORGy) ] |
| 17 | TOODLE OO |
Lead must be taken off dog when inside as well, it’s so long (6-2)
OODLE (dog = poodle, without lead i.e. first character) in TOO ( as well) |
| 19 | CUCKOO |
During broadcast, see you cook game bird (6)
CU (sounds like see you) anagram of COOK. Is cook self-referential for anagrind? [ See Muffy@1 and Peter@2 below ] |
| 21 | JIGSAW |
Setter goes on vacation, getting to talk about puzzle (6)
[ I (setter) GS (GoeS, on vacation, i.e. inner characters removed) ] with JAW (talk) about. |
Thanks Turbolegs and Wanderer,
I parsed a couple slightly differently:
A CUCKOO is not a game bird, so “game” is likely to be the anagrind.
I think “set” is part of the definition in the clue for CHEST OF DRAWERS, with knickerbox = box of knickers = chest of drawers.
JIGSAW was my favourite – great surface.
Agree with #1 on “game” being anagrind. I read “supply” as the anagrind in 5dn as in “these initial letters supply…” Umm.
IIRC Wanderer used the device in 4dn of embedded initials/abbreviation in his very first puzzle. A HST I recall.
Very enjoyable. Thanks Wanderer and also Turbolegs
Thanks Turbolegs. I failed on 4D – I knew the second word was NORTHEAST or SOUTEAST but did not see it – clever clue though. I could not parse COLORADO either so thanks for that.
One small further correction: in 9D, the fodder is missing an ‘i’ so you also need the ‘is opened’ in there.
Thanks too to Wanderer – much enjoyed.
Thanks all for the comments.
Muffy@1 / Peter@2 – I agree on “cuckoo”. Sometimes I try too hard to make it extra cryptic-ky!! 🙂
Peter@2, I am not too convinced on “supply” as an anagrind. That’s just me. 🙂
Urieka@3, Thanks for the edit on 9D. I will fix it now.
This was a rollicking ride! Thanks to Wanderer who never ceases to excite.
Cheers
TL
Fantastic crossword from a setter we’ve seen quite regular recently.
I think there’s nothing wrong with 5d (UNESCO).
‘Supply’ is a (well-known) anagram indicator – the adverb to the adjective ‘supple’.
Many thanks, Turbolegs, glad you enjoyed it.
I saw many of the long ones very quickly [15ac (a gimmick that should be put in the freezer for a while, seen it too often in the recent past), 9d, 10d, even the clever ENE.
So, in the end a very smooth solve for me, not hard at all (but very well clued).
A treat for which thanks to Wanderer.
Thanks Sil@5. ‘Supply’ does just fine at 5d so thanks for the elucidation.
I really like puzzles which are seeming inscrutable to begin with but gradually start showing faint shimmers through the fog. Whether the difficulty is the setter’s intention, or my limitation doesn’t seem to diminish the after-effect. So yes, thoroughly enjoyed this !! 🙂
Have long added him to my list of must-solve setters!
CHeers
TL
Thanks TL and wanderer, there’s a Nina, top row says come up, bottom says go down.
The puzzle must have been hard if people were so distracted that they did not see that, for that matter there is EAST NORTHEAST > DISORIENTATION.
Thanks Wanderer for a great puzzle and especially Turbolegs for the blog. I had no problem with ‘supply’ but needed help with quite a lot of the parsing.
As regards the Nina, there is ON THE GO, 13a, and FORGOING, 16d, perhaps Wanderer is just disoriented.