Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 15, 2020
I found this a quick solve with 15ac (EROS) my first-in and 17dn (STARLESS) my last. My favourite clue is the delightful 1ac (DOUBLE DUTCH) and I also applaud 12ac (STERN), 20ac (FLEAPIT), 4dn (DISPUTE) and 5dn (TWIDDLE). Thank you, Mudd.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DOUBLE DUTCH | Bigamous nonsense? (6,5) |
| Double definition, the first meaning “double wife” (from Cockney rhyming slang) | ||
| 7 | COO | Officer Brown’s heart murmur (3) |
| CO (officer) + [br]O[wn] | ||
| 9 | AMBER | Beam lit up, right shade of yellow (5) |
| Anagram (lit up) of BEAM + R (right) | ||
| 10 | STILL LIFE | Even then, biography is a work of art (5,4) |
| STILL (even then) + LIFE (biography) | ||
| 11 | GREYHOUND | Uranium/hydrogen compound in canine (9) |
| Anagram (compound) of U HYDROGEN | ||
| 12 | STERN | Hard back (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 13 | TILLAGE | Preparation of land before time (7) |
| TILL (before) + AGE (time) | ||
| 15 | EROS | God in archer, ostensibly (4) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 18 | ARNO | A river hardly an Italian river (4) |
| A (a) + R (river) + NO (hardly an) | ||
| 20 | FLEAPIT | Skip found in suitable dump (7) |
| LEAP (skip) in (found in) FIT (suitable) | ||
| 23 | RELIC | Catholic priest’s cut sacred piece (5) |
| ELI (priest) in (‘s cut) RC (Catholic). I have seen a version of this clue before. The Eli in question was a biblical character, a High Priest of Shiloh. | ||
| 24 | BANDOLEER | Belt on bed with real buckles (9) |
| Anagram (buckles) of ON BED REAL | ||
| 26 | CONSORTIA | Company torn as I formed associations in business (9) |
| Anagram (formed) of CO TORN AS I | ||
| 27 | FUDGE | Sweet doctor (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 28 | SET | Group ready (3) |
| Double definition | ||
| 29 | SOLAR PLEXUS | Ten in all, super cast behind very personal network (5,6) |
| SO (very) + X (ten) in (in) anagram (cast) of ALL SUPER | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DRAUGHTY | In desert, anything is open to the wind (8) |
| AUGHT (anything) in (in) DRY (desert) | ||
| 2 | UMBRELLA | Taking everything in, I’m not sure girl accepts first part of report (8) |
| UM (I’m not sure) + R[eport] in (accepts) BELLA (girl) | ||
| 3 | LARCH | Wood stored in cellar, cheaply (5) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 4 | DISPUTE | Row is positioned between rows four and five? (7) |
| IS (is) + PUT (positioned) together between D (row 4) and E (row 5) | ||
| 5 | TWIDDLE | Trifle wife fed to tailless cat (7) |
| W (wife) in (fed to) TIDDLE[s] (tailless cat) | ||
| 6 | HOLY SMOKE | Good Lord, very good cigar! (4,5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 7 | CRIKEY | Welcoming Eisenhower, cheer well! (6) |
| IKE (Eisenhower) in (welcoming) CRY (cheer) | ||
| 8 | OCEANS | Canoes buffeted around a lot (6) |
| Anagram (buffeted around) | ||
| 14 | ATROCIOUS | Frightful coat ours, I gathered (9) |
| Anagram (gathered) of COAT OURS I | ||
| 16 | APPENDIX | Part of book that may be removed (8) |
| Double definition | ||
| 17 | STARLESS | Dark space originally without the black stuff? (8) |
| S[pace] + TARLESS (without the black stuff) | ||
| 19 | ORBITAL | Motorway test: dash through it (7) |
| BIT (dash) in (through it) ORAL (test) | ||
| 20 | FUNFAIR | Where child taken for a ride, poor grade not merited? (7) |
| F (poor grade) + UNFAIR (not merited) | ||
| 21 | BRACES | Supporters observing secondary events? (6) |
| B (secondary) + RACES (events) | ||
| 22 | PLANET | Earth perhaps ending in pot under tree (6) |
| PLANE (tree) + [po]T | ||
| 25 | OFFAL | Out on a limb initially – that’s rubbish (5) |
| OFF (out) + A (a) + L[imb] | ||
Another highly enjoyable weekend grid from Mudd with lots of those pithy double definitions the setter seems to favour, of which 12ac took a while.
DOUBLE DUTCH and HOLY SMOKE were favourites but so many others worth a mention, among them DRAUGHTY, TWIDDLE and FLEAPIT.
Think I also started off with EROS then worked methodically anticlockwise till getting in a bit of a pickle in the SE quadrant. This was because I’d lazily parsed 24ac as BANDOLERO which messed things up in that section till I realized something was wrong with a few of my answers vertically.
Couldn’t fully parse DISPUTE or RELIC so thanks to Pete for making that plain in your blog. And thanks to Mudd for a crossword to savour.
Yes, Mudd at his best and wittiest. I too enjoyed DOUBLE DUTCH especially. Thanks, Mudd, as usual, and Pete.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Agree that this was Mudd in good form. Started off with the very witty DOUBLE DUTCH and then DRAUGHTY which opened up the top of the puzzle, although a careless YOIKES at 7d didn’t help things.
Didn’t know the Paddington Station cat so wasn’t able to fully parse TWIDDLES. Thought that DISPUTE was clever and ORBITAL was also good – a new term for me.
Finished in the SE corner with SOLAR PLEXUS, FUNFAIR and the trickily defined STARLESS as the last few in.
Very difficult for us here across the pond. Kept suspecting “dutch” but I had no idea how to parse it. The cat defeated me too: I was trying to make something of TIGE[r]. At least I picked up “crikey.”
How common is spelling bandolier with two ‘e’s? That was the other that had me stuck.
Braze @4,
Bandolier was my first thought too but there being no ‘i’, I thought of the old Bandolero movie with James Stewart and Raquel Welch. Still, wrong! Didn’t check the anagram closely enough.
‘Crikey’ was no problem, I heard it in my head in both an Aussie accent and in Austin Powers’ voice!
Thank you for all the comments.
John Halpern (Mudd) is a prolific setter and enjoys his work very much. And if he stops enjoying it then he stops working because he figures we, the solvers, would stop enjoying it too.
Whenever I see Mudd (or his evil twin Paul) I’m delighted because I know I’m in for a good ride even if it gets bumpy at times. Loved this crossword — CRIKEY, HOLY SMOKE, and GREYHOUND were favourites. Thanks Pete as usual.
For some reason this defeated me – my hardest Mudd for some time. I only did half. Must have been having a bad week. Could not even get “crikey” with the C and IKE in the middle already in place.