Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 11, 2020
I sailed through this puzzle with only 1ac and 4,10 giving me a little difficulty. And I wonder if it could be a record-setting crossword for its clue with enumeration (1,5,5,1,3,4,1,4,5,1,7).
My favourite clues are the almost-&Lit. 9ac (STOWAWAY), 14ac (SNIPER) and 15dn (PTARMIGAN) — all gems. And I think we must applaud the juxtaposition of the clue for 4,10 and the answer to 2,7,20. Thank you, Goliath.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BEARABLE | Some describe Arab leader as satisfactory (8) |
| Hidden word. I am a bit dubious about ‘satisfactory’ cluing ‘bearable’. | ||
| 5 | SCALES | Bits of fish in bits of music (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 9 | STOWAWAY | Someone taking off with airline without approval? Yes, primarily (8) |
| S[omeone] T[aking] O[ff] W[ith] A[irline] W[ithout] A[pproval] Y[es] | ||
| 10 | See 4 | |
| 12 | USAGE | American period of employment (5) |
| US (American) + AGE (period) | ||
| 13 | HAREBRAIN | Fool’s hernia perhaps needs internal support (9) |
| BRA (support) in (needs…support) anagram (perhaps) of HERNIA | ||
| 14 | SNIPER | One shot Kennedy as President, perhaps not Ted (6) |
| Anagram (perhaps) of PRESI[de]N[t] | ||
| 16 | OVARIES | Nothing changes in female parts (7) |
| O (nothing) + VARIES (changes) | ||
| 18 | AVERAGE | To state how old you are is standard (7) |
| AVER (to state) + AGE (how old you are) | ||
| 20 | BUDDHA | Friend had upset spiritual leader (6) |
| BUD (friend) + anagram (upset) of HAD | ||
| 22 | INSOMNIAC | Simon’s gone crazy and turned killer and he can’t sleep at night (9) |
| Anagram (‘s gone crazy) of SIMON + CAIN (killer) backwards (turned) | ||
| 23 | CLEAR | Free introduction to Carole King (5) |
| C[arole] + LEAR (king) | ||
| 24 | HOMAGE | Removing the centre of base website in deference (6) |
| HOME PAGE (base website) with “E P” (the centre) removed | ||
| 25 | OCCLUDED | Extremely overenthusiastic cuddle may be blocked (8) |
| O[verenthusiasti]C + anagram (may be) of CUDDLE | ||
| 26 | DINING | Having a meal, sound as a bell, but missing girl (6) |
| DIN[g]ING (sound as a bell but missing girl) | ||
| 27 | PENCHANT | Write song that’s bent (8) |
| PEN (write) + CHANT (song) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BASQUE | Sunbathe, say, in Spanish region (6) |
| Homophone (say) of “bask” (sunbathe) | ||
| 2, 7, 20 | A WOMAN NEEDS A MAN LIKE A FISH NEEDS A BICYCLE | A Western gulf state requires a proficient swimmer – must have forced celibacy and stated conviction on female independence (1,5,5,1,3,4,1,4,5,1,7) |
| A (a) + W (western) + OMAN (Gulf state) + NEEDS (requires) + A (a) + MAN LIKE A FISH (proficient swimmer) + NEEDS (must have) + anagram (forced) of CELIBACY | ||
| 3 | APACE | Brave to leave hospital quickly (5) |
| APACHE (brave) with the ‘H’ (hospital) removed | ||
| 4, 10 | LEATHER JACKET | Fish useful on a bike? (13) |
| Double definition. I had not known that there is a fish called a leather jacket. | ||
| 6 | CLAPBOARD | Put your hands together for directors seen before action (9) |
| CLAP (put your hands together) + BOARD (directors) | ||
| 7 | See 2 | |
| 8 | SATANISM | It’s a man’s dubious form of worship (8) |
| Anagram (dubious) of ITS A MANS | ||
| 11 | TRIO | Riot possibly caused by Dumky? (4) |
| Anagram (possibly) of RIOT. If I understand this correctly, composer Dvorak was inspired by Slavic folk tunes called dumky to write a trio. | ||
| 15 | PTARMIGAN | Bum rap: mating game (9) |
| Anagram (bum) of RAP MATING | ||
| 17 | FAMISHED | Hungry in the morning, having trawled about (8) |
| AM (the morning) in (about) FISHED (trawled) | ||
| 19 | EXIT | Sexy with no clothes? Leave! (4) |
| [s]EX[y] + [w]IT[h] | ||
| 20 | See 2 | |
| 21 | CREDIT | Chain reaction starts with correct recognition (6) |
| C[hain] R[eaction] + EDIT (correct) | ||
| 23 | COLIC | Crude oil in small volume for gripe (5) |
| Anagram (crude) of OIL in CC (small volume) | ||
I also found this a quick solve and a great way to crown what had been a week of highly entertaining puzzles. Glancing through initially, I too was struck by that 37-letter answer and thought, solve this and the rest would solve itself. Rather, it was the surrounding crossers like JACKET, INSOMNIAC and OCCLUDED which came first, pointing to likely word patterns along with the repetition of ‘needs’. And then it dawned on me: this lengthy clue came from a track on U2’s ‘Achtung Baby!’ album. A memorable line and a great album to boot! SNIPER and INSOMNIAC were clever but smartest of all was the blatant echo of the U2 clue with 4d/10d, which I have eaten. And then again in the piscine 2ac. Most of the grid was easily parsed but I needed the blog to confirm 23ac and 24ac. CLEAR was my last in because I was only seeing the letters in ‘Carole’.
PTARMIGAN made a recent appearance, as did SATANISM just the previous weekend (16,520). Thanks, Goliath, for a satisfying puzzle (certainly more than ‘bearable’) and also to Pete for a reliably thoughtful blog.
Thanks Goliath for great fun — I ticked many favorites — STOWAWAY, CLEAR, BASQUE, SATANISM (great surface), EXIT, and CREDIT.
Diane B @1: The quote at 2,7,20 may be heard on the brilliant Achtung Baby! but its origin is attributed to Irina Dunn, an Australian student in 1970 who was paraphrasing a similar statement, “man needs God like fish need a bicycle.”
Thanks Pete for the blog.
Tony @2 – I might have known that Bono was sampling others. Though a great songwriter, he’s fond of riffing. Thanks for the heads-up.
Thanks Goliath and Pete
Was able to complete this in a quicker than normal, for this setter, single sitting last Sunday.
Shared your doubt about the ‘satisfactory’ definition of BEARABLE – think that they both come to mean ‘acceptable’ from different directions.
The long feminist phrase held out until near the end – caused a grin when it did though. The parsing of STOWAWAY also took ages to see – a very clever and witty clue and my c.o.d. Thought that the derivation of HOMAGE was also good.
Finished in the SW corner with, what in hindsight look innocuous, CREDIT and CLEAR.
A very smooth solve. 2/7/20 jumped out at me immediately but for some reason I doubted it at first. Got a couple of crossers and then I was confident in it. 4/10, 3, & 1a were my LOI because I tried to make “basket” fit 10. Picked it up again and they fell easily then.
Well done, Goliath.