Financial Times 12,722 / by Quark
Posted by C G Rishikesh on May 20th, 2008
I am rather late today as the real world caught up with me this morning. I could not give undivided attention to this crossword. I must admit that I had a slow start but clues fell one by one gradually. At the time of writing this blog, I had three to go but I am afraid the distractions won’t allow me to persist and ponder.
Across
1 CROSSBOW - I am not sure of this. Of course, it fits the second def, but I have not yet got a grip over the first def.
5 PLAQUE - Not too cryptic a def.
10 ESTER - anag. of ’steer’ - the surface reading gives a different twist to the def.
11 LIFEGUARD - Cryptic def but none-too-satisfying.
13 ELFIN - elfi(anag. of ‘file’),n
14 not solved: The clue is: Come back for a sort of flask (6)
15 DO OR DIE - door, die
20 TREBLE - tre(-m)ble
22 EMCEE - short for Master of Ceremonies No better treatment can be given to this word, it seems.
24 not solved - The clue is: It’s a ground breaker (nothing to be frightened of) (9)
25 AGENT NOUN - a,gent,noun (anag. of on UN)
27 EARLAP - anag. of ‘a pearl’. I believe ‘earlap’ also means ‘earflap’ and I understand what it is, but I don’t know of this as something that covers a hearing aid.
28 AESTHETE - anag. of ’see E that’
Down
1 COERCE - co(-mm)erce
3 STRING ORCHESTRA - I believe this is the answer. I know what a ’string orchestra’ is and I know what wind instruments are but I have not fully understood the crypticity of this clue.
4 OILIEST - anag. of ‘Eliot is’
6 LEG BEFORE WICKET - Cryptic def. Ref. to the “pads” that a batsman wears.
7 QUAFF - qu,a,ff - Qu. is also recorded in the dictionary as an abbr. of ‘question’ though Q is more familiar and used invariably.
16 DALLIANCE - d,alliance
17 AMPERAGE - a,MP,erage (anag. of ‘agree’)
19 LESION - anag. of ‘lose in’ - Nice surface reading.
20 TRAINEE - t(rain)ee
21 not solved - The clue is: One shipwrecked, being off course (6)
23 CHEER - that this word also means ‘food’ I learnt today on looking up Chambers. But I also remember this was mentioned somewhere before.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Sadly Eric Burge (Quark/Quantum) died aged 81 on 14 May following a fall at home. I have added a personal note on the Crossword Centre website, and an obituary has been commissioned by The Guardian.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Sad news indeed, Don, but I appreciate your informing us. I found Quark’s puzzles to be always a pleasure, never a chore.
With regard to Rishi’s missing answers, I have: 14A RETORT, 24A SCARIFIER, 21D CRUSOE.
1A A “quarrel” is also a type of bolt fired from a crossbow.