Posted by smiffy on 18th June 2008
Always gratifying to lock horns with Monk on his all too infrequent FT appearances. Fortuitously, I seemed to be on a similar wavelength to him today, which isn’t always the case. Also, solving 19A and 5D early helped to suggest a pangrammatic grid which, in turn, helped my solving time marginally.
Across
6 PL(EBB)Y - “of scum”, although probably not the technical term employed by sociologists.
9 SH(R)I(M)P - An interesting device. “parted in” indicating a fragmented content for the container/contents structure.
10 SO,ME(TI)ME
11 GRID - Dirg[-e] (rev)
12 S,T(RINGVES)T - (serving)*. Rab C. Nesbit might dispute the definition of “underwear”!
14 ASBESTOS - cryptic def’n
16 NINE - In Roman numerals IX (or 2/3s of SIX)
18 A,XIS - “boundary”=Six (rev)
21 SUB,ROUTINE - I always tend to spell “programme”, in the IT/software sense, witohut the “-me” ending, which didn’t help matters
24 F(LAP)JACK - not sure how far the international renown of the flapjack reaches?
28 YO(GHOUR)T - (rough)* in toy (rev). An unorthodox spelling, to me at least.
Down
2 [-p]USHER
4 OPPOS(IT)E
5 MISTRESS QUICKLY - (slick yet squirms)*. “Character” is a pretty non-specific definition.
6 POM,ON,A - (mop) rev. I recognised the name, but couldn’t recall job title (goddess of fruit and orchards).
8 BUM,P(SIN)TO - P.T.O = please turn over, in the fast-fading art of letter writing.
13 VENUS,DE MILO - (I model)*. Cliche-busting brownie points to Monk, for avoiding all mention of arms/unarmed in this clue. Thank you!
15 SEX,TUP,LET
17 RIVET,IN,G
20 C(U)RATE - “gun uncovered” =[-g]U[-n]
23 EULER - “Oiler”: a little behind the times this one. Houston’s NFL team is now the Texans. The erstwhile Oilers franchise is now plying its trade in Tennessee, as the Titans.
Posted in FT | No Comments »
Posted by John on 18th June 2008
The usual impressive offering from Dac, full of simply-constructed but very satisfactory clues. One or two I can’t quite explain, and one or two words that were new to me.
| Across |
| 1 |
S WELTERED - I suspected this to be the answer from an early stage, but had hardly heard the word ‘weltered’ |
| 6 |
AN GEL |
| 9 |
THEOREM - (mal)e in mother* |
| 10 |
OR(BIT)AL |
| 11 |
chapATTI Plain - hidden rev. I wasn’t sure about ‘rolls’ to indicate the reversal. |
| 12 |
DISCO M(usic) F IT |
| 13 |
REINSTATEMENT - not absolutely sure about this: I think the def. is simply ‘Restoration’ and it’s rein, then “meant” next to (’by’) state |
| 16 |
BUTTERFINGERS - but (first green)* |
| 20 |
CHARACTER - M is not only a character in Bond films but a letter or character |
| 22 |
N(OR)SE - am never very comfortable with these clues that vaguely ask you to find a random selection of quarters (sometimes it’s notes, not quarters) |
| 23 |
RAKE SUP |
| 24 |
ENTRUST - nutters*, although ‘entrust’ and ‘commend’ aren’t very close synonyms |
| 25 |
welcomES TOPers |
| 26 |
S(US)PENDER |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
SET A(P(ersonal) A(ssistant))RT |
| 2 |
ELECTRIC BLANKET - a CD I think, although ‘allowance’ may have some significance that I can’t see - it only seems to be there to help the surface |
| 3 |
TARTARS - if you have a tar (1) and tars (at least 2) you have at least 3 |
| 4 |
RE MEDIA TE(rm) - not a word I’d ever heard and not evidently one that Chambers gives in this sense, but it’s in the COD |
| 5 |
D(iana) ROSS - Diana Ross played Billie Holiday in the 1972 film |
| 6 |
A(MB)ROSE - which reminds me, there’s a one-day international on the radio. Rain. |
| 7 |
GET OFF THE GROUND - 2 defs, I suppose one of them saying “get off” (= play, achieve) “the ground” (the ground-bass) |
| 8 |
LOLITA - o in (a till)rev., &lit. |
| 14 |
ENFORCERS - not sure I get this: it seems to be def. ‘police officers?’, f(ine) in corners* (anagram indicated by ‘tight’), all after E(nglish), but this doesn’t seem quite right: what is ‘introduced’ doing? |
| 15 |
ASSENTOR - senators* |
| 17 |
TEARS UP - pasture* - a niggling criticism of the grid: there are two similarly shaped answers at 17dn and 23ac |
| 18 |
NANETTE - a small version of ‘nan’, as it were |
| 19 |
SCAR(FA)CE - but ‘taken out by gangster’ means ‘taking out gangster’, which seems wrong |
| 21 |
TAPAS - a in (spat)rev. - I thought ‘tapas’ was more dishes than dish |
Posted in Independent | 4 Comments »
Posted by manehi on 18th June 2008
Struggled with this for a while, but got there in the end. Several nice clues in here, and nothing too difficult, although I had to guess 13dn and at some of the wordplay.
| Across |
| 9 |
PENINSULA |
(lines up an)* - took me a while, as I hadn’t heard of “bill” in this sense before. |
| 10 |
CREDO |
Originally thought this was C,RE,DO with two uses of “about” and was slightly annoyed - kicked myself when I saw it was C,REDO |
| 11 |
TWIN,E |
Nice misleading surface. |
| 12 |
AUBERGINE |
AUBERGE around IN |
| 13 |
SCUTTLE |
double def - I assume the “basket” half refers to coal scuttles. |
| 17,19,20 |
STAGE MAN,AGING |
put this down as an &lit, as “getting on”=AGING seems needed for the definition as well. STAGE=”coach” and MAN=”member of group”, I suppose. |
| 21 |
LINCTUS |
Cough medicine if I recall correctly, sounds like “linked us”, us=Guardian |
| 22 |
S,HATTER |
|
| 24 |
LASSITUDE |
“2’s order reversed” gives SITU IN (deals)*. Clever. |
| 26 |
TRIAD |
TAD around RI, but I don’t know where the latter comes from, unless it’s a bit of scRIpture, which seems unlikely |
| 28 |
STINT |
double def. |
| 28 |
TURNTABLE |
(battle)* around URN |
|
| Down |
| 1,24 |
SPOT,LESS |
|
| 2 |
IN SITU |
(unit is)* |
| 3 |
INSENTIENT |
not sure about the wordplay. My best guess - “Sentiment engulfs male so” ~= Sentiment engulfs male IN SENTIENT, i.e. M engulfed IN SENTIENT gives “sentiment” |
| 4 |
CURARE |
AR in CURE |
| 5 |
BARBICAN |
BAR and BAN, around, presumably, IC = “in charge” |
| 7 |
BERIBERI |
BRIBER around E=drug, I=one |
| 8,27 |
COMEDIES |
COME=happen, DIE=to go, S[hakespeare] |
| 13 |
SISAL |
I in rev(LASS). A fibre used to make rope. |
| 15 |
STALACTITE |
cryptic def. I suppose, but I got it only from checking letters. |
| 16 |
NIGER |
rev(REGI[o]N) |
| 19 |
MOSQUITO |
low=MOO around S[outh], QUIT=part |
| 23 |
TRILBY |
I LB in TRY |
Posted in Guardian | 12 Comments »