Where in the world will today’s puzzle take us? Find out by solving it online at ft.com/crossword
The usual preamble:
A cryptic puzzle themed on one particular place in the world. Its name should be inserted at 5 across. Work out the place by solving the * asterisked clues, all undefined. Their solutions have some relevance to the place, such as famous people, locations and culture
Have to admit I found this tough, seeing as my knowledge of Venice is limited to say the least. A few tricksy bits of wordplay added to the challenge but I got there in the end (with some help from Wikipedia) and had no real problems with the parsing.
Thanks, Peto!
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ARSENALE |
* Football club’s last chance (8)
|
| ARSENAL (football club) + last [letter of] [chanc]E
The shipyard and armouries in northern Venice. |
||
| 5 | VENICE |
[See Notes] (6)
|
| The city to which the solutions to all asterisked clues are linked. | ||
| 9 | LA FENICE |
* Insects overrunning area near low-lying marshy land (2,6)
|
| LICE (insects) surrounding (overrunning) A (area) + FEN (low-lying marshy land)
Opera house in Venice. |
||
| 10 | DOGANA |
* Lawyer devouring newspaper right away (6)
|
| DA (district attorney = [American] lawyer) containing (devouring) O[r]GAN (newspaper) less R (right ‘away’)
The Punta della Dogana is an art museum in Venice in an old customs house. |
||
| 12/14 | DOGE’S PALACE |
* Works at keeping good amateur in position (5,6)
|
| DOES (works at) containing (keeping) G (good) + A (amateur) [inserted] in PLACE (position)
A palace built in the Venetian gothic style and one of the main landmarks in Venice. |
||
| 13 | RISI E BISI |
* Flying ibis rise over island (4,1,4)
|
| Anagram (flying) of IBIS RISE surrounding (over) I (island)
A traditional Venetian dish of rice and peas. |
||
| 14 |
See 12
|
|
| 16 | FRITOLE |
* French and Italian expression of approval (7)
|
| FR (French) + IT (Italian) + OLE ([Spanish] expression of approval)
Local Venetian name for fritella, a type of Italian filled doughnut. |
||
| 19 | RIDOTTO |
* Largely desperate reversal by German fellow (7)
|
| Most of (largely) DIR[e] reversed + OTTO (German fellow)
A historical building in Venice, famous as Europe’s first legal casino. |
||
| 21 | RIALTO |
* Regularly train singing voice (6)
|
| Alternate letters (regularly) of [t]R[a]I[n] + ALTO (singing voice)
Financial and commercial centre of Venice. |
||
| 23 | GIORGIONE |
* Only after a couple of soldiers pinch gold (9)
|
| ONE (only) after GI + GI (a couple of soldiers) containing (pinch) OR (gold [in heraldry])
Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco, known as Giorgione, was a Venetian Renaissance painter, a contemporary of Titian. |
||
| 25 | FERRO |
* Make a mistake ringing the Italian playwright? Just the opposite (5)
|
| FO (Dario Fo, Italian playwright) containing (ringing) ERR (make a mistake) – ie the opposite of ERR containing FO
The Palazzo Ferro Fini is a historic building in Venice, at one time housing the Hotel New York, now local council offices. |
||
| 26 | INBORN |
Onset of neuropathy in Robin sadly congenital (6)
|
| First letter (onset) of N[europathy] in an anagram (sadly) of ROBIN | ||
| 27 | CHILL-OUT |
No longer burning after feverish cold? Relax (5-3)
|
| OUT (no longer burning) after CHILL (feverish cold) | ||
| 28 | GRASSI |
* Pot still essentially (6)
|
| GRASS (pot, or marijuana) + middle letter (essentially) of [st]I[ll]
The Palazzo Grassi is a historical building in Venice housing a modern art museum. |
||
| 29 | DESERTER |
Runaway steer somehow caught by the German (8)
|
| Anagram (somehow) of STEER inserted into (caught by) DER (‘the’ [in] German) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ALLUDE |
Mention cheerless set-up in A&E (6)
|
| Reversal (set-up) of DULL (cheerless) in A+E | ||
| 2 | SAFEGUARD |
Look after good watch (9)
|
| SAFE (good) + GUARD (watch) | ||
| 3 | NANAS |
Fools crazy ignoring odd bits of bias (5)
|
| [ba]NANAS (crazy) ignoring the odd letters (bits) of B[i]A[s] | ||
| 4 | LUCERNE |
Cruel revolutionary raised in French city (7)
|
| Anagram (revolutionary) of CRUEL + reversal (raised) of EN (‘in’ [in] French) | ||
| 6 | ESOTERICA |
Mysterious objects of hers oddly removed along with books by Ms Jong (9)
|
| [h]E[r]S with odd letters (oddly) removed + OT (Old Testament = books) + ERICA (American author Erica Jong) | ||
| 7 | IRAQI |
Rebels question source of information with someone from Baghdad (5)
|
| IRA (rebels) + Q (question) + first lettert (source) of I[nformation] | ||
| 8 | EXAMINED |
Hard-wearing fabric sack written up as tested (8)
|
| DENIM (hard-wearing fabric) + AXE (sack) reversed (written up) | ||
| 11 | AS IF |
I very much doubt it’s arsenic though (2,2)
|
| AS (chemical symbol for arsenic) + IF (though) | ||
| 15 | AUTOGIROS |
Car kit brought up on large self-propelled aircraft (9)
|
| AUTO (car) + RIG (kit) reversed (brought up) + OS (outsized = large) | ||
| 17 | OUTERMOST |
Furthest from the centre of wild storm dismissed earlier by earl (9)
|
| Anagram (wild) of STORM with an ‘earlier’ OUT (dismissed) + E (earl) | ||
| 18 | DRAGGING |
Head of design furious over German drawing slowly (8)
|
| First letter (head) of D[esign] + RAGING (furious) surrounding (over) G (German) | ||
| 20 | OBOE |
Instrument of torture’s back after homeless person’s husband disappears (4)
|
| Last letter (back) of [tortur]E after [h]OBO (homeless person) from which H (husband) is deleted (disappears) | ||
| 21 | ROETHKE |
Knight stopping here to confound poet (7)
|
| K (knight) inserted in (stopping) an anagram (confound) of HERE TO | ||
| 22 | ROITER |
* French king to call shortly (6)
|
| ROI (French [for] king) + TER[m] (to call) with last letter removed (shortly)
Fulvio Roiter, 1926-2016, was a Venetian photographer, who published about 100 books of his photography. |
||
| 24 | OMBRA |
* Not long climbing with support (5)
|
| MO (not long) reversed (climbing) + BRA (support)
Venetian for a glass of wine, from the Italian for shade, because you traditionally order one as refreshment while sitting with friends in the shade at a bar. |
||
| 25 | FELZE |
* Charge includes fifty zloty at the outset (5)
|
| FEE (charge) containing (includes) L (fifty) first letter (at the outset) of Z[loty]
A cabin on a Venetian gondola, providing weather protection and/or privacy for passengers. |
Very nice puzzle and great blog. Thanks Peto and Widdersbel.
I couldn’t find a reference to ROITER. What/who is/was ROITER?
RIALTO was my foi which helped.
It was Fulvio Roiter,a Venetian photographer. Perhaps worth adding that Giorgione was a Venetian painter.
I enlarged my knowledge of Venice from this with several new names. Many thanks to Peto and Widdersbel. It was fun.
Fulvio ROITER is one of the co-authors of a book about Venice and GIORGIONE is an artist of the Venetian school. I used search engines extensively too, because my Venetian knowledge is not great.
Thank you to Peto and Widdersbel
Thanks SM and Shanne
Apologies, was in a rush to get the blog out this morning and overlooked those two. Will update the details later.
I was hoping for “Frequent poster’s without a Post Office” or “idiot Scotsman”, but it’s good to extend ones knowledge. Thanks all.