Neo is this morning’s setter.
A fun crossword with a fair but of general knowledge, none of which was terribly obscure as long as you know your basic Shakespeare, Dickens, American geography and American jazz pianists. The bottom half was easier than the top for me, but as is often the case, solving the long clue across the middle gave plenty of crossers. I’m not convinced by STOOPS, so would be interested in other solver’s opinions.
Thanks, Neo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8/20 | COUNT BASIE |
Matter before foundation involves one famed 19 (5,5)
|
| COUNT (“matter”) before BASE (“foundation”) involves I (one) | ||
| 11 | RANCOUR |
Did you say private soldier harboured bitterness? (7)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [did you say] of RANKER (“private soldier”) | ||
| 12 | ORANG |
Love called for Sumatran swinger (5)
|
| O (love, in tennis) + RANG (“called”) | ||
| 13 | TYROL |
Beginner left for Alpine region (5)
|
| TYRO (“beginner’) + L (left) | ||
| 14 | DEAD SEA |
Absolute bottom temperature dropped in low lake (4,3)
|
| DEAD (“absolute”) + SEA(t) (“bottom”) with T (temperature) dropped | ||
| 15 | EXTRA |
More from uncredited player (5)
|
| Double definition, the second referring to a background actor whose name doesn’t appear in the credits. | ||
| 17 | FALL ON HARD TIMES |
Eagerly begin novel: experience suffering (4,2,4,5)
|
| FALL ON (“eagerly begin”) + HARD TIMES (a Charles Dickens “novel”) | ||
| 22 | EXPOSED |
Old flame, model, died naked (7)
|
| EX (“old flame”) + POSE (“model”) + D (died) | ||
| 25 | RODIN |
Stick with current French form master? (5)
|
| ROD (“stick”) with IN (“current”)
Auguste Rodin was a French sculpture, so one who mastered form. |
||
| 27 | LOOSE |
Unrestrained solo altered with echo (5)
|
| *(solo) [anag:altered] with E (echo, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) | ||
| 28 | CAPE COD |
Head across pond — caught parrot fish (4,3)
|
| C (caught) + APE (“parrot”) + COD (“fish”)
Cape Cod is a peninsula (or head) in Massachusetts, hence “across the pond”. |
||
| 29 | SIGHTSEER |
Traveller mentioning these locations in Bow? (9)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [mentioning] SITES ‘ERE (“these locations in Bow?”)
Bow is an area in London from which Cockneys, who famously drop their H’s, originate. |
||
| 30 | REAVE |
Forcibly seize ecstasy carried into party (5)
|
| E (ecstasy) carried into RAVE (“party”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SCORED |
Centre in South Dakota looking groovy? (6)
|
| CORE (“centre”) in SD (South Dakota)
If something is scored, it would have visible grooves in it, so it would “look groovy”. |
||
| 2 | TURN TAIL |
Heroin kicked, ultra-thin models beat retreat (4,4)
|
| *(ultratin) [anag:models] where ULTRATIN is ULTRA-T(h)IN with H (heroin) kicked (out) | ||
| 3 | STOOPS |
Bends over in bars (6)
|
| Double definition?
I’m not convinced by this, as I don’t think STOOPS and BARS are syninymous. |
||
| 4 | HEARTACHE |
Catch what moggy brought up in misery (9)
|
| HEAR (“catch”) + <=(EH (“what”) + CAT (“moggy”), brought up) | ||
| 5 | INSOLENT |
Bit too fresh in Hampshire strait (8)
|
| IN + SOLENT (“Hampshire strait”) | ||
| 6 | AT LAST |
Map book placed on table’s top in the end (2,4)
|
| ATLAS (“map book”) placed on T(able) [‘s top] | ||
| 7 | ANAGRAMS |
Among which William Hopper would become Philip Marlowe? (8)
|
| William Hopper and Philip Marlowe are ANAGRAMS of each other. | ||
| 10 | LEAR |
Troubled king coherent when losing head? (4)
|
| (c)LEAR (“coherent”, when losing head) | ||
| 16 | GREEN CARD |
Inexperienced character’s insurance document (5,4)
|
| GREEN (“experience”) + CARD (“character”) | ||
| 17 | FABULIST |
Storyteller’s splendid universal catalogue (8)
|
| FAB (“splendid”) + U (universal) + LIST (“catalogue”) | ||
| 18 | OPERETTA |
Nuts to repeat some Gilbert and Sullivan piece? (8)
|
| *(to repeat) [anag:nuts] | ||
| 19 | MUSICIAN |
Maybe fiddler has problem over agents breaking in (8)
|
| <=SUM (“problem”, over) + CIA (Central Intelligence Agency, so “agents”) brealing IN | ||
| 21 | SLOUGH |
Southern Water’s stagnant swamp (6)
|
| S (Southern) + LOUGH (lake in Ireland, so “water”) | ||
| 23 | POP ART |
Role outside work in modern movement (3,3)
|
| PART (“role”) outside Op. (opus, so “work”) | ||
| 24 | DODGEM |
Car bashed in Kansas City motorway (6)
|
| DODGE (“Kansas city”) + M (motorway) | ||
| 26/9 | DUKE ELLINGTON |
Famed 19 liked long tune to be rearranged (4,9)
|
| *(liked long tune) [anag:to be rearranged] |
A paywall prevented me from downloading today’s, and I thought it was goodbye to FT crosswords, as I certainly wouldn’t pay a full subscription to something I’d never read. (A modest fee for the crosswords alone would of course be more favourably considered.) But hours later the paywall was gone. Curiouser and curiouser.
I had a “Huh?” list of five, due primarily to deficiencies in my knowledge of things UK and Dickens. And REAVE was new to me. But most enjoyable nevertheless.
I think STOOPS is O( over) in STOPS( bars).
Fun puzzle with an excellent blog.
Thanks to both
STOOPS is O in STOPS. Rodin is a sculptor rather than a sculpture.
Thanks, SM@2. Will edit when I get the chance.
A curate’s egg for me. There were some wonderful clues mixed with several I disliked. I found this on the difficult side.
DUKE ELLINGTON and OPERETTA are the sort of clever anagrams with great surfaces that I love. And they were topped by the utterly brilliant ANAGRAMS. I also liked the surfaces of SCORED and HEARTACHE
I could not parse RANCOUR – a pronunciation thing that does not bother me – and I misinterpreted “current” in RANCOUR (I thought i not in).
I believe the city in Kansas is Dodge City, and Dodge alone does not seem to work in the clue. And yet again the solver forgets he has many solvers outside UK. CAPE COD is not across the pond for many solvers, and it is news for me that SOLENT is in Hampshire. I also have no idea how a GREEN CARD is an insurance document (is it a UK thing?). It would also have been nice to have an Irish indicator for lough. And while we are on the topic of indicators, an abbreviation indicator for ORANG is missing for me.
Thanks Neo and loonapick
There was a copy and paste error in me@6. I wrote “I misinterpreted “current” in RANCOUR (I thought i not in)”. I meant RODIN, not RANCOUR. Many apologies.
Martyn@6
Green Card is an international motor insurance certificate used in 47 countries in North Africa , Europe and Asia. I expect it would be quite confusing to include the USA.
Thanks SM@8.
Good morning.
Despite the fact (if it is a fact) that FT solvers are generally aware that the FT puzzles are almost always created somewhere in Britain, I see Martyn’s point about the definition for CAPE COD forcing the issue. Losing the ‘across the pond’ bit would dramatically compromise the effectiveness of the surface though.
He was congratulatory about the anagrams (cheers mate!) but what else was he on about? Oh yes, Dodge not being Dodge City. We’ll all have to get the hell outta Dodge City from now on, I suppose.
Thanks loona et al, and yes STOOPS is ST(O)OPS.
Like loonapick I struggled with STOOPS and thanks to all those who have explained the clue. Otherwise all good fun (although REAVE was new to me) and not too demanding- I finished it between Amersham and Marylebone which , for me, is pretty good going
Liked this, especially anagrams. Thx both.
Thanks Neo, great stuff as usual. Favourites included COUNT BASIE, DUKE ELLINGTON, CAPE COD, TURN TAIL (loved the surface), FABULIST, and MUSICIAN. My only reveal was ANAGRAMS (I hate when a clue is brilliant and I’m not). Thanks loonapick for the blog.
Was held up for a while by Heartache, my LOI and the long crosser at 17. Anagrams is a brilliant clue – tell us, Neo, how you found it?? Is it a well known one?
NHO Reave so that’s a nice new word for me.
A bit unconvinced by Rancour and thanks for explaining it
But all in all, a very good puzzle.
Hello Moly
The only disappointment for me regarding the ANAGRAMS clue is that Hopper never (as far as I can see) played Marlowe. It must have been close however, as he held down a regular part as Paul Drake in Perry Mason.
Back of mind was like ” .. grandpa’s rocking chair on the stoop”, but no, for sure it was o in stops like the good folks above say.
Thank you Neo@10 for your thoughtful response.
I apologise to everyone if my comments@6 were unclear or overly critical
I found this slightly challenging. I liked MUSICIAN, RODIN, CAPE COD and HEARTACHE, not to mention the excellent ANAGRAMS.
Thanks Neo and loonapick
Echoing 17d, a fabulous crossword.
Thanks loonapick for the blog.
And thanks to Neo for the puzzle but, even more, for your comments on this site.
I thought it was a very good puzzle! Enjoyed most of it. Never knew there was anything called a ranker. I enjoy jazz piano so that part wasn’t too bad for me. Thanks Neo and Loonapick
Thanks Neo and Loonapick. This was easy for me, except REAVE which I didn’t know and ANAGRAMS (same as Tony@13). I remember Hopper as Paul Drake, so a brilliant anagram to another detective’s name.
Neo, did you intend a music theme? Along with the Count and Duke, MUSICIAN, SCORED, OPERETTA, I also thought of AT LAST (Glenn Miller/Etta James) and CAPE COD (Old Cape Cod by Patti Page).
Well done Neo for ANAGRAMS. The long crosser came to me very late, and contrary to previous comments REAVE was my first entry. Grateful to Loonapick for the passing of HEARTACHE as I could not see where the final HE came from.
This is such an informative site. I have the advantage of one son now in USA and the other in Australia, and so many geographical clues are quickly recognised (plus a father who was born within the sound of Bow Bels. My New York granddaughters love rhyming slang)