Gurney is today’s setter.
Possibly because I am doing this in the wee small hours and possibly because my brain is fried due to a new work placement, I found this tougher than I should have. There is nothing overly difficult in the puzzle – no obscure words, nothing impossible to parse – and yet this took over an hour to complete, blogging as I went to be fair, but I’m sure if I was doing this with the benefit of a night’s sleep it would have taken less time.
Thanks, Gurney
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CLOAK-AND-DAGGER |
Mysterious cover with pointed feature? (5-3-6)
|
| CLOAK (“cover”) + AND (“with”) + DAGGER (“pointed feature”) | ||
| 10 | LIBRA |
Sign where books may be borrowed couple at rear missed out (5)
|
| LIBRA(ry) (“where books may be borrowed”) with a couple (of letters) at rear missed | ||
| 11 | OMISSIONS |
They’re left out as a result of going back to take care of special task (9)
|
| <=SO (“as a result of”, going back) to take care of MISSION (“special task”) | ||
| 12 | CHICAGO |
City, ultimately historic, here once in Rome in the past (7)
|
| [ultimately] (histori)C + HIC (Latin for “here”, hence “here once in Rome”) + AGO (“in the past”) | ||
| 13 | TROTTER |
Horse, second in stalls, backed by disreputable fellow (7)
|
| [second (letter) in] (s)T(alls) backed by ROTTER (“disreputable fellow”) | ||
| 14 | DWARF |
Conflict between daughter and female star (5)
|
| WAR (“conflict”) between D (daughter) and F (female) | ||
| 16 | IMMEDIATE |
Time to ignore outsiders — try to resolve differences without delay (9)
|
| (t)IM(e) [ignoring outsiders] + MEDIATE (“try to resolve differences”) | ||
| 19 | ANTARCTIC |
Playful trick involving working cart in cold area (9)
|
| ANTIC (“playful trick”) involving *(cart) [anag:working] | ||
| 20 | RAMPS |
Charges over mass swindles (5)
|
| RAPS (“charges”) over M (mass) | ||
| 22 | HERETIC |
Disbelieving quote about hotel taken the wrong way (7)
|
| <=(CITE (“quote”) + RE (“about”) + H (hotel), taken the wrong way) | ||
| 25 | OVERDUE |
Late, because of wet, reportedly (7)
|
| OVER (“because of”) + homophone/pun/aural wordplay [reportedly] of DEW (“wet”) | ||
| 27 | IMBROGLIO |
Complicated situation in new oil rig blew one’s mind originally (9)
|
| *(oil rig bom) [anag:new] where BOM is B(lew) O(ne’s) M(ind) [originally] | ||
| 28 | INLET |
Sound home lease (5)
|
| IN (“home”) + LET (“lease”) | ||
| 29 | MISINFORMATION |
At heart promise is favoured arrangement? Don’t believe it! (14)
|
| [at heart] (pro)M(ise) + IS + IN (“favoured”) + FORMATION (“arrangement”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | LUBRICANT |
This may aid smooth movement in rent tribunal Charlie is involved in (9)
|
| C (Charlie, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) involved in *(tribunal) [anag:rent] | ||
| 3 | AQABA |
American heading for quiet dayboat regularly seen in Jordan port (5)
|
| A (American) + [heading for] Q(uiet) + (d)A(y)B(o)A(t) [regualrly] | ||
| 4 | APOLOGIST |
One championing first-class game point (9)
|
| A (“first-class” as in A-list) + POLO (“match”) + GIST (“point”) | ||
| 5 | DRIFT |
Indecision days before break (5)
|
| D (days) before RIFT (“break”) | ||
| 6 | ABSCONDER |
Sailor, unfortunately second on river — one jumping ship? (9)
|
| AB (able-bodied seaman, so “sailor”) + *(second) [anag:unfortunately] on R (river) | ||
| 7 | GLOAT |
Greatest of all time, primarily, crushing loser at the outset — rub it in? (5)
|
| GOAT (“greatest of all time”, primarily) crushing L(oser) [at the outset] | ||
| 8 | RESERVE |
Set aside book (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 9 | PLACID |
Even-tempered Conservative wearing material with check design (6)
|
| C (Conservative) wearing PLAID (“material with check design”) | ||
| 15 | FIRST-BORN |
Maybe describing air in broadcast? (5-4)
|
| In broadcast, “heir” (FIRST-BORN) becomes “air” | ||
| 17 | MICROCOSM |
Miniature feature in room extremely comic, so odd (9)
|
| *(rm comic so) [anag:odd] where RM is R(oo)M [extremely] | ||
| 18 | ARMADILLO |
Native of America recollected a mill road (9)
|
| *(a mill road) [anag:recollected] | ||
| 19 | ATHEISM |
Statement of belief in articles is mild initially (7)
|
| A + THE (“articles”) + IS + M(ild) [initially]
As an atheist myself, I see atheism as a lack of belief, rather than a statement of belief. |
||
| 21 | SLEETY |
Cold and wet, shelter in farm building (6)
|
| LEE (“shelter”) in STY (“farm building”) | ||
| 23 | REBUS |
Note transport puzzle (5)
|
| RE (“note”) + BUS (“transport”) | ||
| 24 | CELLO |
What could provide pleasing sound in small room, love (5)
|
| CELL (“small room”) + O (love, in tennis) | ||
| 26 | EDICT |
Order media person is criticising thoroughly at first (5)
|
| Ed. (editor, so “media person”) + I(s) C(riticising) T(horoughly) [at first] |
Good fun. The Latin hic and the British use of RAMPS were my only head scratchers.
There was plenty to like, and I ticked INLET (succinct), ANTARCTIC (nice surface), IMBROGLIO (great surface), OVERDUE (succinct), and CELLO (made me smile). It was also nice to see “greatest of all time” was not ALI. But I found it a bit uneven, with a few clues that felt over-designed.
I threw in FIRST BORN as it was all I could think of to fit the crossers, but had no understanding of the clue. Thanks for the parsing and showing me the obvious.
Thanks Gurney and loonapick
Unable to print off the FT crossword this morning. Can anyone provide a roundabout route?
Ah, I see that for some reason instead of the single page displaying the crossword, three pages are displayed. Page 2 contains the crossword.
Tilloubill. Personally, I always use the download crossword link then print the result using a 110% enlargement.
I liked RESERVE and INLET for their pithiness, as well as the connecting HERETIC and ATHEISM. I’m on the same page as Loonapick re 19d… I do not believe in any faith and that is my belief!
Like the dispute over ATHEISM I doubt that a HERETIC is a disbeliever. Devout Protestants were burnt at the stake for heresy.
Most enjoyable puzzle and blog.
Thanks Gurney and loonapick.
Thanks Gurney and loonapick for the excellent blog. I do hope your new placement works out well.
Though this Gurney wasn’t a stretcher, it was a laid-back ride, and faultless for me. Aided and abetted by diy Greek wine, a quick finish, too.
No particular favourite, all clues very nicely constructed, lovely surfaces, not a hint of a bizarro.
Well done Gurney, and ditto, loonapick…and good luck!
To Hovis #5. Thanks for that.
Really enjoyed this, until the very end… NHO RAMPS in that context, and was completely befuddled by the air/heir homophone thing…
Thanks Gurney and loonapick
P.S. Tilloubill#3 I used to download and print, but now find the app (last option on the crossword page), gives excellent, ad-free access. Saves on printer ink n paper, but increases screen time… there’s always a catch…
I too wondered about the ATHEISM point but decided that Gurney is treating atheism as a belief that there is no god rather than a lack of belief that there is one. Not sure how that goes down with atheists generally!
I wondered about the meaning of atheist and heretic too. Thanks Diane@6 and SM@7 for raising them. My little dictionary says an atheist includes someone that denies the existence of God, which sounds close enough to me. I thought of Richard Dawkins who was so dogmatic in professing atheism. I could not find a definition for heretic that exactly fitted “disbeliever”.
I hope Pelham Barton can dive into his stack of dictionaries and come to the rescue.
Thanks Gurney and loonapick.
Taking up the challenge from Martyn@13, I remember Gurney saying at some time in the past that he is usually guided by Collins.
For 19dn (ATHEISM), if we go to Collins online (collinsdictionary.com), we get first the information from the Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, and that gives us “Atheism is the belief that there is no God”, which fits the definition used in the clue, so we need go no further than that.
For 23ac (HERETIC), collinsdictionary.com gives us “A heretic is someone whose beliefs or actions are considered wrong by most people, because they disagree with beliefs that are generally accepted.” Can we take “disagreeing with beliefs that are generally accepted” as a justification for “disbelieving” as a definition used in a clue? I am inclined to say yes to that. I have not found a more direct equivalence of heretic and disbelieving in the usual print dictionaries.
My Shorter OED has a definition of HERETIC as “One who maintains opinions on any subject at variance with those generally received (1599).” So those who do not believe that the Earth is round, rather than flat, for example, might fairly be described as heretics, which I think covers “disbelievers”. Edit: I see that PB beat me to it, but happily we seem to have reached the same conclusion.
And on ATHEISM, while agnosticism is a lack of belief, I would regard my atheism as a positive conviction or belief.
To Tilloubill @10 and Undrell@11, I use Fifteensquared to download, then save to Acrobat on my I-Pad. I can then use the Apple Pen to write in answers or scribble/erase the jotter pad.
Thanks for the excellent blog, loonapick. I hope things are going a bit better now in your new work placement.
Thanks also to all who commented.
That was fun, I didn’t finish though because of RAMPS.
I’m both an ATHEIST and a HERETIC. I don’t believe in a god (which doesn’t make me a believer) but I do believe in lots of other unconventional stuff, so I guess that does make me a believer. These days, though, I’m more likely to burn my steak than to be burned at a stake.
I think the clue at 19d is accurate. An atheist believes that there is no god. An agnostic doesn’t believe that there is a god, but is willing to accept the possibility.
My personal definition of an agnostic is “an atheist without the courage of their convictions”.
My favourite clue (surprise surprise) was 24d.
Thanks Gurney and Loonapick for the cloak-and-dagger fun.