We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Rich words, and meaningful to this day, no matter where you might happen to be.
Greetings from Philadelphia, where John Adams, John Sherman, Robert Livingston, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson began writing the Declaration of Independence 250 years ago this week. If you are a person who appreciates words, their selection, and how they are assembled, there is much for you in America’s great documents. Credit to the mother country for the philosophy expressed in these words and espoused by great Americans from that date onward. May we continue to be worthy of what the founders have handed down to us.
Link to puzzle: https://www.ft.com/content/c0f14eec-0f0c-40e5-8f4b-a90a342b2c30
Degree of difficulty (by FT standards: average, and very consistent through the whole puzzle (to Guy’s credit).
Agility level (how much creative thinking is required): just a little.
| Across | ||
| 1a | BUTTERSCOTCH | Spooner’s knives make a mess of toffee |
| CUTTERS(“knives”) BOTCH (“make a mess of”), Spoonerism indicated directly
Got the first one straightaway: a confidence builder is welcome when you’re on blogging duty. |
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| 9a | SHARPENER | Stake around enclosure with right tool to make points |
| SHARE (“stake”) containing (“around”) PEN (“enclosure”) + R (“right”) | ||
| 10a | PARSE | Analyse couple’s English after leaving India |
| PAiRS (“couples,” omission of I (“India”) indicated by “leaving”) + E (“English”) | ||
| 11a | AZALEA | Something to help make plaza leafy? |
| Hidden word, and a CAD (clue as definition) | ||
| 12a | GRUESOME | Case of ecchymosis in morgue possibly this? |
| *MORGUE (anagram indicated by “possibly”) containing ES (“ecchymosis,” first and last letters indicated by “case”)
Ecchymosis is a bruise. And another CAD. |
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| 14a | THEIR | Possessive child expecting everything on time |
| HEIR (“child expecting everything”) preceded by T (“time”) | ||
| 15a | AGAMEMNON | Greek king soon bored by willing maidens |
| ANON (“soon”) containing (“bored by”) GAME (“willing”) + M (“maidens”)
Another case where the rebus helps you with the spelling. Do you find yourself remembering clues when you are trying to remember how a word is spelled? |
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| 17a | NEWSTRADE | Daily sales of modern violin initially encouraging |
| NEW (“modern”) + STRAD (“violin”) + E (“encouraging,” first letter indicated by “initially”) | ||
| 19a | UPSET | Unexpected result, perhaps 1-0 at tennis? |
| “UP [a] SET” (cryptic definition) | ||
| 21a | PHYSIQUE | “Champagne, I’m afraid,” heard figure |
| ~FIZZ (“champagne”) + EEK (“I’m afraid”), homophone indicated by “heard”) | ||
| 23a | SAVAGE | Primitive except for silver parts |
| AG (“silver”) contained in (“parts”) SAVE (“except for”) | ||
| 25a | SPOCK | Logical officer in police turned back from brink |
| <COPS< (“police,” reversal indicated by “turned back”) + brinK (last letter indicated by “back”)
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| 26a | FLEXITIME | Hours changing to suit, when loud green trousers split |
| F (“loud”) + LIME (“green”) containing (“trousers”) EXIT (“split”)
Looks hard to parse at first, but very clear and very fair. Well done, Guy. |
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| 27a | ORDINARINESS | Dodgy dossier about Iran reflected new normality |
| ~DOSSIER (anagram indicated by “dodgy”) containing (“about”) <NARI< (“Iran,” reversal indicated by “reflected” + N (“new”) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2d | UNAWARE | Knowing nothing, somehow Manuel’s content to accept hostility |
| *mANUEl (anagram indicated by “somehow,” omission of first and last letters indicated by “content”) containing (“to accept”) WAR (“hostility) | ||
| 3d | TOP SECRET | How Bond’s mission might be damaging to Spectre? |
| *TO SPECTRE (anagram indicated by “damaging”) | ||
| 4d | RAND | Real estate changes hands for money |
| L/rAND (“real estate,” replacement of L with R indicated by “changes hands”) | ||
| 5d | CARD READER | Someone afraid of manual or automatic banking device? |
| §CAR DREADER | ||
| 6d | TOPEE | Sunhat king leaves to nobleman |
| TO (†) PEEr (“nobleman,” omission of R (“king”) indicated by “leaves”)
The only NHO for me. Needed help to get this one. |
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| 7d | HARPOON | Not one US talk show host picked up whale sticker |
| <NO OPRAH< (talk show host Oprah Winfrey, reversal indicated by “picked up”)
Clever of Guy to spot this opportunity, and I love the definition. If you want to learn about whaling, visit Nantucket, where my parents had a place for many years. |
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| 8d | HERE AND THERE |
Scattered 24 4 14 picked up. |
| ~HEAR RAND THEIR (cross ref to clues, homophone indicated by “picked up”
A little too easy. Otherwise, the “scattered” would make a great misdirection, leading solvers to try and anagram those words. But notice that “picked up” functions as two different indicators in consecutive clues! |
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| 9d | STARTING POST | Horses run past it, jumping after |
| STARTING (“jumping”) + POST (“after”) | ||
| 13d | RAGAMUFFIN | Poor kid brought up jelly and cake |
| <AGAR< (“jelly,” reversal indicated by “brought up”) + MUFFIN (“cake”) | ||
| 16d | EDUCATION | Italian bike straddled by European going training |
| DUCATI (“Italian bike”) contained by E (“European”) + ON (“going”) | ||
| 18d | WAY TO GO | How one might say bravo! |
| Cryptic definition, I think. | ||
| 20d | STATINS | Data covering popular drugs |
| STATS (“data”) containing (“covering”) IN (“popular”) | ||
| 22d | IRKED | Keir playing back for Oxted made cross |
| *KEIR (anagram indicated by “playing”) + oxteD (last letter indicated by “back”) | ||
| 24d | HEAR | Try large scissors when cutting fringe |
| sHEARs (“large scissors,” omission of first and last letters indicated by “cutting fringes”) |
Legend: “*” anagram; “~” sounds like; “<“ letters reversed; “( )” letters inserted; “_” or lower case: letters deleted; “†” explicit in the clue, “^” first or last letter or letters, “{“ relocated letter or letters; “§” heteronym, “/” letters exchanged, “¶” letter bank.
And with that I’m going to savor another Philadelphia product with British inspiration, a Bluecoat martini. Thanks for reading!
Excellent Puzzle and superb blog.
Thanks Guy and Braze.
WAY TO GO
Possibly a DD
How one might say=WAY TO GO (GO in the sense of say)
Bravo=WAY TO GO
Ingenious setting throughout, which needed a lot of mental agility, in my case!
Tough but very fair, no duff clues, and no bizarro solutions. Excellent variety of devices.
Basically, super stuff.
To be annoyingly pedantic, (and I apologise in advance ), re STARTING POST, 9(d), horses are not permitted to run before the start, they have to approach at an orderly walk/ jig-jog. Otherwise, it’s a false start, and they line up for a standing start. Flat races use starting stalls, so also a standing start.
Unfortunately for me, the horses I back seem to think the “no running” rule applies to the FINISHING POST, too!
Still a great clue, as are they all.
Thanks to Guy & Braze
Nice to see the blog on a Saturday. I enjoyed solving this and it was quite swift work after a bleak first pass. I started like Blaze (but one pass later) with BUTTERSCOTCH and then I was off. Last in were PHYSIQUE (obvious!) and WAY TO GO.
I liked EDUCATION, RAGAMUFFIN and TOP SECRET. It was all really good though.
Thanks Guy and Blaze.
Really enjoyed this today. LOI was savage.
As per KVa @1 I think Way to Go is a DD. I understood it slightly differently
How one might – Way to go
Say bravo – Way to go
Yep, 18(d), was a blind, stick-in. WAY TO GO.
i just went with “bravo”, from the Americanism, ” yo dude, way to go”.
After other views….I’m a bit bemused, now!
Could it be a response to “HOW?”, i.e. ” this is the way to go”. “this is how”.
The more I look at it, the less convinced I am.
I hope the setter will drop in, to ease my brain
Thanks, Martin @3. The advantages of being on this side of the pond. The puzzle drops at 7:00 Friday night my time.
You’re right, ENBoll& @2. This one is as fair a clueing job as I’ve seen in a long while. That shows quality on the part of the constructor, and not to forget the editor. Not easy by any means, but one to make steady progress through. Nothing that makes you wonder why they chose to clue it that way.
Thanks for the blog , very good set of neat clues , FLEXITIME a great construction and a clever definition for SPOCK ( he was Mister , Dr Spock was a child-rearing expert , my mother passed his book on to me . )
UNAWARE is a reference to Fawlty Towers , Manuel the waiter – I know nothing .
Thanks Guy. I found this a bit of a slog and I eventually revealed STARTING POST, AZALEA (didn’t see a hidden indicator), and PHYSIQUE. I did enjoy clues like PARSE, AGAMEMNON, RAGAMUFFIN, EDUCATION (liked Ducati), and SPOCK. [Back in the 70’s Leonard Nimoy went on a speaking tour in an attempt to launch a new identity and career; it was billed as, ‘I am not Spock.’ Many attendees, however, were wearing Spock ears or were dressed as Star Trek characters including Klingons. His fate was sealed.] Thanks Blaze for an excellent blog.
Braze @6: I think Martin is referring to the fact that the blog for the Saturday FT is usually embargoed until Monday…even though it is no longer a prize puzzle and hasn’t been for some time. I never understood that, so it is indeed good to see it on Saturday. By Monday I’ve usually already forgotten the contents of the puzzle, never mind what I wanted to say about it!
(Also good to see another American blogger here. I’ve been around these parts only intermittently over the last couple months due to a bit of crossword burnout, so I don’t know if this is your first, but welcome all the same. (I’m a Chicagoan who’s been commenting here for about 15 years now.))