ORENSE (RIP) kicks off the week with a puzzle from 2018…
A very enjoyable puzzle with a lot of very neat surfaces.
It now occurs to me that this this has been blogged before: Financial Times 16,016 by ORENSE – Fifteensquared, but it was fun to do it again.
Thanks again ORENSE!
ACROSS
1. Seeing the future of a vicar only upset them initially (11)
CLAIRVOYANT
(A VICAR ONLY)* (*upset) + T[hem] (initially)
7. Cold shoulder — of lamb? (3)
CUT
Double (cryptic) definition, with shoulder doing double duty
9. Slow student has a right turn (5)
LARGO
L (student) has A + R (right) + GO (turn)
10. Bent receiver must have one way (9)
DISHONEST
DISH (receiver) must have ONE + ST (way)
11. Scrape by, accepting blunder could be a show of contempt (9)
RASPBERRY
RASP (scrape) + BY accepting ERR (blunder)
12. Minor problem with answer for one opening (5)
HATCH
HITCH (minor problem, with A (answer) for I (one))
13. Kept control of parasites in whales (7)
POLICED
LICE (parasites) in POD (whales)
15. Low returns on diamonds must mean inevitable ruin (4)
DOOM
(MOO)< (low, <returns) on D (diamonds)
18. A final cut short, unfortunately (4)
ALAS
A + LAS[t] (final, cut short)
20. Viceroy, king and ambassador in front of disreputable club (7)
KHEDIVE
K (king) and HE (ambassador) in front of DIVE (disreputable club)
23. A cat’s tiny bits (5)
ATOMS
24. Polish group rejected seductive scheme (5,4)
HONEY TRAP
HONE (polish) + (PARTY)< (group, <rejected)
26. FT magazine article found in office? (5,4)
PAPER CLIP
PAPER (FT) + CLIP (magazine)
27. Supply food for a disheartened type in credit (5)
CATER
(A + T[yp]E (disheartened)) in CR (credit)
28. Show agreement, backing academic type (3)
NOD
(DON)< (academic type, <backing)
29. Offer false hope to new girl’s agent on lacking energy (6,5)
STRING ALONG
(GIRLS AG[e]NT ON (lacking E (energy))* (*new)
DOWN
1. US state exercise set up ancient weapons (8)
CALTROPS
CAL (US state) + (SPORT)< (exercise, <set up)
2. Sprays also designed to protect painful back (8)
AEROSOLS
(ALSO)* (*designed) to protect (SORE)< (painful, <back)
3. Figure house doctor should support Republican (5)
RHOMB
(HO (house) + MB (doctor)) should support R (Republican)
4. Reserved and rode off looking embarrassed (7)
ORDERED
(RODE)* (*off) + RED (looking embarrassed)
5. Tested when on top of state education (7)
ASSAYED
AS (when) on top of SAY (state) + ED (education)
6. Tasty — to an unspecified number eating hot stew (9)
TOOTHSOME
TO + SOME (unspecified number) eating (HOT)* (*stew)
7. Cougars will accept he does (6)
CHEATS
CATS (cougars) will accept HE
8. Easily irritated, one leaves the City in turmoil (6)
TETCHY
(THE C[i]TY (I (one) leaves))* (*in turmoil)
14. Pass poor dosser getting such blisters (4,5)
COLD SORES
COL (pass) + (DOSSER)* (*poor)
16. British Rail originally invested in new toilet book (8)
LIBRETTO
B[ritish] R[ail] (initially) invested in (TOILET)* (*new)
17. Advance making progress on the backs of others (8)
LEAPFROG
19. Student son’s arrest reported (7)
SCHOLAR
S (son) + “collar” = CHOLAR (arrest, “reported”)
20. Family doctor at home is number one in team (7)
KINGPIN
KIN (family) + GP (doctor) + IN (at home)
21. Discourage study covering a politician (6)
DAMPEN
DEN (study) covering (A + MP (politician))
22. Drop it off , being sluggish (6)
TORPID
25. Plant seen in your cocoa, intermittently (5)
YUCCA
Y[o]U[r] C[o]C[o]A (intermittently)
I enjoyed this, rattling most of it off before breakfast. I came up short on a few but even so lots to like.
I hesitated about Rhomb and Caltrops but I’m glad I read them right.
My favourites were Largo, Libretto and Aerosols but lots else to lie.
Thanks to Teacow and a respectful RIP to Orense.
A really lovely crossword from Orense with neat cluing throughout, so much so that the unknown entries (the vicious 1d and 20a) could still be parsed unambiguously.
Happily, this puzzle was new to me as I didn’t start solving cryptics until 2020. At the same time, the fine puzzle was a sad reminder of what we’ll miss.
I liked HONEY TRAP, PAPER CLIP, AEROSOLS and most of all LEAPFROG.
Thanks to the FT for repeating this and Teacow for the blog.
New crossword for me too. Although I’ve been doing cryptics for decades, I only added the FT to my rota in 2024. I cheated on CALTROPS, but I can’t see why, since it was very clearly clued. Anyway, now I know what they are. This was all very fun, and a fitting memorial to the departed setter.
Also a new puzzle for me and most enjoyable. In the nineteenth century the Khedive ruled Egypt and Sudan under the Ottomans so the term is well known to historians. Caltrop was only dimly remembered by me.
Thanks to Teacow and RIP Orense.
And again, a new puzzle to us, and very enjoyable it turned out to be – a suitable tribute to Orense. We did have a bit of a holdup in the NE corner having entered an unparsed ‘distorted’ at first for 10ac till 8dn showed us the error of our ways.
Favourites were CLAIRVOYANT, RASPBERRY and CALTROPS.
Here’s to the memory of Orense, with thanks to the bloggers from 2018 and 2026.
A typical Jeremy Mutch crossword. RIP.
I am newish to the FT cryptic, so this was new to me, but I am very familiar with his style as I have been doing the Telegraph cryptic for years.
This was my first Orense puzzle too. I thought it was at the easy end and found plenty to like, including nice surfaces and some misdirections. I ticked AEROSOLS, DAMPEN, TORPID, PAPER CLIP, SCHOLAR, and LEAPFROG.
I managed to get the DNK CALTROPS and KHEDIVE, but paused over CLIP and TOOTHSOME.
The covering note to the puzzles said this was one of his last puzzles, but a quick search on this site showed that Orense puzzles appeared for a few years after this one.
Vale Orense and thanks Teacow