Peto is the compiler today.
A slow burner not helped by my failure to parse a couple of clues (the first couple of comments put me right on these). There were also a few stray extra words in clues, such as the “of” in 1ac, 23ac, 9dn, which are essential to the surface of the clue, but not necessary for the definition or wordplay.
Thanks, Peto.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PIFFLE |
Fellows taken in by a great deal of nonsense (6)
|
| FF (fellows) taken In by PILE (“a great deal”) | ||
| 4 | WIND FARM |
Electricity supplier’s suggestion very much maligned at first (4,4)
|
| WIND (“suggestion”) + FAR (“very much”) + M(aligned) [at first] | ||
| 10 | ERRONEOUS |
Mistaken by roué sore about receiving note (9)
|
| *(roue sore) [anag:about] receiving N (note) | ||
| 11 | AIRER |
Look with dread essentially at back of washer-dryer (5)
|
| AIR (“look”) with (dr)E(ad) [essentially] at [back of] (wate)R | ||
| 12 | EMUS |
Apparent in the muscles of fast runners (4)
|
| Hidden in [apparent in] “thE MUScles” | ||
| 13 | COMPLACENT |
Extremely self-satisfied politician gripped by drink and money (10)
|
| MP (Member of Parliament, so “politician”) gripped by COLA (“drink”) + CENT (“money”) | ||
| 15 | TRAINER |
Coach hire brought back to carry soldiers at start of insurrection (7)
|
| <=RENT (“hire”, brought back) to carry RA (Royal Artillery, so “soldiers”) at [start of] I(nsurrection)) | ||
| 16 | DRUDGE |
Dickens originally gets Barnaby to do laborious work (6)
|
| D(ickens) [originally] gets (Barnaby) RUDGE (one of his books or its eponymous character) | ||
| 19 | RENOIR |
Artist’s refusal cutting on the subject of Ireland (6)
|
| NO (“refusal”) cutting RE (“on the subject of”) + Ir. (Ireland) | ||
| 21 | PRECISE |
Change recipe to include earliest of strawberries in particular (7)
|
| *(recipe) [anag:change] to include [earliest of] S(trawberries) | ||
| 23 | DONKEY WORK |
Socially inept person ringing about vital week of hard graft (6,4)
|
| DORK (“socially inept person”) ringing ON (“about”) + KEY (“vital”) + W (week) | ||
| 25 | BANK |
Prohibit taking Krona from reserve for future use (4)
|
| BAN (“prohibit”) taking K (Krona) | ||
| 27 | REEVE |
Returning in any case to collect last of furniture for bailiff (5)
|
| [returning] <=EVER (“in any case”) to collect [last of] (furnitur)E | ||
| 28 | IN THE SOUP |
Keen on admitting he’s over having difficulties (2,3,4)
|
| INTO (“keen on”) admitting HE’S + UP (over) | ||
| 29 | ORDINARY |
Familiar with Orwell’s opening lines about row upsetting artist (8)
|
| O(rwell) [‘s opening] + ry. (railway “lines”) about DIN (“row”) + [upsetting] <=RA (member of the Royal Academy, so “artist”) | ||
| 30 | AT REST |
Still essential to theatre staff (2,4)
|
| Hidden in [essential to] “theATRE STaff” | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PRESENTS |
Penny begrudges giving gifts (8)
|
| P (penny) + RESENTS (“grudges”) | ||
| 2 | FORMULATE |
You said, after class recently, to prepare methodically (9)
|
| U (“you”, said) after FORM (“class”) + LATE (“recently”) | ||
| 3 | LENT |
Contributed with a fast time (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | INSIPID |
Popular drink girl served up is tasteless (7)
|
| IN (“popular”) + SIP (“drink”) + <=DI (“girl”, served up) | ||
| 6 | DRAMA QUEEN |
A character likely to overreact is Shakespeare’s Cleopatra, for example (5,5)
|
| Shakespeare’s Cleopatra is the QUEEN in a DRAMA | ||
| 7 | AGREE |
Article on gluttony abridged by consent (5)
|
| A (article) on GREE(d) (“gluttony”, abridged) | ||
| 8 | MERITS |
Desert Rats finally showing superior qualities (6)
|
| MERIT (“desert”) + (rat)S [finally]
As in “to get one’s just deserts” |
||
| 9 | DOLOUR |
Determined to conceal look of anguish (6)
|
| DOUR (“determined”) to conceal LO (“look”) | ||
| 14 | UNFORESEEN |
Not expected by peacekeepers observed after warning shout (10)
|
| UN (United Nations, so “peacekeepers”) + SEEN (“observed”) after FORE (“warning shout” on a golf course) | ||
| 17 | GO IT ALONE |
Act without help in attempt to build lean-to by lunchtime (2,2,5)
|
| GO (“attempt”) + *(leanto) [anag:to build] by I (one, so “lunchtime”) | ||
| 18 | WEAK SPOT |
Flaw in one’s argument for watery jam (4,4)
|
| WEAK (“watery”) + SPOT (“jam”) | ||
| 20 | ROWDIER |
Pass after squabble over rule becomes more noisy and disorderly (7)
|
| DIE (“pass”) after ROW (“squabble”) over R (rule) | ||
| 21 | PIRATE |
Good value for illegal broadcaster (6)
|
| PI (“good”) + RATE (“value”) | ||
| 22 | ADORNO |
Fuss over exhausted women ignored by German philosopher (6)
|
| ADO (“fuss”) + [over] <=(w)ORN (“exhausted” with W (women) ignored) | ||
| 24 | NO END |
Gas about duke to a great extent (2,3)
|
| <=NEON (“gas”, about) + D (duke) | ||
| 26 | MEET |
Join in game reportedly (4)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [reportedly] of MEAT (“game”) |
IN THE SOUP
over=UP?
GO IT ALONE
Your parsing seems fine.
wait…
LEANTO* by I (one)
28A: “Keen on” = “into” admitting (surrounding) “hes” + “up” (“over”)
17D: “Attempt” = “go” + anagram of “lean to” (“to build”) by “I” (“one”, ie lunchtime as a numeral)
Many thanks Peto and loonapick
Thanks, both
I think you’re probably right – I couldn’t see either!
I most often find myself stumped when I find a partial parsing which is incorrect and cannot then backtrack to think of something else. You’d think that, recognising this, I’d learn to avoid the trap but I still miss a couple of parsings every week because of it. Human brains – so smart and so dumb simultaneously…
Thanks Peto and Loonapick
22dn: I did not see (w)ORN, and did not know ADORNO, so left that blank, but I think it has to be AD_O containing ORN, with “over” as the containment indicator.
Couldn’t get my mind off WEAK LINK for 18D till IN THE SOUP fell into place.
Had to look up ADORNO. He doesn’t get a mention in Grayling’s History of Philosophy as far as I recall.
22dn revisited: I should have looked Adorno up when writing comment 5. He does appear in Collins 2023 (p 25) and ODE 2010 p 22, which tells us “Adorno argued that philosophical authoritarianism is inevitably oppressive and that all theories should be rejected”. I make no claim as to whether it is reasonable to include him as an answer in an FT weekday puzzle.
No, I hadn’t heard of Adorno either. I wasn’t too happy about “over” being made to mean “around” but I suppose it’s OK.
Perhaps I’m missing something obvious but I also didn’t see why “wind” = suggestion or “jam = spot.
Wind (Collins online)
British English
informal
a hint; suggestion
we got wind that you were coming
In a jam=In a spot=In trouble
The Frankfurt School, notably Adorno, Habermas and, perhaps most famously, Marcuse were key to leftish thinking in the 60s, so familiar to me but maybe less so to younger solvers. I agree about the slightly jarring link words. “From” could have been “for” in BANK and still have made a plausible surface.
Thanks for the blog , I agree with all the suggestions above . Good set of clues .
Perhaps ADORNO just came from a dead end in the grid , a new name to me , he did not make it into the Monty Python drinking song or their German football team .
Marcuse did play for Wales .
The instances of “of” that Loonapick has identified would have been OK if the structure of the clues in question were to have taken the form “Definition of Wordplay” (rather than “Wordplay of Definition”), as in that case they would have performed as standard link words. As it is, they are just padding, and the clues are consequently weak.
There is a useful list here (https://clueclinic.com/index.php/link-expressions/) on the excellent Clue Clinic site which helpfully indicates the directionality of link words that work only one way round.
Having said that, it is, of course, desirable to avoid using link words.
NHO the German philosopher; OneLook Thesaurus came up with ADORNO from the crossing letters but merely gave it as a word meaning a ‘decorative ornament or embellishment’. Otherwise we got everything but with several answers unparsed.
Thanks, though, to Peto and loonapick.
Middling difficulty for me. The setter seemed to be trying for good surfaces, but did not quite get there.
I thought for a while I was not going to finish. It took some time to work out ADORNO (I agree with Roz@11 that Peto had probably pointed himself into a corner and, in my view, he took the easy way out). I then got stuck in the NE corner and finally solving COMPLACENT opened it up for me. I did not parse ORDINARY (did not see ry = lines) and was looking for something more complicated than WIND = suggestion to parse WIND FARM. Thanks for the guidance.
I ticked EMUS, LENT, and AT REST
Thanks Peto and loonapick
I stuck in ADORNO satisfied that I’d at least parsed it. I was less sure about MERITS. I only found out from a recent solve that it was just des[s]erts. It became obvious with all the crossers this time, but I’ll take note.
I liked AIRER, RENOIR, FORMULATE and GO IT ALONE.
Thanks peto and LOONAPICK
ADORNO sort of rang a bell, so I plunked it in without following how it works. I hit “check” and was mildly surprised when it turned green.
Martin @15: your just deserts are things you justly deserve; thus, no second S. In my youth I dreamed of opening a patisserie and naming it Just Desserts, but that’s a pun. Sort of like my plan to move to Alaska and open a Mexican restaurant called Ancho Rage.