Financial Times no.14,006 by HAMILTON
Posted by Ringo on May 17th, 2012
This was absolute murder for me. For some reason – more to do with my weak brain than with the puzzle, I think – the whole east wing of this grid was a really tough slog. And, having finally conquered it, I wasn’t left with a huge sense of satisfaction. No complaints – but no great excitement, either.
ACROSS
1,13. ONE-MAN BAND Ne [born] within Oman [state] + band [sounds like banned, censored]
5. LANDMARK Land [what Germany is] + mark [former German currency]
9. STARVE R(ations) within stave [staff]
10. TEASPOON Tea [drink] + spoon [club?]
11. CHANCE IT Anagram of chicane + T(rulli)
12. SEDUCE SE [south-east, location of the Home Counties] + duce [foreign dignitary]
13. See 1ac.
15. LORDLING No idea, I’m afraid – help!
18. FORSOOTH Hidden in prooF OR SO OTHers
19. SALE Initial letters of Stock At Leeds Encouraging
21. PISTOL Double definition: Pistol is Sir John Falstaff’s servant in The Merry Wives Of Windsor and elsewhere
23. NOTECASE Anagram of see act on
25. LIVE UP TO Live up [backward clue, meaning 'evil' reversed] + to
26. AMULET Mule [animal] within a(ccoun)t
27. DEAD CERT Dead [passed on] + cert(ificate) [award]
28. KEEPER Reversal of re [about] peek [look]
DOWN
2. NOTCH Hidden in hugueNOT CHurchman
3. MARINADES AD [Anno Domini] within marines [sailors]
4. NEEDED NE [north-east, direction] + repetition of ed [editor, reporter (?)]
5. LET T ALL HANG OUT All [everyone] within anagram of late night + out [known]
6. NOAHS ARK Anagram of anoraks (watc)h
7. MOPED Mope [despair] + d(aybreak)
8. ROOT CANAL Root [encourage, cheer on] + canal [artificial work]
14. ABORIGINE Origin [ancestry] within Abe [Abraham Lincoln]
16. LOST CAUSE Anagram of cassoulet
17. COLLAPSE Co [company] + l [left] + lapse [decline]
20. ATTACK Sounds like a tack [change of a ship's course]
22. TREAD T [time] + read [study]
24. SWEDE Anagram of widespread minus the letters of rapid
May 17th, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Thanks Hamilton and Ringo.
15a – L(iberal) inside [lived in] LORDING [domineering] to give a minor lord (not sure about ‘hope’ unless he hopes to be a proper lord one day!)
May 17th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
…. a lordling may also be a young lord who presumably hopes to inherit the full title one day.
May 17th, 2012 at 1:02 pm
Most enjoyable FT solve for some time. Thanks, Hamilton.
May 17th, 2012 at 1:28 pm
Straightforward and enjoyable for me, thank you Hamilton.
May 17th, 2012 at 4:06 pm
I enjoyed solving this. Thanks, Hamilton, and thanks for the blog, Ringo.
May 17th, 2012 at 7:29 pm
Thanks Ringo and Hamilton.
The NE corner was also the last ones in, but all in all quite enjoyable. Re10A TEASPOON, a spoon was the name of an obsolete golf club, a wood designed to give a higher loft to the ball.