Financial Times 14,041 by Gozo
Posted by PeeDee on June 27th, 2012
Quite an easy one today. Enjoyable, but I would have liked something more to get my teeth into. Thanks Gozo ;)
Hold the mouse pointer over any clue number to read the clue.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SPONGE | triple definition |
| 4 | ALLSPICE | Posh et al are all Spice Girls |
| 10 | EASTER EGG | SEGREGATE* |
| 11 | MEDOC | ME DOC (I am a doctor) |
| 12 | BRIE | BRIEf (short) shortened |
| 13 | JELLIED EEL | EEL (slippery character) taking JELLIED sounds like (we hear) “gelid” (ice-cold) |
| 15 | TEACAKE | TAKE (catch) outside (out) EACh (everyone, almost) |
| 16 | PICKLE | PICK (best) LEmon (two bits of) |
| 19 | CELERY | CELER sounds like (heard on the telephone) “seller”(vendor) Youth (leader of) |
| 21 | PIKELET | double definition |
| 23 | SPATCHCOCK | SPAT (argument) with CH (church) COCK (chief) |
| 25 | KALE | an anagram (minced) of KALE N (first bit of neep) gives ANKLE (24 down) |
| 27 | PEKOE | O (nothing) in PEKE (dog) – a type of tea |
| 28 | TANGERINE | double definition – mandarin orange and person from Tangiers |
| 29 | DRESSING | cryptic definition |
| 30 | CASSIS | BRASSICAS* with BRA (supporter) removed |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SHERBETS | HERB (thyme say) in SETS (lays the table) |
| 2 | OBSTINATE | (IBSEN TO A T)* |
| 3 | GHEE | BattenburG HE Eats – clarified butter |
| 5 | LEG SLIP | LEGS (members) LIP (cheek) – fielding position in cricket. I mistakenly had LEG SIDE at first, which held me up for a while. |
| 6 | SIMNEL CAKE | (MINCES KALE)* anagram=minces |
| 7 | INDIE | found inside West INDIEs – slang for ‘independent film company’ |
| 8 | EXCELS | EX (without) CELS sounds like ”sells” (deceptions) |
| 9 | RED EYE | double definition |
| 14 | WATERCRESS | (SECRET WARS)* |
| 17 | LULLABIES | LULL (quiet) and bABIES (infants) missing B (bass) |
| 18 | ST HELENS | Time in SHE (the woman) with LENS (a glass) |
| 20 | YUCATAN | CAT (jazz fan) in YUAN (Chinese money) |
| 21 | PECANS | CANaPES* missing A, a hint (first letter only) of Almond |
| 22 | ISOPOD | I’S (one’s) O (round) POD (school) – the order containing woodlice |
| 24 | ANKLE | can be got out of shANK LEan |
| 26 | FETA | found in caFE TAsting |
*anagram
June 27th, 2012 at 11:31 am
I didn’t find it easy and had gaps all over. As ever with crosswords, if I’d had somemore crossing letters some of the missing answers might have been gettable.
5d I also had leg side.
22d Very hard in my book
Anyone know what happened to yesterday’s blog of 14040 Phssthpok, please?
June 27th, 2012 at 1:19 pm
Thanks for the blog, PeeDee. Attempted this in a 40 minute lunchbreak with no access to dictionary or google.
Like Bamberger I found 22d very hard and I’d never heard of Pekoe (in 27).
I was also hampered by not knowing that Pimento = allspice. I should (cheekily) point out that Poss et al are not all spices – only Ginger is a spice!
My favourite clues were 6 & 21.
June 27th, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Not that difficult once I got into my stride. I had heard of both the tea and the woodlouse so they didn’t hold me up. However, I might dispute whether a 21a is really a 15a, although I suppose you can eat both at teatime. Thanks to Gozo and PeeDee too.
Do tell, was there no blog for yesterday’s FT because, like me, no-one could finish it!!
June 27th, 2012 at 2:10 pm
Re 3 I’d assumed I was the only 20a from yesterday who couldn’t finish it.
20a “Bungler becomes a spy in Panama”. Answer p a look a. Now I’ve heard some expressions for bunglers but never that one (used several solvers on p?l?o?a)
June 27th, 2012 at 2:35 pm
Bamberger@4
There is no doubt about your answer PALOOKA as the given justification P(A LOOK)A is spot on.
Chambers records it but marks it as US slang. Origin unknown!
June 27th, 2012 at 3:34 pm
I just posted a blog for yesterday’s FT if anyone is still interested.
June 27th, 2012 at 8:49 pm
crypticsue
re 21a
Chambers gives the definition for pikelet as a teacake (dialect).