Financial Times 14,043 by Bradman
Posted by Jed on June 29th, 2012
Clever and witty clues
Across
1 DECAMP (bolt) CE< (church turning) in DAMP
4 MANIACAL (mad) MAN (fellow) I (one) AC (account) AL (Jolson)
9 STADIA (arenas) ST (street) AIDA< (opera put back)
10 FLIPPANT (not serious) LIP (cheek) PAN (attack) all in FT (paper = we)
12 RAINED OFF (cancelled) (OFFER IN AD)*
13 SUITE (accommodation) sounds like SWEET (dear)
14 VENTRILOQUISTS (still mouths) (V QUIET NOSTRILS)*
17 PRODUCTION LINE (part of factory) NO< in (OLD PICTURE IN)*
21 ROGUE (reprobate) G (good|) in ROUE (degenerate)
22 DRESS DOWN witty dd
24 SHOP TALK (after-hours conversation) HOP (dance) in STALK (stride)
25 EXHORT (call on) EX (old lover) R[eunion] in HOT (animated)
26 SASARARA (scolding) SARA in SARA
27 XYSTER (bone scraper) (TRY SEX)*
Down
1 DISPROVE (challenge successfully) (PROVIDES)*
2 CLARION (shrill trumpet) A R (a river) in C LION (cold animal)
3 MOIRE (watered silk) O (duck) in MIRE (mud)
5 ALL OF A QUIVER witty dd
6 IMPASSION (fire up) I MP (one politician) AS (when) SION (Mount Sion)
7 CHARIOT (vehicle) CHA (tea) RIOT (disturbance)
8 LUTHER (theologian) L (left) THE (article) in UR (city)
11 MOLLYCODDLER (pamperer) MOLLY (Mary) CODDLER (cooker of eggs)
15 RED SETTER witty dd
16 LEINSTER (Irish province) IN (home) in LESTER (Piggott – The Long Fellow)
18 REGIONS (patches) (IGNORES)*
19 IRON OUT (settle) IRON (golf club) OUT (ready)
20 GRASPS (understands) P (parking) in GRASS (field)
23 SIXTY (>9) IX (nine) in STY (filthy dwelling)
( )* = anagram [ ] = omit dd = double definition < = reverse
June 29th, 2012 at 10:18 am
Very enjoyable crossword from Bradman as always.
Loved 14a for ingeniously tying the definition with the anagram. VENTRILOQUISTS must have been a hard word to clue.
June 29th, 2012 at 1:10 pm
Thank you for the blog, Jed.
I managed just over half of this in the 30 mins I had free this lunchtime.
I think 14 & 11 are great clues, but I didn’t make the association that Mary = Molly.
I’d never have thought of ‘Damp’ as a synonym of ‘Rusty’ nor ‘out’ as a synonym of ‘ready’.
SASARARA, XYSTER, & MOIRE are all new words to me.
June 29th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Thanks Bradman for an excellent puzzle and Jed for the blog.
Richard @2 re 1ac: I think DAMP is really being clued by all of “likely to get rusty maybe” rather than simply as a synonym of “rusty”.
June 29th, 2012 at 1:43 pm
Thank you, Pelham Barton. I really should have spotted that.
I guess I shouldn’t try to eat, drink, talk to my colleagues, and try to solve the crossword all at the same time!
June 29th, 2012 at 2:43 pm
Some nice clues, but xyster and sasarara forced me to the dictionary. I like the surface of the latter, but refuse to believe many knew the meaning without looking it up.