Financial Times 14,026 by Cincinnus

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Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of June 9, 2012

There are some typically brilliant Cincinnus clues in this puzzle, notably 29A (HEAVENWARDS) and 4D (BALFOUR), a couple of very devious clues, 1A (WHEREABOUTS) and 13A (AVENGER), one that I find weak, 11A (TIGHTROPE), and one unusually difficult clue, 1D (WHEATEAR). I got 4D quickly but the rest of the top-left corner was a challenge.

Across
1. WHEREABOUTS – anagram of WE HEAR + BOUTS (fits). Not a homophone!
7. LAC – hidden word
9. ENROL – anagram of LONER
10. LAPLANDER – PLAN (scheme) in LA[r]DER (oust Russian leader in store)
11. TIGHTROPE – cryptic definition — and one that I am not enamoured of.
12. EIDER – RED (cherry) + IE (that is) all backwards
13. AVENGER – hidden word with a deeply cryptic definition. ‘One evening’ means one who evens scores! Hmm, brings back memories of Edward Woodward in The Equalizer.
15. NAYS – N[ationalisation] A[nger] Y[oung] S[ocialists]
18. EMUS – [r]EMUS (uncle’s no starter)
20. SUSTAIN – double definition
23. INUIT – UNI (university) reversed + IT (the very thing)
24. BRASSERIE – anagram of BERRIES AS
26. CAPRICORN – CAPRI (island) + C OR N (either side of coupon)
27. RIDGE – [b]RIDGE (part for game?). Is this right? I can think of no better explanation for ‘part of game’. Ah, but one of our commenters can; see below.
28. EVE – EVE[r] (always dropping back)
29. HEAVENWARDS – anagram of WARDENS HAVE

Down
1. WHEATEAR – HEAT (round) in WEAR (sport). A very difficult clue!
2. EARL GREY – [GRE] (more than half of green) in EARLY (before breakfast, say)
3. ECLAT – C (chapter) in TALE (story) backwards
4. BALFOUR – LAB (labour) backwards + FOUR (4)
5. UMPTEEN – anagram of E[q]U[i]MENT
6. SNAKE EYES – cryptic definition
7. LA-DI-DA – I’D (Cincinnus had) in LADA (car)
8. CURARE – A (a) + [docto]R in CURE (antidote)
14. GEMUTLICH – anagram of CLUE MIGHT
16. LABRADOR – BRA (garment) in LAD (young man) + OR (or)
17. INTEGERS – anagram of SEEN TRIG
19. SUB ROSA – A (a) + SORBUS (tree) all backwards. I had not been familiar with Sorbus which, Wikipedia tells me, is a genus of about 100–200 species of trees and shrubs in the Rose family. Species of Sorbus are commonly known as whitebeam, rowan, and mountain-ash.
20. SHAWNEE – SHAW (playwright) + NEE[ded] (required 50%)
21. CIRCLE – double definition
22. MUD PIE – anagram of IMPUDE[nt] (forsaking books, impudent)
25. SCREW – double definition

6 comments on “Financial Times 14,026 by Cincinnus”

  1. Thanks for your blog, Pete.

    The actual crossword no. is 14,026 (not 14,020).

    I do not know whether you will be able change this.

  2. I couldn’t solve 8d or 19d and while I guessed them I couldn’t parse 1d & 4d

    I’m grateful for the explanation

  3. Thanks for the blog, Pete, and also Cincinnus.
    I too had the NW corner as the last one to be filled, thanks partly to a typo in the on-line version which was missing “than” in 2D “…more (than) half of green…”.
    BTW I think 27A RIDGE is (part)ridge = game (birds).

  5. Late with my blog as I was visiting the south of Ethiopia – Arba Minch. Very attractive place. Surprised nobody waxed lyrical about 4D. So let me. Great clue which I wonder how long Cincinnus had up his sleeve since he could only use it in one place.

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