Financial Times 14,049 by Loroso

by

This puzzle is witty, delightful and outside any box

 

 

 

 

Across

1 THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER (IE MERCHANTMAN THEREFORE IN IT)*

12 DWEEB (nerd) D (date) WEE (little) B (British)

13 AMPHIBIA (cold-blooded types) MPH (speed) in AI (main road) BIA[s] (diagonal)

15 DESERT RATS (soldiers) (RES (reserve) in STARTED)<

16 ZERO (diddly-squat) ZE (ze French!) R (resistance) O[ccupy]

18 TUCK dd

20 ECARDINATE (hingeless) (A DECANTER I)*

22 SOFTBALL (game) FT (foot) in SOB (cry) ALL (every)

24 ETHIC (moral) [fibr]E THIC[k] (stupid)

26 I LEFT MY HEART IN SAN FRANCISCO (OF FRENCH ITALIAN MEN CRY AS ITS)*

Down

2 HACKERS (cyberpunks) [b]ACK (support) in HERS (female parts)

3 RE-EMBARK (return to ship) REE (even letters of ordered) MB (doctor) ARK (ship)

4 MITE (infant) sounds like MIGHT (ability)

5 OSMOMETERS (pressure measurers) OS (big) MOM (dam) (RESET)*

6 TORCH (light) hidden in [mea]T OR CH[eese]

7 ENNOBLE (honour) ENABLE (sanction) with A (first-class) replaced with NO

8 CANDIDATESHIP (running) CA (about) ND (North Dakota) I DATES (one goes out) HIP (with it)

9 PREADOLESCENT (young) READ (study) in POLE (European) SCENT (cologne)

14 BRICKLAYER (builder) LICK BRAYER!

17 LITERATI (eggheads) LIT (enlightened) (ARE)* T[h]I[s]

19 COFFERS (kitty) C[at] OFFERS (suggests)

21 APHOTIC (without light) HOT (sexy) in A PIC

23 BATON (stick) BAT ON (cricket)

25 SHUN (avoid) SHUN[t] (accident)

( )* = anagram    dd = double definition    [ ] = omit    < = reverse

14 comments on “Financial Times 14,049 by Loroso”

  1. Bravissima, Jed! I got it all but ZERO – which is priceless, as are so many others.

    I think your preamble says it all.

    Many thanks, as ever, to Loroso for so much fun and entertainment.

  2. Zero my last in with quite a big internal groan and silent curse when I saw it, thanks Loroso and Jed that was a struggle in places but good fun on my way to and after an interview today.

  3. Well done and thanks, Jed!
    I immediately realised that this was not going to be my usual 35 minute lunchbreak in the pub solve.

    Strangely I got the spoonerism very early – I normally have difficulty with spoonerism clues.

    I’ve clearly a lot of work to do to become accustomed to Loroso’s style, but I’m sure I’ll find it worthwhile.

  4. This was classy stuff from Loroso. It was an uphill struggle even though I got 1 Across immediately from the enumeration. Zero also went in early as I think I have seen Lorozo use it before. Unknown words Osmameters and Aphotic were fairly clued. Ecardinate was tougher since I needed all the checkers to get the only feasible word from the anagram. Now I know what to call a hingeless brachiopod. Last two in were Candidateship and Preadolescent which also needed all the checkers.

  5. Just realised that I have made my usual one mistake with Loroso having Osmameter instead of Osmometer

  6. Not so very long ago, I said in another place that Anax (and the other one starting with Ana) were leading the market in creating original anagrams. Well, the ones at the top and the bottom are stunning examples of it.
    But, dear Loroso, I fear you don’t feel like a “market leader” nowadays ….. 🙁

    This puzzle was a real treat even if I failed on two entries: like others on ZERO (which is just fab) and ECARDINATE (to which even online resources were immune).

    I made life harder by entering CROP at 18ac, but the splendid 8d was there to correct me.
    Although I found ENNOBLE (7d), I didn’t see what NO was replacing. Tried AI, but was perhaps too much focused on a two-letter word. In the end it was as easy as that (‘enable’).

    Many thanks Ringo for tackling a crossword that was Sheer Quality.

    (happily it was like that, as I copied the grid completely by hand on a piece of paper because I do not have a printer at hand – at last, something I share with RCW (at another place)! :))

  11. Thanks very much, Loroso and Jed.

    I parsed HACKERS in the same way, Ernie. Perhaps this was what Jed meant in the blog?
    Great fun today, but ZERO tripped me up.

    Wimbledon is nearing its conclusion. Where is Courtier this year?

  12. mike04 @11: “Where is Courtier this year?”
    Magic sorcerer, he is – are you with it? 🙂

  13. Hello friends. Sorry I’m a bit late chipping in – yes, for me it’s 3am and I’m only just back from a gig, hence the absence.

    Many thanks to Jed for the super blog and to all for your comments. I didn’t realise ZERO would be so tricky but I’m glad most of you got there in the end and got a smile out of it.

    Have a great weekend everyone.

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