Financial Times 14,119 by Gozo

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Another great crossword from Gozo, one of my favourite setters.

The theme of this puzzle is setters of the FT crossword.  There are twelve setters explicitly clued, possibly there are some also some more oblique references in there that have escaped me.

Thank you Gozo.

Hold the mouse pointer over any clue number to read the clue.

Across
1 LOROSO will make doLOROSO (saldly) with DO (ditto, the same) on the front – FT setter Dean Mayer
4 PALMETTO PAL (friend) MET (was introduced to) OT (books of Bible) reversed – South Carolina is the Palmetto State
10 CINCINNUS C-IN-C (commander-in-chief) and SUNNI (Muslim) reversed – FT setter Michael Curl
11 DANTE D (symbol for UK penny, pre-decimal currency) ANTE (stake) – FT setter Roger Squires
12 NEON NEO (FT setter Paul Bringloe) and N (name) – definition is ‘gas’
13 PATROL CARS anagram (crashed, mangled) of LAST COP ARR (arrived) – this is technically an indirect anagram, but it seems clear enough to me
15 SLEUTHS SLEUTH’S (belonging to FT setter Philip Marlow) – bloodhounds are detectives
16 ALSACE (A SCALE)*
19 ADSORB BROADS* about=anagram (letters moved about) – definition is ‘accumulate film on the surface’. The long definition fooled me for a while, good misdirection.
21 ARMONIE A R (right) and MONIEs (financial resources, reduced by one letter) – FT setter John Dawson
23 EN RETRAITE ENTERTAInER* (anagram=woeful) missing N (note) – in retirement, traditionally on ‘half pay’
25 SPIT SPITz (Pomeranian dog, Pom) missing its tail
27 TABLA CalcutTA BLAring – Indian drums played as a pair
28 MANDOLINE LINEn (cloth, cut short) following MAN (Isle of, island) and Do (party) – a kitchen tool for slicing
29 REDSHANK (DARK HENS)* anagram=disturbed, also slang for a Highlander – FT setter Duggie Anderson
30 BOXERS definition and cryptic definition
Down
1 LOCH NESS LO and N (nothern) in CHESS (game)
2 RUN TO SEED O (nothing) in RUNTS (small pigs) then DEE (river) reversed (up)
3 SLIM fLIMSy* (contents=insides of) crumpled=anagram
5 ASSYRIA ARIA (operatic solo) about SS (steam ship, boat) Y (unknown, maths)
6 MEDDLESOME SELDOM* (troubled=anagram) inside (imprisoned in) MEDE (one of the Medes, old Persians)
7 TANGA TANG (seaweed) on A – a brief string-like bikini
8 ORENSE SENOR* E (Espana, from Spain, IVR letter) – FT setter Jeremy Mutch
9 KNEADS sounds like (speaks of) “needs”, essentials
14 IT WONT WASH definition and cryptic definition
17 CINEPHILE IN (popular) EP (extended play recording) in CHILE (country) – FT setter John Graham
18 KESTRELS (TREK LESS)* involved=anagram – definition is ‘birds’. A kestrel is a small Falcon, FT setter Allan Scott
20 BRADMAN BRA (supporter) D (Dutch) MAN (fellow) – FT setter Don Manley
21 ACTING double definition
22 SETTER double definition
24 RABID R (head of red) with A BID (offer)
26 GOZO GO (to travel) with ZO (a cross between a yak and a cow) – FT setter Tom Johnson

*anagram

13 comments on “Financial Times 14,119 by Gozo”

  1. Agree with all you say PeeDee. Thanks Gozo for a puzzle that was a joy to solve, and you PeeDee for a blog that did it justice.

  2. Thanks for the blog, PeeDee [especially for the explanation of 25ac – I was getting nowhere with whingeing Poms!]

    I didn’t know ZO = cross, either, but cross = Crux, who is another setter, as is Flimsy, in the clue to 3dn.

    Many thanks, Gozo – this was a lot of fun!

  3. Dunno why crux was missed out except that where GOZO sits there’s no grid fit possible with crux, not sure how irregular solvers could have coped though

  4. Indeed a remarkable achievement to get so many setters into one puzzle, but I share flashling’s concerns @3 about how this will have been received by irregular solvers. Still, I enjoyed it, so thanks Gozo for the puzzle and PeeDee for the blog. I can add my particular thanks for the explanation of 25ac to those expressed by Eileen @2.

    13ac: This is the right side of where I like to draw the line, because all the letters are in the clue.

    30ac: I took this as a triple definition: Dogs, “in the ring” (fighters) and “shorts” (underwear). My preferred style would have started the clue “Dogs, those in the ring …” but as usual I have no quarrel with those who take the opposite view.

  5. I am delighted that PeeDee, Conrad and Eileen enjoyed my puzzle without reservation. Congrats to Eileen for spotting the Flimsy and Crux references — but how about Redshank = Highlander too? Chambers confirms these two meanings.

    Gozo

  6. This was a lot of fun for me as a regular FT solver. It’s hard luck if anyone chose today to try the FT crossword for the first time but, if they did, they would probably never try it again.

    The setters’ names made this quite an easy solve but Gozo balanced this with some obscurities: Palmetto, En Retraite, Spit(z), the mini-falcon, the seaweed and the indirect anagram.

  7. Tom @5

    PeeDee did point out the Highlander connection, which I didn’t know. As you say, Chambers gives this definition – but I see it also gives ‘Irishman’, which is what I would have thought was Duggie Anderson’s reason for choosing it as his peudonym 😉

  9. Just to clarify;
    Redshank is the FT pseudonym for Duggie Anderson and Highlander that of David Shenton — I was attempting to point out that two setters were referred to in the clue!

    Gozo

  10. Gozo, I’m so sorry: I completely misunderstood. I don’t remember ever seeing a puzzle by Highlander. From the 15² archive, I see that his last one appeared four years ago, which would explain it, as that’s about the time that I discovered, through 15², that FT puzzles were available online and began solving them. Highlander’s name is not on the 15² list of FT setters but I see he does appear in the Best of Puxzzles Who’s Who.

    Great clue! Many thanks again for the puzzle.

  13. I am certainly not suggesting that I could improve on Gozo’s cluing (or that of any other setter), but I had an afterthought about getting another FT setter in by cluing 28ac as

    22 and 50 men playing this?

    Then I realised that it would be a seriously indirect anagram, but I could not resist posting it anyway.

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