Financial Times 14,321 by Bradman

by

A really tricky puzzle today

 

 

 

 

Across

1 GINGER beer GIN (drink) GERM (beginning) minus M (maiden)

4 BRACED prepared BRA (support) CE (church) [fun]D

8 HAMMOCK to lie in HAM (poor actor) MOCK (ridicule)

9 PERSIST go on and on SIS (little girl) in PERT (cheeky)

11 LESBIANISM sexual practice (IS SIN BLAME)*

12 CHAP dd

13 MIAMI in USA I’M AIM< (this person’s goal – back)

14 PICKWICK club PICK choose to go to WICK in Scotland

16 BLIGHTER so-and-so B (bishop) LIGHTER (less serious)

18 RASED to the ground RAISED (elevated) minus I (one)

20 PISA leaning tower A SIP< (a little drink – back)

21 NIGHT SHIFT working in the dark (THING)* &lit

23 PALM-OIL bribe PAL (friend) MOIL (confusion)

24 OBELISK dagger (BLOKE IS)*

25 TORIES politicians STORIES (conjectures) minus S (sulphur)

26 HEARTY full of enthusiasm HE (fellow) [p]ARTY (celebration)

Down

1 GRADE degree re: Baron Lew Grade

2 NAMIBIA country A M (a thousand) in AI BIB< (excellent lot of wine – up)

3 EUCHARIST church service (HIS CURATE)*

5 RHEUM old word for cold – sounds like ROOM (compartment)

6 CASH COW profitable business CASH (ready) COW (to intimidate)

7 DISTANCED detached I ST (one street) in DANCED (took steps)

10 DISPARAGE pour scorn on DIS (hell) PA (old man) RAGE (fury)

13 MILLIWATT a bit of power

perhaps hidden in [opiu]M W[ars] but MW stands for megawatt

15 CARD TABLE cryptic definition

17 GRAMMAR school GRAM mass MAR harm

19 SCHOLAR &lit (CHORAL S[chool])*

21 NAÏVE dewy-eyed NATIVE (resident) minus T (time)

22 FISHY dd (dubious and like a ray fish)

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

 

8 comments on “Financial Times 14,321 by Bradman”

  1. Wanderer (not the setter)
    #1 - Fri 24th May 13, 10:41

    Really tricky but great fun.

    13 works for me, I think it’s (Opiu)mW(ars), yielding mW=milliwatt. That was my last in and foxed me for ages.

    At 25 I had THEORIES (conjectures) minus HE (High Explosive).

    Many thanks Jed and Bradman.

  2. Muffyword
    #2 - Fri 24th May 13, 11:03

    A lovely crossword.

    Although I parsed TORIES as Jed did, I think Wanderer@1 is correct.

    I got the answer for MILLIWATT, but couldn’t see the parsing apart from the definition. The hidden mW is quite nice.

    GINGER, BRACED and NIGHT SHIFT all made me smile.

    Thanks for the blog and to Bradman for the crossword.

  3. aztobesed
    #3 - Fri 24th May 13, 11:49

    Thanks for the blog.

    So 13d is a case-sensitive embed? That’s just peachy.

  4. Paul B
    #4 - Fri 24th May 13, 16:03

    Lesbianism AND ginger beer okay with the Don? Right on!

    Jolly good stuff, and he was on top form at the meet yesterday. All is well.

  5. Sil van den Hoek
    #5 - Fri 24th May 13, 22:02

    Despite of what some Guardian solvers may think of Bradman’s alter ego, I thought this was once more immaculate stuff.

    Thanks Jed for your blog which made clear that my entry at 1ac was right.
    Agree with others about TORIES (25ac).

    The parsing of 2d (NAMIBIA) is not right, though.
    Where does the N come from?

  6. mike04
    #6 - Fri 24th May 13, 22:28

    Hi Sil

    Just a spelling error in the blog, I think:
    NAMIBIA = A + M(thousand) in A1(Excellent) + BIN(wine in a wine-cellar case with compartments) written upwards.

  7. Sil van den Hoek
    #7 - Fri 24th May 13, 22:54

    Thanks, mike04, I thought Bradman was using the Araucarian ‘lot of’ device meaning the majority of a word. And I couldn’t make anything of BIN + something to define ‘lot of wine’.
    But I see it now.

  8. Paul B
    #8 - Sat 25th May 13, 00:26

    Well there you go. A dictionary-clear definition that is misleading.

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