Financial Times no.14,338 by Jason

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Cryptic crosswords don’t come much more straightforward than this morning’s offering from Jason (a  hiccup at 27ac. excepted). Smart, tidy, by-the-book and breezily enjoyable – thank-you, Jason.

ACROSS

1. PULL THE PLUG  Double definition

7. MAR  Reversal of ram [strike]

9. ROOST  Roos [kangaroos, alluding to the former practice of exhibiting ‘boxing’ kangaroos as sideshows] + t [time]

10. UNPLANNED  N(urse) within unplaned [rough]

11. OVERSTATE  Over [settled] + state [nation]

12. STEPS  Cryptic(ish) definition, I think

13. MANACLE  Reversal of can [tin] within male [chap]

15. DOOM  Do [work at] + om [sacred chant]

18. SMUG  S [son] + mug [face]

20. SCEPTRE  Anagram of respect

23. HEDGE  H [hospital] + edge [advantage]

24. INTESTINE  I [one] + test [check] within nine [a number]

26. RENOVATOR  Anagram of torn over a

27. SAUCE  Afraid I don’t get the beginning of conversation part… anyone? Thanks to Muffyword: sounds like source [beginning]

28. BUS  B [bye, in cricket] + us [you and I]

29. NONRESIDENT  Anagram of so rented inn

DOWN

1. PARDON ME  Par [average] + don [fellow] + me [yours truly]

2. LOOSE END  Loos [johns, toilets] + (her)e + end [finish]

3. TOTES  (Cont)e(nted) within tots [children]

4. EDUCATE  Ed [editor] + anagram of acute

5. LIP-READ  Lip [spout] + re [about] + ad [poster]

6. GLADSTONE  Glad [gladiolus, flower] + stone [seed]

7. MINTED  M [Monsieur] + in + ted [teddy boy, old rocker]

8. RADISH  Rad [radical, excellent] + is + h [hot]

14. CAMPER VAN  Camper [more camp, comparatively theatrical] + van [front]

16. ATTITUDE  Altitude [height] with t(aut) replacing l [line]

17. TENEMENT  Men [soldiers] within tenet [view]

19. GLISTEN  G [good] + listen [follow advice]

20. SET FREE  Set [collection] + r [right] within fee [cost]

21. CHERUB  Ch [church] + ER [Elizabeth Regina, queen] + U [united] + b [bishop]

22. ADONIS  Ado [tizzy] + reversal of sin [wrong]

25. SUSHI  Hidden in tiramiSUS HIgh

4 comments on “Financial Times no.14,338 by Jason”

  1. Re 27 ac – homophone of Source

    Thanks for the blog, Ringo and to Jason. My favourites were CAMPER VAN and PULL THE PLUG

  3. Huh – I had the old rocker in 7d as a MOD and assumed there was a famous Frenchman M. Nie; other than that it was all pretty straightforward. Thanks to Jason and Ringo.

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