Financial Times 14,648 by Rosa Klebb

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Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of June 14, 2014

What a welcome new setter Rosa Klebb is in this space. Her puzzle this time was challenging and satisfying with a number of great clues topped by the absolute gem of 28a (ABRIDGERS). Other top choices for me are 23a (AMATEURISH), 5d (TISANES), 22d (TAX CUT) and 24d (ATILT). However there is also 28d which is the first clue in a very long time that I have been unable to solve in a puzzle I have had to blog.

ACROSS
1 Monitors Number Six at first (6)
TRACKS – TRACK (number [as on a recording]) + S[ix]
4 Lug instrument round edges of tomato field (8)
OTOSCOPE – O (round) + T[omat]O + SCOPE (field)
10 Standing in for another girl needing dental treatment (9)
VICARIOUS – VI (girl) + CARIOUS (needing dental treatment). I was familiar with ‘caries’ and this clue taught me the adjectival form of the word.
11 Provide food and drink when two queens meet? (5)
CATER – CAT (one queen) + ER (a second queen)
12 Bemoans decentralised regulations (4)
RUES – RU[l]ES (decentralised regulations)
13 A nice fresh start for businessman (10)
FRANCHISEE – anagram of A NICE FRESH
15 It’s faster than humans, and reportedly sharper (7)
CHEETAH – homophone (“cheater”)
16 Dirty lad crossing ring road (6)
SORDID – O (ring) + RD (road) together in SID (lad)
19 Return shy setter’s small token (6)
SYMBOL – LOB (shy) + MY (setter’s) + S (small) all backwards
21 Clergyman meeting one element of Trinity in flesh! (7)
VENISON – VEN (clergyman [short for venerable]) + I (one) + SON (element of Trinity)
23 A thousand thesauri differently expressed “inept” (10)
AMATEURISH – A (a) + M (thousand) + anagram of THESAURI
25 Bank holiday without sign of life (4)
ANKH – hidden word. Does “without” serve well as a hidden-word indicator here? I have trouble seeing how it does.
27 Go up to the bar with a mate (5)
CHINA – CHIN (go up to the bar) + A (a)
28 They cut minute out of The Archers, perhaps (9)
ABRIDGERS – A[m]BRIDGERS (minute out of The Archers, perhaps). For anyone who does not understand the reference let me explain that The Archers is a radio soap opera that has been running for about as long as I have been living. It is about “country folk” and set in the fictional town of Ambridge. So the characters of the soap might well be referred to as Ambridgers (although as far as I know this term is not actually used in the program).
29 A brittle, cracked panel at top of window (5,3)
TITLE BAR – anagram of A BRITTLE
30 Graduate joining bank just a short while before (6)
BARELY – BA (graduate) + RELY (bank)

DOWN
1 Putin heartily eggs on wealthy comrade (8)
TOVARICH – [pu]T[in] + OVA (eggs) + RICH (wealthy)
2 American male probing 46th vice-president, most dangerous opponent (9)
ARCH ENEMY – A (American) + M (male) in R CHENEY (46th vice-president)
3 Kilts initially vex Scottish church (4)
KIRK – K[ilts] + IRK (vex)
5 They can be made from tansies (7)
TISANES – &lit. anagram of TANSIES
6 Very sweet bag lady who does feel sad to be penniless (10)
SACCHARINE – SAC (bag) + CHAR (lady who does) + [p]INE (feel sad to be penniless)
7 Has to break vows (5)
OATHS – anagram of HAS TO
8 Student taking top off as way to make money (6)
EARNER – [l]EARNER (student taking top off)
9 Quarter of us enthralled by organ which is pink and hot (6)
FOURTH – OUR (of us) in FT (organ which is pink!!!) + H (hot)
14 Steady partner, someone from same place (10)
STABLEMATE – STABLE (steady) + MATE (partner)
17 Less than honest during and after scripture lesson (9)
INSINCERE – IN (during) + SINCE (after) + RE (scripture lesson [i.e. Religious Education])
18 Just receiving articles surreptitiously (2,3,3)
ON THE SLY – THES (articles) in ONLY (just)
20 A carnal revel in Mediterranean resort (7)
LARNACA – anagram of A CARNAL
21 Leave strychnine around part of church (6)
VESTRY – hidden word
22 Act of fiscal generosity? Ta! (3,3)
TAX CUT – TA[x] (ta!)
24 Liberal dons having sex, not quite horizontally (5)
ATILT – L[iberal] in AT IT (having sex)
26 Madam regularly seen by A & E (4)
MDMA – M[a]D[a]M + A. As I mentioned at the top, I had failed to solve this and am indebted to Sil van den Hoek for his explanation in comment 1 below. I had suspected the answer was EDNA but could not substantiate that.

18 comments on “Financial Times 14,648 by Rosa Klebb”

  1. Yes, Pete, this was another very fine puzzle by Rosa Klebb.
    But perhaps, if bad luck strikes also one that might not have the follow-up that you wish for in the forseeable future.
    Information that’s a bit cryptic, I know, but this is all I can (and want to) say about it.

    26d is MDMA (clued by (4) and not (1,1,1,1) as some might have liked).
    M[a]D[a]M (Madam, regularly) + A – & the definition is E (drug).
    A drug, that’s what MDMA is.

    I am not a great fan of the hidden indicators in 25ac and 21d but I guess they are all right.

    13ac reads well but what about the anagram indicator here?

    I couldn’t fully explain 6d (SACCHARINE). CHAR for just ‘woman’, um, not sure. And your ‘pines’ explanation, not sure either. I have a feeling that there is something else going on here.

    Many thanks to Rosa Klebb (please, take care!).

  2. Thank you, Sil, for the explanation of 26a. Like you, I would have preferred a (1,1,1,1) enumeration for that. Now the clue makes perfect sense!

    In 13ac, I took ‘start’ to be the anagram indicator meant in the sense of to jump or move suddenly — which, I think, is okay.

    I was not too sure about ‘pines’ in 6d myself.

  3. Re 6d SACCHARINE:

    lady who does = char (the phrase is usually “woman who does”)

    I thought this was really good, and tougher than a couple of recent puzzles by the same setter.

    Thanks Pete and RK.

  6. 19a Does setter’s =my’s work? I think that setter’s would simply be my.
    I got stuck in the SE. Perhaps if I’d got one I would have got more.
    17d I just couldn’t see.
    25a I simply didn’t know this.
    28a Good clue that foxed me.
    26d I’m sure that Rosa will stop by and justify (4) rather than 1,1,1,1

  7. Hi bamberger,

    19a I do not feel sure that everyone would condone setter’s cluing MYS — I questioned it myself — but I happen to like it!

    25a I was familiar with Ankh as a word and as a decorative object but did not know it was a sign of life.

    26d I have come around a bit on this one and now see (4) as a reasonable enumeration. After all MDMA is not written as four words (or even as M.D.M.A.)

  8. Thanks, Pete, for the blog.

    I’ve been out all day and expected more comments on this brilliant puzzle – but then I’m more used to Rosa over in the Guardian in her Spiderwoman mode, where she has so many admirers.

    I started off giving ticks but should have known better because, as usual with this setter, I was scattering them round like confetti. There’s not a dud one among them but I have to mention [as an Archers fan since childhood] 28ac – and the ‘Muddy’ 9 and 24dn! I also really liked TAX CUT and the woman who does – but I must stop or I’ll be doing a mini-blog.

    Re 19ac: it’s not MY’S – it’s ‘setter’s small’: MY S

    Many thanks, as ever, to Rosa. xx

  11. I agree with everyone, especially Pete. I loved it, found it tough, but managed to finish without any outside help. Thanks above all to Rosa Klebb.

  12. Tough? I fear I am not yet into this setter as I found it so challenging I hardly managed any. Maybe in time I will get her mindset but 8 and a possible is my worse for a long time.

  13. Thanks Rosa K and Pete

    Had my first attempt at this setter in her FT role and thought it excellent.

    MDMA was my last in – thankfully remembered the term when looking up ecstasy a few weeks ago. Missed the proper parsing of ABRIDGERS not being familiar with the radio show … and thought that it might have something to do with archer=bridge somehow. Also missed R. CHENEY – had only bothered with his surname.

    Thought that FOURTH was quite brilliant and TAX CUT was very clever – it nearly misguided me into ‘fat cat’ but could just not parse the TA … until the correct solution popped.

  14. This is the largest number of comments I have had to a blog entry in some time and I take it as a commendation for Rosa Klebb. Thank you all, Hornbeam, malcolm and brucew for chiming in.

  15. Apologies for extreme tardiness, but thanks are better late than never, and I’m most grateful to Pete for a great blog. Thanks, too, to everyone who took the trouble to comment – much appreciated.

    “Without” at 25 ac is being used in its old-fashioned sense of “outside”, as in one of the many lines that used to puzzle us when singing hymns at school long, long ago: “There is a green hill far away, without a city wall”.

    “Start” as anagram indicator at 13ac is intended to be the intransitive verb meaning “jump”, “make a sudden movement”.

    As Sil intimates @1 (and thank you, my dear, for your kindness), both Rosa Klebb and Arachne now have to take a break from setting for a while to try to deal with some annoying health problems. They both wish everybody happy blogging and solving.

    Do svidanya,

    Rosa K.

  16. Rosa, I am very sad to hear of your reason for needing to take a break. I am sure that many of us will be hoping for a good prognosis and your speedy return. Thank you for letting us know.

    I remember “There is a green hill far away, without a city wall” very well and also wondered about it as a child. I figured that ‘without’ was intended in this sense in 25ac but my comment arose because it seemed to me that one thing could not be outside of another thing and include it at the same time.

  17. Hi Sarah

    All of my best wishes to you as you attend to your health issues and look forward to seeing you back before too long and continue your very pleasant and challenging diversions. Have long looked forward when I saw Arachne on the Guardian banner … and see that the Rosa Klebb brand at the FT is just as good!

    Good luck … Bruce

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