Financial Times 14,689 / Redshank

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This was an interesting challenge from Redshank and I am quite happy to get the chance to blog this puzzle. With quite a fair number of anagrams, progress was steady for most part. I had never come across the solution for 10ac or 11ac so some new words I learnt there. 23ac was ingenious as was 3d.

A huge “Thank you” to Gaufrid for helping to get today’s blog up. I had blogged it in an excel file and Geoff had to transcribe all of it into WP.

Across

1 Phone company about Sarah’s mobile in general, say (5,3)
BRASS HAT
BT (Phone company) around (about) anagram of SARAH’S (mobile – anagrind)

5 Book one has returned with excellent contents (6)
ISAIAH
I (one) [ AI (A 1 – excellent) in SAH (has, returned) ]

10 Swimmer in Roaring Forties almost at end of tether (7)
ROTIFER
Anagram of FORTIEs (almost, roaring – anagrind) R (end of tether)

11 Man with barrels spotted casing speakeasy (7)
SHEBEEN
[HE (man) B (barrels)] in SEEN (spotted, casing)

12 Factor in mature property custodians (5)
AGENT
AGE (mature) NT (property custodians, National Trust)

13 Fuelled stove in city as required (9)
NEEDFULLY
Anagram of FUELLED in NY (city)

14 Unusual supplement sadly causes piles, I gathered (7,5)
SPECIAL ISSUE
Anagram of CAUSES PILES I

18 Welsh character coaches snooker player (12)
TRAINSPOTTER
Charade of TRAINS (coaches) POTTER (snooker player) – Referring to the main character of the novel “Trainspotting” by Irvine Welsh

21 Chance upon youth hostel initially in rain? Drink’s cheap in it (5,4)
HAPPY HOUR
HAP (chance) [ YH (youth hostel, initially) in POUR (rain) ]

23 Electric Light Orchestra, the second pair masking the first (5)
TORCH
Quite liked this clue! Hidden (ref masking) in the second pair, i.e. “lighT ORCHestra” – the first pair, i.e. Electric Light

24 Doctor in there implying both options are ruled out (7)
NEITHER
Anagram of IN THERE

25 “The Quiet American” or “The History Man”? (7)
TACITUS
TACIT (Quiet) US (American) – Reference to Cornelius Tacitus, Historian of the Roman Empire

26 Local star in person celebrated party in retreat (3,3)
SUN GOD
SUNG (celebrated) OD (party = do, reversed)

27 Neapolitan hit: “I love to finish old unfinished grave” (1,4,3)
O SOLE MIO
IO (I love) finishing O (old) SOLEMn (unfinished grave) – I hadnt come across this song before but google tells me that I should have.

Down

1 The Dandy covers half your desk (6)
BUREAU
BEAU (dandy) covers UR (half of your)

2 Oxygen extracted from alternative plant fertiliser (6)
ANTHER
ANoTHER (alternative, less ‘o’ i.e. oxygen extracted)

3 I fasten folds round baby’s bottom softly (6,3)
SAFETY PIN
Anagram of I FASTEN around Y (baby’s bottom) P (softly); &lit.

4 I call up directors about clubs after article in press (6,8)
AIRING CUPBOARD
[I RING (call up) {UP BOARD (directors) about C (clubs)}] after A (article)

6 On which, left out, she’ll finish primarily? (5)
SHELF
SHE’Ll (left out) F (finish primarily) – referring to the phrase “on the shelf” for being lonesome.

7 Setter’s hosting exotic ladies, hoping for the best (8)
IDEALISM
I’M (Setter’s) containing anagram of LADIES (exotic – anagrind)

8 Individual with yen to dip into wild hebe? (8)
HONEYBEE
[ONE (individual) Y (yen)] in anagram of HEBE; &lit

9 Sore throat throbbing? It is a problem of articulation (14)
OSTEOARTHRITIS
Anagram of SORE THROAT, IT IS

15 I make an impression with one brief visit in uniform (9)
IDENTICAL
I DENT (make an impression) with I (one) CALl (brief visit)

16 Impressions of oriental objects enthral Chinese leader (8)
ETCHINGS
E (oriental, east) THINGS (objects) around C (Chinese leader)

17 Offensive Conservative politician gets in again after bruising (8)
CAMPAIGN
C (Conservative) [ MP (politician) in anagram of AGAIN ]

19 In the meantime, this inn could become prominent (3,3)
PRO TEM
this with ‘inn’ is an anagram (could become) of ‘prominent’

20 Trainer whipped his pony? That’s not new (6)
PHYSIO
Anagram of HIS POnY (that’s not new – less ‘n’)

22 Swift brute throws grass over middle of room (5)
YAHOO
YAH (grass = hay, reversed) OO (middle of rOOm)

 

12 comments on “Financial Times 14,689 / Redshank”

  1. Thanks for the blog, Turbolegs, especially for 23ac, where I couldn’t quite make out the second part of the clue.

    What a treat to end the week! – a real gem of a puzzle from one of my favourite setters.

    Some super surfaces, as to be expected – 1ac, 11ac, 3dn [I don’t think anyone uses safety pins for this any more but I well remember doing so – it’s a lovely clue, anyway] 7dn, 8dn, 9dn, 17dn, 20dn to name but a few – but my favourite today, of course, has to be 25ac!

    ROTIFER was a new one on me, too, but impeccably clued, so easily gettable.

    Turbolegs, you have a wee typo in 27ac – O SOLE MIO: I got this immediately from the enumeration – if you ever go to Italy on holiday you’ll hear it everywhere!

    [In 22dn, YAHOO is a swift brute because yahoos feature in Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels’.]

    Many thanks to Redshank for another most enjoyable puzzle.

  2. Hi Eileen
    That typo in 27ac was mine, not Turbolegs. You can see that he got it right in his parsing. I will rectify my error forthwith.

  4. Hi Eileen@1, This was indeed quite a treat to solve. The last time I tried Redshank (it wasn’t my turn to blog), I came up hopelessly short. So it wasn’t without some trepidation that I started to solve this morning. Thankfully, the anagrams helped quite a bit and I was able to piece together the entire puzzle. The one clue that stumped me was 19d which Gaufrid was kind enough to help me with. Like I mentioned above, 23ac was very clever cluing and 3dn caught my fancy as well. Also, thanks for spotting the typo on 27ac – I must have missed it when reviewing the draft that Geoff saved on the site on my behalf. Not surprised that 25ac was to your liking, knowing your penchant for history (from reading your past comments here!).

    Thanks Gaufrid on @2.

    Hi Mike@3 – Indeed, 2 &lits with wonderful surfaces in a single puzzle is fortuitous. I have been lucky these past couple of weeks. Alberich’s serving last week was an excellent challenge and Redshank’s this week is keeping the trend on the up.

  6. Hi Turbolegs

    Glad to hear you enjoyed the puzzle! I always count myself lucky when I get to blog a Guardian puzzle by Crucible, Redshank’s alter ego [or, to be really pedantic and coin a phrase, alius ego, since he’s Radian in the Indy and writes for other places, too].

    You’re right that I’ve a keen interest in history but I’m actually a Classicist, so TACITUS is even further up my street!

    [I only mentioned the typo [which, as Gaufrid says, clearly was one, since the parsing was right] because it was part of the solution. [I get a bit exasperated when people comment on obvious and irrelevant typos – especially if they’ve nothing else to say. 😉 ] I don’t know whether you listened to the song during your googling this morning but here it is:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_mLFHLSULw

    Elvis Presley’s version of it was ‘It’s now or never’.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkMVscR5YOo

  7. I have nothing to add but I would like to echo Eileen @1.

    Fantastic puzzle.
    This setter is so different in all his guises and, yet, always excellent. A great achievement.

    How good is 3d (indeed, Turbolegs – and many thx!)?
    And 6d? And 9d? And 23ac (brilliant)?

    What a joy to solve!

  8. Hi Sil

    Good to hear from you [I expected to!] – such a pity there are so few responses on this thread!

    “This setter is so different in all his guises…”

    You’ve made comments before to the effect that there’s something a bit special about Redshank puzzles. I agree – but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Like you, I love him in all his guises. I wish more Crucible and Radian fans had seen this one. 😉

    Thanks again to Turbolegs for a great blog,

  9. “I wish more Crucible and Radian fans had seen this one”.

    Well, that is just really it.
    Not sure whether all his Guardian and Indy admirers actually know who Redshank is.

    Dougie Anderson is a very prolific writer (The Daily Mail, every day!) but in this place only appreciated for Crucible, Radian and (perhaps) Redshank.

    Radian’s puzzles are full of cross-references and, in my opinion, somehow written in an Araucarian way. Surfaces are less important than constructions.
    But they’re clever and hugely enjoyable.
    Crucible nearly always has a theme in his puzzles but the surfaces are a bit more storytelling. He is slightly more inventive than Radian but there’s clearly an overlap.
    His puzzles always have compound/subtraction anagrams – one of his trademarks.

    Redshank’s puzzles don’t have a theme, so our beloved setter can fully focus on creating excitable surfaces (often &lits or semi-&lits) without being restricted by theme words.

    And, yes, then he shows his real quality.
    Redshank is so good in writing stand-alone clues.
    It’s all so elegant, so clever, so effortless, light-weight but not (forgive me) Daily Mail.

    A clue like today’s SAFETY PIN is just great.
    It’s a clue on its own.
    There’s no other clue that wants to be cross-referenced with it.

    I liked Redshank’s puzzles from the first day they appeared in the FT.

    Conclusion?
    Great setter, makes my cryptic heart beats faster.
    [unfortunately, that might mean that I will perhaps live less longer than ideally I would like to] 🙂

  11. When I say (@8): “light-weight but not (forgive me) Daily Mail”, I do not mean “light-weight” to be something negative nor is it my intention to dumb down the Daily Mail crossword puzzles.
    I have in fact never solved a Daily Mail crossword as I don’t read the paper.
    Using the term “Daily Mail” was just there to emphasise that I find Redshank’s puzzles “light-weight plus”.
    Plus a lot, actually!

  12. Thanks Redshank and Turbolegs

    Another of the backlog of FT crosswords … and what a belter !

    Was one of those ones that needed persistent chipping away at – to find a new gem every couple of clues – thought TRAINSPOTTER was one of the best along with TORCH. The long OSTEOARTHRITIS was the last in … and only got it when all of the crossers were there.

    Good stuff

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