(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.) A sort of anniversary for the FT puzzle, with its crossword compilers (from the previous 14999 puzzles) mentioned in the clues. Quite straightforward, especially with the special instruction, which meant you could eliminate cryptic and double definitions, and you had a “free” letter for each answer. Thanks to Gozo. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
The first row reads “fifteen”, but other than that today’s crossword is numbered 15000, I can’t find any other significance nor any other hidden words in the grid.
Across
8 Cinephile managed herrings by measure (4)
CRAN : The 1st letter of “Cinephile” + RAN(managed, say, an organization).
Defn: A volumetric measure, in the form of a basket, of fresh herrings.
9 Rush round Scottish isle with Gurney, having made new plans (10)
REARRANGED : REED(rush;any of the grasslike wetland plants) containing(round) [ ARRAN(the island off SW Scotland) plus(with) the 1st letter of “Gurney ” ]
10 Offshore structures to which lass I love returns with Sayang (3,4)
OIL RIGS : Reversal of(… returns) [ GIRL(a lass) + I + O(letter resembling 0;love in tennis scores) ] plus(with) the 1st letter of “Sayang “.
11 Speaks at length about Rosa Klebb’s vegetables (7)
SPROUTS : SPOUTS(speaks at length) containing(about) the 1st letter of “Rosa Klebb “.
13 Sleuth has eaten dry bananas, remaining unmoved (9)
SEDENTARY : The 1st letter of “Sleuth ” plus(has) anagram of(… bananas) EATEN DRY.
14 Wide characters trapping Redshank. Odd (5)
WEIRD : Anagram of(… characters) WIDE containing(trapping) the 1st letter of “Redshank “.
16 Ogre in Tolkien’s work giving gold to Crux (3)
ORC: OR(the colour, gold, in heraldry) plus(to) the 1st letter of “Crux “.
17 Realised the truth having made a decision about Monk and bishop (7)
RUMBLED : RULED(having made a decision, as a judge would have) containing(about) [ the 1st letter of “Monk ” + B(abbrev. for “bishop “) ].
18 Don’t go outside, Gozo! It could be a rottweiler! (3)
DOG : The 1st and last letters of(… outside) “Don’t go ” + the 1st letter of “Gozo “.
22 Nurse stuttered saying New York, Aardvark admitted (5)
NANNY : N-N-NY(written form of how a stutterer might say N.Y., abbrev. for New York) containing(… admitted) the 1st letter of “Aardvark “.
24 Upset nine rude characters about Phssthpok being green (9)
UNRIPENED : Anagram of(Upset … characters) NINE RUDE containing(about) the 1st letter of “Phssthpok “.
26 Make reference to 9 changes Mudd put forward (7)
MENTION : Anagram of(… changes) [TO + NINE(9)] placed after(… put forward) the 1st letter of “Mudd “.
27 Baby born to sailor holding Magwitch in love (7)
BAMBINO : B(abbrev. for “born”) plus(to) AB(abbrev. for an able-bodied seaman;a sailor) containing(holding) the 1st letter of “Magwitch ” + IN + O(letter resembling 0;love in tennis scores).
29 Erecting nothing about Cincinnus is selfish (10)
EGOCENTRIC : Anagram of(… about) [ERECTING + O(letter resembling 0;nothing) ] + the 1st letter of “Cincinnus “.
30 Ruff’s partner, Falcon and a sort of knot (4)
REEF : REE(the female partner of the ruff, a shore bird) + the 1st letter of “Falcon “.
Down
1 Frosty reception for Flimsy and French king – awfully rude (8)
FROIDEUR : The 1st letter of “Flimsy ” plus(and) ROI(French for “king”) + anagram of(awfully) RUDE.
Defn: … towards and from one person to another.
2 I infer changes involving Bradman, using few words (2,5)
IN BRIEF : Anagram of(… changes) I INFER containing(involving) the 1st letter of “Bradman “.
3 Flaky gilt ruff Hamilton damaged. Terrible! (9)
FRIGHTFUL : Anagram of(Flaky) GILT RUFF containing(… damaged) the 1st letter of “Hamilton“.
4 Talented plumbers initially installed Armonie’s faucet (3)
TAP : The 1st letters of, respectively(… initially), “Talented plumbers ” containing(installed) the 1st letter of “Armonie“.
5 Earl by track without Peto getting discharge (5)
ERUPT : E(abbrev. for ” Earl”) plus(by) RUT(a well worn track) containing(without) the 1st letter of “Peto “.
6 English medic points up Dinmutz in disguise (7)
ENCODED : Reversal of(… up) [ E(abbrev. for “English”) + DOC(short for “doctor”;a medic) + N,E(abbrev. for “north” and “east”, compass points) ] + the 1st letter of “Dinmutz“.
7 Nourishing product from exhibition centre first tempted Alberich with touch of relish added (6)
NECTAR : NEC(name of the exhibition centre in Birmingham, UK, from, obviously, “National Exhibition Centre”) + the 1st letter of(first) “tempted ” + the 1st letter of “Alberich ” plus(with … added) the 1st letter of(touch of) “relish“.
12 Timeless honour admitting Neo as old magistrate (7)
TRIBUNE : “tribute”(an honour) minus(…-less) “t”(abbrev. for “time”) containing(admitting) the 1st letter of “Neo “.
15 Highlander roughly ties topless girl – a halting performance (9)
HESITANCY : The 1st letter of “Highlander” + anagram of(roughly) TIES + “Nancy”(a girl’s name) minus
its 1st letter(topless …).
19 Our leading mortgage provider holds Adamant’s rose-bay (8)
OLEANDER : The 1st letter of(… leading) “Our ” + LENDER(a mortgage provider) containing(holds) the 1st letter of “Adamant “.
Defn: Another name for the rosebay plant.
20 Utterly confused on isle, with Chalmie being in the United Kingdom (7)
UNSTUCK : UNST(one of the Shetland Islands in Scotland) plus(with) [ the 1st letter of “Chalmie” contained in(in) U.K.(abbrev. for the United Kingdom) ].
21 Skua, say, first swallows bread Io scattered (7)
SEABIRD : The 1st letter of(first) “swallows ” + anagram of(… scattered) [BREAD + the 1st letter of “Io” ].
Defn: An example of which;say, is the skua.
23 Act spitefully as Gaff replaces unionist in the street (6)
AVENGE : The 1st letter of “Gaff ” replacing(replaces … in) “u”(abbrev. for “unionist”) in “avenue”(a broad street often lined with trees).
Answer: To act in retaliation (spite for spite, one might say).
25 Not a soul announced regular parts embracing Orense (2,3)
NO ONE : The 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th letters of(… regular parts) “announced ” containing(embracing) the 1st letter of “Orense “.
28 Dante on the rails, sober (3)
DRY : The 1st letter of “Dante ” placed above(on, in a down clue) RY(abbrev. for “railway”;the rails).
Answer: No longer addicted to or drinking alcohol.
(Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.)
Off topic but not completely so –
Permit me to mention that a puzzle in The Hindu (national newspaper of India) used this device in which the compiler had pseudonyms of fellow-compilers in his clues. That newspaper’s setters have tried clue acrostic and also gridfills with easter eggs, so to speak.
Many thanks scchua for the blog and Gozo for a gentle workout.
Like you, scchua, I was looking for ‘thousand’ but I could not find it.
What I did find (but it may be coincidence) was ‘Colin’ (the first name of the FT editor), diagonally starting from 8.
Thanks Gozo for a fun 15,000 crossword and scchua for a helpful blog.
CRAN, in the herring basket sense was new to me. I did like Rosa Klebb’s vegetables and poor Flimsy’s frosty reception.
I remember doing number 10,000 so I had to tackle this one as well. Nice to see some old names (like Dinmutz). It proved fairly quick and easy but I did not know ruff’s partner.
Thanks Gozo and scchua
Sil @2
I don’t think it is a coincidence: INMAN appears diagonally as well,
starting from the second last letter of EGOCENTRIC.
Not too significant maybe … there are 15 clues ACROSS and DOWN.
I enjoyed that, and felt very flattered to be included.
A fun puzzle, aided by the free letter in each clue. I made my life more difficult by putting in ‘wierd’ at first; that is how it is pronounced?
Thanks to Gozo & blogger. Looking forward to the next 15,000.
Many thanks to Sschua for yesterday’s blog of puzzle 15000 and especially to the members of the FT compiling team who emailed here or who contacted me personally.
Twenty-four hours after the event, I think that it is time to confirm exactly what this “layered” puzzle had to offer, as no-one has drawn attention to all my hidden ploys.
Yes — we had FIFTEEN clues Across and FIFTEEN Down
Yes — the name of the FT Crossword Editor, Colin Inman, was hidden in the grid
As the preamble indicated, I included the pseudonym of thirty FT compilers, past and present, in the clues.
BUT!!!! …..
What no-one on this site has specifically indicated is that the initial letters of the thirty clues, read in order Across and then Down, spell out the two 15-letter phrases respectively, CROSSWORD NUMBER FIFTEEN THOUSAND. Now, if you look at their solutions and in similar order, you will find that we have CROSSWORD NUMBER FIFTEEN THOUSAND revealed once again by their initial letters.
I do hope that you all enjoyed attempting the puzzle. I am delighted that “fun” has appeared in many of your blogs above — that was my intention when setting out on the compiling challenge which Colin set me back in April when he invited me to consider providing this landmark puzzle.
Thanks again Gozo. Now that you have mentioned it, those initial letters in the clues positively jump out at you! Nicely constructed, and pity that I (for one, at least) didn’t do full justice to it.
What a wonderful work of art! How on earth did we miss it?
“I must be more observant in future.”
Write this out fifteen thousand times.
Thanks again, Gozo.
Wonderful ! A tour de force.
Thanks again Gozo. I could kick myself because I usually check the initials of clue solutions, but since FIFTEEN and COLIN INMAN had already been pointed out I did not think it possible that there could be anything else! Absolutely fantastic.
My mother – notably known by the Bedfordshire press as a ‘tweeded missile’ in her hay day – always used to do the Times and I fondly remember doing the 15,000th from the Thunderer back in the late 70’s. So I approached this with expectant nostalgia.
Gozo is always a favourite setter and I applaud the achievement.
However, I have to admit to being a little underwhelmed at the end of the day.
I think that the device used meant that there was very little variety in the clues.
So congratulations Gozo for the achievement and thanks scchua for the blog. And I look forward to the next 15,000.
Thanks Gozo and schhua
What an amazing feat to use an FT setter in each of the clues, have the nina of the first editor (COLIN INMAN) and acrostics of BOTH clues and solutions to give CROSSWORD NUMBER FIFTEEN THOUSAND !!! A truly great effort … I feel underwhelmed that I failed to see it !!!
As for the crossword, I did feel it was a fun activity and enjoyed it across two short stints during an afternoon, some 5 months after it was published.
Started off with REEF and finished with RUMBLED, NANNY and UNSTUCK as the last few in.
THANKS AGAIN !!