Financial Times 15,083 – Crux

by

Monday Prize Crossword / Nov 9, 2015

A gentle if somewhat unexciting crossword by Monday regular Crux.

Still, some good clues with decent surfaces. And some minor quibbles too.

Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.

Across
1 FLYING DUTCHMAN
Legendary captain, a pilot with KLM? (6,8)

Double / Cryptic definition

The story of this ‘legendary captain’ was turned into an opera by Richard Wagner: Der Fliegende Holländer.

KLM stands for ‘Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij’, Royal (Dutch) Airlines. 
10 URGED
Advised to be terribly rude but good-hearted (5)

(RUDE)* with G (good) at its heart, indicated by ‘good-hearted’
11 SPECTATES
Watches what birds do, mostly, in the US (9)

PEC[k] (what birds do, mostly) inside STATES (the US)
12 BARBARA
Major article on public houses (7)

BAR (public house) + BAR (another one) + A (article)

Major Barbara is a play by George Bernard Shaw.
13 INHALER
Could be a life-saver for one trying to 17 (7)

Cryptic definition

’17’ is clue 17d (BREATHE IN). After substituting this answer, the clue becomes not that cryptic anymore.
14 SWARM
Mob invading starts war, maybe (5)

Hidden solution, indicated by ‘invading’:   [start]S WAR M[aybe]
16 IN BLOSSOM
Out of stock, for example, come spring (2,7)

Cryptic definition
19 ROSINANTE
A headless horse in NT becomes a worn-out nag (9)

(A + [h]ORSE + IN + NT)*    [* = becomes]

Rosinante is the name of Don Quixote’s horse.
20 TRYST
Go with bursting heart to lovers’ meeting (5)

TRY (go) + [bur]ST[ing]
22 LUCIFER
It was a match for Satan (7)

Double definition

I don’t see why Crux wrote ‘It was’ in this clue. It is superfluous and some solvers may object to the use of the past tense anyway.

In post @5 I made clear why I do understand it now.
25 TESTATE
After tasting, tucked in with a will (7)

ATE (tucked in) coming after TEST (tasting)
27 IRONSTONE
Press take jumbled notes to be a source of 7 (9)

IRON (press) + (TONES)*    [* = jumbled]

Ironstone can be a source of ‘metal’ (the solution at 7d), I guess.
28 RETCH
Gag made by some poor devil, say (5)

Homophone, indicated by ‘say’, of:  WRETCH ((some) poor devil)
29 SUPPORTING PART
A pillar of the theatre, perhaps, in a minor role (10,4)

Double / Cryptic definition
Down
2 LEG-BREAKS
Labour leader eg takes holidays with Balls? (3-6)

L[abour] + EG + BREAKS (holidays)

The definition is a cricket term: ‘balls that break from the legside to the offside on pitching’ (Chambers).
3 INDIA
Popular support up country (5)

IN (popular) + DIA (reversal, indicated by ‘up’, of AID (support))
4 GESTATION
Good English post is months in development (9)

G (good) + E (English) + STATION (post)
5 UTERI
They housed everyone briefly, during 4 (5)

Cryptic definition

‘4’ refers to the previous clue (GESTATION).
6 CUT-THROAT
Court that let loose a killer (3-6)

(COURT THAT)*    [* = let loose]
7 METAL
Lead possibly given by beginner after team change (5)

L (beginner, i.e. Learner) placed after (TEAM)*    [* = change]
8 NOSTRUM
No way drink is an answer to all problems (7)

NO + ST (way, i.e. Street) + RUM (drink)

Nice clue, nice surface.
9 RUMBAS
Dances organised by weird bachelors (6)

RUM (weird) + BAS (bachelors, i.e. plural of BA)
15 MANIFESTO
Party policy that’s clear – on nothing at all! (9)

MANIFEST (clear) + O (nothing (at all))
17 BREATHE IN
Inspire the brain with Ecstasy? Outrageous! (7,2)

(THE BRAIN + E (Ecstasy))*    [* = outrageous]
18 SPYMASTER
Second bloomer overwhelms Pym, or M? (9)

{S (second) + ASTER (bloomer, i.e. a flower)} around PYM

M: in James Bond films the head of MI6, most recently played by Judy Dench (1995-2012) and Ralph Fiennes (2012-present).
19 RALLIES
Recovers from a series of strokes (7)

Double definition

According to my dictionaries a rally (singular!) is ‘ a series of strokes’, for example in tennis.

Not sure whether the plural works for me.  Crux could have left out ‘a’ to do me a favour.
21 TEETHE
Get through the first set? (6)

Cryptic definition
23 CROUP
Kind of seizure grips the ring, causing nasty cough (5)

COUP (kind of seizure) around O ((the) ring).  My mistake – should be R ((the) king, Rex).  Also their mistake.  Well spotted, mike04 @3.

Not sure whether we should take ‘(something) causing’ as part of the definition. Croup is a bit more than just a nasty cough.
24 ROOST
Overnight stay, sheltering ducks, appropriately (5)

O can be clued by ‘duck’, and the solution contains (‘shelters’) two of them

Appropriately, because ducks might spend the night sitting in or on a roost.
26 STRAP
Reverse roles as a form of punishment (5)

Reversal, indicated by ‘reversal’. of:   PARTS (roles)
*anagram

14 comments on “Financial Times 15,083 – Crux”

  4. I understand Sil’s objection at 22a, matches are still called LUCIFERs in Dutch, those matches were not produced after 1850, but the term kept on as slang in the 20th century (it is given as ‘archaic’ in the OCED).

  5. Thanks All

    My parsing of 23ac is odd, indeed – plain wrong.
    I am quite sure mike04 is right in his assumption of R being ‘king’.

    Cookie, after looking in Chambers I do understand now why Crux said ‘it was a match’ as for the English it is apparently an archaic word.
    But yes, for me, the Dutchman, LUCIFER is really a common word for what ‘we’ here call match.

  6. 23a and Sil’s parsing of CROUP seem fine to me, the cricoid cartilage is a ring of hyaline cartilage that forms the inferior wall of the larynx and is attached to the trachea. It is the swelling in this region, especially of the vocal chords, that give rise to the characteristic barking cough of croup.

  8. R an abbreviation for ring?
    Never seen that before.
    Not supported by Mrs Chambers or Ms Collins either.
    My mistake was, of course, putting an O inside COUP.
    I think mike04 @3 is the one we should rely on.

  10. Thanks Sil and Crux.

    I’m still not convinced about 23d being a simple misprint because the COUP is stated to grip THE RING – not just R(K)ING. Are we all missing something?

    Also, though IN BLOSSOM is clearly the correct answer, I still don’t get it.

    I have not read Don Quixote so ROSINANTE was new for me but clearly gettable.

  12. ‘Stock’ can mean the woody stem of a plant, or the perennial part of an herbaceous plant.
    Come spring, these plants will bear flowers and then be ‘out of stock’.
    I know, not great, but I have seen a similar cryptic clue before (probably Rufus or Dante).
    Therefore I couldn’t be bothered too much.

    And 23d? Somehow, it is still a mystery – indeed.

  14. Thanks Crux and Sil

    Was late getting to this one and was able to do most of it on the train ride into work last week and finished off over the first coffee of the day.

    Needed help from here to understand why CROUP was the right answer at 23d. The last few in were SPYMASTER (which was quite cleverly misdirected), WRETCH and ROSINANTE (haven’t seen him surface for quite a while now).

    Really didn’t like ROOST at all.

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