Financial Times 15,148 by GOZO

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I found this very tricky, there is still one clue that I cannot solve.  Nevertheless this was very enjoyable to solve and blog and I knew (or had at least heard of) all the themed entries except one, which came as a somthing surprise to me.  Thank you Gozo.

Financial-Times-15148-by-GOZO.png

Across

1 Husband sent back garland with just a little scent (6)
HYSSOP
H (husband) and then POSY (garland) reversed (sent back) containing Scent (first letter, just a little of) – I’m not sure what indicates containment here – containment indicator is ‘with’, see cookie’s comments below

4 About to take a pew with a Spice Girl (8)
CLEMATIS
SIT (to take a pew) with A MEL C (Melanie Chisholm, a spice girl)

9 Forceful but anonymous (6)
VIOLET
VIOLEnT (forceful) missing N=name (anonymous)

10 Chaps on bikes exchanging notes (8)
CYCLAMEN
CYCLe MEN (chaps on bikes) with A for E (exchanging notes, of the scale)

12 Hera’s loving sigh or cheer and sign of hesitation (8)
OLEANDER
“Oh! Leander” (Hero’s loving sigh) or OLE (cheer) AND ER (sign of hesitation) – Leander’s lover is Hero not Hera, I think this is a typo in the puzzle.  Thanks to Eileen for pointing this out.

13 Article cut and cut (6)
THRIFT
THe (article in grammar, cut) and RIFT (cut) – the Marsh Daisy

15 Was working with metal (4)
 FLAG
I can’t get this one.  Maybe FLAG or FLAX? FL (flourit, period when working) with AG (Silver, metal) thanks to cholecyst and Gaufrid for this

16 Growth by river (10)
CORNFLOWER
CORN (growth, on foot) by FLOWER (river, something that flows)

19 Chemical compound suggested, I say, mixed (2-3,5)
OX-EYE DAISY
OX-EYED sounds like (suggested) oxide (chemical compound) then (I SAY)* anagram=mixed

20 Team’s right to include Surrey opener (4)
IRIS
II (11, a team) includes R (right) then Surry (opening letter of)

23 Provoke with loss-leader (6)
TEASEL
TEASE (provoke) with Loss (leading letter of)

25 Steer ailing awfully outside (8)
GLOXINIA
OX (steer) inside (with…outside) AILING* awfully=anagram

27 Old shape redesigned (8)
ASPHODEL
(OLD SHAPE) anagram=redesigned

28 Personal problem that’s very popular (6)
BORAGE
BO (personal problem) and RAGE (very popular, all the rage)

29 Pewter mostly thrown out into the deep (5,3)
SWEET PEA
anagram (thrown out) of PEWTEr (mostly) in SEA (the deep)

30 Inject Attlee regularly (6)
NETTLE
iNjEcT aTtLeE (regular selection from)

Down

1 Break away order from apiarists cancelled (4,3)
HIVE OFF
cryptic definition

2 Pottery keeping recently built article in reserve (9)
STONEWARE
NEW (recently built) A (indefinite article) in STORE (reserve)

3 Lots of water! (6)
OCEANS
double/extended definition?  Metaphorically an ocean is a lot of something.

5 Songs don’t work on the radio (4)
LAYS
sounds like (on the radio) laze (don’t work)

6 Left in new home, unwell, with lawn problem (8)
MOLEHILL
L (left) in HOME* anagram=new with ILL

7 Times item picked out (5)
TEMPI
found inside (out?) iTEM PIcked – I am still trying to figure out how ‘out’ means ‘a selction from’, though I don’t doubt that it does.

8 Sea creature’s two papers (7)
SUNSTAR
SUN and STAR (two newspaper titles)

11 Iron Maiden’s hats (7)
FEDORAS
FE (iron) DORA’S (maiden’s, of a girl)

14 Personal pixie for me! (7)
ONESELF
ONE’S ELF (personal pixie)

17 Charity showing assurance lost heart round about now (3,2,4)
WAR ON WANT
WARrANT (assurance, with no heart) contains (round) NOW* anagram=about

18 Decline to take the favourite route that’s meandering (5,3)
PETER OUT
PET (favourite) and ROUTE* anagram=meandering

19 Rebels or colloquial relations (7)
OUTLAWS
double definition? I am guessing outlaws is slang for extended family but I can’t find it in a dictionary yet.

21 Mum is coming up to see about the cat (7)
SIAMESE
MA (mum) IS reversed (coming up) with SEE* anagram=about

22 Revealing report of former girl-friend modelling? (6)
EXPOSE
EX (former girlfiend) POSE (modelling)

24 Computer prize awarded by Paris (5)
APPLE
double definition – the Golden Apple from the Greek myth of the judgement of Paris

26 Ungrammatical chap’s alive (4)
HEBE
HE BE (chap is alive) – ungramatical as it should be HE IS

*anagram
definitions underlined

20 comments on “Financial Times 15,148 by GOZO”

  1. Thanks, PeeDee for the beautifully illustrated blog.

    I got as far as you with 17ac but can’t see how either of them works.

    I was amused by Paris’s computer but I’m afraid there’s a mythological error in 12ac: Leander’s lover was Hero – Hera was wife / sister of Zeus.

    Apart from that, a pleasant solve – thank you, Gozo.

  4. I had two I could not get
    15A probably FLAX?
    5A which was made rather more difficult than it should have been by having IDYL for 5D

  6. Could 15ac be FL(oruit) + AX (metal) = FLAX.

    You sometimes see e.g. fl circa 1500, to identify roughly when a writer or artist was working.

  7. Re me @3: oh dear, I realise that I may have given the wrong impression and cast aspersions on Gozo. What I meant was that the error was not in the parsing. I’d like to bet that Gozo did get it right and that the error was a misprint.

  10. Cholecyst is definitely on the right lines. ‘Axe’ for ‘metal’ as an seems a little obscure though. Add in the American spelling and it seems doubly so. Can anyone come up with another explanation for AX?

  13. Enjoyed this although I had the same problem with “flag” as the others on the site. Decided to delve further and felt quite proud of myself when I found the answer but, blow me, cholecyst has beaten me to it!

    Thank you Gozo. Special thanks to PeeDee for the the lovely blog – it has really lifted my spirits.

  14. I still cannot believe GOZO would clue IRIS and FLAG together – “metal” is a term for a genre of rock music, and “ax” is the term for a metal, jazz, or rock music guitar. Too far fetched?

  15. Thanks Gozo and PeeDee.

    I do not think anyone else has dealt with 1ac. The containment indicator can be “with”: Chambers 2008 gives “having or containing” among the meanings of with¹.

  16. Re-reading my previous comment, it looks horribly pompous, for which I apologise. I should have said “with” as in “coffee/tea with milk/sugar” rather than invoking Chambers.

  17. Thanks Gozo and PeeDee

    I approached this with a little trepidation, as I am by no stretch a horticulturalist. Still, things fell in even time, though I was making copious use of Bradford’s Lists (the 2nd edition of which doesn’t include a fair few of the flowers), but gummed myself up by having BUZZ OFF (it sort-of-worked) and hence ZINNIA for 9. Went for FLAX, but everything else was brick walls.

    Great puzzle though, really enjoyed tackling it despite it being a DNF.

  18. Further to Cookie, JuneG and Cholecyst: floruit is the Latin for ‘he blossomed’. The clue’s use of the abbreviation FL is thus doubly thematic, which surely excuses any overlap between FLAG and IRIS. (Sorry about the late post – I only realised what floruit meant when discussing the crossword with my nephew this evening.)

    Thanks to Gozo and to all contributors to this splendid site, which I only found recently.

  19. Thanks to Gozo for the puzzle and PeeDee for a beautifully illustrated and informative blog.

    I have to admit having failed in the NW corner with HYSSOP, VIOLET, FLAG, HIVE OFF and OCEANS all unsolved.

    I was sure that 1dn was something OFF and also 15 was FLAG but couldn’t get past that.

    On consideration, 3dn does look a little weak by Gozo’s usual standards – at least that’s a small twig to hang my excuses on!

    Thanks again.

  20. Thanks Gozo and PeeDee

    Always look forward to the puzzles of this setter – whether they are his holiday specials or just a lovely thematic midweek-er like this one. Did span over a couple of days in this period when I’m not rushing to get a couple done every day. Great effort with the pictures, PeeDee !

    Like others I was held up in the NW corner and also made life more difficult than it need be by writing BUZZ OFF at 1d. Finally lucked out with HYSSOP and was then able to quickly wrap up the puzzle GLOXINIA, THRIFT and HEBE were all new plants to me. Was also unaware of Paris awarding the golden APPLE that eventually led to all of the grief in Troy.

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