Financial Times 15308 Gaff

(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.)  As usual, with Gaff, the crossword marks an event, in this case a death anniversary.  It brings back memories of the Swinging Sixties.  Thanks Gaff.  Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1 Clear picture? (5,3,5)

BLACK AND WHITE : Double defn: 1st: Without any ambiguity; and 2nd: An old picture;movie not in colour.

Also a cryptic defn. for Cilla Black, whose real name was Priscilla White. Today’s crossword commemorates the 1st anniversary of her death (1 August).

9 Test expert in bar trade (7)

BOYCOTT : Double defn: 1st: Geoff, very successful opening batsman in England’s Test cricket team; and 2nd: To ban trade with a certain organisation or country.

10 Denouement for checker’s mate, perhaps (7)

ENDGAME : Cryptic defn: Reference to the end of a chess game where one player has been checkmated.

11 Sheets maybe a bit small in envelope (5)

LINEN : Hidden in(a bit) “small in envelope “.

Defn: Bedsheets, and other cloths, made of linen or a substitute fabric.

12 Publicity is all leading back to 1 across (9)

PRISCILLA : PR(abbrev. for “public relations”;publicity) + IS + reversal of(… back) [ALL + IC(abbrev. for “in charge”;leading) ].  Thanks to passerby@1 for the latter part of the parsing, which I couldn’t get.

Defn: Cilla Black (1 across)’s forename in full.

13 With warm rub, athlete’s foot turned pale brown (3,5)

RAW UMBER : Anagram of(… turned) [WARM RUB plus(With …) the last letter of(…’s foot) “athlete“].

15 Cutter sailing boat The Queen loses bow (6)

ETCHER : [ “ketch”(a 2-masted sailing boat) + ER(abbrev. for Elizabeth Regina, the Queen) ] minus(loses) its 1st letter(bow).

Defn:  One who might actually mean it when he says “Want to come up and see my etchings?” or, on the other hand, he might say:

18 1 across’s tongue stew (6)

SCOUSE : Double defn: 1st: Cilla Black’s Liverpudlian dialect;tongue, you might say; and 2nd: A lamb or beef stew.

19, 23 Rivals playwright forger for 1 across player (8,5)

SHERIDAN SMITH : SHERIDAN(R.B., playwright who wrote “The Rivals”) + SMITH(short for a blacksmith who forges iron implements).

Defn: Actress who played the role of Cilla Black in the television mini-series “Cilla”.

22 1 across’s from one passing receiver (3,3,3)

ITS FOR YOU : Cryptic defn: A comment from one passing the telephone receiver to another to take the call.

Defn: One of Cilla Black’s hit songs.

24 Present contains surprise? Emphatically not! (5)

NOHOW : NOW(the present time) containing(contains) OH(an expression of surprise, amongst other strong emotions).

25 Prevent from seeing chocolate Derek has hidden (5,2)

BLIND TO : BO(Derek, the “10” sex symbol of the 80s) containing(has hidden) LINDT(brand of Swiss chocolates).

Defn: Shouldn’t this is “Prevented from seeing”?

26 Appointment one expects to lead to congress (3,4)

HOT DATE : Cryptic defn: Reference to congress of a sexual kind.

27 Hurriedly gutted teal overwhelmed by smells returning after high water (6-7)

HELTER-SKELTER :  Reversal of(… returning) [ “teal” minus its inner letters(gutted …) contained in(overwhelmed by) REEKS(smells of) ] placed after(after) [ H(abbrev. for “high”) + ELTER(Water, the lake in the English Lake District) ].

Down

1 Brook‘s Brothers are into farm equipment (7)

BABBLER : B,B(twice the abbrev. for “brother”) contained in(are into) BALER(farm equipment used to bale hay).

Defn: What you would say a brook is, based on the sound it makes.

2, 16 1 across’s who should have followed suit? (6,3,3,1,5)

ANYONE WHO HAD A HEART : Cryptic defn: Reference to a card game like bridge, where a player has to play a card of the same suit as the previous player.

Defn: Another of Cilla Black’s hit songs.

3 Men have understood (5)

KNOWN : K,N(abbrev. for “king” and “knight”, respectively, men on the chessboard) + OWN(to have;to possess).

4 No recordings, no sound (3,1,4)

NOT A PEEP : NO + TAPE, EP(two forms of recorded media, the latter abbrev. for “extended play”, a disc containing more recorded music than a single but less than an LP).

5 Welcome extremely bad pest (6)

WEEVIL : The 1st and last letters of(… extremely) “Welcome” + EVIL(bad).

Defn: Any one of a family of beetles that feed on plants and plant products.

6 Sign in designer pet boarding (9)

INDICATOR : IN + DIOR(Christian, fashion designer) containing(… boarding) CAT(a house pet).

7 Suffer under a measure of junk, maybe (1-4)

E-MAIL : AIL(to suffer pain or ache) placed below(under, in a down clue) EM(a linear measurement used in printing).

8 Make good salesman strain (6)

REPAIR : REP(a salesman;a representative of a sales company) + AIR(a tune;a strain).

14 Confuse maids with a lot of milk producers (9)

MASTOIDAL : Anagram of(Confuse) [MAIDS plus(with) A LOT].

Defn: Descriptive of nipples.

16 See 2

17 While Eliot dreams (8)

THOUGHTS : THOUGH(while, as in “though money can’t buy happiness… “) + TS(initials of the English poet, Thomas Stearns Eliot).

18 Stealthily avoid Spooner’s spot of light breathing (4,2)

SLIP BY : Spoonerism of “blip”(a spot of light on a radar screen indicating the position of an object) + “sigh”(deep and audible breathing as an expression of weariness, regret, relief, etc.).

20 Warn eye make-up will require change at end of date (3,4)

NEW YEAR : Anagram of(… make-up) WARN EYE.

Defn: What will require you to change the last part of a date in general. Unless it’s in the form “yyyy-mm-dd”.

21 Former characters from Whitby go needy (6)

BYGONE : Hidden in(characters from) “Whitby go needy “.

23 See 19

24 Fool about with explosive material (5)

NITRE : NIT(a fool) + RE(with reference to;about).

Answer: Another name for potassium nitrate, used in making explosives.

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