Financial Times 15,392 by ARMONIE

by

Not too hard this morning but awkward in spots, I thought.

There were a couple of definitions that gave me pause, and one solution – 24 Across – that I simply coulodn’t parse. (Now sorted: I was barking up completely the wrong tree. The shame of it. Thanks Andrew). There were equally a couple of deeply satisfying clues – NO MAN’S LAND a standout – and some nifty surfaces, 14 Down my favourite. Thanks, Armonie.

completed grid
Across
1 RESTRAINED Tasteful melody in the woodwind (10)
  STRAIN (‘melody’) in REED (‘woodwind’)
6 SHUN Avoid head of state with vandal (4)
  S (first of ‘State’) then HUN (‘vandal’).
9 PERMISSION US politician returning to duty gets agreement (10)
  REP (Republican, US politician) is reversed, then MISSION (‘duty’).
10 WARM Rich with power (4)
 

W (‘with’) then ARM, which Chambers gives – at definition number 10 – as “power (figurative)”, although I struggle to find a phrase that might include it.
I’m not over-fond of the definition, either. ‘Warm praise’ might be ‘rich praise’, I suppose but I can’t think of anything much else. Perhaps I’m having a bad day (see 24a).
12 DEGENERATION Worsening state of French breeding (12)
  DE (French ‘of’) + GENERATION (‘breeding’)
15 LAUGHABLE A huge ball exploded? That’s very funny! (9)
  Anagram (‘exploded’) of A HUGE BALL.
17 LEGAL This is allowed on a lake (5)
 

LEG (the ‘on’ side in cricket) then A + L for ‘lake’.
18 CATER Supply a note when in credit (5)
  A + TE (a ‘note’ in the Sol-Fa scale) in CR (for ‘credit’). ‘Cates’ are literally (well, Shakespearean-ly) ‘luxury foods’. It’s one of those words that’s become debased by  mercantile usage.
19 EXTENSION Development in old dispute (9)
  EX (= former, or ‘old’) + TENSION (‘dispute’).
20 DISCOVERABLE Cripple protects refuge that can be found (12)
  DISABLE (‘cripple’ as verb) contains COVER (‘refuge’).
24 TIER One who drew level (4)
  Bother. I’m guessing, but I’m only guessing, at a double definition.  I can’t make ‘tied’ into what I’m presuming is a noun. ‘The tied’? I think not. A proper noun? Well, if there was once a Dutch (or whatever) figurative artist – ‘one who drew’ – called Hieronymous (or whatever) Tied then Google is silent on the matter. I’m clearly missing something. Damn. All suggestions welcome.
Right, ignore all the above in italics from when I thought the answer had to be TIED. What a chump.
Thanks to Andrew for putting me right: it’s a simple double definition.
25 STRONG GALE Anglers got bad weather (6,4)
  Anagram (‘bad’) of ANGLERS GOT. I’d thought the term-of-art for Force 9 on the Beaufort scale was ‘severe gale’ but it seems the Met Office uses ‘severe’ only because it’s more descriptive than the official version, the romantic fools.
26 DILL Herb made Penny unwell (4)
  D (a ‘penny’ in pre-decimal money; the singular seems now almost to have disappeared) + ILL (‘unwell’).
27 FRIGHTENED Immediately entering marsh journalist gets panicky (10)
  RIGHT (‘immediately’ as in  ‘I’ll be right there’) in FEN (‘marsh’) + ED (‘journalist’).
Down
1 ROPE Painter makes small change in deer (4)
  A ‘painter’ is the rope you use to tie up a boat, here produced by ‘P’ (pence or ‘small change’ in new money; see what I mean?) included in ROE (‘deer’).
2 SPRY Without resistance mole is nimble (4)
  SPY (a ‘mole’ perhaps) is outside or ‘without’ – as in ‘without a city wall’ – ‘R’ for ‘resistance’.
3 RAISE THE ROOF Fear hooter is ill-fitted to make lots of noise (5,3,4)
  Anagram (‘il-fitted’) of FEAR HOOTER IS.
4 ISSUE Children matter (5)
 

A very nice double definition.
5 ELOPEMENT Fugitive union member has internal operation (9)
  OP (or ‘operation’) included in ELEMENT (‘member’).
7 HEARING AID Trial by one in promotion of audio device (7,3)
  HEARING (‘trial’) then AD (for advertisement or ‘promotion’) surrounding 1.
8 NO MANS LAND Without resistance English invaders arrive in exclusion zone (2,4,4)
  Headline from the Hastings Express, October 14th, 1066: NORMANS LAND! lacking ‘R’ for resistance. I liked this very much.
11 FAILING LIGHT Sick during plane trip at dusk (7,5)
  AILING in FLIGHT.
13 ELUCIDATED Diet Claude worked out and explained (10)
  Anagram (‘worked out’) of DIET CLAUDE
14 JUST AS WELL Only one beau’s getting lucky (4,2,4)
 

JUST A SWELL. Neat.
16 BEEFEATER Royal guard initially executes exploit when in drink (9)
  FEAT (‘exploit’) + E (first of Executes), all in BEER.
21 ALONG A desire to be with you (5)
  A + LONG (‘desire’) for ‘along’ as in ‘if you head for the pub, I’ll be right along.’ I think.
22 BARN Prohibit new building (4)
  BAR + N.
23 SEND Convey old Bob’s demise (4)
  S for shilling (a ‘bob’ in old money) + END (‘demise’).

*anagram

6 comments on “Financial Times 15,392 by ARMONIE”

  1. In amending the blog, I seem to have wiped Andrew’s post putting me right about 24a. This is to assure all that I wasn’t trying to bury the evidence. Mea culpa. Please re-post, Andrew!

  2. I was whizzing through this, though admittedly making the same ‘tied’ for TIER boo-boo as Grant, until I was held up in the NW by ROPE (nice clue), RESTRAINED and SPRY. Agree with you about ‘Rich’ as the def for 10. JUST AS WELL was my COD.

    Thanks to Grant (and apparently the deleted Andrew!) and Armonie.

  3. Thanks Armonie and Grant.

    I think you can safely ARM or POWER a weapon, ie set a fuse or timing device or something like that.

  5. Armonie as Armonie can be.
    That said, I did not like the use of the past tense in both 24ac and 26ac very much.
    Most people don’t care about that but, even so, it could easily have been avoided.

    Easier setters such as Rufus/Dante or indeed Chifonie/Armonie are often the ones that come up with a real gem.
    Today, I thought 21d (ALONG) was a beauty in all its simplicity.
    It is my main reason for posting this comment.

    Thanks Grant & Armonie.

  6. Thanks Armonie and Grant

    All plain sailing for me with this one and was able to step through all of the little four letter mine fields that can often catch one out. Thought that there were a number of cute definitions that were put out there – ‘Fugitive union’ and ‘English invaders’ being the best two.

    Did have to go trawling dictionaries to get the right definitions of both WARM and ARM.

    Finished with BEEFEATER and the very clever ALONG as the last couple in.

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