Financial Times 15,581 by IO

This was hard.  Solving the puzzle, explaining the answers and writing it all up took hours, and being so engrossed in sorting all this out I have forgotten to give my daughter a lift to the dentist.  I am going to be in big trouble later.  Thanks Io.

completed grid
Across
1, 9 SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE “Scrambled Eggs” Beatles Paul initially hit on over plateful .. . . ? (9,9)
anagram (scrambled) of EGGS BEATLES Paul (initial letter of) and HIT ON O (over)
6 TOGAS . . . Yesterday’s covers for Romans to impress? (5)
TO and GAS (to impress, US slang)
9   See 1
10 CIRCA Top performers not providing us with a roundabout? So we hear (5)
CIRCus (performers in the Big Top) missing (not providing) US then A.  “so we hear” indicates the definition is a homophone, roundabout (a fairground ride) sounds like round about (circa)
11, 12 TREATMENT TABLE Crack A-Team carrying TNT pounded three times on walls for operational support (9,5)
anagram (crack) of A-TEAM containing anagram (pounded) of TNT all inside (is walled by) TREBLE (three times)
13 SOCIALISTICALLY Curious coastal lily is, I see, in a way to the left (15)
anagram (curious) of COASTAL LILY IS I C (see, the letter c)
16 GLOUCESTERSHIRE Where girl may be involved with cheese tours? (15)
anagram Involved) of GIRL with CHEESE TOURS – home of Gloucester Cheese
17, 18 RED AS A BEETROOT “An England Captain in Defeat” interpreted on TMS as “Very Embarrassed”? (3,2,1,8)
RED AS A BEETROOT sounds like (on TMS as, on Test Match Special, as heard in a radio program) “Read as a beat Root” which is interpreted (read as) An England Captain in Defeat (a beat Root).  I think.
22 AMIGO A bit of money I bet friend in Barcelona (5)
A then Money (bit, first letter of) I and GO (to bet)
23, 25 THE CHERRY ON THE CAKE What about singer plugging remix of KeyNote chart topper? (3,6,2,3,4)
EH (what?) reversed (about) then CHER (singer) inside (plugging) inside anagram (remix) of  KEYNOTE CHART
24 EVENS Square number (second last) (5)
SEVEN (number) with S (seconds) moved to last place
25   See 23
Down
1 SABOT One kicked off premises by Smollett’s upwardly-mobile clog! (5)
TOBiAS Smollet (author) missing (kicked of premises) I (one) reversed (upwardly-mobile)
2 ALLEE Fish Hollywood location up the garden path (5)
EEL (fish) LA (Hollywood location) all reversed (up)
3 HOG IT Misdirected ball in box rapidly put away (3,2)
OG (own goal, misdirected ball) in HIT (box)
4 THE DEVILS TATTOO Distracted drumming? Cozy Powell’s dancing partner’s rubbish as well (3,6,6)
THE DEVIL’S (Cozy Powell’s dancing partner’s, see see Dance with The Devil) with TAT (rubbish) TOO (as well) – to drum with one’s fingers
5 IDENTITY ELEMENT I make an impression on title wrestling with enemy, but it won’t change things (8,7)
I DENT (make an impression) then anagram (wrestling) of TITLE with ENEMY
6 TICK-TOCKS Dick Fox with these timekeepers in nursery rhymes (4-5)
TICK TOCKS rhymes with Dick Fox.  An unusual definition-in-the-middle clue, very rare to see these.
7 GARIBALDI A foul-mouthed soldier’s taking the biscuit (9)
RIBALD (foul-mouthed) inside (is taken by) GI (soldier)
8 SPARE TYRE Earl visiting society do’s on an unwanted roll (5,4)
E (earl) inside (visiting) S (society) PARTY then RE (regarding, on) – an unwanted roll of fat around the middle
13 SUGAR CANE Rising American government’s secret plant (5,4)
US (American) reversed (rising) G (government) then ARCANE (secret)
14 CLOUD NINE A couple up on seventh heaven? (5,4)
A couple up from the seventh cloud (seventh heaven) would be CLOUD NINE.  I’m not sure how one would categorise this clue.
15 ANCESTORS Line from Socrates (new translation) (9)
anagram (translation) of SOCRATES and N (new)
19 TAHOE Divers he’s taking to a lake resort (5)
anagram (diverse) of HE and TO A.   I was stumped for a long time by misreading divers as drivers.
20 OCREA Sheath that stops procreation (5)
found inside (stopping, like a cork) prOCREAtion – a sheath-like structure in a plant
21 THYME Something fragrant from your local setter (5)
THY (your, local=dialect) ME (the setter)

definitions are underlined

I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords.  If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.

14 comments on “Financial Times 15,581 by IO”

  1. I found this puzzle remarkable for two reasons: it is an extremely clever grid-fill to have 4x15s +a 9,9 a 9,5 a 3,6,2,3,4 and a 3,2,1,8 giving only 23 clues; and because for the first time for years I actually finished a puzzle by JH without any cheating.
    Deep joy.
    Thanks to Io and PeeDee

  2. Managed to finish this but with a few unparsed. I think the ‘so we hear’ in 10a is to signify that ’roundabout’ sounds like ’round about’. My FOI was 17,18 but couldn’t parse it. Also missed OG in 3d for own goal, thinking it was somehow related to go backwards. As a mathematician, I am familiar with 5d – is it in common use anywhere else? An IO puzzle in this weather, phew! Thanks to all.

  3. I found that all those long linked clues made it very hard to make progress. If you failed to crack them immediately then there were acres of empty space in the grid with little to help you get going.

  4. Well blow me, I actually finished one of the Master’s puzzles. Didn’t envy you writing the blog though PeeDee. Great job.

    Serious respect Io.

    Ami the only one to see why the ellipsis between 1a and 6a is there? The ‘dummy lyrics’ which were originally written for ‘Yesterdays’ before the ‘real’ ones began:
    ‘Scrambled eggs. Oh my darling you’ve got lovely legs’.

  5. Thanks Conrad. I wondered about that. On a side note, in maths the identity element is sometimes represented by a capital I, which may be why 4 of these appear in the blanks, two on their sides.

  6. “Scrambled eggs…go so much better with hot buttered toast

    And now I’m going to give up meat

    And raise a toast to Scrambled Eggs”

  7. Thanks Io and PeeDee

    Think that this might have been the quickest that I’ve ever solved an Io – they usually reach across multiple days. Still had the layers of complexity in it, where it nearly takes as long to convincingly parse the clues as to work them out in the first place – there were two that I still messed up in that regard – the anagram fodder of SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE and S-EVEN to EVENS at 24a.

    There were at least half a dozen clues where I had to do a take and then take and then a double take to work out the parsing of the clues. What is so good is that when one got it – there was no ambiguity at all as to what the setter had meant.

    Finished mainly in the SE corner with OCREA and THE CHERRY ON THE CAKE as my last regular entries before seeing that TOGAS was also empty.

  8. I agree with Bruce @10. Io/Enigmatist usually gives me more problems than any other FT or Guardian setter, so I was quite pleased to complete this at a single sitting with no more than Chambers for assistance. It still took a while, though.

    That said, I couldn’t parse 17,18, as I know nothing about cricket, but the solution couldn’t really be anything else.

  9. This kept me muttering from Stansted to Belfast and beyond. Thanks to IO for the journey-passing brain mangling and to PeeDee for sorting it out. Hope you weren’t in too much trouble

  10. Thanks Io and PeeDee

    Tremendous puzzle, difficult but fairly clued, and a great example of the craft of setting. The answers are there, but you really do have to look for ’em.

  11. Great puzzle and great blog PeeDee. Just one typo in 2 down, Eel for Ell. Got one wrong , 19d with Tohse for Tahoe. It seemed to work.

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