I found this tricky. I thought Artexlen has been going out of his way here to deliberately obscure as much of the puzzle as he can, or at least as much as he can and still getting it published in the FT. Thanks Artexlen.
| Across | ||
| 1 | HEADACHE | Lead, one keeping hot, causes problem (8) |
| HEAD (lead) ACE (one) containing H (hot) | ||
| 5 | GIZMOS | Note Russian craft coming west containing unknown devices (6) |
| SO (note) MIG (Russian aircraft) reversed (to the west, R to L on a map) containing Z (unknown, maths) | ||
| 10 | ABSTAIN | Pass up a street in Bahrain, but not the centre (7) |
| A then ST (street) in BArhaIN (missing some letters from the centre) | ||
| 11 | ENCODED | Scrambled over fences – not half loco (7) |
| loCO (not half) inside (fenced by) ENDED (over) | ||
| 12 | STEAM | Small group of animals combined power (5) |
| S (small) and (combined with) TEAM (group of animals) | ||
| 13 | BODYSUITS | Change to subsidy for womenswear (9) |
| anagram (change) of TO SUBSIDY | ||
| 14 | RETAINING FEE | Advance made by experimental Fiat engineer (9,3) |
| anagram (experimental) of FIAT ENGINEER | ||
| 18 | SHOULDER NOTE | Accept new books with English information for readers (8,4) |
| SHOULDER (accept) and N (new) OT (old Testament, books of the Bible) and E (English) – a new word for me, a printer’s note at the side of the page level with the first line of text | ||
| 21 | CHESTNUTS | Horses displaying revolutionary tricks going backwards (9) |
| CHE (Che Guevara, revolutionary) STUNTS (tricks) reversed (going backwards) | ||
| 23 | IRISH | National flower on side of hotel (5) |
| IRIS (flower) on Hotel (first letter, one side of) | ||
| 24 | OVERRUN | Storm to last longer than expected (7) |
| double definition | ||
| 25 | EYEBOLT | Engineer let boy in front of end of lathe to make fastener (7) |
| anagram of LET BOY following (in front of ???) lathE (end letter of). This explanation doesn’t quite work but is the best I can do. | ||
| 26 | TUSKED | Succeeded to displace cold, stuffed like a walrus (6) |
| TUCKED (stuffed) with S (succeeded) replacing C (cold) | ||
| 27 | STATIONS | Boys penning rubbish, primarily internet posts (8) |
| SONS (boys) containing TAT (rubbish) Internet (primarily, first letter of) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | HEARSE | Long vehicle picks up second of celebrities (6) |
| HEARS (picks up) then cElebrities (second letter of) | ||
| 2 | ANSWER | Result of plans we remade (6) |
| found inside plANS WE Remade | ||
| 3 | ALARM BELL | Warning everyone about cracking marble (5,4) |
| ALL (everyone) containing (about) anagram (cracking) of MARBLE | ||
| 4 | HANDBRAKE TURNS | Playing darts, Hank and Ruben getting 180s (9,5) |
| anagram (playing) of DARTS HANK and RUBEN | ||
| 6 | INCUS | Small bone found in pin cushion (5) |
| found inside pIN CUSion | ||
| 7 | MIDRIFFS | Erect Sci-Fi plant with indistinct body parts (8) |
| SF (Science Fiction, Sci-fi) FIR (a plant) with DIM (indistinct) all reversed (erect) | ||
| 8 | SIDESTEP | Duck’s wing pest irritated (8) |
| SIDE (wing) then anagram (irritated) of PEST | ||
| 9 | DEAD ON ONES FEET | Exactly an hour after mid- day, fete’s turned very weary (4,2,4,4) |
| DEAN ON ONE (exactly an hour after mid-day) than anagram (turned) of FETE’S | ||
| 15 | NUTRIMENT | Intent to get drunk with rum as sustenance (9) |
| anagram (to get drunk) of INTENT with RUM | ||
| 16 | ASHCROFT | Like light retrospective involving fine actress of old (8) |
| AS (like) TORCH (light) reversed (retrospective) containing (involving) F (fine) – Dame “Peggy” Ashcroft | ||
| 17 | NOSELESS | I should be relieved – silent without organ (8) |
| NOiSELESS (silent) missing I (i.e. I should be relieved) | ||
| 19 | KIMONO | Dictator familiarly attached to old apparel (6) |
| KIM (dictator) ON (attached to) O (old) | ||
| 20 | CHUTES | Slides from modelling sessions discussed (6) |
| CHUTES sounds like (discussed) “shoots” (modelling sessions) | ||
| 22 | TORTE | Dashed to grab last bit of carrot cake (5) |
| TORE (dashed) contains carroT (last letter of) | ||
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.
9D last word should be FEET
Quite so Sayang, I’ll fix the blog ASAP.
There is a theme, which anybody should be able to see.
Found the SW corner very difficult. Failed to get NOSELESS. Thanks to all.
Thanks for the blog PeeDee,
I found this far too tricky for a 30 minute lunch break.
I couldn’t see a theme either
muffyword – I can see a few body parts in there. Other than that I have no idea what the theme might be.
I think the theme must be body parts.
Apart from BODY, the obvious ones are HEAD, EAR, SHOULDER, CHEST, EYE, NOSE, HAND, FEET, MIDRIFF, and ARM. Then there’s IRIS, INCUS, ABS (if that’s not pushing it too far), and, of course, NUTS. 🙂
26a: with S (succeeded) replacing C(cold) ….[not O for old]
Thank you for pointing that out Yves. I cannot see these little things at all when I look at the blog myself.
Thanks Artexlen and PeeDee
Engrossing crossword that took a number of sittings to get through with some really cracking clues such as DEAD ON ONE’S FEET, ENCODED (once it was ‘unscrambled’) and ASHCROFT.
Completely missed the ghost theme of body parts, as obvious after it is pointed out – can’t remember this fellow using themes before.
Finished in the SW corner with the actress, CHESTNUTS (which was also a very good clue) and the unusual NOSELESS as the last one in.