Financial Times 15757 Sayang

Thanks Sayang. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1 Section of church left out by accident (6)

CHANCE : “chancel”(section of a church reserved for the clergy and choir) minus(… out) “l”(abbrev. for “left”).

4 Siphon off from tin detective held (6)

DECANT : CAN(a tin;a container made of metal) contained in(… held) DET(abbrev. for “detective”, in US parlance).

8, 19 Trained rather scary kid to become a drummer (7,7)

RICHARD STARKEY : Anagram of(Trained) RATHER SCARY KID.

Answer: …, alias Ringo Starr, drummer in The Beatles, cf. 9 across.

9 Fabulous group caught some insects (7)

BEETLES : Homophone of(… caught) “Beatles”(rock band from Liverpool, cf. 10 down, nicknamed the Fab Four).

The clue could be read vice versa.

11 Issue of BSE hampered defensibility of dodgy liaison (10)

INFIDELITY : “BSE” deleted from(Issue of …) anagram of(hampered) “defensibility”.

I considered whether “dodgy” could be the anagram indicator, but the “of” before it rules that out.

12 Its egg is supposed to sustain you for a very long time (4)

NEST : Cryptic defn: Reference to a “nest egg”, money saved to sustain you for the future, most commonly for the time post retirement.

13 Grant for Bill to attend American university (5)

ADMIT : AD(abbrev. for “advertisement”;a bill;a promotional poster) plus(to attend) MIT(abbrev. for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US).

14 Sis neglected to re-emphasise arrangement of a transient nature (8)

EPHEMERA : “sis” deleted from(neglected to) anagram of(… arrangement) “re-emphasise”.

Defn: It leads to an adjective, unless one considers that “things” is implicitly in front, to make it a noun, as the answer is.

16 Leave out label initially as an act of snobbery (4-4)

NAME-DROP : DROP(leave out;exclude) placed after(… initially) NAME(a label;a tag).

18 Part of a stair is erect (5)

RISER : Hidden in(Part of) “a stair is erect “. A WIWD (wordplay intertwined with definition) clue.

20 Lame pheasant, perhaps (4)

GAME : Double defn: 1st: Describing a leg that’s permanently injured; and 2nd: Mammals or birds that are hunted for sport or food, of which the pheasant is an example;perhaps.

21 Roman agent favouring museum chief (10)

PROCURATOR : PRO(favouring;antonym of “con”) + CURATOR(person in charge;chief of a museum).

23 Marine fixed canoe with integrated circuit (7)

OCEANIC : Anagram of(fixed) CANOE plus(with) IC(abbrev. for “integrated circuit”).

24 Malaysian capital in boisterous cheer for jeer-maker (7)

HECKLER : KL(a “Kuala Lumpur”, capital city of Malaysia) contained in(in) anagram of(boisterous) CHEER.

25 Respect judge (6)

ESTEEM : Double defn: 2nd: To consider as, as in “I esteem it worthless”.

26 Look separately around New Zealand and Malta for organic catalyst (6)

ENZYME : EYE(to look;to observe) containing(around) separately NZ(international code for New Zealand) and M(International Vehicle Registration code for Malta).

Down

1 Murderer receiving retribution, principally a heap of stones (5)

CAIRN : CAIN(murderer of his brother Abel in the Bible) containing(receiving) the 1st letter of(…, principally) “retribution“.

2 Disbelief that two articles are supported by one manuscript that happened to turn up (7)

ATHEISM : [A, THE] (two articles in grammar) placed above(are supported by, in a down clue) [ I(Roman numeral for “one”) + reversal of(… that happened to turn up) MS(abbrev. for “manuscript”) ].

3 Chips for Karen (9)

CARPENTER : Double defn: 1st: For which, “chips” is the slang term, though “chippy” is the more common one; and 2nd: Female half of the pop duo, the Carpenters.

5 Gray’s started off with the curfew (5)

ELEGY : Cryptic defn: Reference to Thomas Gray’s poem, “Elegy In A Country Churchyard”, which starts “The curfew tolls …”.

6 Just the opposite in paean to nymphs (7)

ANTONYM : Hidden in(in) “paean to nymphs“.

7 Rate revision certainly right for money man (9)

TREASURER : Anagram of(… revision) RATE + SURE(certainly) + R(abbrev. for “right”).

10 Organ fund for refurbishing of port (9)

LIVERPOOL : LIVER(glandular organ in vertebrates) + POOL(a common fund into which contributors pay).

13 A pelmet husband installed; too much and too sudden (9)

AVALANCHE : A + VALANCE(a pelmet, which is used to hide curtain fittings above a window) containing(… installed) H(abbrev. for “husband”).

Defn: One has to presume “Something that is …” is implicitly in front of the definition to make it a noun, as the answer is.

15 An ulcer he developed from labour, hard and dangerous (9)

HERCULEAN : Anagram of(… developed) AN ULCER HE.

Defn: An adjective derived from the Twelve Labours of Hercules.

17 Smart style emcompassing (sic), for example, tank top (7)

ELEGANT : [ ELAN(style;smartness) containing(emcompassing) EG(abbrev. for “exempli gratia”;for example) ] + the 1st letter of(… top, in a down clue) “tank“.

19 See 8

21 Appreciate award (5)

PRIZE : Double defn: 1st: To value extremely highly, as in “she felt that he didn’t appreciate her”

22 Award points for the very fat (5)

OBESE : OBE(abbrev. for “Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire”, an honour awarded by the British monarch) + S,E(abbrev. for compass points, “south” and “east”, respectively).