Financial Times 16,038 by CRUX

by

Christmas is coming. Time for some chestnuts…

Crossword Old Faithfuls aplenty in today’s offering. Always good to see friends from the past. Thanks, Crux.

Across
1 AUTOMATIC PILOT George, 8, is not used to land, of course (9,5)
  8 down’s solution being ‘they say’, ‘George’ is the nickname for an aicraft’s automatic pilot. One of several old crossword favourites today.
10 LOCUM Not well treated by this deputy? (5)
  I.e., the sick (the ‘not well’) are treated by this replacement doctor.
11 TIE AND DYE Draw then colour, a dying art you might say (3,3,3)
  TIE (a ‘draw’) AND DYE (‘colour’), with a punning definition, though the word-play is only lightly cryptic.
12 RANCHER He has spread out in the West (7)
  Cryptic def.
13 THRONES Special chairs featured in popular TV drama (7)
  Ref the epic ‘Game of Thrones’.
14 CLIMB Scale devised by leading club member (5)
  C[lub] + LIMB (‘member’)
16 ACCOMPANY Play with a hundred actors working together (9)
  A + C (100) + COMPANY (‘actors working together’).
19, 20 WORK LIKE A CHARM Succeed really well at cleaning job with Mike (4,4,1,5)
  WORK LIKE A CHAR (nounal ‘cleaning job’) + M[ike] in radio alphabet.
22 ROBBERS In common parlance they chase police, inappropriately! (7)
  From the common phrase ‘cops and robbers,’ where ‘robbers’ unwisely follow ‘cops’.
25 IMPLORE What petitioners do with one politician’s knowledge (7)
  1 + MP + LORE (traditional ‘knowledge’).
27 ORCHESTRA Horse and cart transported some players (9)
  Famous old anagram (‘transported’) of HORSE + CART, though the fodder is usually CART-HORSE.
28 PHIAL Sounds like smooth little glass bottle (5)
  Homophone of FILE (to ‘smooth’).
29 FINGER PAINTING Digitally generated artwork (6,8)
  Cryptic definition.
Down
2 UNCANNIER Stranger’s right to support Central council woman (9)
  Centre of ‘coUNCil’ + ANNIE (a ‘woman’) above R[ight].
3 OOMPH The vitality of ducks on speed (5)
  0+0  (= 2x ‘ducks’ in cricket) + MPH (‘speed’). Another old friend.
4 AFTER DARK Past heads of department aren’t really keen on nights (5,4)
  AFTER (‘past’) + ‘heads’ of D(epartment) A(ren’t) R(eally) K(een).
5 INEPT Popular eastern exercise that’s useless (5)
  IN (‘popular’) + E[astern] + P[hysical] T[raining].
6 PANORAMIC Roam around in alarm that’s universal (9)
  Anagram (‘around’) of ROAM in PANIC (‘alarm’).
7 LADEN Daniel stupidly ignores one so gets charged (5)
  Anagram (‘stupidly’) of DANiEL minus 1.
8 THEY SAY Easy solution is within your grasp, people claim (4,3)
  Anagram (‘solution’) of EASY in ‘grasp’ of THY (‘your’, in olden times & Yorkshire).
9 CLERIC Minister is just semi-employed by Uncle Richard (6)
  Inclusion (i.e. ‘only a bit of’, ‘semi-employed’) in ‘unCLE RIChard’.
15 BELIEVE ME Accept my word (though it conceals a lie!) (7,2)
  LIE is hidden in ‘beLIEve’.
17 CHARIVARI Vicar with hair restyled for noisy wedding party (9)
  Anagram (‘restyled’) of VICAR + HAIR. Posh name for what in my native Black Country used to be called ‘rough music’, the traditional rattling of pots & pans at weddings and, oddly, to show non-violent if very noisy disapproval of someone. ‘Punch’ magazine was subtitled ‘The London Charivari’. Good word.
18 ANATOLIAN A national broadcast concerning Asia Minor (9)
  Anagram (‘broadcast’) of A + NATIONAL.
19 WARD OFF Parry’s in hospital unit, unwell (4,3)
  WARD (‘hospital unit’) + OFF (‘unwell’, as in ‘I’m feeling a bit off’)
21 MUESLI Mouser’s flair, oddly, for finding food . . . . (6)
  Odd letters of ‘MoUsErS fLaIr’.
23 BACON . . . . and achieves success by bringing it home (5)
  Cryptic definition.
24 SIT UP A raised place is said to prevent slouching (3,2)
  Reversal (‘raised’) of PUT (‘place’) & IS.
26 PIPIT It goes after seed like a bird (5)
  PIP + IT.

*anagram

9 comments on “Financial Times 16,038 by CRUX”

  2. Thanks Crux and Grant

    This was certainly much easier than his last puzzle a couple of weeks ago.  As pointed out in the blog, many clues that have cropped up a number of times over the months and years, but sprinkled with some clever clues as well.  Liked the LOCUM clue, even though I didn’t see through the ‘not well’ part until coming here.  Took some time to see that CLERIC was actually hidden and spent too long looking for a word CLE— meaning ‘just’.  Thought that UNCANNIER was well put together in the word play.

    Finished with three across clues in the NE – ACCOMPANY, TIE AND DYE and THRONES.

  3. 1, 13, 22, 15, 23?  These are weird clues.

    Why ‘they say’, in 1?  Why for that matter, ‘is not used to land, of course’?

    ‘featured in popular TV drama’?  So is ‘of’.  So are thousands of other words.

    ‘though it conceals a lie’ – but what about the BE VE and ME?

    Baffled.

    Thanks Grant, Crux

     

  4. Also, cops and robbers isn’t common parlance, it’s a game.  That clue seems to have neither a definition nor wordplay.

  5. Have to say I’m with James on this one. Didn’t mind 23d but the other four mentioned are, to me, terrible clues. Didn’t like 11a either or the inclusion of ‘like’ in 26d. A pipit is a bird not just like one.

    Glad that others liked it though.

  6. Thanks to Crux and Grant. I did not parse LOCUM or my LOI ROBBERS (I thought it might be rhyming slang) but I did know CHARIVARI.

  7. Thanks to Grant and Crux

    I was going to say that you were a little unfair in your parsing of 9d in that CLERIC (6 letters), is exactly “semi” rather than “only a bit”, employed by UNCLE RICHARD (12 letters), but in fact it is fully employed. It is UNCLE RICHARD that is semi-employed by CLERIC.

     

  8. FOI the chestnutty 3d. LOI 28a. COD 18d as it took me ages to crack it from checkers after realising it was an anagram of ‘a national’

  9. As others have commented, I too found some of the clueing a bit loose, but nothing worried me too much apart from 11a, which seemed a bit clumsy having dying in the definition and dye in the answer. But lots else to enjoy elsewhere and its nice to get the comfort food of a few chestnuts sometimes. Thanks Crux and GB.

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