Financial Times 16,045 by JULIUS

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I always find Julius puzzles entertaining, I don’t ever remember a dull one.  Thank you Julius.

I have never seen a pantomime myself but have tried to add a few explanations to help foreign solvers who may be mystified by this British Christmas tradition.

completed grid
Across
1 PRINCIPAL BOY Bosnian-Serb hitman ably adapted to take over role opposite 8 (9,3)
PRINCIP (Gvrilo Princip, the Bosnian-Serb who assassinated Arch-Duke Ferdinand) then anagram (adapted) of ALBY containing (to take) O (over) – the leading character in the panto, usually a boy played by a woman
10 ALADDIN Male baddie, one getting stripped for some fun with The Widow Twankey? (7)
mALe bADDIe oNe missing outside letters (getting stripped) – Widow Twankey is a character in the pantomime Aladdin
11 TRICKLE Run with a dribble to bamboozle the French (7)
TRICK (bamboozle) LE (the, in French)
12 TITLE Name model sporting hat (5)
T (model T Ford) inside (sporting, wearing) TILE (a hat)
13 WESTWOOD English golfer with established club (8)
W (with) EST (established) WOOD (club) – Lee Westwood
15 MIDDLE-AGED 60ish, I’m about to see United relegated from league in 3D (6-4)
I’M reversed (about) then LEAGuE missing (with…relegated from) U (United) in DDD (3D) – I remember when 60ish used to be considered old.
16, 22 JOHN DOLITTLE Animal-loving doctor, victim of murder in US, endlessly left 12 upset (4,8)
JOHN DOe (anonymous murder victim in US, endlessly) L (left) then anagram (upset) of TITLE (12 across) – Dr John Dolittle who spoke to the animals
18 MOVE Shift miles left – not right! (4)
M (miles) then OVEr (left) missing R (right)
20 CINDERELLA Scrumpy flagon finally gulped, Ms Fitzgerald’s due off stage by midnight (10)
CIDER (scrumpy) contains (having gulped…) flagoN (final letter) then ELLA (Ella Fitzgerald) – a pantomime, the “stage” in this case is a pumpkin stagecoach
22   See 16
24 COMET Yours truly in bed. A heavenly sight (5)
ME (yours truly) in COT (bed)
26 MEATMAN Source of ready cash guarded by stingy butcher (7)
ATM (source of ready cash) inside (guarded by) MEAN (stingy)
27 CUIRASS Armour plate, 50% iron lining, copper bottom (7)
IRon (50% of) inside (lining) CU (copper) ASS (bottom)
28 NORMAN WISDOM Angry Nimrod moans about wife seeing a funny little bloke in a flat cap (6,6)
anagram (angry) of NIMROD MOANS contains (about) W (wife) – British Comedian.  In 1964 a record 18.5 million people watched his BBC pantomime Robinson Crusoe.
Down
2 ROASTED Steak, for the most part, way over cooked (7)
STEak (over half the letters, for the most part) inside (with…over) ROAD (way)
3 NED KELLY Bushranger reporting rogue elephant running round Eastern Denmark (3,5)
NELLY (rogue elephant, in song) contains (running around) E (Eastern) and DK (Denmark)
4 IONA Holy Island regularly ignored His own law (4)
every other leter (regularly ignored) of hIs OwN lAw
5 AT THE READY Prepared tea tray he’d ordered (2,3,5)
anagram (ordered) of TEW TRAY HE’D
6 BUILT Created German tabloid podcast (5)
sounds like (as heard in a podcast) “Bild” (German tabloid newspaper, pronounced bilt)
7 YOKO ONO Artist loved by 16, unknown, niche, upwardly mobile, bespectacled (4,3)
Y (unknown, in equations) then NOOK (niche) reversed (upwardly mobile) inside OO (bespectacled, appears to be wearing a pair of glasses) – loved by JOHN Lennon
8 PANTOMIME DAME Visiting Japan, Tom? I’m Ed, a method actor specialising in drag . . . . (9,4)
found inside (visiting) jaPAN TOM I’M A MEthod – the main female comic character, played by a man
9 LEADING ARTIST . . . . playing in drag titles; a major star (7,6)
anagram (playing) of IN DRAG TITLES A
14 MARIO LANZA New Amazon rival knocking out five for a tenner as advertised on the radio (5,5)
anagram (new) of AMAZON RIvAL missing (knocking out) V (five) – a famous tenor.  This is a cryptic definition: “tenor” sounds like (as advertised on the radio) “tenner”
17 BRICKIES Builders tea accompaniments? About right (8)
BICKIES (biscuits, tea accompaniments) contain (about) R (right)
19 VILLAIN Birmingham team at home one behind, getting the crowd screaming? (7)
VILLA (Aston Villa, a Birmingham football team) and IN (at home) – traditionally in pantomime the audience scream “he’s behind you” warning the hero of the villain’s presence behind him/her
21 LUMBAGO Business graduate stuck in Galician city – what a pain! (7)
MBA (business graduate) inside LUGO (city in Galicia, Spain)
23 TAMER Fiddle, without piano, becoming more mellow (5)
TAMpER (fiddle) missing P (piano)
25 SCOW Lighter, small Jersey perhaps (4)
S (small) COW (Jersey perhaps) – a boat

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.

15 comments on “Financial Times 16,045 by JULIUS”

  1. You know when you see Julius at the top of a crossword that you are in for a great crossword and a fun time.   This one’s theme made it even more so.

    Thanks to Julius for the great fun and to PeeDee for the explanations

  2. Clever use of theme. Got stuck near the end then saw NED KELLY which led to PRINCIPAL BOY (didn’t know the hitman).

    Thanks to Julius (without photographic evidence, we shall have to take your word on 24a) and to PeeDee.

  4. Just wondered if anyone would question 1a on the GK front-good if they dont because its a great story especially in the AJP Taylor account.That should be a must read.

    That said, great seasonal puzzle.Lots of fun

    Thanks PeeDee and Julius

  5. Your comment on 15A reminded me of the Chambers definition of MIDDLE-AGED:  “between youth and old age, variously reckoned to suit the reckoner”.

    Impressive amount of thematic material in this.

  6. It must be Christmas.

    Julius in the FT and Paul in the Grauniad.

    Guessed 1a as, like Hovis, I didn’t know the name of the assassin.

    Marvellous offering, now to tackle Paul.

    Thanks to Julius and Peedee.

  9. Thanks to Julius and PeeDee. I knew a few of the panto items, so that dealing with this puzzle often meant guess and check (or give up). Eventually I had success with all the long framing clues including NORMAN WISDOM (and I vaguely recalled Princip), but I failed with both BRICKIES and bickies.

  10. Sorry, I managed to type over my name.

    Thanks to Julius and PeeDee. I knew a few of the panto items, so that dealing with this puzzle often meant guess and check (or give up). Eventually I had success with all the long framing clues including NORMAN WISDOM (and I vaguely recalled Princip), but I failed with both BRICKIES and bickies.

  14. I had a day out yesterday with my wife and 2 children, so just got round to this today. DNK the hitman, the Galacian city, or the Dr’s first name, and failed to fully parse 7d and 16,22. Super puzzle, as always from Julius, who managed to get my tipple of choice included in the parsing of 20. Had a few yesterday, and my pocket is now £90 lighter.

  15. Thanks Julius and PeeDee
    A pretty tough assignment here that took well over the hour to get out across two sittings. A fair bit of general knowledge required and electronic help with some of the thematic elements.
    Lots of interesting and well constructed clues and lots of new learning to be had. Still couldn’t find the link between ‘Holy Island’ and IONA – unless it was a reference to the abbey that was on it !
    Interesting to read up on Gavrib PRINCIP – described here as a ‘hitman’, but still regarded as some sort of patriotic hero by many Bosnians – knew that the result of his actions (well the death of the Archduke anyway) led to WW1 and had never studied or read about the underlying causes.
    Finished the learning expedition with BILD (and learning how to pronounce it), JOHN DOOLITTLE and MARIO LANZA A’s the last few in.

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