Neo’s the setter in today’s FT.
The top half of this puzzle slotted in nicely, but I struggled for a wee while with the bottom half.
My LOI was LOANWORD as I tried in vain to find a reason why it should be DOWNLOAD, but got there eventually.
There were some excellent clues in her, although a wee bit of general knowledge was helpful in getting to some fo the answers.
1dn was a bit disappointing as “remedial ” and “remedy are too alike.
Thanks, Neo.
| Across | ||
| 1 | REPEAL | Cancel recording in genuine circumstances (6) |
| EP (extended play “recording”) in REAL (“genuine”) | ||
| 4 | IMMODEST | Shameless Mussorgsky introducing himself (8) |
| “I’M MODEST” is how Modest Mussorgsky, the 19th century Russian composer would have introduced himself, assuming he spoke English. | ||
| 9 | MERIT | Value in tax with millions retrieved (5) |
| <= TIRE (“tax”) with M (millions) [retireved] | ||
| 10 | NEAR THING | Northern gent with hair cut and close shave (4,5) |
| N (northern) + *(gent hair) | ||
| 11 | DISAVOW | Ovid was mistaken to deny knowledge (7) |
| *(ovid was) | ||
| 12 | SERPENT | Satanic sort, very French, about to ensnare writer (7) |
| <=TRES (“very” in “French”) [about] to snare PEN (“writer”) | ||
| 13 | ACTS | Does spiritual work (4) |
| Double definition, the second being a book of the Bible | ||
| 14 | LOANWORD | New line sent west in cargo — foreign import? (8) |
| N (new) + <=ROW (“line” sent west) in LOAD (“cargo”) | ||
| 17 | CHEETAHS | Animals involved in the chase? (8) |
| *(the chase) | ||
| 19 | OSLO | Collusion periodically revealed around European city (4) |
| <=(c)O(l)L(u)S(i)O(n) [periodically revealed] [around] | ||
| 22 | SODS LAW | Saint Oswald inadvertently creates facetious precept (4,3) |
| S (saint) + *(oswald) | ||
| 24 | EGGHEAD | One likely to have some cracking thoughts? (7) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 25 | ACROPOLIS | Cop and sailor fighting for citadel (9) |
| *(cop sailor) | ||
| 26 | AMPLE | Small portion without starter’s more than enough (5) |
| (s)AMPLE (“small portion” without starter) | ||
| 27 | LARGESSE | Gifts bestowed in important letter read out (8) |
| Homophone of [read out] LARGE S (“important letter”) | ||
| 28 | FAIRLY | Rather sharp gas inhaled (6) |
| FLY (“sharp”, as in cunning) with AIR (“gas”) inhaled | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | REMEDIAL | Army unit on call affording remedy (8) |
| REME (“army unit”) on DIAL (“call”)
The definition here is too obvious, given that the definition and solution share the first four letters. |
||
| 2 | PARASITIC | Soldier thus hangs on to it like a leech (9) |
| PARA (“soldier”) + SIC (“thus”) holds on to IT | ||
| 3 | ACTIVE | Court stops A4e having effect (6) |
| CT (court) stops A-IV-E (A4e)
A4e was a short-lived company set up to provide training to the unemployed. It was set up in 1991 and following a series of fraud investigations, it was closed in 2015. |
||
| 5 | MEALS ON WHEELS | Movable feasts? (5,2,6) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 6 | ONTARIO | Over moon securing new pitch for province (7) |
| O (over) + IO (“moon” of Jupiter) securing N (new) TAR (“pitch”) | ||
| 7 | ELITE | Selected as best piece in comparative literature (5) |
| Hidden in [piece in] “comparativE LITErature” | ||
| 8 | TIGHTS | Drunken son in mum’s hosiery? (6) |
| TIGHT (“drunken”) + S (son) | ||
| 10 | NEW SOUTH WALES | State now uses wealth in reconstruction (3,5,5) |
| *(now uses wealth) | ||
| 15 | DISTEMPER | Underworld god to mitigate best friend’s condition (9) |
| DIS (“underworld god”) + TEMPER (“to mitigate”) | ||
| 16 | SOLDIERY | Southern Railway carrying veteran warriors (8) |
| S (southern) + RY (railway) carrying OLDIE (“veteran”) | ||
| 18 | ECLIPSE | Obscure later note in City dishonesty (7) |
| PS (postscript so “later note”) in (EC (“City” of London postcode) + LIE (“dishonesty”)) | ||
| 20 | ASSAIL | Trouble when coming to coast (6) |
| AS (“when”) coming to SAIL (“coast”) | ||
| 21 | IGUANA | Reptile disfiguring canal’s central parts (6) |
| [central parts] of “disfIGUring cANAl” | ||
| 23 | DURER | Painter, in mid-procedure, recaps (5) |
| Hidden in “proceDURE Recaps” | ||
*anagram
An ok solve although I failed to get LOANWORD. Don’t know this word and, according to Chambers, it is two words.
Totally agree with your comment on 1d except it relates to the first 5 letters not 4.
Thanks to S&B.
I enjoyed this very much – my particular favourite was 24a
Thanks to Tees and Loonapick
I suspect 1d REMEDIAL was an accidental mistype that got through because the FT doesn’t have an editor. Neo probably intended “affording relief”, a much more common phrase than “affording remedy”.
NEW SOUTH WALES and SOD’S LAW were my favourites. Thanks to loonapick and Neo.
A real fun puzzle — after such finesse Blorenge @3 must surely be right. My favourite was 4ac IMMODEST. Thanks loonapick and Neo (and Blorenge).
Thanks to Neo and loonapick. I too wondered about REMEDIAL not only because of the repetition but also because I did not know REME. As for ACTIVE, parsing was much easier in the printout which has “Court stops A4e …”
Thanks Neo and loonapick
Like the blogger, found this pretty straightforward going until getting to the SE corner and that LOANWORD. Know that this setter is pretty meticulous with his clues, so can only gather as Biorenge@3 says, there must have been something gone amiss between submission and print with REMEDIAL.
Didn’t fully parse ECLIPSE, so thanks for that. It was one of my last in along with DISTEMPER, FAIRLY and that LOANWORD (which i resorted to a word finder after not making DOWNLOAD work).