Financial Times 16,271 by BRADMAN

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It’s me again! 🙂 I found the challenge from BRADMAN today to be a thorough workout. One of those that I had to incessantly chip away at. Thanks Bradman!

FF: 9 DD: 9

completed grid
Across
7 ALLIANCE Association of everyone that is kept outside particular African party (8)
ALL (everyone) [ IE (that is) around ANC (african party, African National Congress)
8 ATRIUM Central area that would be a success if provided with pub (6)
A TRIUMph (success, if PH – public house, pub was added)
11 FESTE Fool sitting in cafe’s terrible (5)
hidden in “..caFE’S TErrible”, fool in twelfth night by shakespeare
12 OVERNIGHT Very quickly sir loses head when meeting maiden? (9)
OVER (maiden, from cricket) kNIGHT (sir, losing head i.e. without starting letter)
13 STADIUM It’s mud that’s nasty outside a sporting arena (7)
IT’S MUD* around A
14 MELANGE This writer with way that includes good bits and bobs (7)
ME (this writer) LANE (way) containing G (good)
15 VALETUDINARIANS Invalid aunts are terrible hypochondriacs? (15)
INVALID AUNTS ARE*
18 RATCHET Terry wants edges taken off mechanical device (7)
pRATCHETt (terry, without end characters, edges)
20 ENVELOP Wrap new novel in bits of expensive paper (7)
NOVEL* in EP (bits of Expensive Paper)
22 INNOCUOUS Tricky course half abandoned with unions becoming harmless (9)
COUrse (half abandoned) UNIONS*
23 RIVER Don is one person at the wheel heading off (5)
dRIVER (person at the wheel, without first letter)
24 NESTLE Move into comfortable position as multinational company (6)
double def
25 LEONARDO A lord, one unlikely to be an artist (8)
A LORD ONE*
Down
1 HALF A SOVEREIGN Ten shillings for Mary? (4-1-9)
cryptic def
2 PLASMA Fluid state of matter (6)
double def
3 FACE LIFT Maybe stand in a queue at ground level for cosmetic treatment (4-4)
cryptic def
4 ACCOMMODATION Fitting in living quarters (13)
double def
5 ATONAL Like some music that could be rendered by an alto (6)
AN ALTO*
6 VIRGINIA Virtuous girl, then the reverse of very good, in a state (8)
VIRGIN (virtuous girl) IA (reverse of AI, from A1 – very good)
9 MOTHER SUPERIOR Dad less good, we deduce, as a religious leader (6,8)
cryptic clue
10 GERMAN MEASLES In the wake of micro-organism there’s a nameless horrible disease (6,7)
GERM (micro-organism) A [NAMELESS]*
16 LATINIST Classics expert least likely to get money, I gathered (8)
LAST (least likely) containing [TIN (money) I ]
17 REVEREND Cleric always getting to tear around (8)
REND (tear) around EVER (always)
19 HACKLE We hear journalist will fly (6)
sounds like HACK’LL (journalist will)
21 LIVERY Irritable in uniform (6)
double def

*anagram

5 comments on “Financial Times 16,271 by BRADMAN”

  3.  

    1 & 2 In Mary’s day a severeign (gold) was a pound (twenty shillings) . Valetudinarian was new to me and only solved by best fit of the leftover letters (A E U I A I N). Thanks both.

  4. I had to half guess FESTE, didn’t get the ‘state of matter’ bit of PLASMA and missed the subtlety of 1d, so no write-in. I was pleased to be able to remember VALETUDINARIANS from a previous crossword appearance – an interesting word that stuck in my mind.

    I liked the self-referential 23a.

    Thanks to Bradman and Turbolegs

  5. Thanks Bradman and Turbolegs

    Was able to complete this in a single sitting in a coffee shop yesterday and found it at times tough and then a breakthrough clue would get me going again.  Wrongly entered ALASKA initially at 2d but after not being able to parse it, found PLASMA and the interesting definition of ‘state of matter’.

    The only other reference help that I needed was to use an anagram finder to get the ‘hypochondriac’ – knew what had to be mixed up, but knew that it would be one of the Don’s unusual words that I wouldn’t have seen before, so just saved a lot of pain  Had to look up Mary II, to fully understand the second part of 1d.

    Like the 9d style of clue and grinned at the first part of 3d.

    Finished in the NE corner with VIRGINIA and OVERNIGHT.

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