Financial Times 16,385 by FALCON

Solid Tuesday fare, clearly clued.

No issues at all with this one. The usual mix of clues, served with the usual elegance of the Falcon, to whom thanks. Oh, and it’s a pangram. Neat.

Across
1	SAVING GRACE	Discount kindness as a redeeming feature (6,5)
		SAVING + GRACE.
7	JAM	Preserve stuff (3)
		Double definition.
9	NINJA	Martial art expert in competition in Japan (5)
		Inclusion in ‘competitioN IN JApan’
10	ICE HOCKEY	Awkward choice ahead of crucial game (3,6)
		Anagram (‘awkward’) of CHOICE + KEY (‘crucial’).
11	THE MIKADO	Comic opera upset kid at home (3,6)
		Anagram (‘upset’) of KID AT HOME.
12	LARGE	Big boat left for Belgium (5)
		bARGE (‘boat’), B[elgium] replaced by L[left].
13	ARTICLE	Object in lorry heading for Leicester East (7)
		ARTIC (‘lorry’)+1st of L(eicester) + E[ast].
15	EWER	Pitcher, not as old, missing lid (4)
		nEWER minus 1st letter.
18	HALF	Henry getting female a small beer (4)
		HAL (‘Henry’) + F[emale].
20	SATSUMA	A prerequisite when around fruit (7)
		A MUST + AS, all reversed.
23	PLAYA	Have fun by a Spanish beach (5)
		PLAY + A.
24	REIMPOSED	Put on once more with some pride at sea (9)
		Anagram (‘at sea’) of SOME PRIDE.
26	TERMAGANT	Scold a German crashing in TT (9)
		Anagram (‘crashing’) of A GERMAN in TT.
27	IBIZA	Business area on one island resort (5)
		1 +BIZ + A[rea].
28	NIX	President, on leaving, gets nothing (3)
		Richard NIXon, minus ON.
29	CROWN PRINCE	Top rate required to protect new heir to the throne (5,6)
		CROWN (’top’ of hill) + PRI.CE (‘rate’) around N[ew].
Down
1	SAND TRAP	Son with hook, a hazard on the links (4,4)
		S[on] + AND (‘with’) + TRAP (to ‘hook’).
2	VENDETTA	Sell Tate off causing feud (8)
		VEND (‘sell’) + anagram (‘off’) of TATE.
3	NAAFI	Inside taverna, a fine place to eat (5)
		Inclusion in ‘taverNA A FIne’.
4	GRIMACE	Formidable expert may make one pull a face (7)
		GRIM (‘formidable’) + ACE (‘expert’).
5	AWESOME	Formidable article – only part we absorbed (7)
		A (‘article’) + SOME (‘only part’) includes WE.
6	EMOLLIENT	Relieving girl in hospital department (9)
		MOLLIE (‘girl’) in E[ar] N[ose] and T[hroat] dept.
7	JOKERS	Wags, they may be wild (6)
		Double def.
8	MAYHEM	Month on edge in madhouse (6)
		MAY + HEM.
14	CHARABANC	Cleaner, by a stop, caught early coach (9)
		CHAR (‘cleaner’) + A + BAN + 1st of C[aught].
16	QUESTION	Dispute in grill (8)
		DD again.
17	MANDRAKE	Fellow explorer finds a poisonous plant (8)
		MAN + (Francis) DRAKE.
19	FARRAGO	Dog’s breakfast for a mongrel guy kept inside (7)
		Anagram (‘mongrel’) of FOR A contains RAG (to ’guy’).
20	STILTON	Small list as regards cheese (7)
		S[mall] + TILT (to ‘list’) + ON (‘as regards’).
21	SPOT-ON	Boy bags trophy? Exactly right (4-2)
		S.ON (‘boy’) surround POT (‘trophy’).
22	MATRIX	Network former PM dodges, we hear (6)
		Homophone of MAY (‘former PM’) + TRICKS (“dodges’).
25	PRIOR	More pressing senior monk (5)
		Final DD.

*anagram

5 comments on “Financial Times 16,385 by FALCON”

thanks for blog Grant! didn’t notice the pangram… (I managed to convince myself that the fruit(s) is/are SATSUMI which made 17d difficult until the error of my ways…)

Thanks to Falcon and Grant. I had to google NAAFI, remembered artic from a previous puzzle, and took a while spotting SATSUMA and IBIZA.

Thanks Grant.

I’ve never heard of nothing = nix or guy = rag. Otherwise this was very, very straightforward.

Thanks, Falcon and Grant. Caught that it had to be a pangram pretty early. Some new words for me, NAAFI as eating place (had to Google that), SATSUMA, TERMAGANT. How is FARRAGO “dog’s breakfast” – is that an idiom?

Thanks Falcon and Grant

Was able to get this one done in pretty quick time with no real holdups along the way. Missed the pangram though.

Finished down the bottom with the Spanish beach and PRIOR as the last one in.

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