Financial Times 16,399 by JULIUS

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A puzzle much easier to solve than to parse this morning from Julius.

There were many animals in the puzzle today, and I found it a beast to parse and blog.

The solutions fell into place readily enough, (although it took me a while to get A GREASED PIGLET), but there’s at least one I could not parse (17dn – TWIDDLED) and I found the definitions (or my interpretation of them) problematical at 4dn and 22ac.  I also don’t think that “frequently left” is an accurate enough instruction in 5dn.

All that aside, Julius has done well to fit in so many critters.

Thanks, Julius.

Across
7 HEN NIGHT Hill outside the fringes of Nuneaton from which men are barred? (3,5)
  HEIGHT (“hilll”) outisde [the fringes of] N(uneato)N
8 MIMOSA Mother necked miso soup, an item on the bar menu (6)
  MA (“mother”) necked *(miso) [anag:soup]
11 TWANG Time to chew over note from guitarist (5)
  T (time) + <=GNAW (“to chew” over)
12 FRAUDSTER Criminal German lady pursued by Detective Sergeant Lawrence King (9)
  FRAU (“German lady”) pursued by DS (Detective Sergeant) + T.E. (Lawrence) + R (King)
13 AIRPORT Perhaps John Lennon song left on board (7)
  AIR (“song”) + PORT (“left” on board (a ship))

John Lennon Airport is in Liverpool.
14 INERTIA Laziness of Maitre Nicolas in retirement (7)
  Hidden backwards [in retirement] in [of] “mAITRE NIcolas”
15 DON’T EVEN GO THERE HT: Everton on edge, getting hammered – it’s unthinkable! (4,4,2,5)
  *(ht everton on edge) [anag:getting hammered]
18 ORGANIC Natural gold golf clubs featuring a new iron tip (7)
  OR (“gold”) + G (golf) + C (clubs) featuring A N (new) +I(ron) [tip], so OR-G(A N I)C
20 ICING UP Getting frosted cake decoration on top (5,2)
  ICING (“cake decoration”) + UP (“on top”)
22 IN THE SLOT Pint he’s loth to swallow, here ideally for a drive? (2,3,4)
  Hidden in [to swallow] “pINT HE’S LOTh”

I think the definition part may be referring to a portable drive going into a slot in a computer, but open to other suggestions.
23 DEBUG Young socialite, upper-class, grand, to scrub drive (5)
  DEB (“young socialite”) + U (upper-class) + G (grand)
24 SHRILL Small hotel “run poorly” – sounds harsh! (6)
  S (small) + H (hotel) + R (run, in cricket) + ILL (“poorly”)
25 ANTELOPE Horny beast, perhaps 21, grabbing poor Elton (8)
  APE (see 21dn) grabbing *(elton) [anag:poor]
Down
1 SHETLAND PONIES 25 hinds: unusually small working animals (8,6)
  *(antelope hinds) [anag:unusually] + S (small) where ANTELOPE is the answer to 25ac.
2 UNFAIR Foul place to see Aunt Sally skipping foxtrot? (6)
  (f)UNFAIR (“place to see Aunt Sally”, skipping F (foxtrot))
3 RINGDOVE Bird call drove rook away (8)
  RING (“call”) + D(r)OVE [R (rook) away]
4 THE FATTED CALF Let that decaff brew on the hob for prodigal son (3,6,4)
  *(let that decaff) [anag:brew]

(Not sure of the definition here – in the BIble (Luke), the parable of the profigal son includes a reference to “killing the fattened calf” to celebrate the son’s return, but I doubt it would have been cooked on a hob?)
5 BIRDIE Brie, red wine frequently left one below par (6)
  B(r)I(e)R(e)D(w)I(n)E [frequently left]

(Does frequently left tell us to rmove alternativve letters?)
6 JOB TITLE Patient character’s office role? (3,5)
  Cryptic definition (referring to JOB, in the BIble)
9 A GREASED PIGLET Fair challenge for one hoping to bring home the bacon? (1,7,6)
  Cryptic definition.  It used to a traditional game at a country fair to let loose a piglet covered in fat to make it very slippery.  This was then chased by competitors, with the person who caught the pig (and managed to keep a hold of it) getting to keep it (i.e. to bring the bacon home)
10 HAVING KITTENS Terribly nervous son left razor and foam pop sent (6,7)
  (s)HAVING KIT (“razor and foam” which S (Son) left) + *(sent) [anag;pop]
16 NUGATORY It’s futile turning revolver on a Conservative (8)
  [turning] <=GUN (“revolver”) on A TORY (“Conservative”)
17 TWIDDLED Absent-mindedly played with tweed? (8)
  Can’t parse this one, sorry!
19 NEEDLE Wind up gramophone component? (6)
  Double definition
21 GIBBON Ape/baboon regularly caught in trap (6)
  B(a)B(o)O(n) [regularly] caught in GIN (“trap”)

*anagram

23 comments on “Financial Times 16,399 by JULIUS”

  5. Serpent, Vlad then Julius and it wasnt even my birthday-felt like it was though

    I have seen the John Lennon clue before but I loved the Everton one especially as they seem to be even chasing them lads from Sheffield in the table

    Thanks Julius and loonapick

  7. Thanks Loonapick & Julius. I couldn’t parse 17dn either. I didn’t get 23ac ‘scrub drive’ = debug isn’t something I’d think of.
    I particularly enjoyed 10 & 13.

  8. What copmus said – except I haven’t done the Serpent!

    Thanks, loonapick, especially for 9dn, which I didn’t get.

    Lots of smiles here, as usual with Julius. I hope other Guardian solvers will have done this one – they’ll appreciate 25ac. 😉  Other favourites were FRAUDSTER, AIRPORT, DON’T EVEN GO THERE, UNFAIR, THE FATTED CALF, HAVING KITTENS and TWIDDLED [thanks to Philistine / Goliath for getting me used to this device!].

    Many thanks to Julius for making a good day even better.

  9. IN THE SLOT is a cricketing term for a ball that’s slightly over-pitched and exactly right for the batsman to drive

  10. My first for the day and sounds like there are more hard ones like this to look forward to. Thanks for explaining 4d and 9d which went in only half understood. I did like HAVING KITTENS and especially the ‘tweed’ wordplay. Completely missed the theme. Agree with Goujeers @9 about IN THE SLOT.

    Serpent awaits.

    Thanks to Julius and loonapick.

  11. A quick solve for me, apart from 9d (solved by a friend). Liked TWIDDLED once I saw how it worked. I agree with loonapick’s complaint about 5d. People often equate “frequently” and “regularly”, so much so that they may now be classed as synonyms, but it’s not for me. Thanks to Julius and loonapick.

  12. To Hovis:
    Re Regularly, Frequently, and – occasionally – Ocasionally…
    I sort of agree but I think it’s a lost cause except for the rare occasions when one is invited, as it were, regularly to excise 2 or more letters at a time, when it HAS to be ‘regularly’.

  14. Grant. To be honest, most changes to meanings I am happy with, e.g. aggravate, dice, plethora etc. Some seem to devalue the language too much, e.g. regularly = frequently (e.g. some comets appear regularly but not frequently) and literally = figuratively when it shouldn’t.

  15. Many thanks for the blog and to those who have commented.
    In October, I saw that David Cameron had described Boris Johnson as a “greased piglet”. I’d never heard this expression and I just had to build a puzzle featuring it. The inclusion of thematic lights explains why IN THE SLOT is featured, and I indeed intended this to refer to a driveable half-volley in cricket.
    @Hovis…I couldn’t agree more about the blurring of regularly/frequently, but in this case I don’t see a problem with it.
    Warmest regards to all,
    Rob/Julius

  16. Another very satisfying crossword from Julius. So many great clues like HEN NIGHT and HAVING KITTENS. My first run through left me disheartened but after getting a foothold in the SW corner everything fell into place. Thanks Loonapick for parsing.

  17. I particularly liked 11ac because I initially thought ‘chew over’= muse, very clever of Julius. COD 15ac.

  18. Julius @15. Just to be clear, I am not saying that the alternative letters in 5d are not ‘frequent’ but that just about any 6 letters (in order) from “Brie red wine” could be described by “frequently”. Of course, the answer is clear, the question is simply whether such vague referencing is ok. I’m obviously not a fan but agree it is not technically wrong.

  19. Thanks to both. Just finished this over my breakfast coffee and enjoyed it immensely. Like others the parsing of 17d was missed but it was the only possible answer. Started with MIMOSA and then it all gradually unfolded but by bit. The longer anagrams took time being obvious but tricky so a few crossers were needed.

  20. I really hope it’s not just me, but TWEED = TWIDDLED is  nonsense. I know Goliath has been here before but so what.

    Twig basket (4)

    And the like are not only too easy but also silly.

  22. Thanks Julius and loonapick

    Only got to this one on the weekend and was able to rattle it off much quicker than normal for this setter.  Noticed lots of creatures throughout the solve and that did help with the two long ones down each side.

    Struggled to equate DEBUG to a disk drive scrub, but sort of got what he was getting at.  Did grin when the penny dropped with the John Lennon AIRPORT – hadn’t seen that before.  Knew the MIMOSA tree but didn’t know that it was the name for champagne and orange juice.

    Finished with three of the long ones – DON’T EVEN GO THERE  (probably my clue of the day), HAVING KITTENS (where I didn’t see [S]HAVING KIT until coming here – failed to add the kit on) and A GREASED PIGLET (which I had to look up to fully understand it).

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