Financial Times 16,576 by FALCON

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A solid effort from Falcon this morning and one which took me longer than necessary.

Mostly because I'd convinced myself of PAWN SHOP for 4, which dropped anchor in the top right until the obvious film-director provided the face-palm moment. My bad, good puzzle, thanks Falcon.

ACROSS
1 MAGPIE Hoarder, member that is collecting silver (6)
 

MP (member') + IE contains Ag ('silver').
4 SWAP SHOP Saw new father keeping quiet where an exchange may take place! (4-4)
 

Anagram ('new') of SAW + POP around SH.
9 LARKIN Poet fooling about no end (6)
 

Contraction of LARKINg ('fooling about').
10 CONCERTO Business limited to composer’s work (8)
 

Shortened CONCERn ('business') + tP.
12 MELODRAMA Play short tune, hit by American (9)
 

MELODy shortened – again – + RAM (to 'hit') + A[merican].
13 IDOLS Superstars in papers almost lose out (5)
 

ID ('papers') + anagram ('out') of shortened – again! – LOSe.
14 IN AT THE DEEP END Very much out of one’s comfort zone, like the non-swimmer here? (2,2,3,4,3)
 

Lightly cryptic definition.
17 NIGEL HAWTHORNE Knighted actor from Northern Ireland may in backing English stage (5,9)
 

N[orthern] I[reland] + HAWTHORN (the 'may' tree) in reversal of E[nglish] + LEG ('stage' of, say, a race).
21 BREAD Unpleasant ringing about money (5)
 

B.AD around RE.
22 MINISKIRT Garment to wear in car on bypass? (9)
 

MINI car + SKIRT (to 'bypass').
24 CLARISSA Girl in cold Greek city (8)
 

C[old] + LARISSA.
25 GAMBIT Good scope offered by initial moves (6)
 

G[ood] + AMBIT ('scope').
26 SHERLOCK Detective novel starts in rural location of contract killing (8)
 

SHE (Rider Haggard 'novel') + 1st letters of last 5 words.
27 STEWED Boiled or oiled? (6)
 

Double def, 2nd being one of myriad words for 'drunk'.
DOWN
1 MILKMAID Male and kind maiden help farm girl (8)
 

M[ale] + ILK ('kind') + M[aiden] + AID ('help').
2 GORILLA Restaurant welcoming leader of order, a primate (7)
 

G.RILL ('restaurant') include 1st of O{rder} + A.
3 ILIAD Part of Irish parliament I upset – epic tale! (5)
 

Reversal of DAIL (pronounced 'doyle', Irish house of parliament + I.
5 WHO DARES WINS Motto when a sword is used (3,5,4)
 

Motto of SAS. Anagram ('used') of WHEN A SWORD IS & possible whole clue 2nd def. Neat.
6 PECKINPAH Director in cheap pink pants (9)
 

Anagram (rubbish, 'pants') of CHEAP PINK. Sam Peckinpah, of course..
7 HARPOON Talk incessantly about old weapon (7)
 

HARP ON around O[ld].
8 PROUST Pair to remove and replace French writer (6)
 

P[ai} + OUST (to 'remove').
11 FACE THE MUSIC Confront unpleasantness, as conductors usually do? (4,3,5)
 

Cryptic def.
15 TREADMILL Drill team exercised – on this? (9)
 

Anagram ('excercised') of DRILL TEAM.
16 RESTATED Said again in desert at resort (8)
 

Anagram ('re-sort') of DESERT AT.
18 ITERATE Learned head removed – say again (7)
 

{L}ITERATE, decapitated.
19 RAINBOW Iris, artist, in front of ship (7)
 

RA + IN + BOW.
20 ABACUS Old calculator that may make a graduate swear endlessly (6)
 

A + BA + CUSs.
23 SHAFT Small hotel behind part of golf club (5)
 

S[mall] + H[otel] + AFT ('behind').

7 comments on “Financial Times 16,576 by FALCON”

  1. You don’t have to have been a British couch potato to complete this wonderful puzzle from Falcon but it certainly enhances the pleasure. The cluing was clever and most answers satisfy in their own right without familiarity with the subject in question. Even with the two fairly obvious titles up top, the theme only occurred to me very late because it was precisely those answers I still sought in the latter stages – GAMBIT, RAINBOW – that spelt it out. I stopped counting the shows after 12 but, no doubt, there are more.
    In any case, this is a grid for fans of the arts in general. I was amused by 6d as I doubt this director would care for pink pants, cheap or otherwise!
    I did wonder why ‘moves’ not ‘move’ in 25ac, unless it was to misdirect…
    Thanks for the write-up Grant, as I didn’t fully parse BREAD or the SHE part of SHERLOCK.
    And thanks, Falcon, for so many reasons to be cheerful today.

  3. Enjoyable, but lacking some of Falcon’s usual finesse, I thought. For instance, 1dn MILKMAID being signposted by maiden and (apologies) what I thought was a clumsy clue for 17ac in order to create a surface. But worth the effort, nonetheless, so thanks to Falcon and GB.

  4. This one came to me more easily than some recent FT puzzles, and which I enjoyed a lot. I noticed the theme, but missed that many answers were programmes. Loi was Concerto. Nigel Hawthorne came quickly but I was quite incapable of parsing, so thanks for the explanation.

  5. Thanks Falcon and Grant

    Mustn’t have been on his wavelength with this one, but struggled more than normal with the solve of this one, notwithstanding getting off to a flyer with MILKMAID and MAGPIE.  Did enjoy it a lot though.

    Didn’t pick up on a theme and still not sure whether I can see it even yet.

    Finished in the NE corner with the unknown director, PECKINPAH, CONCERTO and the French writer PROUST as the last few in.

  6. Bruce@ 5,
    There were at least 12 British TV programmes in the grid, of which three – MAGPIE,SWAPSHOP and RAINBOW – were for children in the 1970s/80s. Some quiz shows had their American counterpart while Carla Lane’s Bread was a sitcom based in Liverpool. Happily for overseas readers, it wasn’t necessary to know them to complete the puzzle but, for those who remembered them, it provided an added layer of fun.

  7. Thanks Diane … don’t watch a lot of television down here … let alone know anything about British TV – that theme would have always gone begging !!

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