Financial Times 16,582 by HAMILTON

by

Hamilton at his most cheerfully infuriating.

Always a challenge, often for the wrong reasons, and always fun of a kind, I s'pose, though if you came here looking for elucidation of the first clue, I'm afraid I have nothing your size today. Rueful thanks to the Marmite setter once again.

image of grid
ACROSS
1, 5 across, 13 WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND “Odd lad”, whined Snow White, “starting to disrupt the talk pointlessly” (7,4,3,4)
 

Anagram ('odd') of something or other, but I can't lose the A in 'lad' unless it's its 'odd' letters in which case either 'odd' or 'disrupt' is on double-duty and, oh lumme, I just gave up. Full parsing welcome if anyone managed it.
9 TODAY Now father’s taken in by flirt (5)
 

DA ('father') in TO.Y (to 'flirt')..
10 UNALLOYED You end up including everything pure (9)
 

Anagram ('up') of YOU END includes ALL.
11 RACETRACK Car racket broken up in Newmarket (9)
 

Anagram ('broken up') of car racket. Def by example. (Q-mark necessary?)
12 TEENS Elite ensemble comprising 14-19 year olds (5)
 

Inclusion in 'eliTE ENSemble'.
13 See 1 across
 
15 ISTHMIAN As Panama is first to greet King and Scotsman (8)
 

1ST + H[is] M[ajesty] + IAN ('Scotsman').
18 INSOMNIA What can put off a productive retirement? (8)
 

Robs one of useful sleep.
19 DATA Ideal team will regularly produce the facts (4)
 

Alternate letters ('regularly') of 'iDeAlTeAm'.
22 AESOP Storyteller adopts a retrograde stance (5)
 

A + POSE, reversed.
24 CATHARTIC Girl goes somewhere cold – not twice – for cleansing (9)
 

CATH ('girl') goes to ARcTIC without one of its Cs for 'cold'. Maybe. I think.
26 SMOKE BOMB Small donkey a flop when it comes clouding the issue (5,4)
 

S[mall] + MOKE ('donkey') + BOMB (to 'flop' in showbiz), with iffy cryptic def.
27 See 28
 
28, 27 CHATTERBOXES Lots talking about Bach sextet – or something else (12)
 

Anagram ('something else') of BACH SEXTET OR. Or maybe the anagram indicator is 'about' and the 'something else' is vaguely part of the def. Your choice,
29 EATEN UP Finished? That’s def! (5,2)
 

Sort of reverse clue, DEF being 'fed' ('eaten') reversed, although perhaps better in a Down clue.

DOWN
1 WATERY Half of bitter is, in practice, weak (6)
 

Back 'half of bitTER' in WAY ('practice' as noun).
2 INDUCTION Inauguration of popular Democrat not starting a commotion (9)
 

IN ('poular') +D[emocrat] + rUCTION ('commotion', without 1st).
3 TRYST Go on site regularly for meeting (5)
 

TRY (a 'go') + alternates of SiTe.
4 EDUCATION Long time to bank old money with one for guidance (9)
 

EON ('long time') contains DUCAT ('old money') + 1.
5 DRANK Condition after last of bread; toasted maybe? (5)
 

RANK ('condition' in life) after last of 'breaD', to 'toast' meaning 'to drink (to)'.
6 WELL TIMED Healthy measure for daughter not a moment too soon (4-5)
 

WELL ('healthy') + TIME (to 'measure' an interval) +D[aughter].
7 THYME Herb gets the no. 4 to Scarborough Fair (5)
 

4th herb (after parsley, sage & rosemary) in chorus of Scarborough Fair, trad song.

8 ELDEST In Sheffield estate, has been around the longest (6)
 

Inclusion in 'sheffiELD ESTate'.
14 DROOPIEST The most bent new depositor (9)
 

Anagram ('new') of DEPOSITOR.
16 TRACTABLE Farm vehicle mostly capable, easy to control (9)
 

TRACTor + ABLE.
17 ANTITOXIN Serum not supporting animal shrouded by metal (9)
 

ANTI ('not supporting') + OX in TIN.
20 PARSEC Run between office assistants for quite a distance! (6)
 

R[un} between P[ersonal] A[ssistant] + SEC[retary]. Rougthly 3.26 light years; hard to define but parsed in seconds.
21 ACTS UP New cast at university behaves badly (4,2)
 

Anagram ('new') of CAT + UP ('at university).
23 STOMA Artificial opening for most of the corporation (5)
 

STOMAch (jocularly 'the corporation'), shortened.
24 CHOIR Group traps one in endless routine (5)
 

1 included in endless CHO.Re.
25 ABBOT Religious senior gives some bother to Jack (5)
 

AB (sailor, 'jack') + half of BOTher,

21 comments on “Financial Times 16,582 by HAMILTON”

  1. Well, I gave up doing Hamilton crosswords not that long ago but gave this a try in any case. Due to a knee injury, I’m spending more time indoors so what the heck.

    I parsed 1a etc as an an anagram (disrupt) of LD (odd lad) + WHINED SNOW WHITE + T (starting To). Surface made me think of “whistle while you work” but that didn’t enumerate.

  4. I have to admit that, as usual, near enough was good enough for me, so I missed the uncertainty about 1a. Looking at it now, Hovis’ parsing does fit, even if Grant is unhappy about that extra ‘the’!

    Otherwise no complaints. ISTHMIAN is an unusual word which I can’t remember having seen in a crossword before and I liked CATHARTIC and STOMA.

    Thanks to Hamilton and Grant – always an entertaining pairing

  5. Thanks Hamilton and Grant

    Typically quirky puzzle from this setter … and it seems that Grant usually lands the blog of him.  Notwithstanding, quite a straightforward enough solve with the exception of 1a where I was ‘happy enough’ with similar parsing to hovis@1, but could not equate the definition – could only find the phrase to mean “to leave or abandon one” or “to slander one”.

    Haven’t seen ISTHMIAN before and did struggle to equate RANK with ‘condition’ for a while as well.

    Finished up in the NW corner with INDUCTIION, WATERY and that long phrase as the last few in.

  6. By some miracle I spotted 1ac immediately (I think because of all the ‘w’s), so didn’t stop to question it. After that the other clues sailed in, so I was a happy solver. Thanks, Hamilton and GB

  8. Re 1ac, the answer jumped out at me straight away but parsing took longer for the reasons Grant mentions. On reflection, I parsed it as did Hovis and when confirming it, found the same definition as Bruce and was doubtful once again. But my understanding of this phrase chimes with Hamilton’s. All this fuss and bother and only 1 clue in!
    Also thought ‘lots talking’ at 27/28ac sounded Yoda-ish. Surely t’other way round would have been smoother.
    Having said that, I did rather enjoy the grid overall, including the above-mentioned clues, as well as DROOPIEST and ACTS UP.
    I was caught out once again by PARSEC and quite a few others I failed to parse fully.
    Thank you, anyway, to Hamilton and Grant.

  10. Diane @8 I took “Lots talking” to mean “Lots (of people) talking”. Surely “Talking lots” would clue “chattering” rather than “chatterboxes”.

  11. The first clue’s kind of important, isn’t it, to set the tone? 1a seems to me like the sort of clue that would be written by an ineptly programmed computer.  I wonder if the puzzle got flipped at some point, which would help with 29a and put 1d, quite a nice clue, at 1a.  Probably not though.  Second least favourite? Ooh, too hard to decide.

    Thanks, S&B

  14. We found this an enjoyable and satisfying solve, despite not properly parsing 1/5/13 and wondering where the youngest of the 12s were.  Favourites were ISTHMIAN, ANTITOXIN and PARSEC.

    Thanks, Hamilton and Grant.

  16. Thanks to Hamilton and Grant. I think that bothersome “the” in 1a is there to improve the reading of the clue. I had not run into ISTHMIAN before and it definitely does not trickle off the tongue. But gettable from the parsing, as were all the rest. A pleasant hour while the rain came down again.

  18. Adriana @ 17

    (If you’re from UK and already know some of this, forgive me, as I’m giving the fullest explanation in case you’re not).

    Marmite is a yeast-based spread, originally a by-product of what was left after the brewing process. It has a strong, fairly salty flavour, and folklore has it that people either love it or hate it, no one says ‘I can take it or leave it’.

    So a ‘Marmite setter’ is one that solvers love or hate, with few in the ‘uncommitted’ category.

  19. Simon @ 18:

    Thanks for the explanation! I am not from the UK, but we have a Marmite president out here. But these days aren’t all head of states Marmite?

    Correct usages of the word? 🙂

  20. To Adriana & Simon:
    This is completely off-message but a good tale.
    My folk-singing partner H always carries a jar of Marmite in her gig-bag in case her breakfast hosts are anti-M. On an Isle of Wight gig, she tragically left it behind.
    Two days later, at 6.30 am, in her home in small street in Sheffield, she was awoken by the sound of a 40-ton articulated lorry manoeuvring to park across most of the road. She opened her front door to its driver, who handed her the jar and said, ‘I think you forgot this.’
    Reader, she married him.

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