Financial Times 16,606 by FLIMSY

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A satisfying Tuesday puzzle.

Solid & straightforward stuff – though certainly not a write-in – from this morning's setter, including one – to me – useful novelty. Thanks, Flimsy.

image of grid
ACROSS
1 INDICATE I acted in new show (8)
 

Anagram ('new') of I ACTED.
5 GRAZES Scratches watches, including crown of Rolex (6)
 

G.AZES includes R (1st of 'Rolex').
9 DESPATCH Ship’s cat sped off with first bit of ham (8)
 

Anagram ('off') of CAT SPED + 1st of 'Ham').
10 TIMBER River traps a thousand logs (6)
 

River TI.BER contains M ('a thousand').

12 EMPTY Meaningless passage from the MP, typically (5)
 

Hidden in 'thE MP TYpically'.
13 ENTERTAIN Please receive guests (9)
 

Double definition.
14 FEASTS Goes without food in Spain? On the contrary – pigs out (6)
 

F.ASTS ('goes without food') contains E[spania] (and not the other way about).
16 MEASURE This setter certain to be after a pint, say (7)
 

ME (Flimsy, 'this setter') + A + SURE ('certain').
19 CIRCLES One Roman Catholic left in church with special groups (7)
 

C.E ('church') contains 1RC + L[eft], then S[pecial].
21 INSIDE Home team’s secret (6)
 

IN ('home') + SIDE.
23 BEANSTALK Head south, rabbit, to get bit of a plant (9)
 

BEAN ('head') + S[outh] + TALK ('rabbit').
25 STEAL Nick was Liberal party leader, we hear (5)
 

Homophone of David (now Lord) STEEL, former leader of Liberals (&c). Nick Clegg was also Lib Dem leader, coincidentally (I don't think).
26 REPAIR Look after theatre restoration (6)
 

REP ('theatre') + AIR (a 'look').
27 TOURISTS Visitors to university ruin site so every other character leaves (8)
 

TO + U[niversity] + alternate letters of 'RuIn SiTe So'.
28 SLEIGH Something to get you across the snow – almost cunning (6)
 

Abbreviated 'SLEIGHt' (of hand, 'cunning').
29 INTENDED Planned to stop interrupting international editor (8)
 

INT[ernational] ED[itor] contains END ('stop').
DOWN
1 INDEED Quite fashionable thing to do (6)
 

IN ('fashionable') + DEED ('thing to do').
2 DISAPPEAR Leave daughter one fruit with juice on (9)
 

D[aughter] + 1 + SAP ('juice') over PEAR ('fruit').
3 CHARY Suspicious about husband, Mary scratches head (5)
 

C[irca], 'about', + H[usband] + mARY without 1st.
4 TICKERS Watches parasitic insect on bitter vetch (7)
 

TICK ('parasitic insect') + ERS (the 'bitter vetch'). 'Ers' new to me, surprisingly. Useful-looking crossword chap.
6 RAILROADS Pushes through bar with last of her soda pops (9)
 

RAIL ('bar') + last of 'heR' + anagram ('pops') of SODA.
7 ZEBRA Newborn regularly found in South Africa? (5)
 

Z.A. ('Zuid Africa', IVR) contains alternate letters of 'nEwBoRn', w cryptic whole-clue def.
8 STRANGER Outsider arresting criminal? Not I (8)
 

Anagram ('criminal') of ARRESTiNG without 'I'.
11 STEM Stop some helmet steaming up (4)
 

Reversal ('up') contained in 'helMET Steaming'.
15 SPLASHING Plans his swimming – initially, gentle paddling (9)
 

Anagram ('swimming') of PLANS HIS + 1st of' 'Gentle'.
17 UNDRESSED Bare bottom in water – need suds in a lather (9)
 

Anagram ('in a lather') of NEED SUDS inc. last of 'wateR'.
18 ICEBERGS Lettuces? They’re to be avoided in the main (8)
 

Double definition, 2nd lightly cryptic.
20 SCAN Son is able to run over (4)
 

S[on] + CAN.
21 INKHORN Pedantic writer might use one (7)
 

Double def. Chambers gives 'adjective: Pedantic, bookish, obscure'.
22 CLOSED Ceased trading near Germany (6)
 

CLOSE + D[eutschland].
24 AMPLE Large specimen, not small (5)
 

sAMPLE.
25 SERVE Golfer, carrying river, put the ball into play (5)
 

SEVE (Ballasteros, 1957-2011), much-missed Spanish & World No.1 golfer, contains R[iver].

14 comments on “Financial Times 16,606 by FLIMSY”

  2. Isn’t 25a a classy clue!  Thanks Grant for the blog and to Flimsy for the puzzle.  The bitter vetch appears in some of the tougher thematic puzzles but it’s the first time I recall seeing it on one of the back pages.

  3. Apart from INKHORN and the “bitter vetch”, a very easy crossword but the wonderful surface constructions made for an enjoyable solve. Normally, I solve on paper printouts but am away from a printer today. Tried using a screen capture + Ipencil on my IPad Pro which worked a treat. Thanks all.

  4. Thanks Flimsy and Grant

    Was sailing through this one quick sticks until coming to the SW corner where it took as long as the rest of the puzzle to complete.  Haven’t seen ERS for a long time – it used to be a staple clue in a ‘Mr Wisdom’s Whopper’ straight crossword that I cut my teeth on as a young ‘un – along with words like R.U.R. (a Czech play by Capek) and LES (— Miserables, whom I always wondered who he was – pre-culture kick in).

    Did think that the 25a clue was excellent.

    Finished by correcting ICEBERGS from my original anagrammatic SCUTTLES and then BEANSTALK which I would have though is more a part of a plant rather than a plant in its own right.

  6. I almost spent as long on INKHORN as the rest of the crossword, having entered TICKERS with the ERS bit unparsed – strange word, but worth remembering as you say. Always good to have a reminder of the great SEVE and made a change to have a non-Els ‘Golfer’.

    Thanks to Flimsy and Grant

  7. Today’s Flimsy was an excellent way to enjoy a typhoon which gave many an expected day off here!
    Like Encota and Bruce, I greatly admired STEAL, along with TICKERS, and the surfaces for TOURISTS (how apt) and UNDRESSED.
    Too hasty initially, I’d penned in LUMBER for 10a (thinking of ‘Humber’) and TONNE (reverse hidden, or so I thought, for 24d) but the subsequent crossers made me think again. I still had a few left unparsed but was pleased to finish unaided.
    Thanks very much to Flimsy and Grant.

  8. Whoops! I put SLEDGE in 28ac as it fitted so easily. However it clearly didn’t parse. Favourite was 19 which used all the words in the clue so economically.

  9. Thanks to Flimsy and Grant. Great fun. I did not parse the ZA in ZEBRA and did not know Steel for STEAL but did know INKHORN. I’m another who knew ERS as bitter vetch, a term that appeared regularly in US non-cryptic crosswords many years ago – and I confess that in those days Google did not exist so that I never took the trouble to find out what vetch was.

  10. Hi Hovis

    There is a ‘download PDF’ link under the crossword which gives you a better layout. Then you can export to iBooks using the square with the arrow facing up in the top right corner. You can write all over it from there.

  11. Thanks sachin. I did wonder about doing something like that, but importing it into my Procreate app. I do this with my weekly extreme sudokus where the different layers are useful but not so much for cryptics. I’ll give it a go tomorrow.

  12. Thanks Flimsy, that was fun. Liked the clean simplicity of clues such as INDEED and AMPLE. Couldn’t fully parse several others — thanks Grant for the enlightenment.
    Andrew @5: Were you part of the arachnid vs. insect discussion concerning “daddy longlegs” a week or two ago? It might have been part of one of the Guardian discussions.

  14. To Steve @ !3:
    Dictionary time: believe it or not, Chambers gives ‘ers’ as a noun meaning, “the bitter vetch”, clearly a plant. New on me too.

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