Financial Times 16,629 by FLIMSY

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The first FLIMSY I’ve blogged, I think, makes for a gentle start to the week…

A pretty straightforward solve this. Don’t really have much to add!
15d was rather neat.

Thanks FLIMSY!

image of grid

ACROSS
1. Doctor sent ASAP for farm workers (8)
PEASANTS

(SENT ASAP)* (*doctor)

5. Supplies paper handkerchiefs to wipe head (6)
ISSUES

[t]ISSUES (paper handkerchiefs, to wipe head)

9. Editor upset with 5 European hacks exploits (8)
DEVELOPS

(ED)< (editor, <upset) with V (5) + E (European) + LOPS (hacks)

10. Is able almost to take advantage of special occasions (6)
CAUSES

CA[n] (is able, almost) + USE (to take advantage of) +S (special)

12. Anchors also in two sizes (5)
LANDS

AND (also) in L S (two sizes, Large and Small)

13. Business group to pledge support for golfers (9)
COMMITTEE

COMMIT (pledge) + TEE (support for golfers)

14. Shame to remove Charlie’s shoe (6)
SANDAL

S[c]ANDAL (shame, to remove C (Charlie))

16. Prepares to receive husband’s intimidating remarks (7)
THREATS

TREATS (prepares) to receive H (husband)

19. Fancied lodger, we hear (7)
GUESSED

“guest” (lodger, “we hear”)

21. Dad’s attempt to get food (6)
PASTRY

PAS (dad’s) + TRY (attempt)

23. Overlooked decent leg breaks (9)
NEGLECTED

(DECENT LEG)* (*breaks)

25. The best among mediocre amateurs (5)
CREAM

[medio]CRE AM[ateurs] (among)

26. I weep with hair regularly falling out – an indication of pressure (6)
ISOBAR

I + SOB (weep) with [h]A[i]R (regularly falling out)

27. They warm kippers? (8)
BLANKETS

(mildly) Cryptic definition

28. Nurse bandaging wounds is terrific (6)
SISTER

[wound]S IS TER[rific] (bandaging)

29. Remote island – possibly oldest around Australia (8)
ISOLATED

I (island) + (OLDEST)* (*possibly) around A (Australia)

DOWN
1. Daughter enthralled by bell sounds – they’re on bikes (6)
PEDALS

D (daughter) enthralled by PEALS (bell sounds)

2. Benefit from saying about vehicle temperature (9)
ADVANTAGE

ADAGE (saying) about (VAN (vehicle) + T (temperature))

3. Book ultimately unfinished (5)
ATLAS

AT LAS[t] (ultimately, unfinished)

4. Awful pity about learner’s routine (7)
TYPICAL

(PITY)* (*awful) + CA (about, circa) + L (learner)

6. Perhaps those from Madrid and Paris moved south (9)
SPANIARDS

(AND PARIS)* (*moved) + S (south)

7. University professor’s first group is dismayed (5)
UPSET

U (university) + P[rofessor] (first) + SET (group)

8. Doubt South American writer’s on ecstasy (8)
SUSPENSE

S (south) + US (American) + PENS (writer’s) on E (ecstasy)

11. Obscene remarks from Greek character in street (4)
SMUT

MU (Greek character) in ST (street)

15. Wretched speed, wretched speed (9)
DESPERATE

(SPEED)* (*wretched) + RATE (speed)

17. A salute with soldiers in harmony (9)
AGREEMENT

(A + GREET (salute)) with MEN (soldiers) in

18. A long time to go round nice, new offices (8)
AGENCIES

AGES (a long time) to go round (NICE)* (*new)

20. Dined with Democrat on occasion (4)
DATE

ATE (dined) with D (Democrat) on

21. Power goes off, creating rows (7)
PADDLES

P (power) + ADDLES (goes off)

22. Victoria reportedly wasn’t thought to be after American (6)
AMUSED

MUSED (thought) to be after A (American)

24. Cultivates rhubarb in borders of gardens (5)
GROWS

ROW (rhubarb, in the sense of squabble) in G[arden]S (borders of)

25. Plan actually includes climbing passage (5)
CANAL

([p]LAN AC[tually] (includes))< (<climbing)

16 comments on “Financial Times 16,629 by FLIMSY”

  1. Fun to solve and fair to parse thanks to neat surfaces. In other words, a swift but pleasant Monday morning solve.
    I too liked 15d, as well as 27a and 22d.
    16a my LOI as was unsure of the parsing.
    Thanks to Teacow and Flimsy

  2. Re 8D – I’m not too sure that “doubt” and “suspense” have the same meaning…

    I did check out an online thesaurus and found that they are but I cannot think of an occasion when I could use them interchangeably.

  3. Not horribly difficult, but good for getting the brain to work on a Monday morning. I too query SUSPENSE=DOUBT, and also 24dn RHUBARB=Squabbles. But I too liked 15dn and 27ac. Good start to the week — thanks Flimsy and Teacow.

  4. Agree with Peter and Hornbeam re their queries. I spotted the archaic use of ‘suspense’ when checking ‘suspect’ for ‘doubt’ and was surprised. Also ‘squabble’ for ‘rhubarb’ was unfamiliar but I do remember using it as a conversation filler once upon a time. Since neither really held me back, I didn’t mind too much.

  5. I am sorry, but I still can’t understand BLANKETS for kippers. Is blanket a fish? Or is kipper a kind of covering as well?

    For me the rest of the X-word was indeed gentle, but a DNF due to above mentioned.

    Thank you, Flimsy & Teacow.

  6. Adriana@5 – “kipper” here just means “sleeper”. Read as “They warm sleepers” it becomes a completely straight clue.

  7. Thanks to Flimsy and Teacow. Enjoyable. I had the same questions as mentioned above. I did get BLANKETS but I started with Flannels.

  8. Thanks Flimsy and Teacow

    A good puzzle for those starting out n the world of crosswords … or those just starting out for the week.  Took a while to see my last one in – CAUSES for some reason.

    Took ROW to mean more about just a ‘noise’ rather than a noisy quarrel – like in ‘they were kicking up a row in the party next door’ – which is sort of the context that ‘rhubarb’ is, in a filming sense.

  9. Good puzzle but really annoying that I couldn’t parse BLANKETS. Shocked to see that kip has eight completely different meanings in Chambers. One to look out for in future. Thanks for the blog.

  11. Like acd@7 I started with FLANNELS at 27a, but unlike acd I ended with FLANNELS. Can anyone explain why BLANKETS is a better solution?
    I too thought 15d DESPERATE was brilliant, my COD.
    Thanks Flimsy and Teacow for the gentle fun.

  13. Cellomaniac @11,
    ‘Flannels’ are a perfectly legitimate answer…though I prefer the thought of electric blankets!

  16. In the US, an argument or dispute in a baseball game is called a rhubarb. So I had no trouble with 24d. Nice for us Yanks in place of all the cricket clues we struggle with. ?

    On the other hand, I was not familiar with “addle” to mean go off, although the crossing letters seemed to force it.

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