Financial Times 16,630 by JASON

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Not-entirely-straightforward Tuesday offering from this morning's setter.

The majority went in smoothly enough, but the endgame involved mopping up a number of tricksy 4-letter words which I have to admit provoked a few more earthy 4-letter words from this solver. Thanks, Jason.

image of grid
ACROSS
8 BEWARE Who’s busy covering conflict in cave? (6)
 

BE.E ('who's busy') around WAR. As in 'cave canem'.
9 ADULTERY This upset true lady (8)
 

Anagram ('upset') of TRUE LADY w cryptic whole-clue def.
10 AIRY Cheerful daughter avoiding butter, say (4)
 

Butter being a dAIRY product.
11 CHEESED OFF Shed near Derby, for example, makes you depressed (7,3)
 

DOFF (to take off, 'shed') after CHEESE ('Derby, for example').
12 DEBT What’s owed by one breaking out? Tons (4)
 

DEB[utante], 'one breaking out', + T[ons].
13 BACK BOILER Stern, tough old bird that gets you in hot water? (4,6)
 

BACK ('stern') + BOILER ('tough old bird').
17 LYRE Instrument of early recordings (4)
 

Inclusion in 'earLY REcordings'.
18 ASPIC Jelly’s about flavour being slightly reduced (5)
 

A[bout] + SPICe. Chambers gives a = 'about' as 1st abbreviation (but only alphabetically).
19 RAFT Upon which Huck Finn went to shop, fellow admitted (4)
 

RA.T (to inform on, to 'shop') around f[ellow].
21 ALL THE RAGE. In leather gal shocked (3,3,4)
 

Anagram ('shocked') of ALL THE RAGE.
23 SNAP Game is beginning to settle down (4)
 

1st of 'Settle' + NAP ('down', as of animal fur).
24 CROSSBONES The mark of pirate mix remains (10)
 

CROSS (a 'mix' as in animal-breeding) + BONES ('remains').
28 LARK Romp with high-flying singer (4)
 

Double definition.
29 DECADENT A negative effect at the end of last month’s declining (8)
 

DEC[ember] (the 'last month') + A + DENT ('negative effect').
30 OPTING Going for work before the sound of bell (6)
 

OP + TING.
DOWN
1 DELIVERY Speciality shop absolutely makes distribution (8)
 

DELI ('speciality shop') + VERY ('absolutely').
2 EASY STREET Relaxed with cryptic setter in secure comfort (4,6)
 

EASY ('relaxed') + anagram ('cryptic') of SETTER.
3 RED CABBAGE Republican sort who leads a dull life – one’s often seen pickled (3,7)
 

RED ('Rebublican', familiarly these days) + CABBAGE ('one who leads a dull life').
4 BALE British booze in bound bundle (4)
 

B + ALE.
5 CUTS Mostly fast to lift those inevitable outcomes of austerity (4)
 

STUCk (immobile, 'fast'), reversed.
6 STUD Boss who believes he can keep it up (4)
 

Double definition, the 2nd rather blue..
7 TRIFLE Thief’s opening sack for something and nothing? (6)
 

1st of 'Thief' + RIFLE (to 'sack').
14 CUPPA Fruit juice fortified by wine, dad’s restorative? (5)
 

CUP ('fruit juice fortified by wine', e.g. sangria, a 'fruit cup') + PA.
15 BUCKET SHOP A not wholly reliable ticket agency can split (6,4)
 

BUCKET ('can') + SHOP (to 'split' on someone).
16 IRRESOLUTE Shilly-shallying Tories rule in topsy- turvy fashion (10)
 

Anagram ('in topsy-turvy fashion') of TORIES RULE.
20 FLAGRANT Disgraceful family doyenne in residence (8)
 

GRAN ('family doyenne') in FLAT ('residence').
22 LARGER Comparatively generous Rector surrounded by drink (6)
 

R[ector] in LA.GER.
25 SHAM Short chap filing hard copy (4)
 

SAMuel (shortened 'chap') includes ('files') H[ard].
26 BEEF Force barrel price up (4)
 

B[arrel] + FEE, reversed.
27 NUTS Out to lunch? Turn bowl over (4)
 

STUN ('to bowl over'), reversed.

12 comments on “Financial Times 16,630 by JASON”

  1. You’re right, Grant, except that I found this even less straightforward and I did not envy your having to blog it, so thanks. I think it was a combination of all the short words and some not-everyday definitions that got me. In the end, I either remembered I knew them (as in cave = look out! and boiler = tough bird) or learned I didn’t (cup as a wine-juice mix and split = shop). But they were all fine by me except that I equated ‘cheesed off’ more as annoyed than depressed, and thanks to Jason for putting me through the gamut of those emotions and more!

  2. Harder than the usual Tuesday FT. CUPPA defeated me but I couldn’t agree more about those four-letter answers which involved a couple of alphabet trawls to eventually solve, with SNAP as my last in. A for ‘about’ comes up every now and then and always tricks me as it did today; I had to enter ASPIC from the def. Didn’t know the SHOP sense of ‘split’.

    Thanks to Jason for the challenge and to Grant

     

     

  3. For me Jason crossed the bounds, and in the end I left five clues unfinished and decided to wait for GB. E.g. does 14dn ‘fruit juice fortified’ really give us ‘cup’? [This was one I got]. So thanks, Jason, for a Tuesday toughie, but I’d prefer a more tranquil breakfast. And thanks to GB for taking on this headache.

  4. Without much time to spare today, this had to be a speed-solve – well, that was the idea! Fat chance. Most of the longer clues were fine but, as others found, those four-letter words were a devil to solve and, I’m sure, a nightmare to parse. CUTS and BEEF were impossible for me. I applaud STUD, though, for making me laugh out loud.
    Like ub @ 1, ‘cheesed off’ for me is ‘fed up/annoyed’.
    Also, I thought debs ‘came’ out rather than ‘break’ out (makes it sound as if they’re locked up!)
    Anyhow, RED CABBAGE was probably my favourite, along with that naughty STUD.
    Thanks, Jason, for this Tuesday toughie and a special nod to Grant for the unenviable task of lighting the way!

  5. I missed Sham (guessing at scan, which also means copy) and also Cuppa. Thanks very much for explaining those two to me. As everyone else has noted, it was the four letter words that were the trickiest.

  7. Thanks to Jason and Grant for the entertainment and elucidation as always. Yes, those four letter words did dredge up a few from me and I also finished with SCAN, rather than SHAM. To me equating sham with copy is a step too far as one is pure replication and the other has an element of trickery. Still it was a nice way to spend some time on a very cold afternoon. Spring weather indeed.

  8. Solved a chunk of this but CHEESED OFF, BUCKET SHOP, SNAP, and BEEF just are not part of my vocabulary — it’s 78°F (25.5C) and 100% sunshine here (Wash. DC) so I bailed on this bear to spend some time outdoors. Thanks to both.

  10. Thanks Jason and Grant

    I noted on his August puzzle how this setter had upped the difficulty level of his crosswords and this one was probably one of his hardest – mainly so from all of those tricky little 4-letter words.  It was worth the effort, especially to see the risqué, but humorous, clue for STUD and being able to eventually spot the devilishly disguised definitions and word play of many of the clues.

    It took three pretty intense sittings to finally get it out, although the last entry in CUPPA went in with a wing and a prayer.

    Hadn’t come across BACK BOILER, BUCKET SHOP or that definition of ‘split’ before and had to google to find the ‘depressed’ meaning of CHEESED OFF.

    A tough early week crossword that provided plenty of entertainment and a degree of satisfaction to complete.

  11. I share the feeling that this was an unusually hard puzzle. I’d never heard of back boiler, and I still don’t see why BEEF = force! Is this some British slang?

  12. A back-boiler is – or was – a domestic central-heating or hot water boiler installed behind, typically, the fire in the living-room of a small house. Not so common now, but both my grannies had ‘em. The BEEF = the muscle = the ‘reinforcers’ for, say, a small-time gang, but ‘beef’ also = ‘force’ generally, ‘beefy’ meaning strong, forceful, powerful. ‘Beef’, says Chambers @4 = ‘Vigorous, muscular force (informal)’. So there you go.

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