Financial Times 16,662 / Redshank

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For some reason the scheduled blogger hasn’t been able to be with us today so here is an analysis of the clues.

Across
1 Polo perhaps, and where it’s played (8,4)
SWIMMING POOL – POOL is an anagram (SWIMMING) of ‘polo’

8 View round wing (7)
OPINION – O (round) PINION (wing)

9 Roughly oval cone? Not quite (7)
VOLCANO – an anagram (roughly) of OVAL CON[e] with the full clue as the definition

11 Roast meat on a stone (7)
LAMBAST – LAMB (meat) A ST (stone)

12 Overthrow state ruler, gone AWOL (7)
LACKING – reverse (overthrow) CAL (state) KING (ruler)

13 Specialised hospital in Med resort (5)
NICHE – H (hospital) in NICE (Med resort)

14 Hormone to split pigment (9)
MELATONIN – TO in MELANIN (pigment)

16 George Eliot, say, used pony cruelly first in Middlemarch (9)
PSEUDONYM – an anagram (cruelly) of USED PONY followed by M[iddlemarch]

19 Praise stentorian actor editor ignored (5)
BLESS – {Brian} BLESS[ed] (stentorian actor editor ignored)

21 Vague recollection of cut in court cases (7)
INEXACT – AXE (cut) reversed (recollection of) in IN CT (court)

23 Pass round Clinton’s 1996 campaign slogan? (4,3)
DOLE OUT – def. & cryptic indicator

24 China supporter, supplier of milk and fish (3,4)
TEA TRAY – TEAT (supplier of milk) RAY (fish)

25 Europeans in choir off-key for so long (7)
CHEERIO – EE (Europeans) in an anagram (off-key) of CHOIR

26 Cleaner stacks waste quietly (7,5)
CHIMNEY SWEEP – CHIMNEYS (stacks) WEE (waste) P (quietly)

Down
1 Small mike muffling echo is having a huge impact (7)
SEISMIC – S (small) MIC (mike) around (muffling) E (echo) IS

2 Parrot? Current couple house it (7)
IMITATE – I (current) MATE (couple) around (house) IT

3 Member of US militia, tiny guy (9)
MINUTEMAN – MINUTE (tiny) MAN (guy)

4 Coward perhaps nicks volume such as this? (5)
NOVEL – NOEL (Coward perhaps) around (nicks) V (volume)

5 Weaselly type’s place to broadcast (7)
POLECAT – an anagram (broadcast) of PLACE TO

6 Address stars touring centre of Bath (7)
ORATION – ORION (stars) around (touring) [b]AT[h]

7 At which one sees red lion in big top being trained (7,5)
BOILING POINT – an anagram (being trained) of LION IN BIG TOP

10 Firm gains ground in 6 (12)
ORGANISATION – an anagram (ground) of GAINS in ORATION (6)

15 Strike avoids involving English weaklings (4,5)
LAME DUCKS – LAM (strike) DUCKS (avoids) around (involving) E (English)

17 English trees rot (7)
EYEWASH – E (English) YEW ASH (trees)

18 Site of tomb fills obscure drawing (7)
DIAGRAM – AGRA (site of tomb) in (fills) DIM (obscure)

19 Trust British priest supported by First Lady (7)
BELIEVE – B (British) ELI (priest) EVE (First Lady)

20 Earl received rent for self-indulgent bout (3,4)
EGO TRIP – E (Earl) GOT (received) RIP (rent)

22 Your old setter, sage companion? (5)
THYME – THY (your old) ME (setter)

11 comments on “Financial Times 16,662 / Redshank”

  1. All I can say is that I admire anyone who can make good, sound clue-writing look so simple and read so naturally. It’s impossible for me to pick a favourite from such an excellent set.

    Thanks to Redshank and Gaufrid.

  2. Well said, gofirstmate.

    I said of last month’s puzzle that it was ‘disappointing for a Redshank’ so I’m delighted to see that he’s right back in his top form, with a puzzle that was a delight from the first clue to the last. Lovely surfaces throughout.

    My favourites were SWIMMING POOL, PSEUDONYM, INEXACT, CHEERIO< ORGANISATION, EYEWASH and EGO TRIP.

    Many thanks to Redshank and to Gaufrid for standing in again in what seems a busy week for you.

  3. Took a bit of time but got there in the end (unlike yesterday?). Always lovely clueing from Redshank; one of my favourites. Always seems tough to start but the answers are always there. Nothing “impossible” of unfair.
    Loved SWIMMING POOL and EGO TRIP, among many fine clues.

  4. Count me as one who also enjoyed this from start to finish — SWIMMING POOL, LACKING, TEA TRAY, MINUTEMAN, and THYME were among my favourites. I thought every surface was concise and readable at first glance, adding immensely to my satisfaction. Thanks to both.

  5. Our first pass through the acrosses yielded absolutely zilch. Fortunately the downs proved more tractable with the first seven going straight in. After that it all flowed steadily with DIAGRAM, CHIMNEY SWEEP and EYEWASH our last ones in. And they were among our favourites.
    Thanks, Redshank and Gaufrid.

  6. Thanks Gaufrid and Redshank.
    Lovely as always.

    23a, wondered though, Bob Dole not being the incumbent, if ‘out’is totally appropriate.

  9. Thanks Redshank and Gaufrid
    As with others, found this a most enjoyable crossword and for once was able to get it done in pretty quick time for this setter – was obviously right on his wavelength. SWIMMING POOL was outstanding for its simplicity and cleverness. The rest of the clues barely fell below this high benchmark.
    Brian BLESSED was the only unknown that needed to be looked up.
    Was immediately able to spot PSEUDONYM at the start and finished in the left hand side with SEISMIC, NICHE and INEXACT the last few in.

  10. I don’t know what happened yesterday. I did write the blog and I am certain I pressed the “post” button, so don’t know why there was no blog posted.

    I don’t always have time to the site to ensure it has loaded properly, but have never had this happen before, so have become complacent. I will ensure I check in future.

    Thanks for stepping in, Gaufrid.

  11. First one I looked at was PSEUDONYM and enjoyed from there to finish.So unpretentious. And classy
    Thanks gaufrid and DA

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