Financial Times 16,666 by MOO

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A fun Tuesday solve.

Apologies for desperately late blog. Huge tech rubbish, had to dash off everything again in the end. Thanks MOO & Merry Thing to all.

image of grid
ACROSS
1 MACRON President’s romance almost disastrous (6)
 

Anagram of ROMANCe minus last.
4 DIDACTIC Performed, I see, in manner of a teacher (8)
 

DID ACT (performed) + I + C.
9 DONE IN Weary cook, encountering rejection in Berlin (4,2)
 

DO (cook) + NEIN (German rejection)
10 MEA CULPA Admission of a guilty Roman? (3,5)
 

Latin 'my fault' Not over-cryptic.
12 IN THE RED Bankrupt joint he redeveloped in part (2,3,3)
 

Inclusion in 'joINT HE REDeveloped'.
13 ESCORT Someone paid to snuggle up to you in car? (6)
 

Double def, 1st rather euphemistic.
15 AS IF Occasionally caustic fellow? You’re having me on (2,2)
 

Alternate letters of 'cAuStIc + F[ellow].
16 UNINFORMED Ignorant, as pupils might be about the north? (10)
 

UNI/FORMED inc. N[orth]
19 ASTROLOGER Star student in miserable Oslo garret (10)
 

Anag of OSLO GARRET
20 SNUB Sandwich with a bit of nail in it? That’s an insult (4)
 

SUB (sarnie) w 1st of Nail inc.
23 RIGHTS Straightens out ceremonies for the Speaker (6)
 

Homophone of RITES
25 SUBPOENA Bean soup off? Serve this (8)
 

Anag of BEAN SOUP: what you might issue if it was 'off'.
27 EDUCATED Informed coin will be found in river flowing west (8)
 

DUCAT (coin) in DEE, reversed.
28 BUNION Boris’s first marriage – bit of a sore point? (6)
 

B[oris] + UNION
29 STARKERS Royal couple among celebrities in their birthday suits (8)
 

k + ER in STAR.S
30 SEX-MAD Obsessed with knowledge of old? (3-3)
 

SEX = biblical ('old') knowledge.
DOWN
1 MADEIRA Wine, one drunk by crazy English painter (7)
 

1 in MAD E RA.
2 CONSTRICT Squeeze Tory hard (9)
 

C ON + STRICT
3 OLIVER A Hardy musical (6)
 

Double def. Oliver Hardy & Lionel Bart.
5 INEZ Foreign lady, one drawn to Gérard Depardieu’s nose? (4)
 

1 + French NEZ ('nose').
6 ANCESTOR One’s predecessor reacts on being condemned (8)
 

Anag of REACTS ON.
7 TELCO Organisation such as BT or Tesco having change of heart? (5)
 

TEsCO, new centre.
8 COASTED Made little effort when in bed, half made-up (7)
 

AS in CO.T + half of maDE, reversed.
11 REUNION Island meeting of old friends (7)
 

Double def.
14 KNEES-UP Celebrations involving joints at university (5-2)
 

KNEES + UP. Odd plural.
17 MANNERISM Peculiarity of foreign men in arms (9)
 

Anag of MENINARMS.
18 DOG TRACK Two shadows where the greyhounds run (3,5)
 

2 defs of 'shadow'.
19 AIRLESS Suffocating, as bald Cockney may be? (7)
 

'AIRLESS, bald to Eastender.
21 BRAINED Bishop fell, struck on head (7)
 

B + RAINED
22 SPOUSE Husband’s back after dropping an E (6)
 

eSPOUSE minus 1st.
24 GOUDA A villain going round nicking posh cheese (5)
 

Reversal of A DOG around U.
26 LEER Lecherous look makes you stagger back (4)
 

Reversal of REEL.

6 comments on “Financial Times 16,666 by MOO”

  1. Delightful Tuesday pleasure. Elegant surfaces and neat anagrams. It was only 10ac MEA CULPA that disappointed — as GB says, not very cryptic. Thanks, Moo and GB.

  3. Very pleasant and not too taxing. We agree about MEA CULPA being hardly cryptic, but we liked the other Latin term, SUBPOENA. Favourite, though was STARKERS, for the mental imasge conjured up by the surface.
    Thanks, Moo and Grant.

  4. Thanks Moo and Grant
    MEA CULPA was the immediate write in first up. The rest was a steady and enjoyable progression until coming to 30a which took an age to a) come up with the term and b) justify it (having to resort to the dictionaries to dig up the archaic meaning of ‘knowledge’). This involved SPOUSE (initially written in purely from definition) having to be re-corroborated to ensure that the E in the first half of 30a was in fact correct.
    Lots of other interesting clues along the way, including the clever UNIFORMED and STARKERS.
    Merry (as it can be in these weird times) Christmas to all the Tuesday solvers – thankfully ‘almost normal’ down here again after our winter of locked down discontent. Stay safe …

  5. Mostly (and pleasantly) straightforward… but defeated by SEX-MAD (too arcane for me today).

    Grant, curious re your notation for inclusion. Some (29a, 8d) appear to have a “.” at inclusion point, some (20a) don’t… any reason? And 16a has ”/” not “.”? Or is that a separator btw two types of “pupils” (UNI & FORMED)? FYI, I read it as one word (UNIFORMED=”wearing a uniform”=”as pupils might be”).

    SUBPOENA: I parsed w/just “serve this” as defn, describing in a general way what you do with one… tho perhaps could see the more narrowly scoped extended defn too.

    COTD: MACRON, for using “president” in something other than a ref to the wretched state of US politics.

    Nods to setter and blogger… and Healthy Holidays to all!

  6. When I saw Moo’s handle attached to this, I knew I was in for a joyride and agree with Ong’ara @2.
    Liked AS IF, OLIVER and KNEES-UP along with the surfaces for ASTROLOGER and BUNION. SUBPOENA was clever. ESCORT and STARKERS were saucy, the latter bringing to mind Koo Stark and Meghan’s ‘Suits’. Best of all was INEZ.
    ‘Knowledge’ made a refreshing change from ‘it’ in the cluing for 30a.
    Really, there was nothing I didn’t like among this super crop, MEA CULPA notwithstanding.
    No special knowledge (carnal or otherwise) was required. Just an pleasurable tussle with clues that were witty, cheeky and original by turns.
    REUNION was the last one standing, the double def staring me in the face when I came back to it later.
    Thanks Moo, fun as ever, and to Grant.
    Here’s to a happier, healthier year ahead.

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