Financial Times 16,686 by GURNEY

by

A rare sighting of a Monday morning GURNEY…

Quite a mixed bag today, with the excellent 9a (great anagram and surface) and 16a (very clever, though I’ve a suspicion I’ve seen it before), and then 26a (a bit “meh”) and 23d (never heard of it, though I was familiar with the “diet” meaning). 22d was new to me, and absent from my Chambers.

Thanks GURNEY!

image of grid

ACROSS
9. Precision – miss it somehow, describing some paintings (15)
IMPRESSIONISTIC

(PRECISION MISS IT)* (*somehow)

10. End trial that’s gobbling up energy (5)
CEASE

CASE (trial) that’s gobbling up E (energy)

11. On return fund child’s toy, after resistance initially, finding price the highest (3,6)
TOP DOLLAR

(POT)< (fund, <on return) + DOLL (child’s toy) + A[fter] R[esistance] (initially)

12. Portion of ballot men tally (9)
ALLOTMENT

[b]ALLOT MEN T[ally] (of)

14. Teacher’s mild rebuke to register ultimately (5)
TUTOR

TUT (mild rebuke) + [t]O [registe]R (ultimately)

16. Hero A, avoiding political extremes? (6-2-3-4)
MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD

“hero A” being in the middle of [t]HE ROA[d]

19. Nothing odd in brief siesta – change alarm maybe (5)
RESET

[b]R[i]E[f] S[i]E[s]T[a] (nothing odd)

21. Important to have desserts back, say, ices with 50 per cent off (9)
STRATEGIC

(TARTS)< (desserts, <back) + EG (say) + IC[es] (50 per cent off)

23. Performing well, fight champion, lightweight’s number one, inside (9)
SPARKLING

(SPAR (fight) + KING (champion)), L[ightweight] (number one) inside

25. Nasty about French street – lying primarily (5)
CRUEL

C (about) + RUE (French street) + L[ying] (primarily)

26. Versatile member of pack? (4,2,3,6)
JACK OF ALL TRADES

Cryptic definition

DOWN
1. “Don’t blame me” – cream lid is faulty (10)
DISCLAIMER

(CREAM LID IS)* (*faulty)

2. Urban area seen as special by inexperienced learner (6)
SPRAWL

SP (special) by RAW (inexperienced) + L (learner)

3. Ringing about daughter in Paris is to provide support (8)
PEDESTAL

PEAL (ringing) about (D (daughter) + EST (is, in Paris))

4. Hey! Something interesting from Bishop’s Stortford! (4)
PSST

[bisho]PS ST[ortford] (from)

5. Rival firm without any English flier, work uncovered (10)
COMPETITOR

COMP[any] (firm, without ANY) + E (English) + TIT (flier) + [w]OR[k] (uncovered)

6. Doctor with unfashionable clothes (3-3)
RIG-OUT

RIG (doctor) with OUT (unfashionable)

7. Weapon clearly visible brought up in dispute (8)
STILETTO

(LIT)< (clearly visible, <brought up) in SET TO (dispute)

8. Small vehicle’s mark of damage (4)
SCAR

S (small) + CAR (vehicle)

13. Selfish – get social for a change, welcoming first of invitees (10)
EGOISTICAL

(GET SOCIAL)* (*for a change) welcoming I[nvitees] (first of)

15. Claims raid aroused revolutionary ideas (10)
RADICALISM

(CLAIMS RAID)* (*aroused)

17. Reserve position – supporting investigator (8)
DISTANCE

STANCE (position) supporting DI (investigator)

18. Acting in secret, they allure (8)
ENTICERS

(IN SECRET)* (*acting)

20. Hire Nick extremely often (4,2)
TAKE ON

TAKE (nick) + O[fte]N (extremely)

22. One apt to criticise Greek and German frippery in the end? (6)
GRUNDY

GR (Greek) + UND (and, in German) + [fripper]Y (in the end)

23. Diet of Poles since early January maybe? Starters only (4)
SEJM

S[ince] E[arly] J[anuary] M[aybe] (starters only)
“Diet” meaning “Parliament”

24. On way up, market game (4)
GOLF

(FLOG)< (market, <on way up)

14 comments on “Financial Times 16,686 by GURNEY”

  1. I seemed to get off to a flying start but got stuck with a few at the end. Just didn’t see ‘rig’ for doctor at 6d and had an unparsed ‘displace’ for 17d. Didn’t know SEJM either but the clue was a gimme.
    Like Teacow, I admired the surface of 9a and liked 16a, along with 1d and 15d.
    Thanks Burney for some very neat cluing and to Teacow whose help was much needed.

  3. Thanks Gurney and Teacow
    It was a surprising setter in the Monday spot, but an enjoyable and not too difficult puzzle to start off the week. Started with the long anagram at 9a which set it up to attack all of the initial down clues and worked steadily through until slowing down a bit in the SW corner. Didn’t help by taking a few goes to get EGOISTICAL – being lazy going through the fodder properly. Took a while to see the full word play of 16a, was fixated on just the OA of ROAD instead of THE ROAD.
    Finished with the unknown SEJM and SPARKLING.

  4. Sorry to sound a bit grumpy, but we all know that crosswords on Monday are the easiest so, even though words in the bottom left and, particularly, bottom right are usually the most contrived, SEJM? Really? It’s a bit like breaking a tooth on a pork scratching while eating a bowl of trifle.

    On the other hand, it has gone into the “must remember this word the next time I am playing Scrabble” memory bank.

  5. Thanks to Gurney and Teacow. I enjoyed the 3 long across answers, but I did not parse COMPETITOR, struggled with SEJM, and opted for Fit Out rather than RIG OUT. I knew GRUNDY from Mrs.G. in Dickens.

  6. Most of this went quickly but I missed RIG OUT and couldn’t parse COMPETITOR. Favourites were MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD, PEDESTAL, and SPARKLING. Thanks to both.

  7. Thanks Gurney and Teacow. I too had difficulty in SW corner; “displace” for 17d and, therefore nothing for 23a. I had a third variant for 6d namely “KIT-OUT” both kit (noun) and kit(s)-out (verb) being clothes; but felt that as a definition of “doctor” it was a bit of a stretch!

  8. a definite game of 2 halves for me… some really enjoyable write-ins.. some completely unfathomable, mostly ones already mentioned..
    thanks Gurney n Teacow

  9. I had thought kit-out for 6D, but neither that nor rig-out is part of my slang. Thanks for a pleasant Monday puzzle.

  10. An enjoyable solve – one or two write-ins, a bit of headscratching, SJEM worked our from the wordplay and confirmed in Chambers. No complaints.
    Thanks, Gurney and Teacow.

  11. Thanks, Gurney and Teacow. The easiest FT cryptic I’ve ever done. Finished in 15 minutes with no aids, except I wasn’t sure what the first half of 6d was – thanks for blog.

    Is EGOISTICAL a UK spelling? I’ve always said “egotistical.”

  12. Jeff, I’ve always said egotistical as well. It’s US vs. UK English.

    Anyway, I’m simply thrilled that I finished the puzzle, which I very much enjoyed.

    Thank you, Gurney.

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