Financial Times 16,708 by JULIUS

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A solid challenge from Julius to round off the work week. Thanks Julius. Today is also CNY, so to those celebrating, Gong Xi Fa Cai !!

FF: 9 DD: 9

ACROSS
1, 6 FREDERIC CHOPIN
Employing periodic French Polish master (8,6)
[ PERIODIC FRENCH ]*
9 SCRUBS
Brushes off Cristiano Ronaldo, initially relegated to the bench? (6)
CR ( Cristiano Ronaldo, initially ) in SUBS ( relegated to the bench )
10 EXORCIST
He hopes to relieve people of their unwanted possessions (8)
cryptic def; witty i thought
11 OPAL
Ordinary soft aluminium, hydrated silica (4)
O ( ordinary ) P ( soft ) AL ( aluminium )
12 RAMSHACKLE
Dilapidated hut located in exotic realm (10)
SHACK ( hut ) in [ REALM ]*
14 ELECTION
Musk receiving shock therapy (current choice) (8)
ELON ( musk ) containing [ ECT ( shock therapy ) I ( current ) ]
16 AUTO
Nothing following gold tesla car (4)
AU ( gold ) T ( Tesla ) O ( nothing ) – FOI
18 DANE
Ball caught out Schmeichel, for one (4)
DANcE ( ball, without C – Caught )
19 FLAUBERT
French writer’s cab getting puncture outside (8)
FLAT ( puncture ) outside UBER ( cab )
21 ASYMMETRIC
Like sports bars, mister? YMCA rocks! (10)
[ MISTER YMCA ]*
22 RUSK
Baby food making its way into mouth in Newport? (4)
cryptic def; parsed as R ( River ) USK whose mouth is in the city of newport.
24 CALIGULA
Did he come after Julius riding a noble steed? (8)
cryptic def? ; learnt from the internet that he was named after caesar and had a favourite horse that he wanted to make consul
26 ROADIE
Every now and again, Rio van driver transports crew member (6)
alternate letters ( every now and then ) of “..RiO vAn DrIvEr..:
27 SKOPJE
English magistrate approves returning capital (6)
E ( English ) JP ( magistrate, Justice of Peace ) OKS ( approves ) , all reversed; capital of north macedonia
28 DETONATE
Expected Eton at eleven. About to set off (8)
hidden in ” expecteD ETON AT Eleven..”
DOWN
2 RECAP
Review European clubs into hip-hop? (5)
[ E ( european ) C ( clubs ) ] in RAP ( hip-hop )
3 DOUBLE CREAM
Bouclé woven into ideal Jersey product (6,5)
[ BOUCLE ]* in DREAM ( ideal )
4 RESTRAIN
Check holiday weather – not ideal for sunbathing (8)
REST ( holiday ) RAIN ( weather not ideal for sunbathing )
5 CLERMONT FERRAND
Weird nerd from central French city (8-7)
[ NERD FROM CENTRAL ]*
6 CLOTHO
Reluctant to intervene in company’s Fate? (6)
LOTH ( reluctant ) in CO ( company ) – one of the three goddesses of fate
7 ORC
Grampus regularly leaving no trace (3)
alternate letters ( regularly leaving ) of “..nO tRaCe”
8 INSULATOR
Badmouth American hiding golden fleece? (9)
[ INSULT ( badmouth ) containing A ( american ) ] OR ( golden )
13 CHAMBERLAIN
“Tea, Monsieur?” Foreign capital welcoming a PM in crisis (11)
CHA ( tea ) M ( monsieur ) [ A in BERLIN ( foreign capital ) ]
15 LOAN SHARK
He takes an arm and a leg, like one who terrorised Amity Island, reportedly (4,5)
[ sounds like LONE ( one ) ] SHARK ( who terrorised amity island )
17 BACCARAT
Bilk allegedly boring, horrible kid’s game of cards (8)
ACCA ( sounds like acker, referring to acker bilk, musician ) in BRAT ( horrible kid ) – needed google to help with the first part of the parse
20 DELUGE
Huge flood of water to carry in river (6)
LUG ( carry ) in DEE ( river )
23 SWIFT
Fast network cut in street (5)
WIFi ( network, cut i.e. without last letter ) in ST ( street )
25 IMP
Rogue wife abandoning sissy (3)
wIMP ( sissy, without W – wife )

15 comments on “Financial Times 16,708 by JULIUS”

  1. I liked this. About the right amount of thinking required to fill the grid, without becoming too frustrated along the way. Even so, I couldn’t parse RUSK (another 3-letter UK river to add to the list) and could only understand the ‘noble steed’ bit of CALIGULA. Highlight was definitely the excellent cryptic def for EXORCIST.

    Thanks to Julius and Turbolegs

    [I must admit it’s the only tune of his I know, but Acker Bilk’s best known hit “Stranger on the Shore” is worth a listen if you haven’t heard it before].

  3. I found this tough going but immensely satisfying to finish and enjoyable all along the way.

    Quite a lot of general knowledge involved but, fortunately, it was all within my comfort zone – even the footballers, Schmeichel being my local team’s goalkeeper.

    Lots of lovely chewy clues – I particularly enjoyed working out DOUBLE CREAM (after trying to make an anagram of boucle ideal), and CHAMBERLAIN: I admired the clever anagrams in FREDERIC CHOPIN, ASYMMETRIC, CLERMONT FERRAND and the construction of FLAUBERT, RESTRAIN and RAMSHACKLE. As for the wonderful witty surfaces – well, this was Julius on absolutely top form all round.

    WordPlodder inspired me to find Stranger on the Shore to listen to while writing this.

    Many thanks to Julius for another super puzzle and Turbolegs for the blog.

  4. I had to look up why asymmetric is like sports bars. Apparently, that is what the Brits call the apparatus we Yanks call the uneven bars.

  5. Never heard of 5d but my anagram finder had, and my last in was CALIGULA, got from the crossers but didn’t know about his horse. Also entered RUSK, familiar enough when the kids were small, but checked in Google for the river. Could have been the River Rusk for all I knew.
    Presumably the gymnastic bars are now UNEVEN because ASYMMETRIC is to difficult to say or spell.

  6. Julius is one of my favourite setters and this crossword was, as Eileen says, super. We’ve been to Newport and remembered the river

    Thanks to Julius and Turbolegs

  7. Lots to like about this crossword with, as Eileen has said, wonderful witty surfaces. The two cryptic definitions were just right, because however hard it might have been to think of the answer, once you’d got it it was clearly right. I struggled at first to parse BACCARAT, and, although it eventually raised a smile, thought that the homophone of the first name a clarinetist last seen nearly 60 years ago might have been a bit tough for anyone much younger than me. I also doubted how SUBS can be ‘relegated to the bench’, but I suppose on reflection that the question mark is a sort of apology for omitting “those” for the sake of the surface; definitely worth it for the mental image of Cristiano Ronaldo’s face on being told that he’s on the bench. Liked R USK and R.O.A.D.I.E., DETONATE was nicely hidden and ‘Like sports bars, mister?’ was beautifully misleading. Many thanks to Julius.

  8. Thanks Julius and Turbolegs
    sheffield hatter @7: In 9ac, I think you take “relegated to the bench” as meaning “among the subs”, giving you the containment indicator as well as the container.

  9. Completing this crossword would have required more specialized knowledge than I possess but I was satisfied to get as far as I did. As always, Julius gives us impeccable clues. I liked SCRUBS, EXORCIST. and SWIFT quite a bit. Thanks Turbolegs for parsing and to EdK@ USA for explaining what “sports bars” meant — I always thought they were places where people go to drink beer and watch sports on big screen TV’s.

  10. Two crosswords in one day with (different) composers to start the acrosses – great. Plenty more to enjoy, too. We vaguely knew the association of CALIGULA with a horse but had forgotten that he wanted to make his horse a consul. The juxtaposition of Musk in 14ac and tesla (which could have had a capital T) in 16ac was a neat touch, we thought. RAMSHACKLE was one of our favourites – once we’d given up trying to make an anagram of ‘hut located’ to get an ‘exotic realm’. Other favourites were FLAUBERT, BACCARAT, CHAMBERLAIN and DETONATE.
    Thanks, Julius and Turbolegs.

  11. Thanks, Julius and Turbolegs. Didn’t get RUSK and couldn’t parse BACCARAT. Lots of clever surfaces. I like clues that have a bit of &lit to them, just enough to add to the meaning – like FREDERIC CHOPIN, who was as much French as Polish, and SCRUBS, which itself can mean the subs, second-string or bench squad!

  12. Started yesterday evening and finished this morning. It required quite a lot of general knowledge though only Clotho was beyond me. I fish the River Usk for salmon!
    Top right and corner was a struggle with Orc taking ages to spot (I had GAP for a while) followed by Exorcist and then the LOI, Clotho
    thanks

  13. Pelham Barton @8. Thanks for that. That’s a better parsing of the clue than Turbolegs has in the blog. Makes much better sense of what now seems a pretty good clue.

  14. Thanks Julius and Turbolegs
    Found this very tough going, but as others say well worth the effort and great satisfaction to get it out in the end. Needed help in the end by looking up cities in France starting with C after unsuccessfully struggling with the anagram fodder for too long – also had to look up the name ‘Schmeichel’ to discover it was a Danish one. Needed the blog to understand the relevance of the ‘noble horse’ bit of CALIGULA. Was able to get SKOPJE quite early on without really remembering which country it was capital of.
    Is ORC really a synonym of the grampus / killer whale ?
    Finished up the top with CLOTHO (after recalling her as a Fate), RAMSHACKLE and that French city last in.

  15. And Kung Hei Fat Choy to you too, Turbolegs, as they say in my neck of the woods! As a transplanted East Midlander, I like Eileen, appreciated the Schmeichel clue, along with DOUBLE CREAM, FLAUBERT and especially ASYMMETRIC.
    I echo the sentiments of others here in admiring the characteristic Julius wit.
    RUSK reminded me of a lovely country hotel, the Gliffaes, perched above the fast-flowing Usk which no doubt Moly @12 knows. A lovely spot.
    Thanks to Julius for the high feel-good factor and Turbolegs for the blog.

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