Financial Times 16,728 by ZAMORCA

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A thoroughly enjoyable challenge this morning from Zamorca.

Missing only a “q” to make it a pangram. I found this just the right level of difficulty for a Monday with some cracking clues (incidentally I started with cracking for 17d leaving me floundering before realising my error on solving 19a).  Plenty to enjoy with too many good clues to single any out, so many thanks to Zamorca.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. In favour of friend accepting huge offer (8)
PROPOSAL

PRO (in favour of) + PAL (friend) accepting OS (huge (oversize))

5. Note month before taking long end-date jar (6)
JANGLE

G (note), JAN (month) before, taking L (long) + [dat]E (end)

9. Some of Lulu’s trousers are very shiny (8)
LUSTROUS

[Lu]lu’s trous[ers] (some of)

10. Avert accident after bend that’s fast (6)
STARVE

(AVERT)* (*accident) after S (bend)

12. Wear too smart clothes for a bit of cricket on deck (9)
OVERDRESS

OVER (bit of cricket) on DRESS (deck; in the sense of getting “decked out / dressed up”)

13. Residents Association leaders take issue regularly with lift (5)

RAISE

R[esident’s] A[ssociation] (leaders) take I[s]S[u]E (regularly)

14. British first use railway line put underground (4)
BURY

B (British) + U[se] (first) + RY (railway line)

16. Get rid of endless booty taken in heavy defeat (4,3)
ROOT OUT

[b]OOT[y] (endless) taken in ROUT (heavy defeat)

19. Confused and cross, journalist pursuing Military Intelligence’s finished (5-2)
MIXED-UP

X (cross), ED (journalist) pursuing MI (Military Intelligence) + UP (finished)

21. Loving fine day without working (4)
FOND

F (fine) + D (day) without ON (working)

24. One in flight needs way to get oxygen (5)
STAIR

ST (way, street) to get AIR (oxygen)

25. Castle king after initial check and don’t allow blocking (4,5)
KEEP CLEAR

KEEP (castle) + LEAR (king) after C[heck] (initial)

27. Having trouble getting one team supporter back (2,1,3)
IN A FIX

I (one) + ((XI (team) + FAN (supporter))< (<back)

28. Shock when Villa’s first half is hard (8)
ASTONISH

ASTON (Villa’s first half; the football club) + IS + H (hard)

29. Old boy emerges from hot spring in conversation (6)
GEEZER

“GEYSER” (hot spring, “in conversation”)

30. Heavy metal players chased by press (4- 4)
CAST-IRON

CAST (players) chased by IRON (press)

DOWN
1. Cushion sound of blow to conceal trouble (6)
PILLOW

POW (sound of blow) to conceal ILL (trouble)

2. Aquatic creature’s key part of fantastic story (6)
OYSTER

E (key) part of (STORY)* (*fantastic)

3. Rowed with cabbie close to blocking Barking Road (5)
OARED

[Cabbi]E (close to) blocking (ROAD)* (*barking)

4. Area’s reduced, see below, in a clever way (7)
ACUTELY

A (area) + CUT (reduced) + ELY (see, below)

6. RAF note no flying between lunch and evening (9)
AFTERNOON

(RAF NOTE NO)* (*flying)

7. Soldiers’ arrival involved putting up number in fort (8)
GARRISON

GIS’ (soldiers’) + ARR (arrival, involved) + NO< (number, putting up<)

8. Steel men work with the likes of carbon, manganese and phosphorus (8)
ELEMENTS

(STEEL MEN)* (*work)

11. One exploits deception, heading to base (4)
USER

RUSE (deception; heading (“R”) to base)

15. Sabotage gets men injured when sliding jack out (9)
UNDERMINE

(MEN IN[j]URED)* (*gets, when sliding J (jack) out)

17. Great and good on break at home (8)
SMASHING

G (good) on SMASH (break) + IN (at home)

18. Sparkling wine found in old empty tube tunnel (8)
EXCAVATE

CAVA (sparkling wine) found in EX (old) + T[ub]E (empty)

20. Dive for fish (4)
PIKE

Double definition

(Pike is a diving position in diving or gymnastics)

21. Clears tips of invasive alien plant (7)
FREESIA

FREES (clears) + I[nvasive] A[lien] (tips of)

22. Elder and osier cut around November (6)
SENIOR

(OSIER)* (*cut) around N (November)

23. Mobilised Oprah’s own Foundation for parentless child (6)
ORPHAN

(OPRAH)* (*mobilised) + [ow]N (foundation)

26. Caught yobbo with smack (5)
CLOUT

C (caught) + LOUT (yobbo)

9 comments on “Financial Times 16,728 by ZAMORCA”

  1. I agree completely, Teacow – a gentle but satisfying start to the week from Zamorca. Liked IN A FIX, GEEZER and 20d’s double definition which stirred fond memories of Nadia Comaneci and her vaults.

    .

  2. Thanks Zamorca and Teacow. Small point on the explanation of 12ac: I think “deck” and “dress” are the wrong way round.

  4. Nice one.. biggest hold up was 5ac.. looking for weird jam container until penny dropped..
    Thanks Zamorca n Teacow

  5. 29a was a challenge, as we Yanks pronounce “geyser” differently from the Brits. Otherwise, a fine puzzle and blog. Thank you both.

  6. Thanks Zamorca and Teacow
    A pleasant enough single-sitting solve with some excellent clues sprinkled throughout. Did find the device of picking out single letters from words a bit repetitive – 7 or 8 clues using it. Made things more complicated than needed by trying to make [L]OOT the filling at 16a and wondering about ‘endless’.
    Finished in the SW corner IN A FIX, STAIR and SMASHING the last few in.

  7. As brucew@aus says, “A pleasant enough single-sitting solve with some excellent clues sprinkled throughout.” But we struggled a bit in the NE corner and JANGLE was our LOI. Also, we thought ‘cut’ was a bit iffy as an anagrind in 22dn.
    We liked 9ac for ‘trousers’ not being an inclusion indicator for once (it seems to be a bit of a cliché at present). Favourite was ELEMENTS for the apt surface.
    Thanks, Zamorca and Teacow

  8. Thanks Zamorca for a well crafted crossword. I was unable to solve OYSTER, never thinking that fantastic indicated an anagram nor did I get SMASHING. I got ASTONISH mostly by definition as I’m in the dark on football clubs. Favourites included FOND (liked the surface), USER, UNDERMINE, and EXCAVATE. (Cava’s a good alternative to Asti for a sparkling wine.) Thanks Teacow for the blog.

  9. Thanks Zamorca. Nice start to the week; all solved except “jangle”. Minor quibbles perhaps but we thought “to” in 3dn and “‘s” in 23dn were superfluous but undoubtedly helped the surfaces.

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