Financial Times 16,907 by BOBCAT

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I’ve not heard of Bobcat before, but perhaps some of you have? An enjoyable challenge.

Some very elegant surfaces and extra thinking required on less obvious clues. I enjoyed this very much, so thank you Bobcat!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Feature of endgame employing belt- and-braces tactic? (6-8)
DOUBLE CHECKING

Double definition

The first referring to chess

10. Turner: he exhibited in west and east London at first (5)
WHEEL

HE exhibited in W[est] and E[ast] L[ondon] (at first)

11. No hope, unfortunately, on French island for one who likes a drink (9)
OENOPHILE

(NO HOPE)* (*unfortunately) on ILE (French isle)

12. Am I bats to stew this? (7)
BASMATI

(AM I BATS)* (*to stew)

13. Poem in London’s District Line magazine missing verse? (7)
ECLOGUE

EC (London’s district, Eastern Central postcode) + L (line) + [v]OGUE (magazine missing V (verse))

14. Made adjustment, having changed course without resistance (5)
TUNED

TU[r]NED (having changed course, without R (resistance))

16. Attack batting side by sledging – when Border’s gone, by anything (9)
ONSLAUGHT

ON (batting side) + SL[edging] (when border’s gone) by AUGHT (anything)

19. Impetuous doctor shaves Tory without soap to begin with (9)
OVERHASTY

(SHAVE[s] TORY (without S[oap] (to being with)))* (*doctor)

20. Express reverses across road a short way? (5)
YARDS

SAY< (express, <reverses) across RD (road)

22. Second-class teams must retain energy – or else! (7)
BESIDES

B SIDES (second class teams) must retain E (energy)

25. Institution completely put in place (7)
INSTALL

INST (institution, abbreviation) + ALL (completely)

27. Administered severe criticism to cut down culture (4,5)
TORE APART

TO REAP ART (to cut down culture)

28. A third of licensees covered your song (5)
LYRIC

LIC[ensees] (a third of) covered YR (your, abbreviation)

29. Hope sentence begins with a temporal indication (4,10)
LIFE EXPECTANCY

EXPECTANCY (hope), LIFE (sentence begins)

DOWN
2. Expression of respect and honour that’s peripheral to South African party (9)
OBEISANCE

OBEISE (honour) that’s peripheral to ANC (South African party)

3. Beautiful Italian girl, one of two employed in plant producing drug (5)
BELLA

BELLA [donna] (one of two employed in plant producing drug)

4. Perhaps “smiley” and “laughing” feelings must conceal dejection at heart? (9)
EMOTICONS

EMOTIONS (feelings) must conceal [deje]C[tion] (at heart)

5. Complaint misses point from the outset, and it’s pivotal (5)
HINGE

[w]HINGE (complaint, misses W (point, west) from the outset)

6. Form of piracy holding everyone up in vessel (9)
CAPILLARY

(PIRACY)* (*form of) holding ALL< (everyone, <up)

7. Understated chic in Galliano cap or coat (5)
ICING

[ch]IC IN G[alliano] (understated)

8. Old king looks tense and extremely pale (7)
GREYEST

GR (old king) + EYES (looks) + T (tense)

9. Trump’s worthless talk-show discontented with final notice (3-3)
TWO-BIT

T[alk-sho]W (discontented) with OBIT (final notice)

15. Heated dry vigorously to .….? (9)
DEHYDRATE

(HEATED DRY)* (*vigorously)

17. Filthy place to file originals of iconic collection of fashion (9)
STYLISTIC

STY (filthy place) + LIST (to file) + I[conic] C[ollection] (originals of)

18. Old person rolling cigar tries to give up smoking? Hardly at all! (9)
GERIATRIC

(CIGAR TRIE[s] (to give up S[moking], hardly at all))* (*rolling)

19. Interminable road examination soaks up money (7)
ORBITAL

ORAL (examination) soaks up BIT (money)

21. Expert supporting the Spanish revolutionary provides comfort (6)
SOLACE

ACE (expert) supporting LOS< (“the” Spanish, <revolutionary)

23. Something fundamental about types giving rise to passions (5)
SERIF

FIRES< (passion, <giving rise to)

24. Recycling instruments could be accidental (5)
SHARP

HARP>S (instruments, >recycling)

Musical term

26. Dance like girl endlessly twirling (5)
SALSA

AS LAS[s]< (like girl, endlessly, <twirling)

18 comments on “Financial Times 16,907 by BOBCAT”

  1. Bobcat is new to me, so welcome aboard! The FT series has improved in part because it has broadened its complement of setters. This was a little harder for me than a typical Monday, but that is always welcome. Thanks also to Teacow.

  3. Yes, welcome to Bobcat. Some pretty tough ones both to solve and then work out what was going on eg ECLOGUE and TORE APART. I liked the ‘a temporal indication’ and ‘Something fundamental about types’ defs. I agree with Hovis @2 about the parsing for OBEISANCE.

    Good to have a two-for-the-price-of-one repeated Nina as a present from our first time setter.

    Thanks to Bobcat and Teacow

  4. I’m another pleased to encounter a new setter though it definitely required some careful consideration and was tougher than expected for a Monday.
    I also parsed 2d as Hovis did though I certainly needed Teacow’s help for a handful today. BELLA and SOLACE were among the few gimmes. I liked CAPILLARY, OENOPHILE and ECLOGUE in particular.
    A very chewy workout.
    Thanks and welcome to Bobcat and Teacow.

  5. Thanks Bobcat for the challenge. I needed a word finder for a number of clues, including TORE APART (mechanism too obscure/advanced for me), ORBITAL (new use of the word for me), and ECLOGUE. I liked most of the surfaces which is a big plus in my book. BESIDES was a particular favourite as was WHEEL and STYLISTIC. Thanks Teacow for parsing.

  6. I agree that this was an excellent puzzle from a new setter. I also liked SHARP as well as others already mentioned. Blog definitely needed for some clues.But completely failed to spot two-for -the-price- of-one Nina .WordPlodder@3 Can anyone help please?

  7. SM @6. It’s a reference to CENTRE appearing along both the centre row and column (I.e. row 8 and column 8).

  8. Thanks Teacow as I wasn’t sure of some of these (SHARP = Accidental, LYRIC = song, GREYEST (don’t like that much)) but couldn’t think of anything that worked better – i do agree with Hovis@2 re OBEISANCE though, and thanks also for pointing out the NINA. Agree with compliments on the many fine clues here, I found it tough but enjoyed the battle, especially TWO-BIT, thanks Bobcat.

  9. Thanks for the blog , new setter for me as well and a lot of neat clues already mentioned .
    I did not like GREYEST much either , most pale would be better than extremely.
    You can be extremely pale but not the greyest of all.
    Only a minor quibble, I thought this was very good indeed.

  11. I enjoyed this, and hadn’t spotted the Nina till I came here, all the more impressive! Some lovely clues, too many to mention, though I particularly liked CAPILLARY and ORBITAL. I also really liked 4d emoticons, I’m partial to this type of surface reading, though I think the clue would read better without the quotes and without ‘must’ (which to me conflicts with perhaps). will? Maybe there’s not much in it.

    Well done bobcat, look forward to next one.

  12. Nice one, Bobcat, I look forward to many more, and thanks Teacow for the blog.
    I’m surprised Roz didn’t single out 4d EMOTICONS as her favourite (insert one here).

  13. Late to the game today but welcome to Bobcat and thanks for the workout.
    I also parsed 2d like Hovis. Do we ever get a definitive answer on situations like this ?
    Thanks for the blog Teacow.
    As an aside I see the Saturday crossword still doesn’t make sense as there is no 8d clue, even though they have amended the grid.

  16. Tony@ 14
    Yes, I thought I wouldn’t panic about the missing 8d and things would become clear eventually…which they did. Fortunately, we can come here to correct or grouse over such slips!

  17. Late to the party but we can’t go without welcoming Bobcat, even if we don’t comment on the puzzle.

  18. Thanks Bobcat and Teacow
    Great debut puzzle from this setter who I hope that we see much more of. A tad harder than the normal Monday fare – actually did it on the day, but work has got in the road of finishing out the final checks and post for a number of puzzles recently.
    Like some others, didn’t think of looking for a nina, but was able to find it when alerted that here that there was one. Was able to negotiate all of the parsing which was very satisfying as quite a few were pretty difficult.
    Finished in the NE corner with ICING, the clever ECLOGUE and HINGE (which wasn’t as hard as I seemed to have made it) as the last one in.

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