Financial Times 16,915 by JULIUS

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Another entertaining puzzle from Julius. Thank you Julius.

 

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 GUSTAV KLIMT
Kiss chap bringing round goat milk vat, suggest cuddles (6,5)
found inside (that…cuddles) goaT MILK VAT SUGgest reversed (bringing round) – painter of The Kiss
7 LAD
Boy infiltrating Al-Qaeda, off and on (3)
every other letter (inside…off and on) of aL-qAiDa
9 NUMEN
New bill of fare promoting uniform spirit of Rome (5)
N (new) then MENU (bill of fare) with U (uniform) moved to the front (promoted)
10 ROSEWATER
Fragrant liquid making rower’s tea (4,5)
anagram (making) ROWER’S TEA
11 RAOUL DUFY
Fauvist sculpture of Our Lady grabs Uffizi’s leaders (5,4)
anagram (sculpture) of OUR LADY contains (grabs) UFfizi (first two letters, leaders)
12 SOLTI
Very large tenor, international household name in opera (5)
SO (very) L (large) T (tenor) I (international) – Sir Georg Solti, conductor with many European opera companies
13 FRANTIC
Swiss currency note carried when desperate (7)
FRANC (Swiss currency) contains (…is carried) TI (note, in music)
15 EROS
Aphrodite’s Child resentful in retirement (4)
SORE (resentful) reversed (in retirement)
18 OMEN
Discovering instant warning (4)
mOMENt (instant) missing outer letters (dis-covered)
20 JAKARTA
Following German approval, Ford secures 28 capital (7)
JA (yes, approval, in German) then KA (car by Ford) containing ART (28 across) – capital of Indonesia
23 IN USE
Wearing American couture, at last engaged! (2,3)
IN (wearing) US(American) then coturE (at last, last letter)
24 BY-PRODUCT
Bit on the side came via professional channel (2-7)
BY (via) PRO (professional) DUCT (channel)
26 NEW MARKET
Pioneering sales rep targets this Suffolk town (9)
double definition
27 INIGO
Jones is blue, taking day off (5)
INdIGO (blue) missing (taking…off) D (day) – Inigo Jones, architect and designer
28 ART
Advanced right skill (3)
A (advanced) then RT(right)
29 EDVARD MUNCH
Dave crashed by Route 1 out of German city – I’ll never forget his scream (6,5)
anagram (crashed) of DAVE then RD (road, route) finally MUNiCH (German city) missing (…left out of) I (1) – the painter of The Scream
DOWN
1 GENTRIFY
If admitted to grand doorway, smarten up! (8)
IF inside (admitted to) G (grand) ENTRY (doorway)
2 SUM TOTAL
The lot – from gypsum to talcum (3,5)
found inside (from) gypSUM TO TALcum
3 ANNUL
Cancel yearbook; second article’s missing (5)
ANNUaL (year bokk) missing the second A (indefinite article)
4 KEROUAC
Our cake mix, an inspiration to Bob Dylan (7)
anagram (mix) of OUR CAKE – writer Jack Kerouac
5 IN STYLE
This month, Yankee left Spain going first class! (2,5)
INST (this month) Y (yankee, phonetic alphabet) L (left) E (Espana, Spain)
6 TOWNSFOLK
The residents know lofts should be renovated (9)
anagram (should be renovated) of KNOW LOFTS
7, 8 LITTLE DORRIT
I’d titter – LOL! Funny! – about opening of romantic novel (6,6)
anagram (finny) of I’D TITTER LOL containing Romantic (first letter, opening of)
14 TEMPERATE
Mild paint mixture to go on walls of temple (9)
TEMPERA (paint mixture) then TemplE (outer letters, walls of)
16 FREUDIAN
Father Euan probed by senior detective’s analytical technique (8)
FR (father) EUAN contains (probed by) DI (Detective Inspector, senior detective)
17 SAWTOOTH
Sound horn entering Wash – turbulent wave pattern (8)
TOOT (sound horn) inside (entering) anagram (turbulent) of WASH
19 NABOKOV
Writer upset very old king over boycott (7)
V (very) O (old) K (king) O (over) BAN (boycott) all reversed (upset) – Vladimir Nabokov
20 JUPITER
Texan oilman acquiring uranium mine beginning to endanger planet (7)
JR (Texan oilman, from TV series Dallas) contains (acquiring) U (Uranium) PIT (mine) and Endanger (first letter, beginning to)
21 VIENNA
Nine running amok in Virginia city (6)
anagram (running amok) of NINE inside VA (Virginia)
22 OUTWIT
Get the better of old upper-class idiot (6)
O (old) U (upper class) TWIT (idiot)
25 OPIUM
It’s extracted from poppy in US –- my failing, occasionally (5)
every other letter (failing occasionally) of pOpPy In Us My – you could read this as an extended definition: It’s extracted from…(poppy), or perhaps as an &lit if we assume Julius occasionally takes opium extracted in the US

30 comments on “Financial Times 16,915 by JULIUS”

  1. On a wet and miserable day, Julius brings such much-needed cheer, particularly for the art-lovers among us.
    Favourites were RAOUL DUFY and INIGO but there were many other gems besides. The definition for 1a was also very good, likewise the surface of 29A.
    Thanks to Julius for this fine treat and to PeeDee for clearing up a few parsing issues [like where the ‘n’ came from in 5d] this blog.

  2. Thanks Julius and PeeDee

    9ac: This should be N + MENU with U (uniform) moved to the beginning to give UMEN. This makes the definition just the last three words.

  3. A greatly enjoyed puzzle which improved my spelling of some artists’ names. Some clever clues and neat anagrams. Thanks to setter and impressive blogger.

  5. I liked the “creative” theme, despite being woefully ignorant about most of the “creators”. A few unknowns went in courtesy of the wordplay but I still failed on SAWTOOTH which in retrospect (as ever) wasn’t as difficult as I made it out to be.

    I parsed NEWMARKET as ‘Pioneering’ (=NEW) + ‘sales rep targets’ (=MARKET) so I didn’t quite see it as a double def. As always though, happy to be corrected.

    Thanks to Julius and PeeDee

  6. Always a treat to get a crossword from one of my favourite setters. Definitely one of those ‘how to you spell’ themes!

    Thanks to Julius and PeeDee

  7. Did anyone really manage to complete 11A without resorting to an online search? I managed to complete the first name from the chosen letters but could not decide between FUDY and DUFY without cheating.

    9A was a new word to me. I thought that I knew all of the Greek and Roman gods, all of the fates and furies, but this one escaped me.

    I do not know the Texan oilman in 20D but as I already had solved the first and last letters, the rest was obvious.

  8. Peter @7 re 11ac: As explained by PeeDee in the blog, the word “grabs” in the clue indicates that the “Uffizi’s leaders” are to be inserted in the anagram, rather than being part of the anagram fodder. Therefore the letters UF must occur consecutively in that order in the answer.

  9. Thanks Pelham, I did read PeeDee’s explanation; I just question whether anyone had heard of the answer without resorting to an Internet search. I consider myself as pretty knowledgeable but I have never heard of this painting, despite my wife being a very well known violinist.

    In future, please restrict your answers to be less condescending. Please no more ad hominem attacks.

  10. Peter@9: My answer was certainly not intended as an ad hominem attack. I was explaining the processes by which I entered the answer with total confidence, and without resort to any outside help, despite the fact that the name was not familiar to me.

  11. Hi Peter, I can see how Pelham’s reply might be read as condescending. But I’m sure he meant to be helpful, Pelham has helped me countless times fixing errors in my blog. Be nice and assume the best from people! One day someone will be forgiving with you when you don’t phrase a comment as well as you would have liked 🙂

  12. PeeDee and Pelham, I am sorry if I over-reacted. I could attach some friendly and smiling emojis here but I don’t know how to do it. Let’s just shake hands, say forgiveness and be friends.

    For the record, I do usually assume the best of people.

  15. Very good Peter, I have found Pelham very helpful in the past ,his style may seem a bit curt but he is just explaining how the clue works, I think my style is very similar in fact.

    Really enjoyed this , great to see Gordius . Diane @1 has mentioned my favourites.

    Just a thought , do the people mentioned have some connection to VIenna ?? Bit doubtful but I have not had chance to look up anything yet.

  16. Thanks for your blog PeeDee and thanks to those who have commented.
    @Roz…I live in the Black Forest and my family made its first post-lockdown foray outside Baden-Württemberg for 18 months or so in July when we drove to Salzburg, Graz and Vienna where we saw plenty of Klimt, plus The Scream and a bit of Dufy.
    Best wishes to all, Rob/Julius

  18. Only three have a Viennese connection: Klimt and Freud were based in Vienna although Freud had to flee to London towards the end of his life. Solti made a brilliant recording of the Ring cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic. Not enough for a Viennese theme though.

  20. Julius – your definition “I’ll never forget his scream” made me smile. We had no art lessons at school and my parents were philistines so I leaned nothing about art at home either. After school I toured Europe during a gap year and went to the Edvard Munch museum in Norway as seeing this painting was listed a “must do” in the what-to-do-in-Scandinavia section of our guidebook. I don’t know what I was expecting, but what I saw was a smallish rather drab looking painting looking like it needed a good clean. I was profoundly let down. I have forgotten nearly everything about the dozens of other museums and galleries we must have visited but not “The Scream”. I can see it now clear as day.

  21. To my surprise, I completed this (much GK needed) puzzle. Only resorted to wiki for the second name of Raoul. Like Wordplodder @ 5, I saw Newmarket (9 letters) as a single definition as the second would have to be two words. Thanks Peedee and Julius.

  22. Some beautiful surfaces in today’s puzzle. And if the theme isn’t Vienna, then how about Austria?
    For those who wish to put emojis in your post, do it the old-fashioned way: with combinations of punctuation. The blog software converts them to emoji characters when posting. E.g. smiley face is colon hyphen right parenthesis 🙂

  23. Just to add to EdK @22. If you type emoticons into the site search box you will find a link to Gaufrid’s list of emoticons that translate to emojis (and the important proviso that you remember to have a space on both sides).

  24. Peter @7,
    One of Raoul Dufy’s paintings adorns my travel card case, so yes I know the name though granted, he is not as widely known as Klimt or Munch. Indeed, this whole grid slipped in very easily for me as it played to my interests for once. Such is not the case with cricket terms, old politicians or physics but the depth of knowledge shown in the FT crosswords is precisely why I enjoy them.
    The Texan oil baron is J R Ewing (of Dallas fame). You may not have watched this 1980s TV series but it caught the popular imagination when J R was shot and the cliffhanger question “Who shot J R?” was emblazoned on newsstands, t-shirts and mugs! You didn’t miss much!
    [Julius – I envy your chance to see these works but do feel sated from an excellent recent showing of Surrealist art in my city]

  25. Thanks Julius — GUSTAV KLIMT, RAOUL DUFY, and LITTLE DORRIT are beyond my orbit but I managed to figure them out because the cluing was so clear. My favourites were OMEN (for the dis-covering technique), ANNUL, and KEROUAC. Thanks PeeDee for today’s active blog.

  26. Just realised I put great to see Gordius @15 , of course I meant Julius, I was rushing to comment .
    Gordius is an old Guardian setter.

  27. Thanks Julius, PeeDee and Bloggers. Enjoyable solve (with a little help from my friends…) and fun to read the evolving blogs!

  28. Great fun and 15a was way outside my knowledge so the internet was used. The rest of the references tickled memories from somewhere.
    I parsed NEWMARKET the same as WordPlodder@5.
    Thanks Julius and Peedee.

  29. Roz @26, unfortunately Gordius was an old Guardian setter.
    The Rev David Moseley, passed away on Feb 26, 2020, aged 89.
    I always wondered what happened to him after there weren’t any Gordius puzzles anymore since 2014.
    His death wasn’t announced at Fifteensquared but last year Alan Connor wrote an obituary in The Guardian.
    All Things Must Pass.

  30. Thanks Julius and PeeDee
    So late to post with some of these puzzles – actually did it the day after publication but only got to correct it today. Found it a typically enjoyable crossword from this setter and whilst noting the highbrow artistic / literary / musical slant to the answers, could not put them together into a theme.
    A lot of clever devices used throughout but did need some referential help to find or justify some of the folk that I didn’t know. Loved the descriptions to some of them – ‘Kiss chap’, ‘I’ll never forget his scream’, ‘Aphrodite’s child’, etc. I wasn’t a Wordplodder word play follower – thought that ‘pioneering sales rep targets this’ was a clever whimsical way of defining a NEW MARKET.
    Finished in the SE corner with JUPITER (with a Dynasty penny drop along the way), JAKARTA (happy remembering the Ford car that is not a part of our range) and FREUDIAN (which would probably have some theory as to why it was last).

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