Financial Times 16,926 by STEERPIKE

by

A new setter, to me anyway, and a very decent first showing…

Mostly straightforward, but with a couple of obscurities and suitably sneaky (given his nom-de-guerre) parses to keep smugness at bay. Thanks, Steerpike.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
8 YOGA
A gentile’s twisted spiritual practice (4)

A + reversal of GOY (Jewish name for a non-Jew, 'gentile').
9 AVERAGE OUT
Find the means (7,3)

Cryptic definition.
10 STEPPE
Regularly sets back-to-back records in wilderness (6)

Alternate letters of 'SeTs' + EP then EP reversed ('back-to-back records')
11 ROULETTE
Risky game allowed in road (8)

LET in ROU.TE.
12 WISTERIA
Plant is a write-off (8)

Anagram ('off') of IS A WRITE.
14 HEREBY
As a result of this unorthodoxy, son becomes bishop (6)

HEREsY ('unorthodoxy'), its S[on] changed to B[ishop].
16 AKIN
Like a child, say (4)

A + KIN (one's 'child', for example).
17 VODKA
Oscar, consumed by infection, takes vitamin-A drink (5)

O[scar] in V[enereal] D[isease] + K (a 'vitamin') + A.
18 DOLL
Toy with Liberal following party line (4)

DO ('party') + L[ine] + L[iberal].
19 TREMOR
Video ref accepts concerns? Initial reaction is shock! (6)

T[elevision] M[atch] O[fficial] includes RE (= 'concerns') + 1st letter of R{eaction}. TMO, rugby's equivalent of soccer's V[ideo] A[ssistant] R[eferee], was new to me – not being a rugger type – & I had to trawl around for it. Last in.

21 OLIGARCH
Old tree houses soldier turned over to member of elite (8)

O[ld] + L.ARCH containing reversal of GI ('soldier').
23 PRESSURE
Papers written by head of university about stress (8)

PRESS (the 'papers') + U[niversity] + RE ('about').
26 TREPAN
Perform boring operation (6)

Cryptic definition.
27 REVOLUTION
A Spin Doctor live on tour (10)

Anagram ('doctor') of LIVE ON TOUR.
28 TSAR
Dreaded individual almost returned as leader (4)

RASTa[farian] (one who wears dreadlocks, a 'dreaded individual'), shortened & reversed.
DOWN
1 BOOTLICKER
Creep spoils squabble for Spooner (10)

Spoonerism of LOOT ('spoils') + BICKER (to 'squabble').
2 RASPUTIN
Serbs essentially like president’s mystical advisor (8)

Centre ('essentially') of 'seRbs' + AS ('like') + PUTIN (Russian 'president').
3 CAREER
Rush Native Americans found crossing a river (6)

C.REE ('native American') contains A, then R[iver].
4 BEAR
Watering hole provides refuge for European animal (4)

B.AR (a 'watering hole') contains E[uropean].
5 BABUSHKA
Degree given to ex-president Ford’s granny in Moscow (8)

BA ('degree') + BUSH ('ex-president') + KA (model of 'Ford' car).
6 METEOR
Encounter AA Milne character, said to be a fireball (6)

Homophone of 'meet Eeyore'.
7 DUET
Composition to be handed in by end of August (4)

DUE ('to be handed in…', as of essays &c, 'due by Friday') + last of 'augusT'.
13 AUDIO
Sound analysts use device originally deployed on satellite (5)

1st letters of 'Analysts Use Device' + IO (moon, 'satellite' of Jupiter).
15 BALACLAVAS
An IRA man’s overheads? (10)

Cryptic definition. Traditional IRA headgear at funerals to avoid recognition.
17 VIRTUOUS
Dismissed rises in cause of disease for good (8)

OUT ('dismissed') reversed in VIR.US ('cause of disease').
18 DIALECTS
Control weird sect delivering different kinds of speech (8)

DIAL (a 'control') + anagram ('weird') of SECT.
20 MOSCOW
Capital way to operate barge (6)

M[odus] O[perandi] ('way to operate') + SCOW (a flat-bottomed 'barge').
22 INTENT
Fixed location of camper (6)

I.e., IN TENT.
24 REEL
Sound of genuine dance music (4)

Homophone of 'real'.
25 EDIT
Classic movie about detective gets rewrite (4)

E.T surrounds D[etective] I[inspector].

17 comments on “Financial Times 16,926 by STEERPIKE”

  1. Steerpike’s second outing and a good ‘un at that. Cheated with TREMOR and had to google TMO. That led to MOSCOW & PRESSURE allowing me to complete.

  4. Thanks Steerpike and Grant

    Small correction to the parsing of 8ac: it is of course reversal of [A+GOY] not A + reversal of GOY.

  5. Yes, my second look at Steerpike and a super one it was too with its unannounced theme, which helped land an unparsed MOSCOW, and thought WISTERIA very neat. Loved the Spoonerism on this occasion. Just used an online cheat for TREPAN.
    Thanks to Steerpike and Grant.

  6. 26 A brainy one (an interesting cryptic on ‘boring op’).
    28 A ‘dreaded individual’ is naughty (not knotty tho’).
    6D Steerpike (and Grant) rock (solid stuff!).

    There are some nice and easy ones like 10 A (which is plain).
    9 A Cryptic def is a bit…er…I mean… average.

  7. A hard act to follow, Kurukveera @6.

    The theme helped me with my last in BALACLAVAS which I otherwise would not have seen. Those cryptic defs – love ’em (if you solve them) or hate ’em (if you don’t). Coincidentally, yesterday October 25th was the 167th anniversary of the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava.

    Thanks (? Spasibo) to Steerpike and Grant

  8. Thanks for the blog, second time for me as well with this setter.
    Agree with Diane @5 for WISTERIA and BOOTLICKER, not very keen on the homophone for METEOR.
    Nice range of clues and good variety in the theme.

  12. A step up from Steerpike’s first puzzle, I thought and a very satisfying solve, just tricky enough in places and well varied. As a frequent homophone objector, I must confess I loved meteor…

  13. Thanks Steerpike. I enjoyed the Russian theme, especially RASPUTIN and OLIGARCH. I also liked the short ones like TSAR, EDIT, DOLL, and AKIN, all with nice surfaces. I did have some failures like TREMOR, TREPAN, and BALACLAVAS but that didn’t detract too much from my overall satisfaction. Thanks Grant for the blog.

  14. Well, we didn’t rush in (pun intentional!) to this but took it steadily and it almost all came out in the end – we didn’t get DUET. We did eventually get TREMOR – we knew of VAR and Hawkeye but had to confirm TMO by googling. And we agree with Goujeers @9 that 26ac isn’t even remotely cryptic.
    But there was plenty to enjoy, including WISTERIA, RASPUTIN and METEOR.
    Thanks, Steerpike and Grant.

  15. Thanks Grant, I found this tricky and it took me a while (like Steerpike’s first) but remarkably I spotted the theme just in time for LOI TSAR. While I got the spoonerism I don’t really like it as “loot bicker” is not something I can imagine anyone ever saying. A couple more weak ones as mentioned above but HEREBY, RASPUTIN, TREMOR and above all BABUSHKA (so nearly an anagram of Kate) led to big smiles of relief when the kopeks finally dropped. Thanks Steerpike!

  16. Steerpike is an excellent addition to the FT stable. More, please.

    Re: 6d METEOR, I think this was a perfectly good pun / homeophone. I know some say (pace Roz) that if the solution isn’t a perfect homophone, the indicator should say “some say” or words to that effect. Why? You could just as easily say that if the solution is a perfect homophone, the indicator should say “everyone says” or words to that effect. After all, for clues that use puns, homeophones or homophones, (perfect) homophones are in the minority, so perhaps they should require the added stipulation..

    METEOR was one of my ticked clues, along with 10a STEPPE (for the back-to-back records device), 28a TSAR (for the “dreaded” misdirection), and 5d MOSCOW (for the ex-Pres Ford misdirection).

    As usual, I missed the theme, which was well done – i.e., the setter didn’t need to jump through hoops to fill the grid, and the clues could be solved without knowing the theme.

    Thanks Steerpike and Grant (and wordPlodder) for the fun and elucidations.

  17. Thanks Steerpike and Grant
    Did this one last week but in the last weeks of a contract have been too busy for my lengthy checking process, only getting to it now. Found it a good test, taking over the hour to do, and enjoyed it a lot. Although subliminally noticing the Russian words, for some reason the ghost theme passed me by in general – meaning it didn’t assist the solving process.
    Loved the homophone for METEOR and thought that the WISTERIA was a gem for the anagram beautifully built into the surface.
    Finished in the NW corner mostly with RASPUTIN (another lovely crafted theme-based surface), AKIN (harder than it should have been) and like Grant TREMOR (also not a rugby follower and had to check the TMO bit) as the last one in.
    Must say that I smiled at Kurukveera@6’s witty post.

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