Financial Times 16,938 by BASILISK

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A puzzle fraught with problems…

… some of them literally insoluble. There's a fault with the grid – in my version anyway – in that two lights are missing, in the top right and bottom left. This was I thought a pretty brutal puzzle for a Tuesday anyway, and not being able to complete was, to say the least, irksome. As always with old snake-eyes there was much to admire and to chuckle over but blimey, this was a tough morning's blogging. Rueful thanks to Basilisk.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 THRUST
Force part of NHS to take over hospital (6)

H[ospital] in TRUST (an NHS Trust being part of Britain's system of free healthcare).
4 ACTRES
Lock account before one renders characters on screen (7)

The answer should be 'actress', I think – TRESS ('lock' of hair) after AC[count] – but the grid won't allow it, despite the enumeration. Either I or the editor are having very bad day. And see 25 across.
8 HEADWAY
Method introduced by leader displays progress (7)

WAY ('method') preceded by HEAD ('leader').
9 DEMOTIC
Popular protest movement that can’t be controlled (7)

DEMO (a 'protest') + TIC ('a movement that can't be controlled').
11 STRATEGIST
Skilled campaigner gets artist working (10)

Anagram ('working') of GETS ARTIST.
12 TUTU
What dancer wears is a draw for the audience (4)

Homophone of '2-2', a score draw ('tie' in US) in soccer &c.
13 TITHE
10% being equal to 150% of 10 is somewhat antithetical (5)

In fact, FIFTEENTH (the answer to 10d) = 150% of 10th, the 'antithesis' of what is stated in the clue, so I think we have dual wordplay here, TITHE also being contained in 'anTITHEsis'. But I've confused myself enough. Further clarification most welcome.
14 TRAMPLED
Flattened earth in derelict land that’s been excavated (8)

TRAMP (a beggar, a 'derelict') + LanD, emptied, containing E[arth] (in electricity).
16 ROULETTE
Obstacle course includes game (8)

LET ('obstacle' as in legal 'let or hindrance') included in ROU.TE ('course').
18 TASKS
Those at forefront of technology and science knew Steve Jobs (5)

1st letters ('at the forefront') of 'Technology And Science Knew Steve'.
20 WAIF
Neglected child mainly lived life inside (4)

Shortened WAs ('lived') + innards of 'lIFe'.
21 CATERWAULS
Queen perhaps saw rule broken and creates beastly row (10)

CAT (perhaps a 'queen', female thereof) + anagram ('broken') of SAW RULE.
23 STOICAL
Philosophical Society’s initially dealing with subject taking Plato’s lead (7)

1st of 'Society' + TOpICAL ('dealing with subject'), minus 1st of 'Plato'.
24 MASTIFF
Hound old lady moving with difficulty (7)

MA ('old lady') + STIFF ('moving with difficulty').
25 RIGATE
Fire shot with gun on board ship (7)

Another disaster. I think the answer should be FRIGATE – GAT ('gun') in anagram ('shot') of FIRE. – but, again, the grid won't allow it.
26 SHODDY
Cheap and nasty shot contains rum (6)

SHY (a throw, a try, a 'shot') contains ODD ('rum').
DOWN
1 THEFT
Newspaper backing article and taking action (5)

F[inancial] T[imes] after THE ('article') to give 'theft = the action of taking.
2 REDRAFT
Produce a new sketch of revolutionary vessel (7)

RED ('revolutionary') + RAFT ('vessel').
3 STAGE LEFT
Leg pulled out of cast here? (5,4)

STAGE (a 'leg' of, say, a sports contest) + LEFT ('pulled out of') to give where actors may await their entrance.
5 CLEFT
Opening in which tenor follows leading musical character (5)

CLEF (the sign at the beginning of a line of music) + T[enor].
6 ROOFTOP
High point of jumper following jumper? (7)

ROO (kangaroo, a 'jumper' + F[ollowing] + TOP (e.g., of clothing, another 'jumper').
7 SHIFTLESS
Lazy and having no time for work (9)

I.e., not having a 'shift', one's designated 'time for work'.
10 FIFTEENTH
Two octaves support note in prime position (9)

Five being a prime number, FIF.TH is a 'prime position'. It contains TEE ('support') + N[ote]. I've never heard a double octave described as a 'fifteenth', but Chambers confirms it.

13 TOOK AFTER
Looked like dishes to chew with fork (4,5)

I think an illegal anagram (clued by 'dishes') of TO EAT + FORK.
15 AFTERMATH
Consequences of following US subject (9)

AFTER ('following') + MATH (academic 'sublect' in US = 'maths' in Britspeak).
17 LIFTING
Removal of uncertainty can empty lending banks (7)

Outside letters of 'LendinG' surround ('bank') IF (an uncertainty, as in 'there are so many IFs in 13a') + TIN (a 'can').
19 SHAFTED
Ripped off by fat criminal in Slough (7)

Anagram ('criminal') of FAT in SH.ED (to 'slough' as of e.g. skin).

21 CRAFT
Fly out of terminal in aeroplane? (5)

CRAFTy ('fly') lacking its last ('terminal') letter.
22 LOFTY
Superior description of Room at the Top? (5)

Cryptic definition, fancifully 'like a loft'.

24 comments on “Financial Times 16,938 by BASILISK”

  3. Really struggled with this. Wish I had spotted the FT ‘theme’ earlier.

    Yet again, the FT messes things up. When I read 25a, I thought that it had to be FRIGATE, but it wouldn’t fit. Then I noticed the 7 enumeration and realised the grid error and then got 4a. I feel that 13d is an unfair clue, assuming the parsing is as I had and you matched, Grant. Perhaps, the clue should have said “eat” not “chew”.

    Had to check Chambers for the double octave meaning of FIFTEENTH. 13a seems a little suspect. 10% = a tenth = a tithe but 150% of 10 is 15 not 15th and 150% of 10d is not a tenth. Maybe I’m missing the obvious, not for the first (or last) time.

  4. Hard work for a Tuesday FT. I’m sure the NE and SW corners should be lights as you say – now confirmed by Colin Inman @2 I see. Both 4a and 25a fit the wordplay and def perfectly with the extra letter. I agree about the verboten indirect anagram for 13d unless there’s something I’m missing. FIFTEENTH went in with a shrug and “Shouldn’t that be 2 x 8 = 16th?”

    Favourite was TITHE which I parsed as a very good triple def. I thought 150% of a FIFTEENTH was a tenth = TITHE but my arithmetic skills have atrophied with the passage of time so I’m probably wrong.

    Well done to Hovis @1 for (as usual) spotting the hidden FT’s in the down clues which escaped me.

    Thanks to Basilisk and Grant

  5. My mind is going. 150% of a fifteenth is indeed a tenth. In my mind, I was doing 150% of 15. Hard to tell I used to be a mathematician.

  7. Thanks Basilisk and Grant. I think the most likely place to see “fifteenth” in music is on the name of a 2 foot organ stop, which is two octaves above the normal pitch given by an 8 foot stop.

  8. Thanks to Hovis for the FT – well spotted – to WordPlodder for the elucidation of FIFTEENTH and to Colin Inman for the hands-up. I think I’m going for a cup of weak tea and a little lie down now.

  9. I’m delighted to find that others thought this was a bit of a beast as there are days when I wonder whether my cryptic grey matter has gone into a decline. I’m delighted to report that I did notice all the FTs in the Downs

    Thanks to Basilisk for the brain-mangling and to Grant for the blog

  12. A dnf for me but very grateful for the explanations. If only I had spotted the FT theme earlier. My Groves Concise Music Dictionary has no mention of FIFTEENTH but one definition in Collins is an interval of two octaves .

    How can we persuade the FT to improve its editing?

  13. Many thanks to Grant for the excellent blog, especially given the trying circumstances, and to everyone who has slogged their way through the puzzle and still been kind enough to comment.

    The discrepancy between grid and entry lengths is my fault. I must have tweaked the standardised FT grid, adding a cell to each of 4a and 25a. Sorry!

  14. Basilisk @13. Was the indirect anagram in 13d intentional? I usually quite like these but felt this overstepped the mark. Don’t know what others think.

  15. No, the clue I submitted had “eat”, not “chew”. Neither Colin nor I can account for how the clue for 13d came to be published.

  16. I must say that I enjoyed this: the grid problem was obvious once I looked at the numerations for 4a and 25a and there were the usual quirky Basilisk clues: I struggled with fifteenth/sixteenth for a time, as a non-musician, but putting it together with tithe made it work. Thanks to Basilisk and to Grant for the sterling effort with the blog.
    The indirect anagram did produce a question mark, but it was eminently soluble, so on this occasion it didn’t really bother me.

  18. Good grief this was tough. Started early this morning and had to put it aside until later this evening.
    Earlier, I was irked to find those missing lights top and bottom but could see what had happened and just wrote in ACTRESS and FRIGATE anyway. I did notice a heavy concentration of Ts but not the Fs! Doubt it would have helped me solve the puzzle any quicker.
    I did finish but certainly needed this blog for a fiendish few, including that naughty anagram. CATERWAULS, TITHE, STOICAL, SHIFTLESS and HEADWAY were all ticks.
    Thanks to Basilisk both for the stiff workout – and confession! Particular thanks to Grant for steering us through a most un-Tuesday-like grid.

  19. Thanks for the blog, not an easy task today. Mistakes do happen, there is even one int he Azed this week. Did not really spoil my enjoyment, I thought the clues were very good indeed today, too many to list.
    Like Hovis @3 I already thought it must be EAT not CHEW , partly for the anagram and also “to chew with fork ” just sounds wrong.

  20. Printed this off for something to do chill out whilst sitting in the pub on my own after a hard day’s work.
    How hopelessly naive of me…

  21. Thanks Basilisk. I started this last evening and it took multiple sittings to solve (not including 4a and 25a). I really enjoyed it and I would have liked it even better had I seen all the FT’s. There were many favourites including TITHE, CATERWAULS, STOICAL, MASTIFF, THEFT, and SHIFTLESS . Thanks Grant for the blog. If I had your job today it wouldn’t be weak tea that I would drink.

  22. Thanks, I think, Basilisk for the workout. I started this mid afternoon as always, but didn’t finish it until breakfast coffee this morning. It was more difficult than expected although I did get the two “unboxed” clues as I had noticed the lengths.
    The rest – sure and steady really but it was a struggle. I wondered about 13d when I sorted it out too, so thanks for dropping in Basilisk. Missed the “FT” bit though.
    Especially thanks for the blog Grant. Well done.

  23. We printed this off this morning but didn’t notice the grid error until solving this afternoon; we didn’t get 4ac on our first pass so it wasn’t until FRIGATE wouldn’t fit that we saw the problem. But by that time the correct grid was on the website so a bit of swift work with Tippex soon took care of it. That and 13dn apart it was a fairly uneventful solve. Favourite was CATERWAULS.
    Thanks, Basilisk and Grant.

  24. Thanks Basilisk and Grant
    Well … what a disaster that was – not meaning the mismatch of the two clues in the diagonally opposite parts of the grid, but what I entered into it !! Messed up FIFTEENTH (by writing in SIXTEENTH, lazily assuming two 8’s = 16 and not working through the word play either with this clue or the related 13a). Had an unparsed CRATE at 21d (hmmm … the difference of not picking up the FT theme). This led to RIGGER going in at 25a, changed to TRIGGER when the leading light was discovered.
    Other than that, it was fun … 🙂 !!
    Thought the surface of 18a was excellent and enjoyed the word play of 20a and 23a.
    All of the wrong ones were near the end of the solve with ACTRESS being the last one in after realising the grid error at 25a.

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