Financial Times 17,018 by SLORMGORM

by

A SLORMGORM to enjoy on Valentine's day…

The setter, in the company of Chuck Norris and Peter Sellers (and possibly Morse in 14d), serves up a nice mix of solid clues with some great surfaces.

Happy Valentine's day everyone! Incidentally, if anyone is concerned about the rise of Artificial Intelligence they need look no further than here (https://www.aiweirdness.com/ai-generated-valentines-cards/) to allay their fears.

Thanks SLORMGORM!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Man engaged in India making this? (7)
CHAPATI

CHAP (man) + AT (engaged in) + I (India)

5. Perverted graduate soprano caught in act (7)
DEBASED

(BA (graduate) + S (soprano)) caught in DEED (act)

9. Where potter puts chalk when the time’s right? (2,3)
ON CUE

Double definition

10. One comic attacked son in financial management (9)
ECONOMICS

(ONE COMIC)* (*attacked) + S (son)

11. Old judge imprisons individual free of blame (9)
EXONERATE

(EX (old) + RATE (judge)) imprisons ONE (individual)

12. Barman left in fury after a knock back (5)
ELGAR

(L (left) in RAGE (fury))< (<after a knock back)

13. Boozer close to obscene with no clothes on (4)
BARE

BAR (boozer) + [obscen]E (close to)

15. Opinionated old lady jerk set upon mutt (8)
DOGMATIC

(MA (old lady) + TIC (jerk)) set upon DOG (mutt)

18. Men grade freshly-cast copper abroad (8)
GENDARME

(MEN GRADE)* (*freshly-cast)

19. Talk for a long time with Peter Sellers? (2,2)
GO ON

GOON (Peter Sellers)

22. A woman mostly just like everyone else? (5)
NORMA

NORMA[l] (just like everyone else, mostly)

24. Vessel girl gets on . . . . Victory, say (9)
WINEGLASS

LASS (girl) gets on (WIN (victory) + EG (say))

26. A monarch angry about one music producer (9)
HARMONICA

(A MONARCH)* (*angry) about I (one)

27. Tolerate a woman vowing to leave Republican (5)
ABIDE

A + B[r]IDE (woman vowing, to leave R (republican))

28. Some mayhem in a retail building (7)
MINARET

[mayhe]M IN A RET[ail] (some)

29. Showered at end of day, being exhausted (7)
DRAINED

RAINED (showered) at end of D (day)

DOWN
1. Foremost of carousers adores Buds (6)
CLOVES

C[arousers] (foremost of) + LOVES (adores)

2. A charge on rum and port (9)
ANCHORAGE

(A CHARGE ON)* (*rum)

3. Beer-covered editor upset famous singer (5)
ADELE

ALE (beer) covered (ED)< (editor, <upset)

4. Foreign citizen cleared in Barking (9)
ICELANDER

(CLEARED IN)* (*barking)

5. Medic at work gets drug for Queen’s lover (5)
DRONE

DR (medic) + ON (at work) gets E (drug)

6. One making a round trip in Australia? (9)
BOOMERANG

Cryptic definition

7. Chuck Norris finally will meet Fish (5)
SLING

[Norri]S (finally) will meet LING (fish)

8. Long for teacher to be pushed into river (6)
DESIRE

SIR (teacher) to be pushed into DEE (river)

14. Tune a duo never attempt (9)
ENDEAVOUR

(A DUO NEVER)* (*tune)

16. Immature young man touring North Island (9)
GREENLAND

GREEN (immature) + LAD (young man) touring N (north)

17. Solitude is over? A time to get a hug off Leo! (9)
ISOLATION

IS + O (over) + ((A + T (time)) to get a hug off LION (leo))

20. Loyalist song gets soldier on edge (6)
ANTHEM

ANT (soldier) on HEM (edge)

21. A post filled by Catholic getting rise (6)
ASCEND

A + SEND (post) filled by C (catholic)

23. Intro of refrain queen and a Parisian repeat (5)
RERUN

R[efrain] (intro of) + ER (queen) + UN (a, Parisian)

24. Where a corporation appears rubbish in hearing (5)
WAIST

"waste" (rubbish, "in hearing")

"Corporation" meaning "belly".

25. Country hospital in Georgia by northern area (5)
GHANA

H (hospital) in GA (Georgia) by N (northern) + A (area)

11 comments on “Financial Times 17,018 by SLORMGORM”

  1. An enjoyable puzzle which gave a quick solve today. A good way to start Valentine’s Day so warm thanks to Setter and Blogger.

  2. Straightforward but entertaining Monday morning exercise, with some fun clues: I particularly liked ABIDE, DESIRE and ISOLATION.

  3. Agree with those above; a winsome puzzle which slipped down nicely. My favourite was GO ON but there was plenty to like besides.
    Just needed Teacow’s belly = ‘corporation’ explanation for WAIST.
    Thanks Teacow and Slormgorm.

  4. I too agree with those above. I can’t remember the last time I finished a puzzle with help from neither a word search app nor the blog. I infer that Elgar is a “bar”man because he composed music.
    Thanks to Slormgorm for an enjoyable solve and Teacow for the explanations. Although in the middle of February, I’d prefer to think of warmer climes than 2d, 4d, and 16d. 🙂

  6. Agree with the above. Quick solve by my standards. I particularly liked Exonerate because of its simplicity and grammatical clarity and also Endeavour. The latter because the anagram did not jump out at me and I started by looking for a word meaning Tune. 🙂 🙂

    I suppose Drained works but “at the end of day” had me initially looking for a word beginning with Y

  7. Thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow. I agree with the comments above. I was slow in getting WINEGLASS but once I got the W I had no problem with WAIST-corporation.

  9. Thanks Slormgorm for a crossword that I completed without assistance and one that I was able to parse in its entirety. I feel like there was a mini theme of “common crossword answers;” it seems that ADELE, ICELANDER, EXONERATE, GENDARME, GHANA, ANCHORAGE, ISOLATION, and CHAPATI have all appeared very recently in other puzzles. Favourite was DRONE. Thanks Teacow for the blog.

  10. Many thanks to Her Cowesty for a great blog and to all who solved and commented.

    Hope to see you all next time around but until then it’s cheers and chin chin from me.

    Ps. I had to ask my silver-haired mother what winsome meant and she just smiled and said you, my boy, you. 🙂

  11. Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow
    A prime example of where a fast-solved crossword provides as much or more enjoyment than a more difficult one. Some gems of definitions, including ‘a woman vowing’, ‘queen’s lover’ and ‘where a corporation appears’ as well as the clever use of ‘Chuck Norris’ at 7d. Of course 6d was amongst the favourites.
    Finished down the bottom with RERUN, WINEGLASS and that WAIST as the last few in.

Comments are closed.