Financial Times 17,054 by SLORMGORM

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This Monday morning’s puzzle is courtesy of SLORMGORM…

A nice mix of clues with some lovely surfaces. I particularly liked 11a and 23d.

I’d not come across 7d before, and the second engineer in 27a is, I think, seldom seen.

 

Thanks SLORMGORM!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Pictures an iPhone is apt to take? (7)
SELFIES

A barely cryptic definition

5. Warning: contrary setter’s a bit of a beast (7)
FORELEG

FORE (warning) + (GEL)< (setter, <contrary)

9. Chap with short joke is a foreign comic (5)
MANGA

MAN (chap) with GA[g] (joke, short)

10. Instrument used to measure cats and dogs? (4,5)
RAIN GAUGE

Cryptic definition

11. Salt perhaps hot to break into shanty? (9)
SEASONING

IN (hot) to break into SEA SONG (shanty?)

12. Former F1 driver spotted in Bahamas sailing (5)
MASSA

[Baha]MAS SA[iling] (spotted in)

Felipe Massa

13. Lugs getting behind new approaches (5)
NEARS

EARS (lugs perhaps) getting behind N (new)

15. Insane do I crashed in the country (9)
INDONESIA

(INSANE DO I)* (*crashed)

18. Poor folk surrounded by DI’s men (9)
INDIGENTS

IN (surrounded by) + DI + GENTS (men)

19. Small instrument tuned a little high? (5)
SHARP

S (small) + HARP (instrument)

21. A large individual with no friends? (5)
ALONE

A + L (large) + ONE (individual)

23. Vegetable abroad Ben served in a new way (9)
BROADBEAN

(ABROAD BEN)* (*served in a new way)

25. Calender I repaired for a foreign national (9)
ICELANDER

(CALENDAR I)* (*repaired)

(CALENDER I)* (*repaired)

26. Love men found in Aden briefly (5)
ADORE

OR (men) found in ADE[n] (briefly)

27. Old engineers restricting temperature limit (7)
EXTREME

(EX (old) + RE ME (engineers)) restricting T (temperature)

28. Chosen to get rid of section in office? (7)
ELECTED

[s]ELECTED (chosen, to get rid of S (section))

DOWN
1. Boy seen around little devils in Homer? (7)
SIMPSON

SON (boy) seen around IMPS (little devils)

2. A labourer that loan gets on top of gets help (4,1,4)
LEND A HAND

(A + HAND (labourer)) that LEND (loan) gets on top of

3. Love kept one up in a state (5)
IDAHO

(O (love) + HAD (kept) + I (one))< (<up)

4. Drunk Iranians will hug democratic European (9)
SARDINIAN

(IRANIANS)* (*drunk) will hug D (democratic)

5. Cast with bit of finesse to get fish (5)
FLING

F[inesse] (bit of) to get LING (fish)

6. Army groups miner gets to redeploy (9)
REGIMENTS

(MINER GETS)* (*to redeploy)

7. Prayer service peers heard on the radio (5)
LAUDS

“lords” (peers, “heard on the radio”)

8. Pineapple mostly found on American island (7)
GRENADA

GRENAD[e] (pineapple, mostly) found on A (American)

14. Broken Easter egg must be set apart (9)
SEGREGATE

(EASTER EGG)* (*broken)

16. Insult series of lectures in communication (9)
DISCOURSE

DIS (insult) + COURSE (series of lectures)

17. Cloak acquired by southern lech for Patsy (9)
SCAPEGOAT

CAPE (cloak) acquired by (S (southern) + GOAT (lech))

18. Fancy old lady opening one spirit with energy (7)
IMAGINE

MA (old lady) opening (I (one) + GIN (spirit)) with E (energy)

20. Member seen with leader is an idiot (7)
PINHEAD

PIN (member) seen with HEAD (leader)

22. Done with time in the public eye? (5)
OVERT

OVER (done) with T (time)

23. Sign Harry will split from foremost of royals (5)
BADGE

BADGE[r] (harry, will split from R[oyals] (foremost of))

24. Duke associated with playboy explorer (5)
DRAKE

D (duke) associated with RAKE (playboy)

13 comments on “Financial Times 17,054 by SLORMGORM”

  1. I agree that 1a seems hardly cryptic at all. I can only guess that is a play on the ‘i’ part of iPhone.
    Re: 25a. I didn’t know there was such a thing as a calender (as opposed to a calendar which the autocorrect may have done its work in the blog) but it’s there in Chambers.

  2. Thanks Hovis@1, I’ve corrected the spelling in the blog. ‘Twas my fault rather than autocorrect. I, also, had never heard of a calender.
    If anyone else is interested, a calender is a machine for finishing or glazing the surface of cloth, paper etc.
    More excitingly, a calender is also a member of a mendicant order of wandering dervishes in Persia and Turkey.

  3. Hovis@1

    Agree. iPhone’s i is taken to indicate self, looks like.

    27a: I’ve come across REME before (to stand for engineers). Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

  4. I usually have trouble remembering those British terms for engineers, and have forgotten why OR are men. Otherwise no problems. 23a was probably the least anagramised anagram I’ve seen in a while!

  5. Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow
    A breezy, but enjoyable start to the week with a barely cryptic (although as others have pointed out having more depth to it than is immediately apparent) and a barely mixed vegetable to help one along the way. Still some nice clues with the surface adding to the fun in clues like 20d and 23d.
    Didn’t know the F1 driver even though he won 11 Grand Prix events – a sporting event that I’ve been to twice – in Adelaide and Melbourne as a guest – and was pretty underwhelmed both times.
    Finished in the SE corner with DISCOURSE, SCAPEGOAT and ELECTED the last few in.

  7. Thanks for the blog, i thought 1Ac nicely captured the vanity of the definition.
    I was glad that MASSA was a hidden clue with my lack of F1 knowledge.
    As KVa@3 says, REME is the full version , Azed used it last week, we usually just get RE in puzzles.
    A whole range of good clues here and a friendly grid with lots of first letters.

  9. Hello Harry more crossword speak , a member is a limb , an arm or a leg, think of dismembering.
    A PIN is a leg, a nice pair of pins , bit old-fashioned.

  11. Many thanks to TC for a nice blog and to all who solved and commented.

    Roz@7 has my intended take on selfies and the I of i-phone (I almost didn’t go with it as is as thought it would look too much like a standard def, but the self-obsessed angle of the idea was too nice for me to resist in the end).

    Hope to see you all next time around, but until then its goodnight and good luck to all from me. 🙂

  13. Getting to this much later than usual, even for me.
    I decided an iPhone took TALKIES which left me looking for an unusual homing pigeon. I eventually came to my senses, but it was an interesting excursion.
    Thanks for the fun Slormgorm and the unravelling Teacow.

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