Financial Times 17,159 by ARTEXLEN

by

An excellent challenge from ARTEXLEN this Friday.

FF: 9 DD: 9

ACROSS
1 BODY MASS INDEX
Measure of health variable after two groups dine out (4,4,5)

BODY MASS ( two groups ) [ ENID ]* X ( variable )
9 DELUGED
Overwhelmed bear caught in act (7)

LUG ( bear ) in DEED ( act )
10 STUNNER
Beauty queen following new fans around (7)

ER ( queen ) after [ reverse of N ( new ) NUTS ( fans ) ]
11 COVET
Yearn for having Romeo to disappear in secret (5)

COVErT ( secret, without R – romeo )
12 SPLIT ENDS
Condition of locks and spindles poor, needing time invested (5,4)

[ SPINDLES ]* containing T – time
13 STRICKEN
Afflicted when arm receives sprain (8)

STEN ( sprain ) contains RICK ( sprain )
15 VERIFY
Check of way fire vehicle reversed (6)

hidden, reversed in "..waY FIRE Vehicle.."
18 UPDATE
Modernise university with adept redeveloping (6)

U ( university ) [ ADEPT ]*
19 SATSUMAS
Have to, when retired, like fruit (8)

[ reverse of MUST ( have to ) AS ( when ) ] AS ( like )
22 PITCHFORK
Skewering meat, desire fine spiked tool (9)

[ ITCH ( desire ) F ( fine ) ] in PORK ( meat )
24 ORDER
Lords were ignoring all characters outside rank (5)

lORDs wERe ( ignoring end characters )
25 TRICORN
Fool shortly joining soldiers with knight’s headwear (7)

TRICk ( fool, shortly ) OR ( soldiers ) N ( knight )
26 TILLAGE
Farmer’s preparation suffering after start of the season (7)

T ( start of The ) ILL ( suffering ) AGE ( season )
27 FUTURE PERFECT
Approaching model makes you tense (6,7)

FUTURE ( ~approaching ) PERFECT ( ~model )
DOWN
1 BEDECKS
With case in beige, packs ornaments (7)

BE ( BeigE, case, end characters ) DECKS ( packs )
2 DELIVERED
Released journalist after hated superior’s upset (9)

ED ( journalist ) after reverse of REVILED ( hated superior?) – am missing something here
3 MIGHT
Arachnid’s pronounced power (5)

sounds like MITE ( arachnid )
4 SIDESTEP
Duck that is found among sheep regularly (8)

ID EST ( i.e. full form, that is ) in ShEeP ( regularly )
5 INSULT
Offensive action in American uprising supported by officer (6)

IN SU ( american = US, reversed ) LT ( officer, lieutenant )
6 DOUBTLESS
Engineer used bolts with certainty (9)

[ USED BOLTS ]*
7 XENON
Gas cattle’s beginning to release concerning (5)

oXEN ( cattle, without beginning ) ON ( concerning ) – clue construction iffy

8 CRISPY
Call about provider of wi-fi that’s fragile (6)

CRY ( call ) around ISP ( provider of wi-fi )
14 CUT-THROAT
Very tough seeing awkward truth in film (3-6)

[ TRUTH ]* in COAT ( film )
16 IMMEDIATE
Direct one on sea current to harbour in China (9)

I ( one ) [ { MED ( sea ) I ( current ) } in MATE ( china ) ]
17 BACKSTOP
Supports best player on field (8)

BACKS ( supports ) TOP ( best )
18 UPPITY
Impertinent lump oddly lacking shame (6)

lUmP ( oddly lacking ) PITY ( shame )
20 SURFEIT
Browse internet sites on upcoming band in excess (7)

SURF ( browse internet ties ) reverse of TIE ( band )
21 SOONER
Rather old individual covered by “senior” (6)

SR ( senior ) covering [ O ( old ) ONE ( individual ) ]
23 THIEF
Heartless crew turned on fellow criminal (5)

[ reverse of EIgHT ( crew, heartless ) ] F ( fellow )
24 OILER
Urn perhaps not second-rate vessel (5)

bOILER ( urn perhaps, without B – second-rate )

12 comments on “Financial Times 17,159 by ARTEXLEN”

  1. For 2d, I can only assume that ‘superior’ is denoting that it appears above ED doing double duty with ‘after’. Maybe somebody will have a better reason.

  2. Enjoyable and with a few harder ones such as STRICKEN (a typo – I’m sure you meant STEN (‘arm’)) and TRICORN to spice things up a bit. I took ‘superior’s’ at 2d to be a positional indicator in a down clue, but it is a bit odd to have the ”s’ tacked on.

    Appropriately enough, my last in and favourite was the ‘Very tough’ CUT-THROAT.

    Thanks to Artexlen and Turbolegs

  3. DELIVERED:
    Another partial explanation-EVIL ED (hated superior) …then stuck with RED for journalist 🙂

  6. Re 13A can someone explain how “sten” means “strain” – or even “arm” as suggested by WordPlodder – does he refer to the gun? I cannot see how a sten-gun is a sidearm. I guess that it’s probably in “Chambers” but I only have the OED.

    Turbolegs, I was quite happy with the clue for 7D.

  7. Thanks for the blog, really enjoyed this. Peter you, and WordPlodder, are right, it is just a minor slip in the blog for Sten.

  8. Peter@6: STEN is a gun = arm, RICK is the strain. Nowhere in the clue is any suggestion of a sidearm.

  9. Marvellous fun, finished with breakfast coffee today. Thanks Artexlen.
    For 2d I also took “superior” to be a positional indicator and the “‘s” as being “is”. So REVILED is upset above ED.
    Thanks for the blog Turbolegs.

  10. Thanks Artexlen — that took me awhile but I was able to solve all of it over a couple of sittings. I found this very satisfying with BODY MASS INDEX, PITCHFORK, CUT-THROAT, and IMMEDIATE my top choices. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.

  11. Sidestep is not synonymous with duck.
    The first means to avoid by a horizontal movement and the latter means to avoid by a vertical movement.
    I think boiler being synonymous with urn is questionable too.

  12. I’m not convinced that crispy = fragile. Pork scratchings are crispy, but they’re certainly not fragile – you can break your bloody teeth on them! Is crispy lettuce more fragile than non-crispy lettuce?

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