Financial Times 17,247 by AARDVARK

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Thanks to Aardvark for this morning’s puzzle.

I very much enjoyed this one! Good mix of clue types, with plenty to mull over. Very neatly clued.

I would never have thought of 13d as a ‘culinary herb’ but Wikipedia says: “In English cuisine Calendula were often cooked in the same pot with spinach, or used to flavor stewed birds.” What do I know…

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. It’s chewed by lower and upper class girl in club (6)
CUDGEL

CUD (it’s chewed by lower) + GEL (upper class girl)

4. Game of throwing ball among leaves (6)
QUOITS

O (ball) among QUITS (leaves)

8. Mo, gutted, pulls muscle (7)
TRICEPS

TRICE (mo) + P[ull]S (gutted)

9. Representation of heavenly bodies at front of Portland Arms, mingling (4,3)
STAR MAP

(AT + P[ortland] (front of) + ARMS)* (*mingling)

11. Load personal info, then stream 1970s film (4,6)
TAXI DRIVER

TAX (load) + ID (personal info) + RIVER (stream)

12. Reversing by crewman occasionally wrong (4)
AWRY

[b]Y [c]R[e]W[m]A[n]< (<reversing, occasionally)

13. On the phone, one’s fired clerical worker (5)
CANON

“CANNON” (one’s fired, “on the phone”)

14. Expert with brush always follows edges of lawns (8)
LANDSEER

EER (always) follows L[awn]S (edges of, i.e. L AND S)

16. Excess prayer used engaging god (8)
PLETHORA

PLEA (prayer) used engaging THOR (god)

18. Multiply by two hundred and fifty – anybody? (5)
CLONE

C (hundred) + L (fifty) + ONE (anybody?)

20. Granny perhaps needing potassium? By no means (4)
KNOT

K (potassium) + NOT (by no means)

21. Test burger grills that writers frequent (4,6)
GRUB STREET

(TEST BURGER)* (*grills)

23. Fine service alongside tea-making vessel that’s very hot (7)
FURNACE

F (fine) + ACE (service) alongside URN (tea-making vessel)

24. Swimmer, the greatest, visits hotel bar (7)
HALIBUT

ALI (the greatest) visits H (hotel) + BUT (bar)

25. Mariner’s tale about descent (6)
ABSEIL

AB’S (mariner’s) + LIE< (tale, <about)

26. Caerphilly cheese sandwiches and fruit (6)
LYCHEE

[Caerphil]LY CHEE[se] (sandwiches)

DOWN
1. Approaching spooky group outside church (5)
CIRCA

CIA (‘spooky’ group) outside RC (church, Roman Catholic)

2. Choice of words novel, with duke taking over force (7)
DICTION

[f]ICTION (novel) with D (duke) taking over F (force)

3. Peers slammed army member over language (9)
ESPERANTO

(PEERS)* (*slammed) + ANT (army member) + O (over)

5. Pure voice (5)
UTTER

Double definition

6. Progress at home pulling up yellow trailers (7)
INROADS

IN (at home) + OR< (yellow, <pulling up) + ADS (trailers)

7. The drink accompanying a piece of cake: alcoholic cocktail (3,6)
SEA BREEZE

SEA (the drink) accompanying BREEZE (a piece of cake)

10. This writer’s captivating Yankee student, fit for such an institution? (3,6)
IVY LEAGUE

I’VE (this writer’s) captivating (Y (yankee) + L (student, learner)) + AGUE (fit)

13. Neal and Claud cultivated culinary herb (9)
CALENDULA

(NEAL and CLAUD)* (*cultivated)

15. Head, touring financial district with American, tracks money (9)
NECESSARY

NESS (head) touring EC (financial district, London postcode) with A (American) + RY (tracks, railway)
Edited

17. Two Greek characters in street mounted complaint (7)
TETANUS

ETA + NU (two Greek characters) in ST< (street, <mounted)

19. Describing monster as old, rather ashen, heartless (7)
OGREISH

O (old) + GRE[y]ISH (rather ashen, heartless)

21. Famous label Charlie’s repeatedly seen gracing half of Fender? (5)
GUCCI

CC (Charlie, repeatedly) seen gracing GUI[tar] (Fender?, half of)

22. Display English flower around centre of studio (5)
EXUDE

EXE (English flower) around [st]UD[io] (centre of)

11 comments on “Financial Times 17,247 by AARDVARK”

  1. Thanks for the blog , CALENDULA also known as the Pot-Marigold , the pot referring to stews etc, very easy to grow, great for getting kids started on gardening, can be used raw in salads.
    Very nice set of clues here, lots of clever word play, CIRCA my favourite.
    Very minor omission , an A ( American ) is necessary for 15D .

  3. “J” short of a pangram. I found that this required some thought but was eminently fair, even the GK words such as LANDSEER (whom I have certainly encountered in puzzles past).

    I don’t understand “GEL” in 1A. Is that one of those RP things–pronounced with a hard “g”?

    Thanks to Oriel and Aardvark.

  4. A clever and enjoyable grid from Aardvark. Chasing a pangram (alas, no J) helped with 4a but it was this setter’s predilection for double letters which was particularly useful in snagging, for instance, 15d and 7d.
    Favoruites were 11a, 16a and 19d.
    Thanks to Aardvark for the fun and Oriel for a thorough blog.

  6. Yes, Cineraria @4, a hard ‘g’. ‘Gel’ is much used in Jane Austen. I always think of confrontations between Elizabeth Bennet and Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

  7. Lots to enjoy here, including my last couple in CLONE and NECESSARY which had proved resistant to the end. I liked the misleading surface for QUOITS, a not very common word in crossword land, last seen in a Fifteensquared puzzle from Julius back in June of last year.

    Favourite was LANDSEER for reminding me of the Newfoundland dogs he painted.

    Thanks to Aardvark and Oriel

  8. A pleasant and not too difficult puzzle to go with our mid-afternoon break. We too weren’t aware of the culinary uses of CALENDULA but a quick google revealed it to be generally available in health food shops. And we knew the name of the cocktail at 7dn without having to look it up.
    Thanks, Aardvark and Oriel.

  9. Thanks Aardvark for a set of good clues including QUOITS, TAXI DRIVER, CLONE, and CIRCA. Thanks Oriel for the blog.

  11. I don’t know what “used” is doing in 16a PLETHORA. “Excess prayer engaging god” seems all that is needed.

    This was an excellent puzzle with hardly any crossword cliches among the clues. Thanks, Aardvark for the fun and oriel for the clear and useful blog.

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