Financial Times 17,261 by SLORMGORM

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A solid challenge from SLORMGORM this Friday and I dont think I have it fully right.

FF: 9 DD: 10

ACROSS
1 ROBOTIC
Mechanical lift with placard banning outsiders (7)
ROB ( lift) nOTICe ( placard, banning outsiders i.e. without end characters )
5 COVER UP
One in field at college concealing wrong (5-2)
COVER ( one in field, cricket ) UP ( at college ) – is the verb form correct in the clue?
9 BESET
Get ready for attack (5)
cryptic def; BE SET (~ get ready )
10 REPULSIVE
Loathsome salesman lives freely behind university (9)
REP ( salesman ) { [ LIVE ]* after U ( university ) }
11 INCURSION
Cops in ruin stripped of power contrived hostile move (9)
[ COpS IN RUIN ( without P – power ) ]*
12 DWELL
Remain in Germany in fit condition (5)
D ( germany, Deutschland ) WELL ( fit condition )
13  GLASS
US composer in schooner, possibly (5)
double def; philip GLASS ( us composer ) and as i learnt today, a schooner is also a glass for drinking sherry
15 ANTHOLOGY
One’s bound to show varied work? (9)
cryptic def
18 OUTERWEAR
Winding route by river requiring jackets, say (9)
[ ROUTE ]* WEAR ( river )
19 ERNST
German artist back cycling (5)
STERN ( back ) with ERN moving to the front
21 THROW
Deliver wrongly spread on furniture (5)
double def
23 MISSHAPEN
Young woman with husband, a writer, is disfigured (9)
MISS ( young woman ) H ( husband ) A PEN ( writer )
25 MARCO POLO
Married policeman blocks faceless wine merchant (5,4)
M ( married ) [ COP ( policeman ) in bAROLO ( wine, without first letter ) ]
26 VOILA
There you are retired in Bali overindulging (5)
hidden reversed in “..bALI OVerindulging
27 LORELEI
Role played by Italian author, not very alluring figure (7)
[ ROLE ]* LEvI ( italian author, without V – very )
28 DECREED
Trim dress old actor ordered (7)
DECk ( dress, trimmed ) REED ( old actor, oliver reed )
DOWN
1 RUBBING
Artistic impression – source of friction? (7)
cryptic def; read as ROOT IN G ( artistic impression ) – i am definitely not sure about this one and could help as this was more of a contrived attempt from me. See comments.
2 BUSHCRAFT
Skilled tribesmen might reveal this transport holding up companion on platform (9)
BUS ( transport ) HC ( companion = CH, reversed ) RAFT ( platform )
3 TUTOR
Workers organised prominent feature in school (5)
TU ( workers organized, Trade Union ) TOR ( prominent feature )
4 CARTILAGE
Criminal trial in confined space? It’s near the bone (9)
[ TRIAL ]* in CAGE ( confined space )
5 CAPON
Schoolboy might have this fattened bird (5)
cryptic def; read as CAP ON ( ~ schoolboy may have this )
6 VELODROME
Model cover with no end of chic transformed cycling arena (9)
[ MODEL cOVER ( without C – end of chiC ) ]*
7 RAISE
Breed fish, we’re told (5)
sounds like RAYS ( fish )
8 PRESLEY
Agent’s work otherwise promoted unknown singer (7)
PR ( agent’s work ) ESLE ( reverse of ELSE, otherwise ) Y ( unknown )
14 STRAW POLL
Unofficial count? It might be taken in corridor entered by a heartless whip (5,4)
STROLL ( might be taken in a corridor ) contaning [ A WhiP ( heartless i.e. without inner letters ) ]
16 THRESHOLD
Figure cut quiet getting on level (9)
THREe ( figure, cut ) SH ( quiet ) OLD ( getting on )
17 OENOPHILE
One immersed in contents of bin? (9)
cryptic def
18 OPTIMAL
Choose mail for redirecting? That’s best (7)
OPT ( choose ) [ MAIL ]*
20 TANKARD
Brown variant of dark drinking vessel (7)
TAN ( brown ) [ DARK ]*
22 RARER
Bishop penning a note that’s less well done (5)
RR ( bishop ) containing [ A RE ( note ) ]
23 MAORI
Originally, many ancients of Rotorua interacted – in this? (5)
@lit; starting letters of “..Many Ancients Of Rotorua Interacted.”
24 HAVOC
Such a vocalist harbours mayhem (5)
hidden in “sucH A VOCalist..”

13 comments on “Financial Times 17,261 by SLORMGORM”

  1. Turbolegs thanks for the blog. I think that 1D is “rubbing” – I remember doing these at some cathedral in England when I was young and it fits both descriptions in the clue. That would make 9A as BESET – as in “be ready” and “attack”.

    Just a thought …

  2. I had RUBBING for 1d, and BESET for 9a.

    Plenty I’d not heard of, such as Levi, barolo. Don’t know why RR is a bishop, Didn’t get OENOPHILE, DECREED, or THRESHOLD (the latter quite a good clue). Strolll clued by “might be taken in corridor” I thought a bit weak. Why is “up” at college. Let me guess … higher education? And yet another English river I’d not heard of to add to my ever growing list.

  3. Geoff, “RR” is an abbreviation of “Right Reverend”. I’m not into religion but I try to keep up with the opposition’s tactics and terminology. I agree with you about “stroll” – I may take a stroll in the garden or a stroll in the park but rarely in a corridor.

    I also agree with your comment about 17D. Wines are classified like Lindeman’s “Bin 65 Chardonnay” but I don’t understand why a wine lover (oenophile) would be “immersed in it” He’d probably drown before he could drink it all!

    “Up” is a very English term meaning “at University”. It mainly refers to Oxford and Cambridge, I think.

    Re 13A, here in Australia, a “schooner” is a glass for drinking beer. A schooner of sherry would have one comatose before finishing it.

    The river Wear is known to me as I was born in County Durham.

  4. This is about as tough a Slormgorm as I can remember. I failed in the end on ANTHOLOGY but had a lot of trouble with DECREED, THRESHOLD and OENOPHILE and like GDU @2, didn’t know (B)AROLO as a ‘wine’. Just to confirm that the app (pretty good by the way, though no timer) gives RUBBING as the correct answer for 1d and BESET for 9a.

    Interesting that a SCHOONER can be a beer glass or sherry glass in different parts of the world.

    Thanks to Slormgorm and Turbolegs

  5. 17d. BIN stands for Batch Identification Number and refers to the storage of bottles of wine. So a wine love could well be immersed in studying the contents of a BIN. As he might also be in Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Book Of Wine.

    Needed a little help but otherwise very enjoyable. As others, I had Rubbing and Beset.

    Thanks Slormgorm and Turbolegs.

  7. Have found out now that this is a Sleuth puzzle so hopefully the blog, if not the paper can be corrected. Cheers 🙂

  9. Never heard of ‘barolo’ but ‘Marco Polo’ had to be the solution. A challenging but enjoyable puzzle.

  10. Thanks for the blog and thanks to Slormgorm , I did not think it was your style. Still a fine puzzle , just different. Agree with Peter @1 , brass rubbings are a bit of a thing, although rooting could have been typical Slormgorm, say no more.

  11. After this puzzle I am going to go find a bin to immerse myself in. Thank you turbolegs and slormgorm. Also had beset.

  12. I struggled with this–not sure whether because of some wonky clues or my just being dense today. I wound up solving from definitions again, not entirely following the parsing on a few.

    How does CH = companion? I feel certain this is a cryptic chestnut, but I do not remember the origin?

    Thanks for the blog and comments.

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