GUY provides a Boxing Day treat…
I hope you all had a very merry Christmas!
So many clues that I loved here – 5d and 15a stick in my head as particular favourites. And a Nina to boot!
I will catch you all again in the new year. Many thanks to GUY for making my last blog of 2022 such an enjoyable one!
ACROSS
1. Fish with dry taste sent back (6)
PISCES
(SEC (dry) + SIP (taste))< (<sent back)
5. Toff occupies second row for what should be a double feature (8)
MONOBROW
NOB (toff) occupies (MO (second) + ROW)
9. Practical uniform with warm dark coat (6)
USABLE
U (uniform) + SABLE (warm dark coat)
10. Proportion of girth weight watcher pinches in the morning (8)
DIAMETER
DIETER (weight watcher) pinches AM (in the morning)
11. Doctor pleased with patient’s right foot (8)
PEDESTAL
(PLEASED with [patien]T (right))* (*doctor)
12. Quiet tropical island has no large city (6)
MUMBAI
MUM (quiet) + BA[l]I (topical island, no L (large))
13. Show on TV introduced by power couple (4)
PAIR
AIR (show on TV), introduced by P (power)
15. Two fools accepted offer (8)
ASSASSIN
ASS ASS (two fools) + IN (accepted)
As in someone who "offs" people.
18. Finding version of Mary given by Luke silly, an indication you’re no Christian? (8)
YARMULKE
(MARY)* (*version of) + (LUKE)* ( *silly)
19. Queue for taxis growing quickly (4)
RANK
21. Veneer of larch and yew using alternate pieces (6)
FACADE
[o]F [l]A[r]C[h] A[n]D [y]E[w] (using alternate pieces)
23. Cost of hiring a secretary from your dad, perhaps (8)
PARENTAL
PA (secretary) + RENTAL (cost of hiring)
25. Anaesthetist’s drug affected 8 requiring less oxygen ß(8)
ATROPINE
([o]PERATION (8, requiring less O (oxygen))* (*affected)
26. Small singer or a very large one? (6)
TREBLE
Double definition
A very large whiskey, say, might be a treble
27. Island’s criminal gang protective of racket in recession (8)
TRINIDAD
TRIAD (criminal gang) protective of (DIN)< (racket, <in recession)
28. Clown’s equipment is listed after spades (6)
STILTS
TILTS (is listed) after S (spades)
DOWN
2. No time for paper edition (5)
ISSUE
[t]ISSUE (paper, no T (time))
3. Bishop in California spread revolutionary message (9)
CABLEGRAM
B (bishop) in CAL (California) + (MARGE)< (spread, <revolutionary)
4. Not all Aussies take time off when it’s hot (6)
SIESTA
[aus]SIES TA[ke] (not all)
5. Regrettable expansion of medieval history to BC, presumably? (6-3,6)
MIDDLE-AGE SPREAD
MIDDLE AGES (medieval history) + PRE-AD (BC, presumably)
6. Say, knife I used to cut head gives close shave (4,4)
NEAR MISS
(ARM (say, knife) + I) to cut NESS (head)
7. Guitarist has book with five hundred pages (5)
BREAM
B (book) with REAM (five hundred pages)
Julian Bream
8. Guy cycling forced into a manoeuvre (9)
OPERATION
ROPE (guy, cycling – i.e., move the R to the end) + (INTO A)* (*forced)
14. White and smooth, like chef’s moisturiser? (9)
ALABASTER
A LA (like) + BASTER (chef's moisturiser)
16. Plain green plastic blocks the brightest stream (9)
SERENGETI
(GREEN)* (*plastic) blocks SET I (the brightest stream)
17. British builder rebuilt a historic boat (8)
BLUEBIRD
B (British) + (BUILDER)* (*rebuilt)
20. Good stringed instrument picked up for nothing (6)
GRATIS
G (good) + (SITAR)< (stringed instrument, <picked up)
22. Article squirrels love in hollow container? (5)
ACORN
AN (article) squirrels (O (love) in C[ontaine]R (hollow)) &lit
24. Distribute papers in election, cutting the BS (5)
ALLOT
[b]ALLOT[s] (papers in election, cutting the BS)
Never heard of MONOBROW, YARMULKE or Julian Bream. Otherwise quite a few smiles (favourite PARENTAL) and a few groans. Set 1 the brightest stream? Assassin/offer a bit of a stretch.
Usually find Guy harder than this but managed this with no unknowns. A well-constructed crossword, I thought, with a nice nina.
My newsagent said no FT printed today ?? Is it printed abroad or is this puzzle just online ? No use to me.
Thanks for the blog anyway and all the others this year, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all .
Does 3D really still exist?
I share Roz’s question about the FT being printed on a public (bank) holiday and was very surprised to find a puzzle today.
Found this sticky in places – did not know MONOBROW.
I think OFF-ER = ASSASSIN warrants at least a ? or a “you might say” at the end of the clue. The term is hardly in normal usage. A little unfair IMHO though the wordplay was clear.
But enjoyable and thanks for the blog.
Thanks, Guy and Teacow. I agree this was a superb crossword – I found it quite challenging but everything yielded in the end, albeit with a couple of parsing queries – I got 8d in reverse by adding an O to 25a but couldn’t see how it worked. Seems obvious now.
5d is brilliant and got a laugh from me when I finally cracked it. Other favourites include MONOBROW, DIAMETER, ALABASTER, FACADE
I had a different version of 15a in the FT app:
Two fools occupying liquidator
Think I prefer the “offer” version, even if it’s a bit cheeky.
I remember reading that there’d be no print version today but that today’s puzzle would appear on the app. Had I used the app, I might have understood the parsing of 15a, as Widdersbel mentions. Like Roz, however, I tend to prefer the paper as I scribble all over it!
Anyway, I did enjoy Guy’s puzzle and the accompanying Ninas which helped confirm a couple of answers. My favourites were MONOBROW (definition), ALABASTER for the ‘chef’s moisturiser’ and ALLOT (for the BS).
Thanks to Guy and to Teacow (for this and all your other blogs).
Season’s greetings to all.
I ground through this, gradually getting on Guy’s wavelength. Not really in the mood for the “clever” misdirections, though, and I was so relieved to be finished that I did not even care about looking for ninas (which thematically refer to what–aging???–OK . . . ).
Could someone explain SETI from 16D, please? I still don’t understand it. Maybe I am just that dense today.
Re Set 1, from Collins:
11. COUNTABLE NOUN
In a school, a stream is a group of children of the same age and ability who are taught together.
12. VERB
To stream pupils means to divide them into groups according to their ability.
I didn’t enjoy this at all. Thought I’d broken in when I got 5d, But only answered four more clues when my self-alloted time expired! Thanks Teacow for explaining but even then I know there were at least four that I would never have got – monobrow, assassin, yarmulke and Trinidad.
ub@9: Oh, UK ed jargon? I see. Even by cryptic standards, that seems a little obscure from this side of the pond, but maybe it is an obvious commonplace over there. Thanks for the clarification.
“Plain green plastic blocks alien radio reception”–that I migh have understood.
Roz@3 and Diane@5 If you go to “Today’s Cryptics” on the screen here (top left under the site funding sign for my browser) and click on the Financial Times link it will take you to the FT puzzles. They are available there every day in a form which can be both printed out directly or after dowloading. (This is not the interactive version which appears in the app.) If the link doesn’t appear on your screen, you can find the required destination by googling “FT Crosswords”.
Thanks Rudolf. Indeed, that is what I do more and more.
Thanks Guy. I worked at this in bits and pieces today and I used a word finder to complete it. I found this more difficult than usual for this setter but it was not without its pleasures e.g. YARMULKE (great surface), FACADE, and OPERATION. I know MONOBROW as “unibrow.” Thanks Teacow for the blog.
Many thanks for the thought Rudolf @13, unfortunately I never click on links and I can’t print. I will just have to wait for the FT to be published again.
(When 17,286 by Gozo and 17,287 by Julius both appeared on the FT website on Saturday, I assumed that 17,287 was Monday’s puzzle released early, so I kept it for Monday, so I am currently running a day behind.)
I did not spot the nina, but I think the answer to 5dn is part of it, showing three stages of the aging process going across the grid.
7dn: I have a double CD of Julian Bream and John Williams playing the only combination which Chopin apparently said was better than the sound of a (classical) guitar – two guitars.