Financial Times 17,303 by MONK

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Monk is the FT's Thursday inquisitor this week.

This was a challenging, but ultimately rewarding puzzle. After my first run through, I had maybe 5-6 solutions in place, almost all in the top half, but a little persistence, and a couple of checks in the dictionary to make sure words such as VINEGARISH, IMPARTIBLE, ROSTELLATE and COWBERRY actually existed, I got there in the end and learned a few things along the way.

Thanks, Monk.

ACROSS
1 TOPIC
Matter of imaginary circle being reduced in radius (5)

T(r)OPIC ("imaginary circle") being reduced by R (Radius)
4 MIRABILIA
Form of libertarianism, not stern, working wonders (9)

*(libariaim) [anag:form of] where LIBARIAIM is LIB(ert)ARIA(n)I(s)M without the letters of [not] STERN
9 MILKWORTS
Extract sulphur, found at last in most inferior plants (9)

MILK ("extract") + WOR(s)T(S) ("most inferior" with (sulphu)R moved to the end [found at last])
10 UNGET
Disown chain of Samsung, etc. (5)

Hidden in [chain of] "samsUNG ETc"
11 TOFFEE
Peg eating mouldy sweet (6)

TEE (golf "peg") eating OFF ("mouldy")
12 TESTATOR
One who leaves in a couple of ways? (8)

Cryptic definition, as a TESTATOR leaves twice (once by dying, and once by leaving behind an inheritance)
14 IMPARTIBLE
Legally inseparable member stops Blairite buckling (10)

MP ("Member" of Parliament) stops *(blairite) [anag:buckling]
16 WHAM
Hit husband in mouth, recoiling (4)

H (husband) in <=MAW ("mouth", recoiling)
19 LION
A sign of unsocial backing, oddly so (4)

<=(u)N(s)O(c)I(a)L [backing]. UNSOCIAL reversed becomes LAICOSNU, so the required letters are the odd ones
20 FELT-TIP PEN
Writer unexpectedly left pent-up after mistyping one adjacent key? (4-3,3)

*(left pent ip) [anag:unexpectedly] where the I is a "mistyped" U, I and U being "adjacent keys" on a keyboard.
22 CRIMINAL
Shocking state briefly engulfing most of Italian city (8)

Cal. (California, so "state briefly") engulfing [most of] RIMIN(i) ("Italian city")
23 GALAXY
Stars careless, outwardly showy (6)

LAX ("careless") with GAY ("showy") outside [outwardly]
26 ILIAN
I catch retreating Trojan (5)

I + <=NAIL ("catch", retreating)
27 IRON OXIDE
Steer between smooth, bare borders in compound (4,5)

OX ("steer") between IRON ("smooth") + [bare] (s)IDE(s) ("borders")
28 PINOCCHIO
Attach small volume penned by state puppet (9)

PIN ("attach") + CC (cubic centimetre, so "small volume") penned by OHIO ("state")
29 EIGHT
Number in view — not sure (5)

E(yes)IGHT ("view", not YES ("sure"))
DOWN
1 TIME TRIAL
International police force feeds suffering race (4,5)

I (international) + MET ("police force") feeds TRIAL ("suffering")
2 PILAF
Go mad over eating a dish from Asia (5)

<=FLIP ("go mad", over) eating A
3 COWBERRY
At first, Barry Cryer sick, consuming old whiskey and fruit (8)

*(b cryer) [anag:sick] consuming O (old) + W (whiskey, in the NATO phonetic alphabet), where B is [at first] B(arry)
4 MARS
Spoils heavenly body (4)

Double definition
5 ROSTELLATE
Beaky woman’s boring mechanical performance (10)

STELLA ("woman") boring ROTE ("mechanical performance")
6 BOUNTY
This was controlled by Christian generosity (6)

Double definition, the first referring to the ship led by Fletcher Christian after a mutiny in 1789.
7 LIGHTSHIP
Lungs initially heave in pain, a warning in the main (9)

LIGHTS ("lungs") + [initially] H(eave) I(n) P(ain)
8 AFTER
Concerning beam, top should be cut (5)

[top should be cut] from (r)AFTER ("beam")
13 VINEGARISH
Ill-tempered raving idiot — primarily, he’s bonkers (10)

*(raving I hes) [anag:bonkers] where I is I(diot) [primarily]
15 PROVISION
Clause in favour of imaginative future plan (9)

PRO ("in favour of") + VISION ("imaginative future plan")
17 MONEY BELT
In which bread might be kept by breadbasket? (5,4)

Cryptic definition
18 PINAFORE
Dress code, of a sort — a warning, of course (8)

PIN (Personal Identification Number, so "code, of sort") + A + FORE ("a warning" on a golf "course")
21 PICNIC
Nearly select most of delicate piece of cake (6)

[nearly] PIC(k) ("select") + [most of] NIC(e) ("delicate")
22 CRISP
Firm proclaims power without energy (5)

CRI(e)S ("proclaims" without E (energy)) + P (power)
24 AXING
Dispensing with singer, with wife having left (5)

(w)AX(w)ING (a bird, so "singer") with W (wife) having left

If I have the parsing right here, then I think the clue should have said wives as there are two Ws to be removed.
25 POLO
Number two crossing line in game (4)

POO ("number two", euphemistically) crossing L (line)

27 comments on “Financial Times 17,303 by MONK”

  2. Not many smiles today. Too many obscure words (MIRABILIA, ROSTELLATE, COWBERRY, ILIAN, UNGET — what an awful little word), a few I couldn’t solve (6d, 26a) and a few where the wordplay resulted in groans. Couldn’t parse EIGHT, MILKWORTS nor the “ide” in IRON OXIDE (a bit ridiculous). Collins doesn’t have that meaning of VINEGARISH, but I eventually found it elsewhere — I’ve never heard it used this way. It’s a while since I’ve heard “gay” to mean showy. 17d not the greatest clue — why is a belt a breadbasket? (I originally had MONEY BOWL.) I presume it’s along the lines of Australia’s wheat belt, but a fairly flimsy connection methinks. And I didn’t think 12a was crytpic.

    So that uplifting feeling of accomplishment eluded me today. Maybe next time.

  3. Sweet but decidedly chewy! Liked COWBERRY but to eat, I’d prefer an AFTER EIGHT.
    Thanks to Frankie G in yesterday’s comment here for the heads-up on the ghost theme.
    And thanks, naturally, to Monk and Loonapick.

  4. @KVa – makes sense, thanks

    @GDU – Your breadbasket is your stomach, which a money belt would be “by” (near to)

  7. Ah, didn’t know of that meaning for breadbasket, thank you. And I take back what I said about 12a — I had DEPARTER (hence my failure to solve 6d).

  8. With PINAFORE and BOUNTY, I did wonder if the theme alluded to yesterday might be maritime at first but it turned out to be rather more toothsome.

  12. I agree with GDU re 10A: how is ‘unget” a word? It’s probably up there with “unfriend” or “unlove me”.

    Re 19A, isn’t the “sign” LEO, not LION?

    14A – wow, I studied law at university but don’t remember hearing this word.

    Re 5D: both the definition and the answer were unknown to me. I thought that I knew all berries but 3D, I didn’t know. As an aside, I believe that a strawberry is not really a berry but a drupe.

  13. After some investigation, I counted twelve theme-related clues (comprising ten candies). Are there more? Since most of these brands are UK-based, I would not have spotted a theme without the hint.

  14. Same unknown words as alluded to by others although crossers and wordplay helped out with each. I also agree about UNGET being, in the Australian vernacular, a pretty ordinary word. Only saw the theme after finishing so no help in solving.

    Not the easiest, not the hardest Monk, but still a challenge and very satisfying to solve.

    Thanks to Monk and loonapick

  15. Sorry, forgot to mention above. At 7d, LIGHTS as the ‘Lungs’ of game or livestock; you learn something every day.

  16. Thanks Diane@3 for thanking me.
    I first solved this puzzle late last month, when it appeared by mistake dated December 15 on the FT website. (It’s still there).
    I solved it again today, expecting to be able to do so much more quickly, knowing there was a theme.
    But no, it took just as long.

    Cineraria@13: To misquote Sesame Street:
    “One of these TEN is not like the others,
    One of these things just doesn’t belong,
    Can you tell which thing is not like the others
    By the time I finish my song?”

  18. Just a musing on the clue for felt-tip pen. I always find it strange that I don’t need to look down at a keyboard when typing but if you were to ask me whether or not U and I were next to each other, I wouldn’t have a clue without looking. Is that just me?

  20. Nice, shame no Boosts.
    I didn’t know breadbasket is stomach and thought like Geoff Down Under that it was referring to a rich part of the country.
    Unget in Collins, after ‘get rid of’ is defined as ‘render unbegotten’, which seems to me to require more explanation than it provides. I like that these odd words get a run out in crosswords.
    I know QWERTYUIOPASDF but would have to look (to check, though not for typing) beyond that.

  21. Thanks Monk for the challenge. I knew this wouldn’t be easy but it eventually came together except for MILKWORTS and AFTER. There were bits I couldn’t parse like lights for lungs and ide for bare borders but most else made sense. I particularly liked FELT-TIP PEN, EIGHT, VINEGARISH (great surface), PINAFORE, and AXING. I didn’t look for a theme and wouldn’t have found it anyway. Thanks loonapick for the blog.

  22. My experience of solving this was much like yours, Loonapick – took a fair bit of whittling away but everything is clued with such wit, precision and neatness that it all came together in the end. Superb puzzle, loved it. (And not nearly as hard as yesterday’s Io, which I’m still chipping away at slowly.)

    Thanks, Monk & Loonapick.

  23. We had a strong feeling of déja vu solving this and when we saw FrankieG’s comment @16 we thought we knew why – but no, it was the Indy on Boxing Day which had a lot of the same theme words.
    Apart from the theme, this was tough going in places. We did eventually work out VINEGARISH, MIRABILIA and IMPARTIBLE (and confirm them in Chambers) but needed a wordfinder for ROSTELLATE. Our favourite was IRON OXIDE.
    GDU@2: We think UNGET is textspeak for to dispose of – i.e. the opposite of to acquire/get – something .
    Thanks, Monk and loonapick.

  24. Thanks loonapick and Monk.

    Took three sittings, bottom half harder. Some parsing was not clear, not any more. Thanks for that.

    Very rewarding.

    MILKWORTS, IRON OXIDE, PICNIC, CRISP, PILAF and FELT-TIP PEN are favs.

  26. [Anil: It was a tougher than usual week. My favourite by far was the Jan 10th Indy crossword by Serpent (Basilisk). It’s worth a look.]

  27. Failed on ( ungot?) 5d ROSTELLATE, which I thought was unfair (naturally, because I didn’t solve it 🙂 ). Woman’s = STELLA was a bridge too far for me when the solution was a NHO. I fixated on woman’s = HER with the E crosser, and never got past that.

    Nevertheless I was pleased to have done as well as I did on this Monk, who is usually beyond me. Thanks Monk and loonapick for the vigorous workout.

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