Financial Times 17,319 by GOLIATH

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GOLIATH provides this morning’s fun…

I think this is my first time blogging a GOLIATH, and I very much enjoyed it. 8d was my LOI, the “doh!” moment making me smile.

 

Thanks GOLIATH!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Wealth is property, in a way (10)
PROSPERITY

(IS PROPERTY)* (*in a way)

7/15. Leading bank admitted bouncing a check? That hurts! (8)
BACKACHE

B[ank] A[dmitted] (leading) + (A CHECK)* (*bouncing)

9/17. Dislike an interpretation (8)
AVERSION

A VERSION (an interpretation)

10. Revolutionary change overwhelms susceptible city (10)
COPENHAGEN

(CHANGE)* (*revolutionary) overwhelms OPEN (susceptible)

11. Afghani musketeers displaying hostility (6)
ANIMUS

[afgh]ANI MUS[keteers]

12. Goes into a hotel to control immoral act (6,2)
CHECKS IN

CHECK (control) + SIN (immoral act)

13. Unscrupulous subordinate macho type eating gnocchi regularly (8)
HENCHMAN

HE-MAN (macho type) eating [g]N[o]C[c]H[i] (regularly)

15. See 7
17. See 9
19. NATO plea may be easily delivered (2,1,5)
ON A PLATE

(NATO PLEA)* (*may be)

22. Advocates showing sense before love exploits (8)
ESPOUSES

ESP (sense) before O (love) + USES (exploits)

23/26/27. Be honest with Goliath wearing little silk tie that’s ghastly (4,2,4,2,2)
TELL IT LIKE IT IS

I (Goliath) wearing (LITTLE SILK TIE)* (*ghastly)

25. Promote a green site for a power station (10)
SELLAFIELD

SELL (promote) + A + FIELD (green site)

26. See 23
28. See Senegal’s chaotic metropolis (3,7)
LOS ANGELES

LO (see) + (SENEGALS)* (*chaotic)

DOWN
2/18. Dish best served cold with one’s pudding? It will be enjoyable (7,2,5)
REVENGE IS SWEET

REVENGE (dish best served cold) with IS (ones) + SWEET (pudding)

3. Losing sweetheart, cry and leave (5)
SCRAM

SCR[e]AM (cry, losing [sw]E[et] (heart))

4. I’m sorry novice is not into kinky sex clue by compiler (6,2)
EXCUSE ME

(SEX C[l]UE (L (novice) is not into))* (*kinky) by ME (compiler)

5. Rascal with umpteen void debts in distressed scenes of privation (15)
IMPECUNIOUSNESS

IMP (rascal) with ((U[mptee]N (void) + IOUS (debts)) in (SCENES)* (*distressed))

6. Announcing why drone crashed there (6)
YONDER

Y (“why”, “announcing”) + (DRONE)* (*crashed)

7. Bail out of poverty and start to monetise extortion (9)
BLACKMAIL

BAIL out of (LACK (poverty) and M[onetise] (start to))

8. Treasure, like Cher? (7)
CHERISH

Double definition

14. Preserve lots of hugs and caresses (9)
CANOODLES

CAN (preserve) + OODLES (lots of)

16. Big wild creature once caused nomads to relocate (8)
MASTODON

(NOMADS TO)* (*relocate)

18. See 2
20. The river starts with little, drop-by-drop flow (7)
TRICKLE

T[he] R[iver] (starts) with ICKLE (little)

21. Blown fuse in universal terminals? That’s handy! (6)
USEFUL

(FUSE)* (*blown) in U[niversa]L (terminals)

24. The French besieging afflicted city (5)
LILLE

LE (the, French) besieging ILL (afflicted)

15 comments on “Financial Times 17,319 by GOLIATH”

  1. I was thinking it was about time we saw Goliath. This was just the ticket to kick off the week – playful, swift to solve and, happily, no gaps.
    Favourites were SCRAM, MASTODON and HENCHMAN.
    Thanks to Goliath and Teacow.

  3. Just as well that I watch a lot of British TV shows or I would never have been able to solve 25A.

    20D was obvious from the cross letters but I have never come across “ickle” meaning “little”.

    I solved 2/18 down from the definition of “dish best served cold” and the 7-2-5 setting before even attempting to parse the rest of the clue.

    12A was my last one in as my dirty mind was trying to think of an “immoral act” committed in a motel. Maybe I should stop listening to all those country music cheatin’ songs!

    Thanks Teacow.

  4. Peter,
    “Ickle” is baby talk, really, used when someone goes soppy over a furry animal say, or perhaps in mock sympathy for someone who’s making a fuss over nothing.

  8. I could not quite parse BACKACHE, for some reason, so thanks for the explanation. I cannot find “ickle” in my Chambers, but my daughter knew it from reading Harry Potter.

  11. Philistine on Saturday, now Goliath on Monday — thanks for the double treat. My top picks were COPENHAGEN, ESPOUSES, and SCRAM. I didn’t like the split in AVERSION into two words because the 2nd word SION is a proper word that’s always capitalized. I guessed SELLAFIELD (new to me) and then came across the word hours later while reading Bono’s book “Surrender.” Funny how that happens. Thanks Teacow for the blog.

  12. Thanks for the blog, IMPECUNIOUSNESS is put together very well. SELLAFIELD has had many names and still has many functions, not really a power station but there have been some on the overall site under different names.
    COPENHAGEN could perhaps have been linked with interpretation from the previous clue.

  13. I’ve never heard of ickle meaning little and can’t find it in my dictionary. It also shows as a spelling mistake in this very comment box.

    I spent some time trying to think of another word that worked there before concluding that the answer must be trickle, but for an inexplicable reason.

    Otherwise, a speedy and enjoyable solve. My loi was the very clever canoodle.

    Thanks

  14. A D’oh! moment for us too when we got CHERISH. Not quite our LOI, though – that was BACKACHE. Plenty to like, including COPENHAGEN, ESPOUSES and SCRAM.
    Thanks, Goliath and Teacow.

  15. Tony @ 11,
    I haven’t read Surrender yet but I found myself in a comfy chair in a local bookshop having effortlessly zipped through one droll chapter. Hope you’re enjoying it.

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