Financial Times 17,350 by BOBCAT

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BOBCAT kicks the week off…

Apologies for the delay in getting this blog up… had a rather late night involving Tequila (thanks Sarah), and that, combined with some rather tricky parsing in this puzzle, has somewhat set me back.

I spent a while looking for feline Ninas, but nothing leapt out at me. There is, of course, the WONDER WOMAN in the NW corner, but I couldn't see anything else related.

Anyway, a very enjoyable solve that was a little chewier than usual for a Monday morning!

Thanks BOBCAT!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Miracle turned claret to flaky white stuff in saint’s absence (6)
WONDER

(RED (claret) + [s]NOW (flaky white stuff, S (saint) absent))< (<turned)

4. Untidy label on paper (6)
RAGTAG

TAG (label) on RAG (paper)

8. A lot of jerks exposed youth (7)
UMPTEEN

[b]UMP[s] (jerks, exposed) + TEEN (youth)

9. Something malicious involving artist and politician (7)
LIBERAL

LIBEL (something malicious) involving RA (artist)

11. Modification to unique diet produces uneasiness (10)
INQUIETUDE

(UNIQUE DIET)* (*modification to)

12. Finals of Masterchef feature Nigella, resplendent in action (4)
FEAT

[maserche]F [featur]E [nigell]A [respelenden]T (finals of)

13. Instrument locating recurrent feature of heredity in seeds (5)
PIPES

E (recurrent feature of heredity) in PIPS (seeds)

14. Wilde, for one, rejected main article covering limitations of Earnest (8)
AESTHETE

(SEA)< (main, <rejected) + (THE (article) covering E[arnes]T (limitations of))

16. Screwball declines to be tolerated (8)
LICENSED

(DECLINES)* (*screwball)

18. Announcement filling parts 2-4 of Elle is a scoop (5)
LADLE

AD (announcement) filling [e]LLE (parts 2-4 of)

20. Have another go at languishing in boredom (4)
REDO

[bo]REDO[m] (languishing in)

21. She has sorties all over the place (3,7)
AIR HOSTESS

(HAS SORTIES)* (*all over the place) &lit

23. Soldiers set fire to unit in reversing train (7)
MILITIA

(LIT (set fire to) + I (unit)) in (AIM)< (train, <reversing)

24. Clammy sort of bad vibe holding John back (7)
BIVALVE

(VIBE)* (*bad) holding (LAV)< (john, <back)

25. Flighty individual seized on juicy news item (6)
TITBIT

TIT (flighty individual) + BIT (seized on)

26. Forge name often used spuriously in extremis (6)
SMITHY

SMITH (name often used) + [spuriousl]Y (in extremis)

DOWN
1. Being cut up over article (5)
WOMAN

(MOW)< (cut, <up) over AN (article)

2. Sort of contract for game or fillet steak? (2-5)
NO-TRUMP

NOT RUMP (fillet steak, for example)

3. Directions provided by side in field for refreshments (9)
ELEVENSES

S E S (directions, South East South) provided by ELEVEN (side in field)

5. Five grades college replaced with one to last (5)
ABIDE

AB[c]DE (five grades, C (college) replaced with I (one))

6. A night at the theatre: it could be glorious (7)
TWELFTH

Double definition

Glorious Twelfth (Aug 12th) being the start of the shooting season for red grouse – so perhaps not so glorious for them.

7. Batty aunt eager to provide assurance (9)
GUARANTEE

(AUNT EAGER)* (*batty)

10. Clamour in haste, having lost right to host exotic dance (3,3,3)
HUE AND CRY

in HU[r]RY (haste, having lost R (right)) to host (DANCE)* (*exotic)

13. Nameless royal literally admitting relations at last. Here’s the charge sheet (5,4)
PRICE LIST

PRI[n]CE (royal, N (name)-less) + (LIT (literally) admitting [relation]S (at last))

15. Argument that’s surprising is rejected in singular theory (9)
SYLLOGISM

(GOLLY)< (that's surprising, <is rejected) in (S (singluar) + ISM (theory))

17. I repeatedly talk primarily about special one in the ascendant? (7)
EGOTIST

EGO (I) + (T[alk] T[alk] (repeatedly, primarily) about (S (special) + I (one))< (<in the ascendent)) &lit

19. Take away bore from the south at end of August (7)
DETRACT

(CARTED)< (bore, <from the south) at [augus]T (end of)

21. Excuse jumping bail before middle of trial (5)
ALIBI

(BAIL)* (*jumping) before [tr]I[al] (middle of)

22. Know how to speak volumes, being drunk (5)
SAVVY

SAY (to speak), V V (volumes) being drunk

13 comments on “Financial Times 17,350 by BOBCAT”

  1. “lovely surfaces”, “most enjoyable”, “A lovely surprise”, “Every frame a Rembrandt”, “What a treat!”, “I’m smitten”, “I enjoyed this a lot”, “simply superb”.
    All the compliments from the last blog here, certainly apply to this puzzle. It’s a gem.

  2. I agree – this was great fun from Bobcat, particularly the SE corner, with SAVVY and BIVALVE my favourites.
    Thanks to Bobcat and Teacow.

  3. Loved the &lits AIR HOSTESS & EGOTIST
    Also liked SYLLOGISM, BIVALVE, UMPTEEN, ALIBI, SAVVY
    Randy Andy in 13d PRICE LIST?
    José Mourinho in 17d EGOTIST?
    foi: WONDER – images of a saint turning blood/wine into cocaine
    loi: WOMAN – I WONDER why? – It’s so simple when you parse it.

  4. Very enjoyable and no gentle Monday stroll. I’d barely heard of the difficult to parse SYLLOGISM and took some time at the end to get ELEVENSES. Lots of good ones to pick from, with the ‘Clammy sort’ def for BIVALVE being my favourite today.

    Thanks to Bobcat and Teacow

  5. In 26a, it also amused me to think that ‘spuriously’ was doing double duty, both providing its last letter and referring to a surname supposedly often used when booking into a hotel by those straying.

  6. Thanks for the blog, the usual high quality from this setter. Great to see a word like golly being used in a clue.

  7. Thanks Bobcat. I always find this setter on the difficult end of the spectrum and this was no exception. I used the “reveal square” feature on several occasions to get unstuck but I still found much to enjoy with WONDER, AIR HOSTESS, NO TRUMP, ABIDE, and HUE AND CRY as my top picks. I never heard of TITBIT, being more familiar with tidbit. I was disappointed not to find a feline nina. Thanks Teacow for the blog.

  9. I liked this, but parsed UMPTEEN with jumps undressed, not bumps.

    Thank you to Bobcat and Teacow

  10. . and Teacow

    6ac: I think jumps works just as well as bumps here. Indeed Chambers 2014 gives “jerk” as a definition of jump as a noun, while for bump we need to go via jolt. However, I think that is a valid link, and would not be at all surprised if one of the other standard dictionaries gives us bump=jerk directly.

    26ac: Following Diane@5, I am sure that “spuriously” was intended in the sense suggested to help point us towards the name Smith, but, having got there, “name often used” is a sufficient indication, freeing “spuriously” to perform single duty in the indication for Y.

  11. Comment 10 should have started “Thanks Bobcat and Teacow.” Apologies for poor proof reading before posting.

  12. Chewy in places but it was all gettable. We liked TWELFTH and BIVALVE.
    8ac was one of those clues where something ‘wrong’ puts you on the right track – in this case ‘jerks’ suggested PT as part of the answer, which then led us to UMPTEEN where ‘jerks’ indicated something different.
    Glad we’re not alone in being unable to find a feline reference.
    Thanks, Gila and Teacow.

  13. feline references
    11. ModifiCATion to unique diet produces uneasiness (10)
    13. Instrument loCATing recurrent feature of heredity in seeds (5)
    Thanks BobCAT

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