Financial Times 17,356 by BRADMAN

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BRADMAN provides this morning's challenge…

This is the first time I've blogged a BRADMAN I think. A pleasant solve… though I'm a little unsure of the parsing of 9d.

Thanks BRADMAN!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
7. Name attached to Laotian possibly? (8)
NATIONAL

N (name) attached to (LAOTIAN)* (*possibly) &lit

8. Reconstituted unit is occupying original position (2,4)
IN SITU

(UNIT IS)* (*reconstituted)

11. Daughter avoids cutting up part of the cake (5)
ICING

[d]ICING (cutting up, D (daughter) avoids))

12. A church is restricting always for go- getters (9)
ACHIEVERS

A + CH (church) + (IS restricting EVER (always))

13. English reader for one from Hanover? (7)
ELECTOR

E (english) + LECTOR (reader)

14. What members of family are told (7)
RELATED

Double definition

15. Deputy’s circular letter (6-2-7)
SECOND-IN-COMMAND

The second letter in "command" being circular

18. Hormone flowing repeatedly in endless lust (7)
INSULIN

(IN IN (repeatedly) + LUS[t] (endless))* (*flowing)

20. How surprising when it goes up! (7)
EYEBROW

Cryptic definition

22. Assessment of a chum going round Paris slightly confused (9)
APPRAISAL

(A + PAL (chum)) going round (PARIS)* (*slightly confused)

23. Saint with nothing, one more or less a philosopher (5)
STOIC

ST (saint) with O (nothing) + I (one) + C (more or less, circa)

24. Tool getting line into phone (6)
TROWEL

ROW (line) into TEL (phone)

25. ‘Star plant’ is king (8)
ASTERISK

ASTER (plant) + IS + K (king)

DOWN
1. Partner’s pain – it could be dissipated with product from Boots? (14)
ANTIPERSPIRANT

(PARTNERS PAIN IT)* (*could be dissipated)

2. Venture of son taking time and torn apart almost (6)
STRIVE

S (son) taking T (time) and RIVE[n] (torn apart, almost)

3. Like imported product for sale – ought to be in wine collection (6,2)
BOUGHT IN

OUGHT to be in BIN (wine collection)

4. Awkward characteristic of mum and boy in stores wandering around (13)
MALADROITNESS

MA (mum) and LAD (boy) + (IN STORES)* (*wandering around)

5. Open up a foreign mammal (6)
UNSEAL

UN (a, foreign) + SEAL (mammal)

6. Trance I’d suffered with bleeding heart maybe (8)
DICENTRA

(TRANCE ID)* (*suffered)

9. It could suggest gum that you can eat (6-4,4)
UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

"gum" being "mug" upside-down

10. Lacking any thing symbolic is dull (13)
CHARACTERLESS

Double definition

16. Old tax fund that stinks! (8)
CESSPOOL

CESS (old tax) + POOL (fund)

17. Cheese may give me unrest (8)
MUENSTER

(ME UNREST)* (*may give)

19. The French port is dull (6)
LEADEN

LE (the, French) + ADEN (port)

21. Piece that is used for recruit (6)
ROOKIE

ROOK (piece) + IE (that is)

17 comments on “Financial Times 17,356 by BRADMAN”

  1. KVa
    @1 - Mon 13th Mar 23, 09:09

    9d: I had the same parsing.
    Upside-down cake is a mug cake. Right?

  2. WordPlodder
    @2 - Mon 13th Mar 23, 09:53

    I found this quite hard. I had no hope parsing SECOND-IN-COMMAND or UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE, had forgotten MUENSTER as a ‘cheese’ and had never heard of DICENTRA (at least I won the uncrossed consonant lottery) as a ‘bleeding heart’ which I’ve now learnt has nothing to do with a caring and sharing person. I’ve also learnt that a CAKE can be a “foolish or stupid fellow”, hence the ‘gum’=UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE(=”mug”) connection presumably.

    I liked EYEBROW and the appearance of first ANTIPERSPIRANT and then CESSPOOL, though maybe it should have been the other way around.

    Thanks to Bradman and Teacow

  3. KVa
    @3 - Mon 13th Mar 23, 10:11

    WordPlodder@2
    Your take on CAKE sounds more plausible. Mine has an erroneous logic. Cake should mean mug in some sense. You have the answer to this. Thanks.

  4. Peter
    @4 - Mon 13th Mar 23, 10:44

    I had no idea why “mug” or “gum” have anything to do with a “cake”. Thanks, WP, for the linking of “mug” and “cake”: this is not an insult with which I am familiar.

    Re 6D: I confess to being Ignorant of any plant that isn’t a rose, but even my gardener wife had not heard of this answer.

    Re 24A: is “tel” really an accepted abbreviation for a telephone?

    Thanks Teacow.

  5. Mark_A
    @5 - Mon 13th Mar 23, 10:45

    Well, I thought an upside down cake is simply a cake baked upside down (like an tart tatin) and a mug cake is literally a cake made in a mug (which can be upside down or not).

    So not sure about that one

  6. Mark_A
    @6 - Mon 13th Mar 23, 10:47

    Ah. missed wordplodder’s take.on it. that makes more sense

  7. Simon S
    @7 - Mon 13th Mar 23, 11:10

    Peter @ 4 ‘Tel’ used to be a standard feature of business letterheads and business cards.

  8. Cineraria
    @8 - Mon 13th Mar 23, 13:03

    I stared at this for about 15 minutes, getting nothing, and then the solutions steadily went in, once I got on Bradman’s wavelength. Some really inventive clues, although “mug” = “cake” was really obscure. I was actually thinking of the “pan” (which does mean “face” or “mug”) in “pancake” when I wrote in the answer, but, of course, that association is completely wrong.

  9. FrankieG
    @9 - Mon 13th Mar 23, 13:09

    mug = gum up = cake/encrust

  10. Widdersbel
    @10 - Mon 13th Mar 23, 13:48

    Excellent puzzle, thanks Bradman & Teacow.

    The OED’s most recent citation for cake meaning “A person regarded as foolish, gullible, or weak in character” is from 2018, so clearly it is in current use for some people.

  11. Moly
    @11 - Mon 13th Mar 23, 14:07

    I found this difficult and gave up with three to go. Two of these were easy, but I don’t think I would never of got Elector, though it now rings a distant bell.

  12. FrankieG
    @12 - Mon 13th Mar 23, 14:29

    Great crossword.
    SECOND-IN-COMMAND – cluing just one letter of a 15-letter answer. I like it.
    The “slight” anagram of PARIS in APPRAISAL. Tick.
    EYEBROW – made me think of the late Sir Roger Moore: “My acting range has always been something between the two extremes of ‘raises left eyebrow’ and ‘raises right eyebrow.'”
    My One Before Last One In (1b4loi) – MALADROITNESS I liked it for the surface, and for being a nice word.
    Last One In – DICENTRA the fairest word that would fit there, A jorum for me. And they do look like hearts.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicentra#/media/File:Dicentra_'King_of_Hearts'_and_'Ivory_Hearts‘.jpg
    Thanks B&T

  13. Roz
    @13 - Mon 13th Mar 23, 15:15

    Thanks for the blog, Private Godfrey had a sister Dolly who was famous for her UPSIDE-DOWN CAKES , Chambers has CAKE= fool as archaic, perhaps it is making a comeback.
    A good set of clues but I was surprised to see “dull” as the definition twice close together.

  14. Tony Santucci
    @14 - Mon 13th Mar 23, 15:20

    Thanks Bradman for a challenging but ultimately enjoyable crossword. I needed a nudge or two to figure out ELECTOR, DICENTRA, and ROOKIE and I didn’t know that cake=mug but all else eventually fell into place. My favourites were NATIONAL, ICING, RELATED (nice DD and surface), the very clever SECOND-IN-COMMAND, ANTIPERSPIRANT, and LEADEN. Thanks Teacow for the blog.

  15. Four Farthings Falling
    @15 - Tue 14th Mar 23, 00:50

    It’s tomorrow and nobody’s noticed the correct parse of 9d @9.
    Teacow, Bradman, anybody?

  16. Pelham Barton
    @16 - Tue 14th Mar 23, 01:34

    Thanks Bradman and Teacow.

    9dn: I am convinced by the parsing based on mug and cake being synonyms as justified by several of the comments, notably Widdersbel@10. I am not convinced by comment 9.

  17. Xmac
    @17 - Tue 14th Mar 23, 09:26

    KVa @1. Spot on

    https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/microwave-mug-cake

Comments are closed.