Financial Times 17,378 by BASILISK

by

A most enjoyable challenge with a literary theme.

I was sure this would be a pangram, but not quite. Admittedly it took me a while to get going, and there are a few new words for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle. Many thanks to the reliably witty Basilisk! Not a word out of place.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Worthless life getting wasted regularly? (6)
JUNKIE

JUNK (worthless) + [l]I[f]E (getting wasted regularly) &lit

4. Makes proud witness upset about male employer (8)
EMBOSSES

SEE< (witness, <upset) about M (male) + BOSS (employer)

9. Unfamiliar and unusual account of people’s lives? (5)
NOVEL

Double definition

10. Orange incense in empty turpentine bottles (9)
TANGERINE

ANGER (incense) + IN + T[urpentin]E (empty) bottles

11. Cause congestion in attempt to block Green’s resolution (7)
ENGORGE

GO (an attempt) to block (GREEN)* (*resolution)

12. French lark in a flap (7)
FRANTIC

FR (French) + ANTIC (lark)

13. Brotherhood protects man responsible for ‘The Plot Against America’ (4)
ROTH

[b]ROTH[erhood] (protects)

Philip Roth wrote The Plot Against America

14. Dismal play almost everyone’s been bored by before (8)
FUNEREAL

FUN (play) + AL[l] (everyone, almost) bored by ERE (before)

17. Quisling partly inspired a generation post-revolution (8)
RENEGADE

[inspir]ED A GENER[ation]< (partly, <post-revolution)

19. Cancel social event for organisation promoting peace and security? (4)
UNDO

UN (United Nations: organisation promoting peace and security) + DO (social event)

22. Diplomat bound to come to a premature end (7)
ATTACHE

ATTACHE[d] (bound, to come to a premature end)

24. Flap about, having trouble expressing hesitation to begin with (7)
AILERON

ON (about) having AIL (trouble) + ER (expressing hesitation) to begin with

More information here

25. Labour’s due back in a flash (9)
SPADEWORK

OWED< (due, <back) in SPARK (a flash)

26. Don perhaps losing head in club (5)
RIVER

[d]RIVER (club, losing head)

27. Cause of poisoning sailor by crew (8)
MANDRAKE

DRAKE (sailor) by MAN (crew)

Sir Francis Drake

28. Convey to the audience what King wrote (6)
CARRIE

“CARRY” (convey, “to the audience”)

Stephen King wrote Carrie

DOWN
1. Loveless, miserable character burdened with month’s work (4,4)
JANE EYRE

EEY[o]RE (miserable character, loveless (without O)) burdened with JAN (month)

2. New pilot gets hold of good co-pilot? (9)
NAVIGATOR

N (new) + AVIATOR (pilot) gets hold of G (good)

3. Lazy people lied about terms of their jobs (6)
IDLERS

(LIED)* (*about) + [thei]R [job]S (terms of)

5. Book two pitches belonging to board member? (9,4)
MANSFIELD PARK

MAN’S (belonging to board member); FIELD + PARK (two pitches)

For MAN think chess

6. Work in theatre and effect cure ultimately? (7)
OPERATE

OPERA (work in theatre) and [effec]T [cur]E (ultimately) &lit

7. Riddle cracked by women’s writer (5)
SWIFT

SIFT (riddle) cracked by W (women)

A riddle is a large sieve

8. School includes physical education and English language (6)
SPEECH

SCH (school) includes PE (physical education) and E (English)

10. Collection of stories and articles in Anglo-French publication about psychologist (3,6,4)
THE JUNGLE BOOK

THE + LE (articles in Anglo-French) + BOOK (publication) about JUNG (psychologist)

15. Both sides ready to receive vehicle (4,5)
LAND ROVER

L AND R (both sides) + OVER (ready to receive)

16. Film broadcast before Royal Navy embarks (4,4)
BORN FREE

(BEFORE)* (*broadcast); RN (Royal Navy) embarks

18. Form of power in doubt after nationalist uprising (7)
NUCLEAR

UNCLEAR (in doubt) after N (nationalist) uprising

20. Old lady’s dog brought up oily substance (6)
BALSAM

(MA’S (old lady’s) + LAB (dog))< (<brought up)

21. Uplifting tune: one lauding God primarily (6)
GLORIA

(AIR (tune) + O[ne] L[auding] G[od] (primarily))< (<uplifting) &lit

23. Tense entrance disheartened author (5)
TWAIN

T (tense) + WA[y] IN (entrance, disheartened)

18 comments on “Financial Times 17,378 by BASILISK”

  1. Missed another theme. Oh, well. Enjoyed it anyway. I presume “terms” in 3d means “terminals”. Didn’t know Carrie, Roth.

    So there’s a Don river? I discovered that there are several around the world, including Australia, although I suspect that Basilisk had in mind an English one?

    Favourites LAND ROVER, TANGERINE & NUCLEAR.

    Thanks Basilisk & Oriel.

  2. Thanks, Basilisk and Oriel.
    An enjoyable puzzle and a neat blog.
    Liked JUNKIE, JANE EYRE, MANSFIELD PARK and NUCLEAR.

    LAND ROVER: Took me a while to connect ‘over’ to wireless communication.
    Hope that’s the meaning Basilisk had in mind.

    Over and out! Well… OVER. Ready to receive… 🙂

  3. Geoff down under @1, the River Don goes through Doncaster.

    Fun literary theme, which helped me solve some of the answers. Although I did make heavy weather of the NW corner.

    Thank you to Basilisk and Oriel.

  4. Brilliant puzzle from Basilisk with, as Oriel says, crystal clarity and a most enjoyable theme borne out in more clues than not.
    My favourites are, AILERON, BORN FREE (bringing back memories of my childhood) and GLORIA which, aptly enough, reminds me of the rousing U2 number performed during their “War” tour.
    Hearty thanks to Oriel and Basilisk.

  5. And Quiet Flows the Don is the title of a well known Russian novel, following the literary theme.
    Excellent if demanding puzzle. Thanks to setter and blogger.

  6. Great stuff. Very inventive.
    Loved SPADEWORK – great construction, excellent surface, fine sentiment.
    And the neat &lits JUNKIE, OPERATE and especially GLORIA.
    Tnanks B&O

  7. Enjoyed this a lot. Even when challenged I found I was smiling a lot. Many of the theme-based definitions were super general ‘film’, ‘book’, ‘author’, ‘collection of stories’ but fortunately the answers weren’t obscure. I too liked SPADEWORK. Amongst a number of other fine clues I’d mention AILERON, ATTACHE and FUNEREAL.

    Small point about 9a: is it worth pointing out that the second definition is a cryptic one (hence the ?)?

  8. Thanks for the blog, really neat set of clues. It is rare to see a full, classic &Lit and we have three here. FUNEREAL was very clever and I liked the loveless Eeyore , many others mentioned above so I will not go on.

  10. Thanks Basilisk and Oriel
    5dn: I cannot quite get this to work to my satisfaction. I can see how “pitch belonging to board member” could give us MAN’S FIELD as a phrase, but I think “two pitches” taken that way would need to be MAN’S FIELD AND PARK. I would be completely happy with “belonging to” as indicating that FIELD and PARK follow MAN(‘S), but it looks like an unsatisfactory double duty if “belonging to” is indicating both the apostrophe-S and the order of the parts in the answer.

  13. Generally Basilisk/Serpent is among my favourite setters but I found much of this impenetrable for some reason. Thanks Oriel for the blog.

  14. Nick@7 I think the reason for the ? in 9A is that the second definition is by way of an example, rather than being cryptic. Chambers has this as the first meaning of “novel” as a noun: “A fictitious prose narrative or tale presenting a picture of real life, esp of the emotional crises in the life history of the people portrayed”

  15. Rudolf@14: I agree with that. Actually I meant to say it with my earlier comment about 5dn.

  16. Thanks Basilisk and Oriel

    Really enjoyed that, despite being delayed by a long gap for horticultural activity between first and second sessions.

  17. Challenging in places but most enjoyable. Interesting that the two authors, SWIFT and TWAIN, didn’t feature in the literary works. Too many good ’uns to nominate a favourite.
    Thanks, Basilisk and Oriel.

  18. Many thanks to Oriel for the excellent blog and to everyone who has taken the time to comment.

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