Financial Times 17,391 by CHALMIE

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A most enjoyable puzzle from Chalmie, as ever.

Hopefully the theme was too clear to miss. Witty fun. Many thanks to Chalmie!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Red can Spanish aunt opens (6)
TITIAN

TIN (can), TIA (Spanish aunt) opens

4. Tom is shocked, overcome by bad habits of French nobles (8)
VICOMTES

(TOM)* (*shocked) overcome by VICES (bad habits)

9. Drink with old queen in reverse for 23’s lover (7)
PYRAMUS

(SUP (drink) with MARY (old queen) in)< (<reverse)

11. Licensed to kill halal-style? Very naughty, n’est-ce pas? (3,2,2)
OOH LA LA

OO (licensed to kill, as in 007 for example) + (HALAL)* (*style)

12. Suspended criminal to poke around (9)
PROROGUED

ROGUE (criminal) + PROD (to poke) around

14. Hears nurse leaving jousting arena (5)
LISTS

LIST[en]S (hears, EN (nurse, i.e. Enrolled Nurse) leaves)

15. Only newbies regularly lead group for old Welsh minister (3,5)
NYE BEVAN

[o]N[l]Y [n]E[w]B[i]E[s] (regularly) + VAN (lead group)

16. 6’s lover allowed amateur to go first (6)
HAMLET

LET (allowed); HAM (amateur) to go first

18. Afghani article on way (6)
PATHAN

AN (article) on PATH (way)

20. Venus regularly tracks down diamonds for tragic lover (8)
EURYDICE

[v]E[n]U[s] (regularly) + RY (tracks) + D (down) + ICE (diamonds)

24. Speedwagon maybe blocked by order of 17’s lover (5)
ROMEO

REO (speedwagon maybe) blocked by OM (order, i.e. Order of Merit)

25. Rug musical character from Greece occasionally fetches (9)
HAIRPIECE

HAIR (musical) + PI (character from Greece) + [f]E[t]C[h]E[s] (occasionally)

26. Shore up tragic lover of 20 (7)
ORPHEUS

(SHORE UP)* (*tragic)

27. Trains run on time for 5’s lover (7)
TRISTAN

(TRAINS)* (*run) on T (time)

29. Interrupts journey cycling, say, to visit one of many here (4,4)
LAYS OVER

SAY (cycling) to visit LOVER (one of many here – referring to the theme of the puzzle)

30. Key line of third-party deed (6)
ESCROW

ESC (key) + ROW (line)

DOWN
1. Bowler’s trick, turning up to pinch place (7)
TOPSPIN

(NIP (pinch) + SPOT (place))< (<turning up)

2/28. Harridan’s film pitch (6)
TARTAR

TAR (film) + TAR (pitch)

3. The Spanish Resistance artillery turn up and elbow through this (7)
ARMHOLE

(EL (the, Spanish) + OHM (resistance) + RA (artillery, i.e. Royal Artillery))< (<turn up)

5. Tragic lover to ostracise daughter for skinned cats (6)
ISOLDE

ISOL[at]E (to ostracise): D (daughter) for [c]AT[s] (skinned)

6. Work on man trouble up to tragic lover (7)
OPHELIA

OP (work) on HE (man) + AIL< (trouble, <up)

7. Like Hannibal’s campaign as planes and train crash (11)
TRANSALPINE

(PLANES + TRAIN)* (*crash)

8. Is petulantly rude to peasants — out of order and not English (5,2)
SNAPS AT

(P[e]ASANTS)* (*out of order, not E (English))

10. Diving equipment reaches Cuba somehow shrunk (6)
SCUBAS

[reache]S CUBA S[omehow] (shrunk)

13. Settle in instalments what is due for working late (8,3)
OVERTIME PAY

OVER TIME, PAY (settle in instalments)

17. Project to cover up fabrication for tragic lover (6)
JULIET

JUT (project) to cover up LIE (fabrication)

18. Cook unfortunately bipolar (7)
PARBOIL

(BIPOLAR)* (*unfortunately)

19. Make amends for run out with a single stroke (2,3,2)
AT ONE GO

ATONE (make amends) + GO (run out)

21. Agreed to protect cheerful irrational careerists (7)
YUPPIES

YES (agreed) to protect UP (cheerful) + PI (irrational)

22. Smooth recall succeeded to this day (4,3)
EVEN NOW

EVEN (smooth) + WON< (succeeded, <recall)

23. Tragic lover sent his best presents (6)
THISBE

[sen]T HIS BE[st] (presents)

11 comments on “Financial Times 17,391 by CHALMIE”

  1. It’s Spring and love is in the air! Wonderful puzzle. Just needed help parsing 14a. The theme was very enjoyable; besides thatI enjoyed 4a and 18d.
    Thanks to Chalmie and Oriel.

  4. Enjoyed this. Got held up thinking it was Theseus and Eurydice for a bit. But alright in the end. I share the enthusiasm for OOH LA LA. It was also interesting to see a bit of Spanish crop up.

    Tx Chalmie and Oriel.

  5. I enjoyed this, even if literary lovers aren’t quite my thing. Still, with helpful wordplay I was able to get them all in the end, with the never heard of PYRAMUS my last in. What I did miss out on though were the parsing of TOPSPIN, the significance of REO as a ‘Speedwagon maybe’ (vehicle or rock band) and TAR as a ‘film’, starring our very own Kate Blanchett I see.

    I’ll join in the chorus for OOH LA LA as my favourite too.

    Thanks to Chalmie and Oriel

  7. Pyramus and Thisbe were lovers in A Midsummer Nights Dream. They talked to each other through a chink in the wall. Enjoyed this, but failed on “prorogued”

  8. Thanks Chalmie. This was a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed clues like EURYDICE, JULIET, and PARBOIL but others like VICOMTES, PYRAMUS, NYE BEVAN, and PROROGUED were beyond my orbit. I only got ISOLDE from the TRISTAN reference because I thought “to ostracise daughter” meant to discard the “d” and insert the “at” from skinned cats. Thanks Oriel for the blog.

  9. A very enjoyable solve with an easily spotted theme – pity there wasn’t anywhere to shoehorn in Hero and Leander. Among the non-themed entries our favourite was ARMHOLE.
    Pyramus and Thisbe pre-date Shakespeare and MSND – the story is told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
    Thanks, Chalmie and Oriel.

  10. I did Ovid for O level Latin, Pyramus and Thisbe also influenced Romeo and Juliet , but Ovid not even the first , it is an old Babylonian tale.
    Metamorphoses also has Pygmalion , influenced the play by George Bernard Shaw and even My Fair Lady. There is a great modern translation by Ted Hughes.

  11. Thanks everyone – I’ll join in with putting OOH LA LA at the top of the charts, which the Faces’ album of the same name got nowhere near.

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