Financial Times 17,395 by ARTEXLEN

by

ARTEXLEN kicks things off this morning…

I've had to rather rush this blog, so apologies if there are any errors.

Definitely more of a challenge than usual for a Monday I thought, but very enjoyable to solve.

Thanks ARTEXLEN!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 SOMEHOW
One way or another, very mediocre centre of town (7)

SO MEH (very mediocre) + [t]OW[n] (centre of)
5 HASSLED
Vexed bears travel over snow (7)

HAS (bears) + SLED (travel over snow)
9 AARON
Name article covering bar piano (5)

A (article) + A[p]RON (covering, bar P (piano))
10 TURNOVERS
Nervous cooking with case for rabbit pies (9)

(NERVOUS with R[abbi]T (case for))* (*cooking)
11 PRETENDER
One making claim of purse occasionally missing money (9)

P[u]R[s]E (occasionally missing) + TENDER (money)
12 TESLA
Scientist rates laser pens (5)

[ra]TES LA[ser] (pens)
13 CLOAK-AND-DAGGER
Secretive lad, a docker mixing with gang (5-3-6)

(LAD A DOCKER with GANG)* (*mixing)
18 STEERING COLUMN
Car part made of metal shaved with round file (8,6)

STEE[l] (metal, shaved) with RING (round) + COLUMN (file)
20 AGLOW
Glittering silver and blue (5)

AG (silver) and LOW (blue)
22 COURTSHIP
Romance that gives little rest for Spooner (9)

"short kip" (little rest, "for Spooner")
24 IN PROTEST
At home nuisance eats rubbish to prove a point (2,7)

IN (at home) + PEST (nuisance) eats ROT (rubbish)
25 SUEDE
Make legal claim to restrict journalist’s material (5)

SUE (make legal claim) to restrict ED (journalist)
26 TANK TOP
Light touch grabbing knot to straighten out garment (4,3)

TAP (light touch) grabbing (KNOT)* (*to straighten out)
27 RESIDED
Dwelt on team defeats initially (7)

RE (on) + SIDE (team) + D[efeats] (initially)
DOWN
1 SCAMPI
Not half sick eating party food (6)

SI[ck] (not half) eating CAMP (party)
2 MARSEILLE
Smellier after wandering around a Mediterranean port (9)

(SMELLIER)* (*wandering) around A
3 HINGE
Person griping having skin taken off joint (5)

[w]HINGE[r] (person griping, having skin taken off)
4 WITHDRAWN
Accompanied by Newton, protégé turned shy (9)

WITH (accompanied by) + (N (Newton) + WARD (protege))< (<turned)
5 HIRER
Renter welcome, clearing arrears regularly (5)

HI (welcome) + [a]R[r]E[a]R[s] (clearing regularly)
6 SHORTFALL
Deficit for stall badly placed outside hotel (9)

(FOR STALL)* (*badly) placed outside H (hotel)
7 LEEDS
City guides in auditorium (5)

"leads" (guides, "in auditorium")
8 DESPAIRS
Some French king downcast in his capital loses hope (8)

DES (some, French) + PARIS (his capital, with R (king) downcast)
14 ARROWROOT
Plant marrows, grow both without any tips (9)

[m]ARROW[s] [g]RO[w] [b]OT[h] (without any tips)
15 DECLUTTER
Clear out hall, finally complete after month (9)

([hal]L (finally) + UTTER (complete)) after DEC (month)
16 GUMSHIELD
Device protecting sportsman from mud chafed with his leg (9)

(MUD with HIS LEG)* (*chafed)
17 ESSAYIST
Word is accepted by established author (8)

(SAY (word) + IS) accepted by EST (established)
19 SPREAD
Extend boundaries of sleep study (6)

S[lee]P (boundaries of) + READ (study)
21 LUPIN
Large brooch gripping uniform showing flower (5)

(L (large) + PIN (brooch)) gripping U (uniform)
22 CHEAP
Inferior lot with Charlie superior (5)

HEAP (lot) with C (Charlie) superior
23 TASKS
Poll in street about jobs (5)

ASK (poll) in (ST (street))< (<about)

10 comments on “Financial Times 17,395 by ARTEXLEN”

  2. A lot to like in this puzzle from Artexlen. Made steady progress to the end.
    I particularly liked the Spoonerism (22A), 2, 13, WITHDRAWN and DECLUTTER and had ticks for many more.
    Thanks to Artexlen and Teacow.

  3. I found this fairly straightforward to complete, but I didn’t fully parse the last couple of clues, more because the puzzle app does this trick of putting a completed message up and I forget to go back and look than they were impossible, although I’m not sure I would have parsed SOMEHOW if I had looked at it properly.

    Thank you to Artexlen and Teacow

  4. “So meh” is great – and far from being a description of this enjoyable puzzle.

    Thanks, Artexlen and Teacow.

  5. I like Mondays. Two excellent puzzles in the Guardian, and another here — all very rewarding with nothing too obscure or groan-inducing.

    I particularly liked SOMEHOW.

    Couldn’t parse AARON till I came here. Why is “say” “word”?

  6. Thanks Artexlen and Teacow

    GDU@5: When we comment here, we are having our say/word about the puzzle.

  7. Thanks for the blog, really good puzzle full of clever clues.

    Geoff@5 if you are making a controversial comment you need to say/word it very carefully.

  8. Thanks Artexlen for a nicely crafted crossword with SOMEHOW, HASSLED, CLOAK-AND-DAGGER, LEEDS, and DECLUTTER being my top picks. I guessed GUMSHIELD from the anagram fodder; such a device is known as a mouthpiece in the U.S. I couldn’t parse AARON and HINGE so thanks Teacow for the blog.

  9. I found this at the easier end of the FT spectrum, though none the less pleasurable for that. Apron was my LOI, when I spent a good 10 minutes trying to work out whether the answer was Apron or Aaron before the penny dropped on the parsing.

Comments are closed.