Financial Times 17,441 by GOZO

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Some ingenious clues from Gozo . . .

. . . with a few parsings that I am not entirely certain about, as you will see in my remarks below. Comments welcome, as always.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 WHITECAP
Bird takes tiny step back (8)
WHIT (tiny [thing?]) + PACE (step) reversed (back). Is “whit” also an adjective? I am not sure that this quite works, or else I have not parsed it correctly.
5 TRIBAL
Initially Tony Blair distorted such family links (6)
Anagram of (distorted) {first letter of (“initially”) T[ONY] + BLAIR}
10 CLOSE TO
Near the looo! (5,2)
A lift-and-separate clue, read as “the loo o,” or: [WATER] CLOSET (the loo) + O
11 HOARDER
It’s not so easy housing old compulsive collector (7)
HARDER (it’s not so easy) around (housing) O (old)
12 EXEAT
River in pass (5)
EXE (river) + AT (in)
13 NUTSHELLS
Crazy fellow having explosive projectiles and cases (9)
NUT (crazy fellow) + SHELLS (explosive projectiles)
14 LATIN AMERICA
Could Inca material be excavated here? (5,7)
&lit and anagram of (could be . . . excavated) INCA MATERIAL
18 MATINEE IDOLS
Film stars changing some in detail (7,5)
Anagram of (changing) SOME IN DETAIL
21 CONTRALTO
Incomplete check involves key singer (9)
CONTRO[L] (“incomplete” check) around (involves) ALT (key)
23 NAOMI
I complain about girl (5)
I MOAN (I complain) reversed (about)
24 ELASTIC
Like laciest pants? (7)
&lit and anagram of (pants) LACIEST
25 INITIAL
Confirm by signing eleven Latin characters (7)
I think this parses as: Anagram of (signing . . . characters, i.e., communicating the letters of) {II (eleven, i.e., 11) + LATIN}
26 SIERRA
Ford car range (6)
Double definition
27 USHERS IN
Introduces you and me to the girl’s vice (6,2)
US (you and me) + HER (the girl’s) + SIN (vice)
DOWN
1 WICKED
Evil, like a candle? (6)
Double definition, with two pronunciations
2 IMOGEN
Girl I’m awfully gone on (6)
I’M + anagram of (awfully) GONE
3 EYE STRAIN
Closely watches carriages — with this result? (3,6)
&lit and EYES (closely watches) + TRAIN (carriages)
4 A TOWN LIKE ALICE
Book a week in it — local resort (1,4,4,5)
Anagram of (resort) A WEEK IN IT LOCAL, by Nevil Shute
6 REACH
Arrive in Eritrea, cheerfully (5)
Hidden in (in) [ERIT]REA CH[EERFULLY]
7 BUDDLEIA
Shrub from husband leaving spiritual leader holding garland (8)
BUDD[H]A (spiritual leader minus H [husband leaving]) around (holding) LEI (garland), also known as butterfly bush
8 LORD’S DAY
Twenty-four hours at the MCC HQ on the Sabbath (5,3)
LORD’S (MCC HQ, i.e., home ground of Marylebone Cricket Club) + DAY (twenty-four hours)
9 SHETLAND PONIES
Antelopes and hinds mingled with small horses (8,6)
Anagram of (mingled) [ANTELOPES + HINDS]
15 EGLANTINE
For instance, worker in business producing plant (9)
E.G. (for instance) + ANT (worker) inside (in) LINE (business)
16 SMACKERS
Parents punishing their children with kisses! (8)
Double definition(?), with the first, I assume, referring colloquially to those who do not spare the rod?
17 STONE AGE
Bygone era of individual in phase of development (5,3)
ONE (individual) inside (in) STAGE (phase of development)
19 TOPICS
Talking points where film buffs go (6)
TO PICS (where film buffs go)
20 VIOLIN
Oil spilt during wine fiddle (6)
Anagram of (spilt) OIL inside (during) VIN (wine)
22 ROTOR
It turns round and round and round! (5)
Cryptic definition, with, I assume, a reference to this also being a palindrome

20 comments on “Financial Times 17,441 by GOZO”

  1. Pretty straightforward and enjoyable. Wikipedia and Collins didn’t knoe a whitecap is a bird, but I found it eventually. The expression “not one whit” might indicate that a whit is something tiny, though I’m not entirely convinced by this clue.

    Hadn’t heard of EXEAT, and had forgotten that Exe is a river. I’ve been diligently learning my British rivers, but there have been very few in recent weeks. Also didn’t know BUDDLEIA, but it was easy to work out from the wordplay.

    Thanks Gozo & Cineraria.

  2. Thanks, Gozo and Cineraria!
    WHITECAP
    I parsed as you did and I have the same doubt that you have. Couldn’t find ‘whit adjective’ or ‘tiny noun’.

    ELASTIC
    The clue works well as a definition. In the wordplay, ‘like’ isn’t used. Semi&lit? Or is there a way to justify ‘like’ as a part of the wordplay?

    INITIAL
    I found this in Collins:
    character (verb)
    rare
    to portray or represent
    I thought ‘confirm by signing’ was the def.
    ‘eleven Latin’ (this unit) characters/portrays/represents.

    EYE STRAIN
    The wordplay doesn’t use ‘with this result’. Maybe again semi&lit or an extended definition (Correct me, please.I am not very sure what this clue should be categorised as).

    SMACKERS and ROTOR
    Parsed both of them as you did. I don’t see any gaps.

  3. Thanks Gozo for a solid crossword. I was impressed with the anagram clues like ELASTIC and LATIN AMERICA and I also enjoyed CONTRALTO and TRIBAL. I needed a “letter reveal” to solve WHITECAP and EXEAT, the latter a new word for me. I was a bit surprised that there was no theme or other layer to this crossword since Gozo specialises in such things; maybe I’m missing something. Thanks Cineraria for the blog.

  4. KVa@2: Semi-&lit might more accurately describe ELASTIC and EYE STRAIN, since some words in the clues are not strictly part of the wordplay. I am not persuaded that the distinction between &lit and semi-&lit is all that useful when the “extra” words do not constitute an additional meaningful definition on their own. For INITIAL, I considered a parsing along the lines that you suggest, but the safer conclusion might be that the clue simply isn’t working as intended. I enjoy some innovation in anagrinds, but a rare usage of “to character” as a verb feels strained.

  5. Cineraria@4
    I agree with you on ‘semi&lit’. Maybe one of these days I will grow more comfortable with this categorisation too.
    ELASTIC and EYE STRAIN may qualify as extended definitions. Of course, we can come up with new terminology too. 🙂

  6. I should have known better, but I walked straight into the obvious trap set at 19d and dutifully entered MOVIES. The cognitive concrete set instantly and I couldn’t think of anything else even though I knew it must be wrong. No excuses, but a pity after getting some of the less common words such as EXEAT and BUDDLEIA.

    An enjoyable puzzle and not too hard. I won’t add to the comments about an &lit v. semi-&lit v. extended definitions – I’ve been wrong too many times before!

    Thanks to Gozo and Cineraria

  7. 26A: Am I the only solver old (and foreign) enough to remember the Ford TAUNUS? But it seemed unlikely two down clues next to each other would end in U, so SIERRA it had to be.

  9. Lovely stuff
    WICKED could have been clued as “Brilliant, like a candle?” Or would it need 2 question marks?
    SIERRA could have been clued as just “Car range”
    I liked TOPICS – going “to the pictures” was what we called it in the ’50s and ’60s, to see MATINEE IDOLS, like Virginia McKenna and Peter Finch in films like A TOWN LIKE ALICE.
    It seems a very old-fashioned phrase now.
    Thanks G&C

  10. I usually only do puzzles on the weekend, and I actually did one on a weekday. I enjoyed this. Most of what I was going to write has been said. Just let me say not only were there some unusual clues, but I felt there were also several unusual anagram indicators.

    I am still not sure I see how 24 is ELASTIC – I see/saw the anagram, but for it to be &lit, doesn’t that mean “laciest pants” are like ELASTIC? Or are lacy pants called ELASTIC somewhere?

    Thanks Cineraria for the blog and thanks Gozo for the puzzle.

  11. I’m familiar with a blackcap as a bird, but not a whitecap. Not convinced it’s a proper species.

    Didn’t know Exeat. Obviously the wrong education.

  12. Thanks for the blog, generally very good clues with clever wordplay.
    I wonder if INITIAL has had a late edit ? Nice idea that does not seem to quite work.
    A TOWN LIKE ALICE had good deception and a neat anagram .

  13. I’m with Moly @11 – we were solving this on the tube and my daughter came out with WHITECAP, when we were looking at the last few gaps, which I duly entered as matching the word play, but I only know (all too well) the blackcap as we have one that sings loudly just outside my bedroom window to wake me up, not a whitecap. I’ve just googled whitecap and only found white-capped birds. (I also know white throats as birds, which are also fairly noisy at this time of year.)

    Martyn@10 – if your lacy pants don’t have any elastic, they won’t stay up.

    Thank you to Gozo and Cineraria.

  15. My Chambers (ca. 1988) has Whit – smallest particle imaginable, and Whitecap – the male redstart.
    Thanks cineraria and GOZO, this was a lot of fun.

  16. @http://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/whitecap
    Webster’s 1913 Dictionary has
    ‘Whitecap
    n. 1. (Zool.) The European redstart; – so called from its white forehead.
    2. A wave whose crest breaks into white foam, as when the wind is freshening.
    3. A member of a self-appointed vigilance committee attempting by lynch-law methods to drive away or coerce persons obnoxious to it. Some early ones wore white hoods or masks.’
    I posted this already, but my comment must have gone to Spam, again.

  18. Thanks Roz @14 and Shanne @13. I now know that there is an elastic form of lace – news to someone not accustomed to wearing any form of it. I will add this knowledge to the other random and unexpected pieces of information I have picked up from this blog.

  19. Thanks for pointing out the chambers definition of a whitecap.

    I can’t find any reference to the name in my bird books, nor have I ever heard it

  20. Re laciest pants, “pants” in UK slang means rubbish / bad, which I think would indicate anagram?

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