Financial Times 17,460 by IO

by

Thanks to IO for this morning’s challenge!

Witty and creative as ever, IO doesn’t always follow the rules. And as usual, there may be a few subtleties I have missed, so do share your thoughts in the comments.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1/9. Indulgent acts — son’s fitting vindication? (10,6)
CONSENTING ADULTS

(INDULGENT ACTS SON)* (*fitting) semi &lit

10. I delivered to Carlton fresh coriander (8)
CILANTRO

I delivered to (CARLTON)* (*fresh)

11. Izzard and Murphy put together quick turns (6)
EDDIES

Double definition

12. Sniffer dog circling leader of local crime organisation (8)
INTERPOL

POINTER (sniffer dog, circling) + L[ocal] (leader of)

13. Inside of each aircraft controls carbon emissions (6)
EJECTA

Inside of EA (each): JET (aircraft) controls C (carbon)

14. Admin time: first by single worker, then by more than one (10)
MANAGEMENT

First: AGE (time) by MAN (single worker). Then: T (time) by MEN (more than one)

17. Jumbo Brown, in cup matches, completely loses it! (10)
TITANESQUE

TAN (brown) in TIES (cup matches) + QU[it]E (completely, loses IT)

18. A rare pleasure left us going around by railway (6)
LUXURY

L (left) + U’s (us) going around X (by) + RY (railway)

21. Had exotic masala rather than a cold meal (3,5)
HAM SALAD

H[a]D, (MASALA)* (*exotic) rather than A

22. Hero of novel chapter one eats in Burma (6)
KIMCHI

KIM (hero of novel, Kim by Rudyard Kipling presumably) + CH (chapter) + I (one)
Hm, kimchi is Korean…?

23. Liqueurs knocked back in USA if at a reunion (8)
RATAFIAS

[U]SA IF AT A R[eunion]< (in, <knocked back)

24/25. It’s unlikely her hits will work as Sweet covers (6,3,7)
PERISH THE THOUGHT

((HER HITS)* (*will work) + THOUGH (as)); PET (Sweet) covers

DOWN
2. Eccentric relation from Shanghai? (8)
ORIENTAL

(RELATION)* (*eccentric)

3. On-board facility where crew may purchase Romulan Ale? (5,3)
SPACE BAR

Cryptic definition

“Board” implying keyboard. The Romulans are an alien race in Star Trek

4. Set up to get this party out following Johnson’s latest shambles (3,1,6,5)
NOT A PRETTY SIGHT

(TO GET THIS PARTY)* (*out) following [Johnso]N (latest)
“Set up” just needed for the surface

5. Heading from stable for new location after such a declaration? (1,5,3,1,5)
I COULD EAT A HORSE

Cryptic definition

6. Famous last words of High Court Judge (4,3,3,5)
GAME SET AND MATCH

Cryptic definition

Referring to tennis courts – appropriate for Wimbledon season

7/19. Club auditor’s finished letter you provided with title (6,6)
DUNDEE UNITED

“DONE” (finished) + “DEE” (letter) + “YOU” + “KNIGHTED” (provided with title) (“auditor’s”)

8/20. Harry is the current kid in the way (6,6)
STREET URCHIN

(IS THE CURRENT)* (*harry)

15. Strain of A2: AS taken and a Uni arranged, fine student cracks (5,3)
ASIAN FLU

AS + (A UNI)* (*arranged); F (fine) + L (student, learner) cracks

16. Wear fancy dress/college uniform — suspicion remains (3,1,4)
CUT A DASH

C (college) + U (uniform) + TAD (suspicion) + ASH (remains)

19 comments on “Financial Times 17,460 by IO”

  1. Thanks, Io and Oriel!
    Liked INTERPOL, SPACE BAR, DUNDEE UNITED and CUT A DASH.

    HAM SALAD
    The anagrind being in the middle was disturbing me.
    I read it as ‘HAD outside (exotic-in the sense of foreign) MSALA (MASALA less A).

    P T THOUGHT
    Parsed it the same way. Took THOUGH for ‘as’ reluctantly.

    G, S AND MATCH
    High Court Judge=A (tennis) court umpire on a high chair?

  3. Thanks for the blog, typically fine puzzle with perhaps a few more easy ones than usual but still lots of tricky ones.
    I COULD EAT A HORSE – I think “heading from stable ” gives TABLE , which is the “new location” for the horse to be eaten .

  5. KVa@1 HAM SALAD I cannot see how to put the HAD outside . I take it as the blog, very intricate but I do not think it quite works. However you remove the A , the H(a)D and MASALA are not both indicated as anagrams.

  6. Roz@5
    ‘Had exotic masala’=’had outside/foreign masala (not local masala)’
    In some online thesaurus, I found ‘outside’ as a synonym for ‘exotic’.
    Dunno if Chambers agrees with the above.

  8. Not quite as fiendish as usual, though I did skimp on the detailed parsing of most of the longer ones and I had no idea about ‘Romulan’ in SPACE BAR. Looking at things now, I think Oriel’s parsing of HAM SALAD does make sense and Roz @3’s suggestion makes I COULD EAT A HORSE more convincing. Yes, I don’t know why it’s ‘Burma’ (rather than Korea) at 22a, other than the surface link to Kipling’s KIM.

    Thanks to Oriel and Io

  9. Don’t understand the objections to HAM SALAD as parsed in the blog (and by me). Exotic masala gives AMSALA and this is rather than the A in HAD so H(a)_AM SALA_D. Seems fine to me.

  10. Hovis@9
    HAD MASALA
    Oriel’s parsing is perfect. Only that
    I didn’t understand it till now. Tried a complex route due to my bad understanding. 🙂

  11. Slight remix of Richard 111-and who cares where KIMCHI comes from(Birmingham?)
    Nice relief for some of us who struggle with Elgar.
    He could well be the Thelonious Monk of setters. Doesnt quite abide by the rules but it all makes sense in a unique and witty fashion

  12. I always enjoy an Io crossword. This one was as enjoyable as ever but took a bit longer than usual to solve

    Many thanks to Io and Oriel

  13. First time trying a IO puzzle.

    Eileen and Roz suggested trying a Rosa Klebb puzzle (bigger than usual – it was a bank holiday) a few weeks ago and a Guardian blogger suggested another on Saturday just over week ago. I really liked both puzzles and since I have worked out how to get to the interactive versions online I though I might try some other FT setters.

    I found this tougher than the two RK puzzles I have tried – but it was interesting.

    Thanks IO and Oriel

  15. Thanks for the clarifications. For 4D, I think “set up” indicates that TO is inverted at the beginning.

  18. Thanks Oriel, I alighted on 24/25 thanks to the inner anagram and crossers and couldn’t see how the outer parts worked. I raised an eyebrow at Burma too, was annoyed at not sooner remembering that circling could be cycling (maybe still annoyed at the def!) but loved my LOI LUXURY. Thanks Roz for adding the pepper sauce to 5d and thanks Io for another tough but worthwhile test, these clues certainly 16d.

  19. Tough, as usual with Io, but all gettable with a bit of guesswork here and there helped by enumerations and 11ac as an easy starter. Favourites were GAME SET AND MATCH and LUXURY; I guessed the latter early on but it was ages before I saw the parsing.
    Thanks, Io and Oriel.

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