Financial Times 17,496 by CHALMIE

by

A wonderful tribute from the FT today to a very talented setter.

A tricky offering, full of wit and precision. Many thanks to CHALMIE, RIP.


ACROSS

9. A cat for one oddly unable to be immortal (9)
PERPETUAL

PER (a) + PET (cat, for one) + U[n]A[b]L[e] (oddly)

10. No-good cabinet minister starts to regret trampolining in public (5)
OVERT

[g]OVE (cabinet minister, no G (good), Michael Gove MP) + R[egret] T[rampolining] (starts to)

11. “Bishop keeps the first bet on Sunday,” they 19 (7)
RANTERS

RR (bishop, Right Reverend) keeps ANTE (the first bet) on S (Sunday)

12. Sport making a 17 ac (7)
CURLING

Double definition

13. Flower arrangement originally invented by the French (3)
LEI

I[nvented] (originally) by LE (the, French)

14. Fancy red bar stool has parts which 17 ac (5,6)
ROTOR BLADES

(RED BAR STOOL)* (*fancy)

17, 18, 19. Number Two is getting cut off projects involving horse (5,3,5)
TWIST AND SHOUT

TW[o] I[s] (getting cut off) + STANDS OUT (projects) involving H (horse)

21. Farm animal crosses gaps without large footwear (6,5)
OXFORD SHOES

OX (farm animal) + FORDS (crosses) + HO[l]ES (gaps, without L (large))

23. Consume energy after the primaries (3)
EAT

E[nergy] A[fter] T[he] (primaries)
Or E (energy) + A[fter] T[he] (primaries) if you prefer

25. Airfoil which reveals plot (7)
SPOILER

Double definition

27. Sharpen woman’s presentation of at least one alternative (7)
WHETHER

WHET (sharpen) + HER (woman’s)

28. 1 friend missing the old country (5)
NEPAL

([o]NE (1) + PAL (friend)) missing the O (old)

29. Posh brand you order when it’s your 19? (3,1,5)
BUY A ROUND

(U (posh) + BRAND YOU)* (*order)

DOWN
1. 17 ac edges up to protect artists’ group (6)
SPIRAL

LIPS< (edges, <up) to protect RA (artists’ group, Royal Academy)

2. Foreign bird is in Italian port (8)
BRINDISI

(BIRD IS IN)* (*foreign)

3. Notable traitor or one likely to 19 (10)
CELEBRATOR

CELEB RAT (notable traitor) + OR

4. Like collecting country’s birds (4)
AUKS

AS (like) collecting UK (country)

5. Security device stopping credit by commercial satellite alarm (5,5)
CLOCK RADIO

LOCK (security device) stopping CR (credit) by AD (commercial) + IO (satellite)

6. 19 ends in disaster to a Republican (4)
ROAR

[disaste]R [t]O (ends in) + A + R (Republican)

7. Drink one for New Year? (6)
PERIOD

PER[n]OD (drink, I (one) for N (new))

8. Men-only art and French scenery (5,3)
STAGE SET

STAG (men only) + ES, ET (art, and, French)

15. Copy articles about king being guarded by Cherokee? (10)
TRANSCRIBE

ANS (articles) + C (about, circa) + R (king, rex) guarded by TRIBE (Cherokee?)

16. Is discouraged as meerkat gets to meat (5,5)
LOSES HEART

Cryptic definition

ME[erk]AT: when the word MEERKAT loses its heart (ERK), the word becomes MEAT

17. Number 17, 18, 19 (8)
THOUSAND

(AND SHOUT)* (*twist)

20. Drag too much to maintain (8)
OVERHAUL

OVER HAUL (drag too much)

22. Work with copper to stop 6-footer’s limp (6)
FLOPPY

OP (work) with P (copper, penny) to stop FLY (6-footer)

24. Deal with one in series of 19s (6)
TIRADE

TRADE (deal) with I (one) in

26. 19 singer mentioned two places to go (4)
LULU

“LOO” “LOO” (two places to go, “mentioned”)

27. Reportedly considers routes (4)
WAYS

“WEIGHS” (considers, “reportedly”)

26 comments on “Financial Times 17,496 by CHALMIE”

  1. Very nice, very clever. STAGE SET was the only one I didn’t parse, not knowing the French for “art”. I even got OVERT, despite not knowing Michael Gove.

    Thanks Oriel.

  2. So very sorry to hear this news. Chalmie has been a firm favourite of mine in the few years I’ve been solving his FT puzzles and this was a lovely one by which to remember him (and there were many contenders).
    I did remember solving this one once I’d solved 26D and I think my path through the puzzle, though quicker, was similar. My pick, 17D, remains the same but it was a very enjoyable tussle throughout.
    RIP, Chalmie. We’re all going to miss you.
    Thanks to Oriel for doing the honors today.

  3. Yes, an apt tribute to Chalmie and a reminder of what an excellent setter he was. The references to the 17,18,19a gateway clue all worked nicely and there were some amusing surfaces, especially for OVERT and RANTERS. My clue of the day and last in was PERIOD, both for the not very obvious ‘Drink’ and for the lift-and-separate required for ‘New’ and ‘Year?’.

    Thanks to Oriel and RIP Chalmie

  4. Thanks for the blog, such sad news and a lovely touch from the FT to repeat this. Maybe they have a few puzzles stashed away that we could see in the future if the family agrees.
    Very clever use of the theme, I thought LOSES HEART was brilliant and THOUSAND just behind.
    For fans of Phoenix Nights there is a guest appearance by “LULU” singing SHOUT .

  5. Geoff@1 my French is very weak but I have seen this trick before and seen the explanation on Guardian blogs.
    ES = are (you) so the more archaic ART .
    Any French speakers please correct me or explain further.

  6. Great crossword from a greatly missed setter. Only two and half years ago and yet I have no recollection of doing it. Looking back at the 2021 blog, I clearly did and thought it ‘brilliant’ then as well.

  7. Geoff and Roz,
    ‘es’ is the 2nd person singular form of the verb ?tre, to be. Tu es = you are, or thou art, in older/regional English.

  11. It is shocking how dim my memory is of my first sight of the puzzle but LULU provided a madeleine moment.
    Great way to commemorate an outstanding setter so thanks to Chalmie and Oriel who did full justice to a brilliant puzzle.

  15. Ha ha, Roz @12,
    I suspect I was similarly distracted during my physics lessons! And I’m pretty sure I remember far less of them than your memories of French!

  16. loonapick felt “order” might be having to do double duty in BUY A ROUND (29ac).
    And Mike Holman himself came in, to accept the criticism:
    ‘Chalmie
    February 18, 2021 at 4:17 pm
    Thanks for the generous praise, loonapick and all.
    I share your qualm about BUY A ROUND. I managed to convince myself that the string of words I had written had a bit of an &lit-ish quality if you looked at it in a mirror in uncertain lighting conditions, and you’re only hum-ing and ha-ing about it rather than saying it doesn’t work at all, so perhaps we can agree that it’s not a very good clue and leave it at that…’

  19. For BUY A ROUND I have no problems with order, I took the definition as in the blog. The issue is the indirect anagram.

  20. Here’s my original post for this crossword:
    Tony Santucci
    February 18, 2021 at 3:33 pm
    Thanks Chalmie. That was excellent — it was frustrating at 1st until I stumbled into TWIST AND SHOUT which helped of course. THOUSAND was brilliant as was LOSES HEART; I also liked BRINDISI, OXFORD SHOES, NEPAL, and AUKS. Thanks loonapick for parsing — there was some untangling that I didn’t fully see.

  21. 29a – BUY A ROUND – “Posh brand you order when it’s your 19? (3,1,5)”
    The 19 referencing SHOUT could just as easily have been a 17 referencing TWIST, but only if you’re !rish.
    Here are some lines from Roddy Doyle’s The Barrytown Trilogy (The Commitments, The Snapper, The Van)
    ‘–Ah f*ck off, Paddy, said Jimmy Sr. –Annyway, it’s your twist.’
    ‘–Whose twist is it? said Bertie. –Someone’s shy.’
    ‘–My twist, said Jimmy Sr.’
    ‘–Here’s the wine, said Bimbo. –My twist. Twenty-three quid, isn’t that it?’
    Thanks Chalmie & Oriel

  24. I thought the 1 in 28ac was referring to the first square (NE corner) but I couldn’t work out where missing the old came in. Brilliant puzzle, and the best bits beat me. RIP

  26. Diane @7, is extra credit merited as “thou” was the second person singular in English. So thou art v you are directs to tu es v vous etes? Or maybe I’m trying top hard

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