Financial Times 17,540 by GOZO

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Gozo is this morning's FT setter.

I have to admit I thought this was going to be a write-in. My first pass left me with only eight unsolved answers and all I had solved were easily parsed. But it took me a while to work out OSEA ISLAND and my LOI was SLATE. I took an inordinate amount of time trying to parse WENT before I saw how straightforward it was.

Most of the clues were fine, but I did have some minor quibbles. I can't make the grammar work for DIAPERS, and the definition for TREADLE seems a little weak. Also, the "his" in 6dn is superfluous.

EMENDATOR wasn't a word in the Chambers I referred to, but I found it in Collins.

There was a fair bit of general knowledge in the puzzle, ranging from easy stuff such as EAST OF EDEN, TREBLINKA and SCOTTIE, through things like having to know that Telford was a new town and that the Nigerian currency was the NAIRA, and eventually to the very niche OSEA ISLAND, which I have to admit I had never heard of.

I dfon't think there's a theme or a NINA, but I'm notoriously bad at spotting both, so am prepared to be corrected on that (and anything else I may have missed or misunderstood, of course).

Thanks Gozo.

ACROSS
1 NOTRE DAME
Cathedral’s title includes radical books first (5,4)

NAME ("title") includes OT (Old Testament, so "books") + RED ("radical")
6 STEAL
Go quietly at a pinch? (5)

Double definition
9 IDEAS
Paragons left out for plans (5)

IDEA(l)S ("paragons") with L (left) out
10 RE-EDITING
Get in dire trouble checking proofs anew (2-7)

*(get in dire) [anag:trouble]
11 SILHOUETTE
Outline — sadly, the outline’s not new (10)

*(the outlies) [anag:sadly] where OUTLIES is OUTLI(n)ES [not N (new)]
12 NEWT
Could be Telford with own amphibian (4)

With OWN, NEWT becomes NEW T-OWN ("could be Telford")
14 CANTERS
Scrawny theorist regularly goes jogging (7)

(s)C(r)A(w)N(y) T(h)E(o)R(i)S(t) [regularly]
15 DESPAIR
Result of having aspired unsuccessfully? (7)

*(aspired) [anag:unsuccessfully] and &lit.
17 DIAPERS
Receive money back, returning small Pampers, say (7)

<=(REPAID) ("receive money back", returning) + S (small)

Should be "gave" money back?
19 TRANCES
Dreamlike states displaying vestiges of new intervention (7)

TRACES ("vestiges") with N (new) intervention
20 WENT
Left, coming after Jack and Jill! (4)

In the nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill WENT up the hill, so WENT "comes after Jack and Jill"
22 HOTEL SUITE
Luxurious rooms coming after golf and dessert, we’re told (5,5)

HOTEL ("coming after golf" in the NATO phonetic alphabet) + homophone [we're told] of SWEET ("dessert")
25 RE-IGNITED
Flared up again at rule about diet (2-7)

REIGN ("rule") + *(diet) [anag:about]
26 ASIDE
Comment on record’s principal song (5)

A-SIDE ("record's principal song")
27 SLATE
Grey strip with blue edge (5)

SLAT ("strip") with (blu)E [edge]
28 EMENDATOR
He makes corrections with energy to improve new rota (9)

E (energy) + MEND ("to improve") + *(rota) [anag;new]
DOWN
1 NAILS
Poles have trouble within — they get hammered (5)

N + S (North and South "Poles") have AIL ("trouble") within
2 TREBLINKA
Writing material accepted by consort back at camp (9)

INK ("wwriting material") accepted by (Prince) <=ALBERT ("consort", back)

Treblinka was a WWII Nazi death camp in occuped Poland.
3 EAST OF EDEN
Donates fee reviewing novel (4,2,4)

*(donates fee) [anag:reviewing]
4 AIR BEDS
Melody on small county inflatables (3,4)

AIR ("melody") on BEDS. (abbreviation for Bedfordshire, so "small county")
5 ERECTED
Before court, English duke was upright (7)

ERE ("before") + Ct. (court) + E (English) + D (duke)
6 SLIP
Fielder brings up his drink (4)

[brings up] <=PILS ("drink")
7 EXILE
Half the team holding another for a period away from home (5)

[Half of] ELE(ven) ("team") holding XI ("another" eleven)
8 LIGATURES
Gaultier’s tailored for conjoined characters (9)

*(gaultiers) [anag:tailored]
13 OSEA ISLAND
Haven in the Blackwater Estuary having no water is terra firma (4,6)

O (zero, so "no") + SEA ("water") + IS + LAND ("terra firma")

Osea Island is an inhabited island in the Blackwater Estuary in Essex.
14 CODE WORDS
Could they be interpreted as Doc, Rod and Wes? (4,5)

*(doc ros wes) [anag: interpreted] and &lit.
16 ARCHIVIST
Record keeper could be this vicar (9)

*(this vicar) [anag:could be]
18 SCOTTIE
Little dog which Star Trek character suggests (7)

Double definition
19 TREADLE
Related perhaps, but trodden underfoot (7)

*(related) [anag:perhaps]
21 NAIRA
Rastafarians returning holding Nigerian currency (5)

Hidden backwards in [returning holding] "rastafARIANs"
23 EMEER
Kuwaiti prince backing some agreement (5)

Hidden backwards in [backing some] "agREEMEnt")
24 KNEE
King once called for a joint (4)

K (king) + NEE ("once called")

26 comments on “Financial Times 17,540 by GOZO”

  2. Enjoyed this Gozo grid, as I always do, but felt my grin spreading even wider when I noticed (only towards the end!) what was happening with the across entries. Very nice indeed!
    My favourite was SILHOUETTE but there were many I liked; SLATE and NAILS (surfaces), ARCHIVIST, LIGATURES (neat anagrams) and EXILE (wordplay).
    22 needed 10 or a 28!
    Thanks to Gozo for a well-crafted puzzle and Loonapick for fully parsing the two which made me suspect something was afoot.

  7. Well spotted KVa. Quite an achievement by Gozo.

    In 18d, I think the Star Trek character is ‘Scotty’, hence the ‘suggests’ in the clue.

    In 6d, could ‘Fielder’ be the name of somebody (possibly a Czech, where Pils originates)?

  9. Telford/new town was a bit mean for us Antipodeans; no wonder I couldn’t parse NEWT. I did manage OSEA ISLAND, but only after a fair amount of googling. I’ve never seen EMEER spelt this way. I had DRAWERS for 17a and couldn’t understand it. I gather PAMPERS are a brand of diapers? You’ll have to forgive me; they’re not something we buy often, and anyway, we call them nappies. Never heard of EMENDATOR.

    Thanks to FrankieG’s tutorial on county abbreviations just yesterday, I was able to parse AIR BEDS.

  10. Surprised nobody has complained that 17a should have a US indication. Let me be the first. Mind you, I never complain when we get Australian or South African words, without indication, so I’m a bit of a hypocrite.

  11. KVa, I initially thought the definition of 22A should be ‘hotel room’ singular but, as I say, I’ve since realised my error.

  14. 12A – Telford and 13D – Osea Island were a bit hard for we non-English dwellers but gettable after cross letters and an Internet search engine.

    My total lack of knowledge of cricket led to 6D being my last one in.

    Thanks loonapick.

  15. Peter, you obviously aren’t aware of the old saying “A girl will slip out of her slip after a pils goes down”.

  16. GDU @9 – I also had DRAWERS at 17ac, as it’s S for small + REWARD <- which is a receipt of money… But as an anagram of DESPAIR, we must concede that DIAPERS is a better fit for Pampers.
    Thanks to all involved!

  17. Spotted as KVa@1 and Diane@2 the symmetrically opposed anagrams – a clever construction.
    Geoff Down Under@9 – looks like today we need a lesson on New Towns – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_towns_in_the_United_Kingdom#First_wave
    ‘Dawley New Town’ – nho – ‘Shropshire’ – aka Salop, from yesterday – celebrates its 60th birthday this year – making a nice change from… &c – (LIGATURE)
    Some New Towns are even older. ‘Third wave’ Telford – Salop, also – is a mere stripling of 55.
    loi & No Hope Of getting OSEA without Googling “Blackwater Estuary island”

  19. Thanks Gozo and loonapick

    In another example of clues being recycled, EMEER was clued by Gozo in his Maskarade guise as “Eastern ruler backing some agreement” in his Guardian Bank Holiday puzzle this August.

  20. Didn’t get Slate, Treblinka, or Osea Island (which is frankly bloody obscure). Otherwise this was a reasonable slog.

  21. Thanks Gozo. I missed the very clever anagram construction and I ended up revealing HOTEL SUITE, OSEA ISLAND, and SLIP so this counts as a failure for me. I did enjoy many clues including DESPITE (nice surface), WENT, ASIDE, NAILS, and KNEE. Thanks loonapick for the blog.

  22. The paired anagrams – very impressive; but we didn’t spot them so we weren’t too impressed. We thought 2dn in rather poor taste (though no doubt constrained by the across entries) and weren’t happy with the grammar of 17ac.
    Thanks, though, to Gozo and loonapick.

  23. Two short counties in a row (Hants and Beds) the former has always mystified me. Failed to get Treblinka – I wasn’t even looking for a camp but for writing!

  24. TREBLINKA was one of my last in as I had to rethink writing materials as a definition, but when I had all the crossers I saw that ink could fit that gap, and camp came to mind with a clanging PDM (It helps having sat through Escape from Sobibor with the son of a survivor, those camps part of my mental mind mapping). I also took ages to work out OSEA ISLAND, and I used to work with someone who lives on Mersea, so was slightly more aware of those islands in the Blackwater Estuary.

    Thank you to loonapick and Gozo.

  25. I’d never heard of Osea Island, so that was my DNF for today. (Not exactly new knowledge that I am about to use anytime soon.) Otherwise, this was a fun solve, with an ingenious grid-fill, as noted by many others, that made me wonder if I had stumbled into a Brendan puzzle. (That is a compliment, by the way.)

    Thanks Gozo for the fun, and loonapick for the clear and concise blog.

  26. KVa @ 8 – you’re correct, CODE WORDS is certainly not an &lit since “could be” is not part of the word play; nearly though – a partial &lit

    And what a delightful conceit – great puzzle

    Many thanks

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