FINANCIAL TIMES No.17589 by BUCCANEER

December 1, 2023 at 12:53 am by Turbolegs

A fun challenge from BUCCANEER this Friday.

FF: 9 DD: 7

ACROSS
9	AAH	People keeping dry and hot — how satisfying! (3)
		AA ( people keeping dry, Alcoholics Anonymous ) H ( hot )
10	BOOTLEGGING	Requesting to pocket loot, involved in illicit trade (11)
		BEGGING ( requesting ) containing [ LOOT ]*
11	AMOUR	Casanova mournfully admits love affair (5)
		hidden in "..casanovA MOURnfully.."
12	NET ASSETS	Revised stats seen showing what a business owns (3,6)
		[ STATS SEEN ]*
13	LEOTARD	Clingy garment stars darn the wrong way (7)
		LEO ( stars, the constellation ) reverse of DRAT ( darn )
14	OCEANIC	Concerned with the main cocaine supply (7)
		[ COCAINE ]*
16	NOTTING HILL GATE	New tech billionaire cutting the BS after working tonight in London location (7,4,4)
		N ( new ) [ TONIGHT ]* bILL GATEs ( tech billionaire, without the letters of BS )
20	APRICOT	Fruit in spring period — it keeps firm (7)
		APR ( spring period, april ) [ CO ( firm ) in IT ]
23	PROTEGE	Rubbish, say, in vacuous programme — The Apprentice (7)
		[ ROT ( rubbish ) EG ( say ) ] in PE ( ProgrammE, without inner letters )
25	MOGADISHU	Cat has gold-plated bowl, which is capital (9)
		MOG ( cat ) [ AU ( gold ) containing DISH ( bowl ) ]
26	SCOUT	Someone who should be prepared visits Coutts banks (5)
		hidden in "..visitS COUTts.."
27	ROMAN CANDLE	Love affair round foreign land? It goes off with a bang (5,6)
		ROMANCE ( love affair ) containing [ LAND ]*
28	SIN	What tumble-dryers do after losing power function (3)
		SpIN ( what tumble-dryers do, without P – power )
DOWN
1	CASABLANCA	Clansman regularly drinks a French wine or port (10)
		CASA ( ClAnSmAn, alternate letters of ) containing [ A BLANC ( french wine ) ]
2	SHOOT-OUT	Dismissive remark by solicitor — this involves penalties (5-3)
		SHOO ( dismissive remark ) TOUT ( solicitor )
3	IBERIA	Where paella’s served, Russian removes covering of tin (6)
		sIBERIAn ( russian, without the letters SN – chemical symbol for tin )
4	HOUND DOG	Harry getting track that’s a hit rock’n’roll song (5,3)
		HOUND ( harry ) DOG ( track )
5	BLOTTO	Extremely boastful German fellow is loaded (6)
		BL ( BoastfuL, end characters ) OTTO ( german fellow )
6	EGGSHELL	Leaders of English grenadiers gleefully attack fragile structure (8)
		EGG ( starting letters of "..English Grenadiers Gleefully.." ) SHELL ( attack )
7	SIMEON	A child of Jacob’s in some parties (6)
		[ IN SOME ]*
8	AGES	Console revolutionary for a long time (4)
		reverse of SEGA ( a gaming console popular in the eighties )
15	CLEMENTINE	Pope wearing top of eye-catching orange (10)
		CLEMENT ( pope ) IN ( wearing ) E ( Eye-catching, first letter )
17	INCIDENT	Where policemen work, gents uncovered case (8)
		IN CID ( where policement work ) gENTs ( uncovered i.e. without end characters )
18	IMPOUNDS	Confiscates £1,000,000? (8)
		cryptic def; read as 1 (I) M POUNDS
19	ALEHOUSE	What stops a scoundrel in old-fashioned pub (8)
		EH ( what ) in [ A LOUSE ( scoundrel ) ]
21	REGIME	Plan to get fit for government (6)
		double def
22	TUSCAN	In Paris you read in Italian (6)
		TU ( you, french ) SCAN ( read )
24	OUSTED	Fought like a knight, getting decapitated and unseated (6)
		jOUSTED ( fought like a knight, without first letter )
25	MARK	Ruin end of break one once spent in Berlin (4)
		MAR ( ruin ) K ( breaK, last letter )

16 comments on “FINANCIAL TIMES No.17589 by BUCCANEER”

ilippu

@1 - Fri 1st Dec 23, 03:01

Thanks Turbolegs & Buccaneer.
Quite like this.

AAH
NOTTING HILL GATE
ROMAN CANDLE
INCIDENT
MARK are favs.
Geoff Down Under

@2 - Fri 1st Dec 23, 03:26

I just wasn’t on the right wavelength for Picaroon’s in the Guardian today, but somehow successfully solved and thoroughly enjoyed this one by his alter ego. When I saw 16a I thought “Oh, no, this looks like being a UK-only sort of clue that I’ll have no hope of solving,” but I did manage it despite never having heard of the place, which is testament to the quality of the wordplay, I suppose.

There was an abundance of smiles, nothing too obscure, no groans, so this has brightened up my day. Thanks Buccaneer & Turbolegs.
KVa

@3 - Fri 1st Dec 23, 05:26

Thanks, Buccaneer and Turbolegs!
FF: 9 DD: 7 I agree!
crypticsue

@4 - Fri 1st Dec 23, 10:07

This was, for me, the friendlier of today’s two piratical crosswords and very enjoyable to solve

Thanks to Buccaneer and Turbolegs
Eric E.

@5 - Fri 1st Dec 23, 10:22

I can only assume the setter has never used a tumble-dryer. They don’t spin, they tumble, hence the name. Spin-dryers spin.
James

@6 - Fri 1st Dec 23, 11:50

I very much liked the surface of 25a.
Shanne

@7 - Fri 1st Dec 23, 11:57

I found this one friendlier than the Picaroon in the Guardian, too. Solved on the tube with my daughter and have run out of crossword before we’re half way there.

Enjoyed IMPOUNDS, SIN and MOGADISHU. I’m surprised that NOTTING HILL GATE wasn’t known elsewhere as the film is shown regularly here, and it’s the setting of the Paddington films and books.

Thank you to Buccaneer and Turbolegs.
Mark A

@8 - Fri 1st Dec 23, 12:21

Eric E, I think you’ll find that the clothes tumble, but the drum spins … albeit slowly.
Pelham Barton

@9 - Fri 1st Dec 23, 12:33

Thanks Buccaneer and Turbolegs

28ac (SIN): Following Eric@5 and Mark@8, can make my entry for pedant of the year by pointing out that all my dictionaries define spinning as rotating rapidly, so spinning slowly is – according to them – a contradiction in terms. Coming back into the real world, I thought this clue was perfectly acceptable as it stood.
Mark A

@10 - Fri 1st Dec 23, 13:20

Well, the earth spins on its axis.
but its only doing one rev per day 😉
Moly

@11 - Fri 1st Dec 23, 15:28

Enjoyed this one with excellent, clear accessible cluing.
Tony Santucci

@12 - Fri 1st Dec 23, 17:48

Thanks Buccaneer. This was a bit lighter than Picaroon’s offering today but I still needed a nudge for SIMEON. NOTTING HILL GATE is fairly well known (in some circles) in the US so that clue was an easy one for me. My top picks were OCEANIC, ROMAN CANDLE, HOUND DOG, BLOTTO, CLEMENTINE, and IMPOUNDS. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
Eric E.

@13 - Fri 1st Dec 23, 18:07

MarkA@8, and Pelham Barton@9 – the drum goes around, but to spin is to go around fast. It don’t do that. And I believe that the earth turns on its axis. If it were to spin we’d be flying off it into who knows where . . .
Petert

@14 - Fri 1st Dec 23, 18:59

If you ask Google “Does a tumble dryer spin?” , the answer is that occasionally it does.
Newbie

@15 - Fri 1st Dec 23, 23:42

Cocaine supply…. how do they think up these things.. Thanks to Buccaneer and to Turbolegs for explaining HOUND DOG and ALEHOUSE.
Roz

@16 - Sat 2nd Dec 23, 06:04

Thanks for the blog, neat and tidy puzzle. Chambers does give spin as rotate rapidly but two issues arise. First of all what does the rapid refer to? The speed , frequency , angular speed ?
For the Earth two of these very low but the actual speed at the equator about 1600km/hour so quite rapid by everyday standards.
Second “rapidly” is such a subjective term , a typical washing machine on the spin cycle about
1000RPM is very slow compared to certain neutron stars spinning a thousand times per second.
I think the setter has good justification here.

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