Financial Times 17,623 by ARTEXLEN

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ARTEXLEN kicks off the week…

A nice mix of clues that provided a satisfying challenge.

Thanks ARTEXLEN!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Opposed being retired — it’s not stimulating (5)
DECAF

(FACED)< (opposed, <being retired)

4. Woozy feeling I would enjoy going round head (9)
GIDDINESS

(ID (I would) + DIG (enjoy))< (<going round) + NESS (head)

9. Graduate doctor in first of operations is young one (7)
BAMBINO

BA (graduate) + MB (doctor) + IN + O[perations] (first of)

10. Meeting antisocial rogue, act casually withdrawing (7)
LIAISON

([a]N[t]ISO[c]IAL (ACT* (casually) withdrawing))* (*rogue)

11. Down-to-earth broadcast probing replacement for school of thought (13)
UNSENTIMENTAL

SENT (broadcast) probing UNI (replacement for school) + MENTAL (of thought)

14. A figure backing alliance (4)
AXIS

A + (SIX)< (figure, <backing)

15. Petty hiding sailor’s navigational aid? (9)
STARLIGHT

SLIGHT (petty) hiding TAR (sailor)

18. Gamble gaining US farm, lake and section of wood (9)
BRANCHLET

BET (gamble) gaining (RANCH (US farm) + L (lake))

19. Scandinavian flipper picked up (4)
FINN

"fin" = FINN (flipper, "picked up")

21. Coffer of loot is secure with threats resolved (8,5)
TREASURE CHEST

(SECURE with THREATS)* (*resolved)

24. Affirmative response to question you are texted shows sincerity (7)
CANDOUR

CAN DO (affirmative response to question) + UR (you are, texted)

26. Play (vacuous output) Lionel Richie song (7)
OTHELLO

O[utpu]T (vacuous) + HELLO (Lionel Richie song)

27. Lusts cool down after bagging man finally many moons ago (4,5)
LONG SINCE

LONGS (lusts) + (ICE (cool down) bagging [ma]N (finally))

28. Shelter beside church drain (5)
LEECH

LEE (shelter) beside CH (church)

DOWN
1. Garden plot over time becoming liability (4)
DEBT

(BED)< (garden plot, <over) + T (time)

2. Get across India on tractor possessed by collective group (11)
COMMUNICATE

(I (India) on CAT (tractor)) possessed by COMMUNE (collective group)

3. Weak fellow obsequiously servile with head down (6)
FLIMSY

F (fellow) + LIMSY (SLIMY (obsequiously servile) with head down)

4. Partially hidden, going round selling weed (9)
GROUNDSEL

[goin]G ROUND SEL[ling] (partially hidden)

5. Food outlet outside hospital in Asian city (5)
DELHI

DELI (food outlet) outside H (hospital)

6. Name of many queens is a title used cyclically (8)
ISABELLA

IS A + BELLA (LABEL used cyclically)

7. Minor unopened letter (3)
ESS

[l]ESS (minor, unopened)

8. Only children admitted in play facilities, not wife (10)
SINGLETONS

LET ON (admitted) in S[w]INGS (play facilities, not W (wife))

12. Italian food consumed in French city after day in Germany (11)
TAGLIATELLE

(ATE (consumed) in LILLE (French city)) after TAG (day, in Germany)

13. Inflamed receiving account pop group’s up for leave of absence (10)
SABBATICAL

((LIT (inflamed) receiving AC (account)) + ABBAS (pop group's))< (<up)

16. Thicko: are bananas veg? (9)
ARTICHOKE

(THICKO ARE)* (*bananas)

17. Cutting implement as eclipses poorest that’s regularly selected (8)
SCISSORS

[a]S [e]C[l]I[p]S[e]S [p]O[o]R[e]S[t] (regularly selected)

20. Enable AI computer to be deadly (6)
LETHAL

LET (enable) + HAL (AI computer, from the Space Odyssey series and movie)

22. Repeated series of years in naval force (5)
RERAN

ERA (years) in RN (naval force, Royal Navy)

23. My way to request silence (4)
GOSH

GO SH (way to request silence)

25. Part of speech showing no love for sister (3)
NUN

N[o]UN (part of speech, showing no O (love))

17 comments on “Financial Times 17,623 by ARTEXLEN”

  1. This was indeed a challenge,although enjoyable. I took ages to find ESS in 7d. Never seen it before.
    Thanks to Artexlen and Teacow.

  2. Thanks Artexlen and Teacow

    22dn: I took “Repeated” on its own as the definition for RERAN, with “series of years” giving ERA. I think it works either way.

  5. SINGLETONS
    singleton (wiktionary):
    A child or animal that is born singly, not as a twin or other multiple birth.
    In this sense, the definition looks all right.

  6. Further to KVa@5: Chambers 2016 gives “anything single” as a definition for singleton, which I think also covers it. I had to go to SOED 2007 to get “an only child” explicitly.

  8. Sorry, but Finns are not Scandinavians. They are Nordics, but that’s not the same thing. They do not speak a Scandinavian language, nor do they inhabit the Scandinavian peninsula.
    Oh well.

  9. 19ac: Collins 2023 gives us “Scandinavia 2 the countries of N Europe, esp considered as a cultural unit and including Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and often Finland, Iceland and the Faeroes”, and then “Scandinavian n 2 a native or inhabitant of Scandinavia”. A similar definition for Scandinavia as a cultural region can be found in ODE 2010.

    It is widely accepted that fairness to setters means that they should not be expected to overrule standard dictionaries.

  10. What SM@1 and AGN@8 wrote

    Favourite was GOSH – an OK surface and interesting clue

    Thanks Artexlen and Teacow

  12. I enjoyed this, even though I had a silly mistake in 23 down.

    A few I couldn’t parse, so thank you very much for the excellent blog.

    I tend not to think of Finland as in Scandinavia, so concur with AGN @ 8, despite what the dictionaries say.

  14. Far be it from me to stoke the controversy around 19ac but how does “picked up” add an N to give the much disputed FINN?

    As others have said an enjoyable and multifaceted challenge. Thanks to Artexlen and Teacow.

    Oh a new ‘Click to Edit’ function – very fancy.

  15. Newbie @ 14

    ‘Flapper’ = FIN, which ‘picked up’ (heard – “I didn’t pick up what you said”) sounds the same as FINN.

  17. Re 19a, many Swedish, Norwegian and Danish orchestras have embraced Sibelius as one of their own, culturally.

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