Financial Times 17,663 JASON

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An interesting challenge from JASON this Friday. One clue where I am still scratching my head.

FF: 9 DD: 9

Apologies for the late blog as I was in the midst of hectic traveling and just returned home earlier in the day.

ACROSS
8 BAZAAR
Zanzibari’s first article found in bustling Arab market (6)

[ Z ( Zanzibar, first letter ) A ( article ) in [ ARAB ]*
9 ACADEMIC
Theoretical scholar (8)

double def
10 IDEA
Current and mostly insensitive plan (4)

I ( current ) DEAd ( insensitive, mostly )
11 SUNGLASSES
Aviators, say, crooned in front of girls (10)

SUNG ( crooned ) LASSES ( girls ) – rayban
12 BALE
Package of British booze (4)

B ( british ) ALE ( booze )
13 AIR HOSTESS
She serves on board and has stories which stagger (3,7)

[ HAS STORIES ]*
17 MEME
Widely circulated image is narcissist’s preoccupation? (4)

cryptic def; a narcissist would be thinking ME ME …
18 ENDUE
Brave Republican cancelled supply (5)

ENDUrE ( brave , without R – republican )
19 ANTE
What’s offered before deal is reflected in sweet nature (4)

hidden reversed in "..sweET NAture"; money put up at poker before the start of the deal
21 FICTITIOUS
I tout sci-fi being otherwise imaginary (10)

[ I TOUT SCI-FI ]*
23 SOIL
Son to anoint ground (4)

S ( son ) OIL ( anoint )
24 SCOTCH EGGS
Put a lid on what soldiers dip into? Savoury snacks (6,4)

SCOTCH ( put a lid on ) EGGS ( what soldiers dip into )
28 RANK
Female with this class would be up-front (4)

cryptic def; F ( female ) + RANK = FRANK = up-front
29 STREAMER
Bold headline is right to go into chef’s aid? (8)

R ( right ) in STEAMER ( chef's aid )
30 MOBILE
Toy for tot’s instant temper (6)

MO ( instant ) BILE ( temper )
DOWN
1 CARD GAME
Motor finally parked and up for nap, perhaps (4,4)

CAR ( motor ) D ( parkeD, final letter ) GAME ( up for )
2 MANAGEMENT
Bosses as a group provide staff , mature chaps, over time (10)

MAN ( staff ) AGE ( mature ) MEN ( chaps ) T ( time )
3 PRESS AGENT
Force into service a refined chap, one who’ll manage the limelight (5,5)

PRESS ( force into service ) A GENT ( refined chap )
4 GAIN
Without opening pick up win (4)

aGAIN ( pick up, without first letter )
5 MAIL
Post first of messages with trouble (4)

M ( Messages, first letter ) AIL ( trouble )
6 MESS
Fix a place for squaddie to scoff (4)

double def
7 PIKERS
Several pickpockets (6)

PIKER could be a pickpocket but i am missing something here .. thought it might be an irregular sequence of letters in 'pickpockets' but that didnt quite work out. help would be much appreciated.

14 RODEO
Galloped round here? (5)

&lit; RODE ( galloped ) O ( round )
15 OPEN SESAME
What’s said to unblock old writer’s consistent energy first (4,6)

O ( old ) PEN"S ( writer's ) E ( energy ) SAME ( consistent )
16 TRANSCRIBE
Time nears to turn round cheat’s copy (10)

T ( time ) { { NEARS ]* around CRIB ( cheat ) }
20 TRIANGLE
Altering broken instrument (8)

[ ALTERING ]*
22 INCITE
Animate popular quote (6)

IN ( popular ) CITE ( quote )
25 TWEE
This could be sweet but not small? (4)

semi &lit? [ sWEET ( without S – small ) ]*
26 HAMS
Luvvies being phoney after top part’s dropped (4)

SHAM ( phoney ) with the S dropping to the bottom
27 GARB
Talk big about this dress (4)

reverse of BRAG ( talk big )

17 comments on “Financial Times 17,663 JASON”

  1. Thanks Jason and Turbolegs!
    Enjoyed the puzzle and the blog!
    Liked ENDUE, SCOTCH EGGS, CARD GAME and HAMS.

    DIVERS
    It’s not PIKERS Turbolegs! DIVERS. A DD.

  3. Also had DIVERS. Didn’t like “again” for “pick up” and didn’t think of “learn/earn”. Took me a while to get TWEE, which I quite like.

  4. Yes, DIVERS and EARN for me, which the app confirms as correct.

    An interesting challenge indeed. Thanks, Jason and Turbolegs.

  5. Thanks for the blog, good set of neat and concise clues.
    DIVERS to mean several always seems strange to me and wrong ( it isn’t) . To further confuse things a diver in a certain position could be a piker. Even so I agree that DIVERS is the answer.
    TRIANGLE does have a lot of 8 letter complete anagrams.

  6. DIVERS and EARN for me too. I did contemplate GAIN, but decided (L)EARN is better

    Favourites were FICTITIOUS, HAMS and MANAGEMENT Tell me, why are EGGS something soldiers dip into? I do not understand that

    As mentioned, an interesting challenge and one that I enjoyed. I agree with Roz’s assessment of “a good set of neat and concise clues”, which is my favourite type of puzzle by far. I would not have said it is DD of 9, though: I found it much more approachable than that.

    Thanks Jason and Turbolegs

  7. Martyn@6
    SCOTCH EGGS
    Soldier (Wiki)
    A soldier is a thin strip of toasted bread, reminiscent of a soldier on parade. The shape lends itself to dipping into a soft-boiled egg that has had the top removed.

  9. Very quick by my standards with Loi DIVERS.

    Endue was a new word and I didn’t much like the clue for Gain – which makes much more sense as Earn, which didn’t cross my mind.

    Doh!

    But an enjoyable solve of a well crafted puzzle. Sometimes I find Jason very tricky, but this was satisfyingly approachable.

    Thank you all!

  10. Very late to comment – though the puzzle was done before breakfast. However, as a result everyone else has done the heavy lifting wrt EARN and DIVERS. This was a more approachable Jason than usual – and I am not complaining. CARD GAME, SCOTCH EGGS and RODEO my faves today.

    Thanks Jason and Turbolegs

  11. Good fun here today – I specially liked SUNGLASSES for the def, FICTITIOUS for the lovely anagram, DIVERS (my LOI, that I had to cheat the first letter of) for its cunning DD.

    I was sure that 16d had to be TACHYSCOPE – I couldn’t quite explain the wordplay but the “cheat’s copy” anagram seemed undeniable. And it’s sort of to do with time and turning around. Folly!

    Thank you Jason and Turbolegs.

  12. Late to this. But i was a journalist for some 35 years and 23 of those were on the FT. There were various roles, writing, production and management. At one point i was deputy crossword editor for several years
    I never ever heard the word streamer used to describe a headline of any kind. There were Heads, Standfirsts, Headings, but never streamers.

  13. Thanks Jason and Turbolegs.
    29ac: The following definitions of streamer are found in the dictionaries named.
    Chambers 2016: a large bold headline (press)
    Collins 2023: journalism a large heavy headline printed across the width of a page of a newspaper
    ODE 2010: [usu as modifier] a banner headline in a newspaper
    SOED 2007 a banner headline
    While I would never claim that dictionaries are infallible, I do not expect setters to overrule them.

  14. Jvector@11 indeed a tachyscope an early form of motion picture but also the name for a theoretical device to detect hypothetical tachyons so even more appropriate for the clue.

  15. Martin B @12 – streamers don’t really seem to be the FT’s style. Expect that kind of thing more from the oiks across the river. It is a term I’ve come across before.

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