Financial Times 17,671 by GAFF

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Gaff starts the week with a bicentennial theme…

The theme being, I think, the foundation of the RNLI.

I have to admit to finding this a bit of a struggle, and I can't parse 27a. There were, however, many delightful clues that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thanks Gaff!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Cram meeting with changes of little substance (11)
CENTIGRAMME

(CRAM MEETING)* (*with changes)

7/23. Uncertain as a yacht race (3,2,3)
ALL AT SEA

Double (cryptic) definition

9. Jaguar drivers content with protection (5)
GUARD

[ja]GUAR D[rivers] (content)

10. Suitor hides request in memo (9)
BORDEREAU

BEAU (suitor) hides ORDER (request)

11. Turn last of spaghetti into junk food (9)
NUTRITION

(TURN [spaghett]I (last of) INTO)* (*junk)

12. Regularly glean piece of heredity (5)
GENIC

G[l]E[a]N [p]I[e]C[e] (regularly)

13. Knocked out one of the best players holding little back (7)
SEDATED

SEED (one of the best players) holding (TAD)< (little, <back)

15. Call round (4)
RING

Double definition

18. Returned to satisfy characters (4)
ETAS

(SATE)< (satisfy, <returned)

20. Ingredient provided by page on horse (7)
BAYLEAF

LEAF (page) on BAY (horse)

23. See 7
24. Independently books with the Spanish provider of mixed accommodation (9)
APARTOTEL

APART (independently) + OT (books, Old Testament) with EL (the, Spanish)

26. Unrecognisable damaged globe lacking protection (9)
INSURANCE

(UNREC[og]NISA[ble] (GLOBE lacking))* (*damaged)

27. Crazy to trim a lot (5)
MANIC

?

28. Break that needs minding during training (3)
GAP

Double (cryptic) definition

Referring, I assume, to the "mind the gap" warning on the London Underground

29. Disgraced peer ordering dry rosé promises to pay (5,6)
MONEY ORDERS

MONE (disgraced peer, Michelle Mone) + (DRY ROSE)* (*ordering)

DOWN
1. Caution staff hiding soldier with ship (8)
CAGINESS

(CANE (staff) hiding GI (soldier)) with SS (ship)

2. Time of little maritime uprising (4,4)
NEAP TIDE

Cryptic definition

3. Animal kept by train driver (5)
INDRI

[tra]IN DRI[ver] (kept by)

4. After blackout, crashed Bluebird is put back together (7)
REBUILD

([b]LUEBIRD (after B (black) out))* (*crashed)

5. Probe one of the boat people (7)
MARINER

Double (cryptic) definition

I assume referring to the NASA Mariner program of deep space probes

6. Crisis following accident in hospital (9)
EMERGENCY

Double (cryptic) definition.

Referring to the the accident and emergency (A&E) ward of a hospital.

7. Everyone is becoming less green (6)
AGEING

Double definition?

8. Start First Aid during meal (6)
LAUNCH

A[id] (first) during LUNCH (meal)

14. About time woman raised expletive, maybe (9)
TETRAGRAM

about T (time), (MARGARET)< (woman, <raised)

Referring to a four letter word

16. Could be time for words (8)
SENTENCE

Double (cryptic) definition

"Time", as in a prison sentence

17. Losing female’s terribly stiff calf hurts (8)
AFFLICTS

(STIFF CAL[f] (losing F (female))* (*terribly)

19. After quiet year in Italy, first night for runner on bed (7)
SHANNON

after SH (quiet), ANNO (year, in Italy) + N[ight] (first)

Referring, I assume, to the river Shannon

20. Support genuine spirit (7)
BRAVERY

BRA (support) + VERY (genuine)

21. Putting by swishing air violently is not golf, for starters (6)
SAVING

S[wishing] A[ir] V[iolently] I[s] N[ot] G[olf] (for starters)

22. Finishes handling drink (4,2)
USES UP

USE (handling) + SUP (drink)

25. Reserves right to hold mother’s flower (5)
TAMAR

(TA (reserves, Territorial Army) + R (right)) to hold MA (mother)

A river in Tasmania

22 comments on “Financial Times 17,671 by GAFF”

  2. I parsed MANIC the same way as KVa.

    TAMAR and SHANNON are classes of lifeboats, and the River Tamar is also between Cornwall and Devon. Lifeboat men are MARINERs. The RNLI’s aim is SAVING lives.

    I thought the BICENTENARY of the RNLI too and found this the toughest of the offerings today.

    Thank you to Gaff and Teacow.

  3. KVa @1. That makes sense. Couldn’t parse it myself.
    This morning, the news was talking all about the bicentenary of …. Cadbury’s. No mention of the RNLI. So now I know they started up on the same day. Never heard of APARTOTEL or BORDEREAU. A tough crossword.

  4. Lots to like about this puzzle.

    I think TAMAR refers to the river in Cornwall.TAMAR and SHANNON are classes of lifeboat in the RNLI fleet. There are many other nautical references Sorry see that Shane beat me to it.

    Thanks to Gaff and Teacow.

  5. Nautical references or RNLI
    references:
    BRAVERY, LAUNCH , EMERGENCY, NEAP TIDE, ALL AT SEA and (life) GUARD

  6. I still do not understand the parsing of MANIC? Is “trim” doing double-duty? Can anyone amplify KVa@1? Thanks. This puzzle was not a walk in the park.

  7. Two RNLI bicentenary themes in one day. Maybe 19d SHANNON also there to indicate that the RNLI (a tetragram) covers the !rish Republic, too.
    Thanks G&T – (mine’s a large one)

  9. Dnf as missed Tetragram. Spent too long, trying to fit Mária in backwards.

    Had Ageing but don’t understand

    Some excellent clues, such as Nutrition, Bayleaf, Insurance, and Sentence. But overall, I found this difficult and despite googling the RNLI connection, this didn’t provide much assistance. In fact, it provided no assistance to this humble solver.

    Aparthotel in Chambers Thesaurus is spelt with an H. The word doesn’t appear in my Chambers dictionary.

    I’m not much of a fan of Gaff (sorry Gaff – too many obscurities and too-lateral definitions) and this one only reinforced my prejudice.

    Thanks for the blog

  11. APARTOTEL isn’t in Collins (unless you add an H) or Chambers (no entry). I reckon au naturel plus a bit of jiggery-pokery could have helped out there. Happy Annie to the RNLI.

  12. 24ac: ODE 2010 gives “aparthotel (also apartotel)”, which I think brings the spelling used within FT policy. Collins 2023 gives only aparthotel and I can confirm the observation from Moly@9 that Chambers 2016 gives neither.

  13. I should add to comment 12 that ODE 2010 gives the origin as 1960s and the name of a Spanish company, with the spelling Apartotel.

  14. AGEING
    Agree with the blog that it’s a DD.
    1. Everyone is AGEING.
    2. green=young, becoming less green=AGEING.

  15. What a wasted opportunity to pay appropriate tribute to the RNLI. So few clues in tune with the theme and too many overstretched and invented synonyms. I solved this whilst sitting in a local pub and shouted out “oh FFS!” when I got the awful 28ac and everyone in the pub looked across at me!
    I’d never heard of INDRI or TETRAGRAM.
    I rate this as 4/10.

  16. Nate @15, the INDRI comes up regularly in crosswords so is worth remembering, and I’ve seen TETRAGRAM a few times recently, so it may be one of the words the software the crossword setters use has latched on to.

  17. Shanne@16: I am not disputing your general remark about TETRAGRAM, but today, as pointed out rather quietly by Frankie@7, it is almost certainly one of the thematic answers.

  19. Thanks for the blog, think it is safe to say now that this theme also in the Guardian and I had read a nice feature there on the RNLI before either puzzle . A most worthy theme indeed and a very neat puzzle.
    I agree with Frankie @7 that TETRAGRAM is a clever addition to the theme.
    The MARINER probes were early , Venus and Mars and finally Mariner 10 to Mercury , the first ever. I would not say deep space but it is so poorly defined that I cannot argue.

  20. https://premium.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/spanish/apartotel has
    ‘APARTOTEL – nombre masculino – Establecimiento de hostelería que ofrece alojamiento en apartamentos con los mismos servicios que en un hotel.’
    And warns: ‘Aunque aún es muy habitual la grafía APARTHOTEL, se considera incorrecta y se recomienda exclusivamente el uso de la forma españolizada.’
    Google translates:
    ‘APARTOTEL – male name ‘ (no, it’s a masculine noun) ‘ – Hospitality establishment that offers accommodation in apartments with the same services as in a hotel.’
    Warning: ‘Although the spelling APARTHOTEL is still very common , it is considered incorrect and the use of the Spanishized form is exclusively recommended.’

  21. Frankie@20: Thanks for that. Of course, nombre can mean “noun” as well as “name” (and also “renown”). Automatic translators often get this sort of thing wrong. For what it is worth, my Collins Spanish Dictionary (2018 edition) only gives aparthotel, which it defines as “serviced apartments”. This is marked NM, the abbreviation defined at the beginning of the dictionary as “sustantivo masculino” or “masculine noun”.

  22. I found this delightful. And found many new pages in my chambers. Tetragram eluded me as did apartotel.

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