Financial Times 17,683 by HAMILTON

by

HAMILTON starts off the week…

An enjoyable challenge, though I struggled with some of the parsing.

Thanks HAMILTON!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. I’m exceedingly grateful…or am I? (6,1,3)
THANKS A LOT

Double (cryptic) definition

The phrase often being used sarcastically

7. See 9
9/ 7. Freeloader on a road east of Gloucestershire town (8)
STOWAWAY

(A + WAY (road)) east of STOW (Gloucestershire town, Stow-on-the-Wold)

10. Lacking authenticity, well odd, or to begin with, even peculiar (4,6)
OLDE WORLDE

(WELL ODD OR E[ven] (to begin with))* (*peculiar)

11. Get ready for visitors so put DIY off (4,2)
TIDY UP

(PUT DIY)* (*off)

12. Wandering, sound off with Gerry, blowing his top outside (8)
ERRANTRY

RANT (sound off) with [g]ERRY (blowing his top) outside

13. The folk here liken his craft to… (8)
HELSINKI

(LIKEN HIS)* (*craft)

15. …the flair Icelanders show (4)
ELAN

[ic]ELAN[ders] (show)

17. Elementary children really understand primary colour (4)
ECRU

E[lementary] C[hildren] R[eally] U[nderstand] (primarily)

19. Court detective and Mr Forester (8)
WOODSMAN

WOO (court) + DS (detective) + MAN (Mr)

22. Bond girl’s healthy green veg (8)
BROCCOLI

Double (cryptic) definition

Referring to Barbara Broccoli

23. The Enterprise is let loose around fight (6)
TUSSLE

USS (the Enterprise), (LET)* (*loose) around

25. Finds out what sectarians are up to? (10)
ASCERTAINS

(SECTARIANS)* (*are up to)

26. Bowl over and over, that’s crazy (4)
NUTS

(STUN)< (bowl over, <over)

27. Man is inflexible, worker will be sacked (4)
ADAM

ADAM[ant] (inflexible, ANT (worker) sacked)

28. Helpless, malodorous, in need of water (4,3,3)
HIGH AND DRY

HIGH (malodorous) AND DRY (in need of water)

DOWN
2. Where to call for Red Stripe? (7)
HOTLINE

HOT (red) + LINE (stripe)

3. Dead end? You don’t say! (2,3)
NO WAY

Double (cryptic) definition

4. Ferreting around but posing no disruption (8)
SNOOPING

(POSING NO)* (*disruption)

5. I’d liaise, wanting new helpers for 16 (6- 2-7)
LADIES-IN-WAITING

(ID LIAISE WANTING)* (*new)

6. Cheap-looking marble is uninteresting (6)
TAWDRY

TAW (marble) + DRY (uninteresting)

7. Arabian football team fixers (9)
ARRANGERS

AR (Arabian) + RANGERS (football team)

8. Article on female explorer crossing river to reach country (7)
ANDORRA

AN (article) on (DORA (female explorer) crossing R (river))

14. Laugh uncontrollably about our baked potato topping (4,5)
SOUR CREAM

SCREAM (laugh uncontrollably) about OUR

16. Tory woman of high birth (8)
CONTESSA

CON (tory) + TESSA (woman)

18. Wow! Editor chasing assistant — couldn’t stop laughing (7)
CORPSED

COR (wow) + (ED (editor) chasing PS (assistant, Private Secretary))

20. Few missed Fats Waller performance with big-name cast (3-4)
ALL-STAR

([f]ATS [w]ALL[e]R (FEW missed))* (*performance)

21. Overshoot chamberpot partly from strong liquor (6)
HOOTCH

[overs]HOOT CH[amberpot] (partly)

24. Heresy, no doubt, plays part of its remit (5)
SYNOD

[here]SY NO D[oubt] (part of) &lit

10 comments on “Financial Times 17,683 by HAMILTON”

  1. Most enjoyable and straightforward puzzle with an immaculate blog I now know that Errantry is the title of a poem by Tolkien which was also set to music by Donald Swann. All great fun.
    Thanks to Hamilton and Teacow.

  3. Thanks Hamilton and Teacow!
    HELSINKI
    Is the surface alluding to the Helsinki Folk Festival? Aren’t there some superfluous words in the clue?
    CONTESSA
    The ‘woman’ on double duty?
    TUSSLE
    Liked it. The online version had Enterprise (instead of maybe/perhaps/say or a ?).
    Also liked SYNOD.

  4. An enjoyable and fairly quick solve, although we needed all the crossing letters for HELSINKI and it took a while to see some of the parsings.
    Thanks, Hamilton and Teacow.

  5. Thanks for the blog , good puzzle with lots of neat clues.
    CONTESSA is “of high birth” enough for a defintion? Or we have the double duty from KVa @3.
    ALL-STAR , my own view is that FEW should have its own anagram indicator as it is taken out first. Reverse the order and it is fine.

  7. I didn’t find this very much fun.
    I’ve never come across ps as an abbreviation for ‘private secretary’.
    I think ‘The Enterprise’ = USS is very poor clueing.

  8. To grasp at straws:
    “The Enterprise is” could be said to be the clue for USS; but not a strong clue.
    PS is in Chambers and I did hear it in the wild once. An ex colleague of mine – now in her mid 90s – took umbrage at being called a PA and stated firmly she was a PS.

    Thanks Hamilton and Teacow

  9. Thanks Hamilton & Teacow

    I suppose PS = Private Secretary derives from PPS = Parliamentary Private Secretary, but I’m not convinced.

  10. PPS is an actual MP , Private Secretary=PS is very common in the Civil Service. Bernard in YM was a PrincipalPS but the lower rank is more common.
    The term is also used in royal households.

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