Financial Times 17,711 STEERPIKE

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Steerpike provides this morning's puzzling entertainment…

…and entertaining it was! I really enjoyed solving this, even though my first pass through the across clues yielded very little. Thankfully, a handful of down clues went in a little easier, and I was gradually able to work my way around the grid, finishing in the bottom left corner with CHOICER my LOI.

Thanks, Steerpike.

ACROSS
1 ACHILLES HEEL
A cold fish admitting she shows weakness (8,4)

A + CHILL ("cold") + EEL ("fish") admitting SHE

8 OPINION
Truss stands by Ombudsman’s initial assessment (7)

PINION ("truss") stands by O(mbudsman) ['s initial]
9 RUBBISH
Clergyman denied surgery following stroke? That’s awful! (7)

BISH(op) ("clergyman" denied OP ("surgery")) following RUB ("stroke")
11 ORGANIC
Natural extract of garlic in a grocer’s on the counter (7)

Hidden backwards in [extract of…on the counter] "garliC IN A GROcer's"
12 SEA LION
Lad claiming European heavyweight is a beast (3,4)

SON ("lad") claiming E (European) + (Muhammed) ALI ("heavyweight" boxer)
13 SPENT
Burnt out writer lying in street (5)

PEN ("writer") lying in St, (street)
14 VIGILANCE
Oddly void look concealing one’s mindful state (9)

[oddly] V(o)I(d) + GLANCE ("look") concealing I (one)
16 RACEHORSE
Runner reaches out to clench gold (9)

*(reaches) [anag:out] to clench OR ("gold" in heraldry)
19 DRAWS
Small charge to go around attractions (5)

<=(S (small) + WARD ("charge"), to go round)
21 AMOUNTS
Sums originally spent backing Article 16, perhaps (7)

[originally] S(pent) backing A ("article") + MOUNT (racehorse, the answer to "16" across)
23 NEBULAR
Like a galaxy close to engulfing most of Taurus (7)

NEAR ("close to") engulfing [most of] BUL(l) ("Taurus")
24 SUCCOUR
Assist naive victim of fraud in hearing (7)

Homophone [in hearing] of SUCKER ("naive victim of fraud")
25 OUTRANK
Have more stripes than pants on a Turk! (7)

*(on a turk) [anag:pants]
26 PROTAGONISTS
Expert drunkenly toasting society’s heroes (12)

PRO ("expert") + *(toasting) [anag:drunkenly] + S (society)
DOWN
1 ATINGLE
Titillating letter’s content gets one quivering with excitement (7)

Hidden in [content] "titillATING LEtter"
2 HAIRNET
Locks sent up fly-half’s headgear (7)

HAIR ("locks") + [sent up] <=TEN ("fly-half"'s number in rugby union)
3 LEN’S COVER
For Spooner, Barbie’s romantic rival is paparazzi’s accessory (4,5)

KEN'S LOVER could be "Barbie's romantic rival" and the Rev. Spooner may have said LENS COVER instead.had he been around these days.
4 EARNS
Makes money picking up drinks dispensers (5)

Homophone [picking up] of URNS ("drinks dispensers")
5 HOBNAIL
Bachelor in Hanoi carelessly left something in boot? (7)

B (Bachelor) in *(hanoi) [anag:carelessly] + L (left)
6 EDITION
Issue of rising tide overwhelming island town periodically (7)

[rising] <=TIDE overwhelming I (island) + (t)O(w)N [periodically]
7 ZOROASTRIANS
Masked man heartlessly butchering stars in a religious group (12)

ZO(r)RO ("masked man", heartlessly) + *(stars in a) [anag:butchering]
10 HUNGER STRIKE
King Uther’s upset about queen’s protest (6,6)

*(king uthers) [anag:upset] about ER (Elizabeth Regina, so "queen")
15 GREENHORN
Rookie crime-fighter striking alien (9)

GREEN HORN(et) ("crime fighter") striking ET (extraterrestrial, so "alien")

The Green Hornet is a fictional crime fighter, originally in a radio series.
17 CHOICER
Higher quality vocalists entertaining clientele on vacation (7)

CHOIR ("vocalists") entertaining C(lientel)E [on vacation]
18 HANDOUT
Charity and love filling humble dwelling (7)

AND + O ("love", in tennis) filling HUT ("humble dwelling")
19 DEBATES
Young lady laid bare most recent controversies (7)

DEB(utante) ("young lady") + [laid bare] (l)ATES(t) ("most recent")
20 ALL EARS
Very interested in description of cereals without stalks? (3,4)

Cereals without stalks may be ALL EARS
22 SPROG
Revolutionary political organisation’s defending migrant’s middle child (5)

[revolutionary] <=GOP'S (grand old party's, so "political organisation's") defending (mig)R(ant) ['s middle]

17 comments on “Financial Times 17,711 STEERPIKE”

  2. No wonder I didn’t parse HAIRNET; I have no interest in and know nothing of rugby union. I still don’t like “pants” as an anagrind, but I guess it’s here to stay. Never heard of the Green Hornet.

    This was all most enjoyable. I chuckled at LENS COVER, and as a photographer I no doubt will recall this in the future whenever I go to remove one. 8a reminded me of the old joke about comparing a raven with a crow.

    Thanks Steerpike & Loonapick.

  3. No wonder I didn’t parse HAIRNET; I have no interest in and know nothing of rugby union. I still don’t like “pants” as an anagrind, but I guess it’s here to stay. Never heard of the Green Hornet.

    This was all most enjoyable. I chuckled at LENS COVER, and as a photographer I no doubt will recall this in the future whenever I go to remove one. 8a reminded me of the old joke about comparing a raven with a crow. (I tried to place a link here but for some reason I wasn’t allowed.)

    Thanks Steerpike & Loonapick.

  6. Splendid puzzle. Plenty of enjoyment in solving this. Somehow, I dredged Green Hornet from the depths of memory – younger SPROG was into superheroes; I am more dated – so Zorro did come easily to mind. What a super Spoonerism in Ken’s lover: brilliant! Other faves include ACHILLES HEEL, RUBBISH, ORGANIC, DRAWS, OUTRANK, HAIRNET (sorry, GDU. Rugby fan here so that was right up my street), HOBNAIL and HANDOUT.

    Thanks Steerpike and loonapick

  7. For some reason, it’s a long time since I solved a Steerpike puzzle – and I’m glad I lighted on this one.

    A splendid puzzle, as PostMark says – and my favourites pretty much chime with his, with the addition of NEBULAR, PROTAGONISTS and HUNGER STRIKE – KING UTHER was a great spot.
    I’m used to being irritated by meaningless Spoonerisms and so I appreciate good ones like LENS COVER even more.

    Green Hornet wasn’t even in my memory bank, so that one went unparsed, I’m afraid.

    Thanks to Steerpike and loonapick.

  8. I liked this very much, thought the Spoonerism and 24a were clever.
    Thank you to Loonapick particularly for parsing HAIRNET and to Steerpike for the puzzle

  9. I’m amazed so many haven’t heard of the Green Hornet. The TV series was particularly memorable for the fighting skills of his sidekick, Kato, played by non other than Bruce Lee. As a side note, the Green Hornet is the great nephew of the Lone Ranger.

  11. For 7d ZOROASTRIANS, My first thought was the Lone Ranger – “Who was that masked man?”- second Batman, third Zorro. Green Hornet would’ve been fourth.
    I gather the series was only shown on ITV in certain regions. All I remember were the crossover episodes with Batman. Happy to hear of the nepotism, Hovis@7.
    Thanks S&L

  13. I am another who must admit to total ignorance of the Green Hornet but otherwise nothing that was excessively obscure and much that was highly ingenious and enjoyable

  14. Hi all, just wanted to thank everyone for the kind comments. This was one of those puzzles which was great fun to compile, so am glad to see that it turned out to be a fun solve. And thanks to Loonapick for the flawless blog. Until next time

  15. Thanks Steerpike for a well-crafted crossword. My top picks were RUBBISH, VIGILANCE, OUTRANK, PROTAGONISTS, LENS COVER, GREENHORN, and HANDOUT. I couldn’t parse AMOUNTS and HAIRNET, the latter because I never heard of ‘fly-half.’ Thanks Loonapick for the blog.

  16. I agree with all the positive comments so far. I felt the grid would have been friendly, had I been able to get 1ac and 7dn earlier. As for the heroes: I do know Zorro, but unfortunately I did not realise it is spelt with two rs; and I had also heard of the green hornet, but was unable to dredge it up from my memory, so that clue went unparsed.

    I agree with Eileen in disliking many of the spoonerisms presented to us, which made me doubly appreciate LENS COVER.

    I see Steerpike posted above me, so I hope it is not too late to thank him for the puzzle and I also thank loonapick for a great blog.

  17. Thanks for the blog, great set of neat clues with clever wordplay .
    SPROG one of my favourite words especially Middle-Sprog who gets very annoyed.
    I did wonder about NEBULAR = Like a galaxy, very out of date but Chambers gives support and the only galaxy we can actually see is nebular.

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