Financial Times 17,749 ZAMORCA

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Zamorca is this morning's FT compiler.

This was a typical Zamorca puzzle – a pangram. There were quite a few anagrams in here, but mostly partial ones. I don't know if I have parsed DANGER right as it doesn't appear cryptic to me.

Thanks, Zamorca.

ACROSS
1 NOBODY
Not a single person sees old boy taking overdose in city (6)

OB (old biy) taking OD (overdose) in NY (New York "City")
4 ACCRUE
Team announced following a build up (6)

Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [announced] of CREW ("team") following A
8 MISREAD
Enigmatic dream is misinterpreted (7)

*(dream is) [anag:enigmatic]
9 EARPLUG
One stops audio input for endlessly heard advert (7)

[endlessly] (h)EAR(d) + PLUG ("advert")
11 CHEAPSKATE
Cold fish secreting pile’s a miser (10)

C (cold) + SKATE ("fish") secreting HEAP ("pile")
12 IRAQ
Royal Artillery intercepts intelligence for country (4)

RA (Royal Artillery) intercepts IQ ("intelligence" quotient)

IQ is more a measure of intelligence than intelligence itself.
13 SEIZE
Grasp mass divided by energy (5)

SIZE ("mass") divided by E (energy, in physics)
14 KEEP AT IT
Continue trying to stay abreast (4,2,2)

KEEP ("stay") + A TIT ("a breast")
16 GATHERED
Assembled to tour the garden briefly (8)

*(the garde) [anag:to tour] where GARDE is GARDE(n) [briefly]
18 FELON
Con fellow working railway crossing (5)

F (fellow) + ON ("working") crossing EL (elevated "railway")
20 CELL
Musical instrument’s limited in small room… (4)

CELL(o) ("musical instrument", limited)
21 DOUBLE BASS
… getting twice as many low notes? (6,4)

DOUBLE ("twice as many") + BASS ("low notes")

The definition is "musical instrument" from the previous clue, hence the ellipsis.
23 JASMINE
Alarmingly, Jean’s stopped by motorway to see flower (7)

*(jeans) [anag:alarmingly] stopped by M1 (motorway)
24 WARRIOR
Soldier’s run after one arrow shot (7)

R (run, in cricket) after *(i arrow) [anag:shot] where I = one
25 DANGER
Dire risk? (6)

Feels like a straight definition to me, unless I'm missing something more subtle?
26 RELY ON
Soldiers only rarely trust (4,2)

RE (Royal Engineers, so "soldiers") + *(only) [anag:rarely]
DOWN
1 NEIGH
Picked up no noise from horse (5)

Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [picked up] of NAY ("no")
2 BIRYANI
Unknown cut of meat served up in a dodgy curry (7)

<=(Y (unknown, in mathematics) + RIB ("cut of meat"), served up) + *(in a) [anag:dodgy]
3 DRAWS NEAR
Approaches hospital department about lead nurse lancing burn (5,4)

<=WARD ("hospital department", abou) + [lead] N(urse) lancing SEAR ("burn")
5 CRAVE
Long for victory in running race (5)

V (victory) in *(race) [anag:running]
6 REPLICA
Copy account’s current record every other year for review (7)

<=(A/c (account) + I (symbol for electrical "current" in physics) + LP (long-playing "record") + [every other] (y)E(a)R) [for review]
7 EDUCATION
Knowledge can die out if neglected (9)

*(can die out) [anag:if neglected]
10 WALKED OUT
Due to law that’s come out restricting kiosk’s opening, left in a huff (6,3)

*(due to law) [anag:come out] restricting K(iosk) ['s opening]
13 STAGEHAND
Scene shifter gets a surprising round of applause (9)

*(gets a) [anag:surprisingly] + HAND ("round of applause")
15 EXFOLIATE
Fix aloe concoction, then regularly scrub skin (9)

*(fix aloe) [anag:concoction] + T(h(E(n) [regularly]
17 HOLY MAN
Saint’s entirely audible on island (4,3)

Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [audible] of WHOLLY ("entirely") on (Isle of) MAN ("island")
19 LIBERTY
Make up story describing boy and hopeless try for freedom (7)

LIE ("make up story") describing B (boy) + *(try) [anag:hopeless]
21 DANCE
Fred’s foot has cane spinning in routine (5)

(fre)D ['s foot) + *(cane) [anag:spinning]
22 SCORN
Mock small cheesy sentiment (5)

S (small) + CORN ("cheesy sentiment")

20 comments on “Financial Times 17,749 ZAMORCA”

  2. Lots of wordy clues, lots of partial anagrams with a few dodgy anagrinds, no obscurities. There is not much else to say.

    Thanks Zamorca and loonapick

  4. I didn’t parse DANGER either. A good one, thanks Hovis.

    The other one I struggled with was FELON. No way in the world I’d have guessed that EL is an elevated railway. The Royal Engineers took some head scratching too; I should have remembered it.

    A nice puzzle, thanks Zamorca & Loonapick.

  5. The EL is in Chicago, from reading American novels, and I’ve seen it before in crosswords.

    Straightforward, although it took me a long time to spot CELL. And I failed to spot the parsing of DANGER.

    Thank you to Zamorca and loonapick

  6. 25a D ANGER = D IRE is what Roz calls a Playtex, I believe.
    There’s another one, appropriately, in 14a KEEP AT IT – “abreast” -> a breast -> A TIT -> AT IT (Is this last step a version of a Gossard?)
    [Playtex not to be confused with a ‘lift and separate’ such as 11a CHEAPSKATE’s “Cold fish” – ‘colloquial. 1941– An emotionless person.’]

  7. IRAQ
    Wiktionary gives IQ as an adjective meaning smart/intelligent but not as a noun meaning intelligence.
    Agree with the comment in the blog.

    COTD: DANGER
    Other faves: KEEP AT IT and DRAWS NEAR

    FrankieG@6
    A TIT—>AT IT (Is this last step a version of a Gossard)?
    That seems to be a mixture of a Playtex and a Gosaard!
    Interesting indeed!

  9. Thanks Zamorca (except of course for 14ac and 25ac) and loonapick

    12ac: Further to earlier comments, the phrase intelligence quotient is given (with varying definitions) in Chambers 2016, Collins 2023, and ODE 2010, as a noun only.

    14ac/25ac: However many people express approval for the unsignalled requirement to split a clue word, I will always regard it as a ghastly device, and I reserve the right not to thank the setter for using it.

  10. This went well, couldn’t parse “felon” or “danger” and missed “rarely” as the anagram indicator, but otherwise all good.
    Thank you to Zamorca and Loonapick

  11. Macmorris@8 and Pelham Barton@9
    IRAQ
    I didn’t explain what I wanted to say properly.
    IQ is Intelligence Quotient. That is a noun. No arguments there.
    I was trying to see if IQ meant ‘intelligence’ in some context.
    Wiktionary has this entry:
    Adjective
    IQ
    (slang) Smart, intelligent.
    That was an IQ play!
    However, IQ meaning ‘intelligence’ was not to be found anywhere.
    I was reaffirming what the blogger said in a roundabout way. 🙂

  12. Enjoyable.. happy enough to see the D-IRE thing as well as 25ac.. intelligence has synonyms of intellect, or understanding for example, all of which require qualification ie low or high to express a quality, as does IQ. I was happy to accept it. If I was to split hairs I’d be going for “education” being “knowledge”, altho undoubtedly many would accept that.. I’d say education is the process of putting knowledge into context..
    Thanks Zamorca n loonapick

  13. Mostly straightforward although there were a few clues we found tough. We struggled to get DRAWS NEAR, REPLICA and EARPLUG (a d’oh! moment with that one). We did know EL to get FELON but were a little surprised that there was no indication of EL being an American term.
    We liked the linkage between 20 and 21 across.
    Thanks, Zamorca and loonapick.

  14. Straightforward enough to solve but, even though several were partial, 13 or so anagrams in 29 clues felt rather excessive to me. I agree EL needs a US indicator – they are only railways in America – and I am not sure where Victory = V comes from. V is Victor in the NATO alphabet and VE/VJ days do incorporate victory but I’m not sure it exists as a standalone. Boy for B is not supported by dictionaries but seems to pop up every once in a while. And I know it is a personal view not shared by all commenters here but I am not a fan of ‘definition for wordplay’ as in 9ac.

    On the positive side, whilst I respect PB’s personal opinion @9, I did like D ANGER along with WARRIOR and CHEAPSKATE.

    Thanks Zamorca and loonapick

  15. Walter@14 watch The Borrowers do not steal your mirror, they are devious little blighters.

    Thanks for the blog, good set of neat clues on the whole, my quibbles have been mentioned.
    MrPostMark@ 15 , I think V for victory comes straight from Churchill .
    I agree with KVa@11 , IQ does not equal intelligence , just a dubious measure , IQ tests are rigged for a certain type of mind , mine included, I know some people who are very intelligent but no good at IQ tests. [ 14Ac is a Lepel , I advise you not to look it up ]

  16. Roz: I recognise Churchill’s V-sign – as opposed to Harvey Smith’s – but I like to see abbreviations supported by the dictionary and I tend to rely on Chambers. Further research turns up V in Collins which I do not possess but have found on t’internet so I withdraw that implied criticism. Maybe B for boy is in there too.

  17. V= victory is in the Collins that I won from the Guardian once , not B=boy although that is widely used throughout maternity units for the first baby bracelet along with the superior G-girl .

  19. LOL, finally an advantage for someone on this side of the pond. EL shows up regularly as railway in our puzzles. Chicago is known for it’s EL, but there are plenty of elevated lines in New York City also.

  20. I am ashamed to admit that 20a CELL was one of my last ones in. It and 21a DOUBLE BASS on the same line were my favourites for obvious reasons. I also liked the clever lift and separate 25a DANGER.

    Thank you Zamorca and loonapick for the very enjoyable Thursday diversion.

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