Financial Times No 17762 by NEO

by

A fun challenge from NEO this Friday.

FF: 10 DD: 8

An intriguing theme around World War II espionage.

ACROSS
9/27 down CAMBRIDGE FIVE
Infamous 26s mangled in big farm device (9,4)

[ BIG FARM DEVICE ]* ; referring to the group of spies in the uk working for the soviet union
10 CONGA
Dance company now gives advice for beginners (5)

CO ( company ) NGA ( starting letters of "..Now Gives Advice.." )
11 MACLEAN
26 in manacles, almost broken (7)

[ MANACLEs ( almost i.e. without last letter ) ] – referring to donald maclean, spy in the british government
12 BURGESS
26 needs to stop nonsense (7)

URGES ( needs ) in BS ( nonsense, bull…) ; guy burgess – another mole in the uk
13 NAB
No Scots bizzy initially making arrest (3)

NA ( no, scottish ) B ( Bizzy, initially )
14 RECTANGULAR
Charlie Brown wears uniform like certain figures (11)

[ C ( charlie ) TAN ( brown ) ] in REGULAR ( uniform )
17 PAEAN
Good of heathen to go for Spain’s exultation (5)

PAgAN [ heathen, with G ( good ) replaced by E ( spain ) ]
18 INK
Is this essential for fluidity in writing? (3)

cryptic def?
19 BLUNT
26 not subtle with cannabis cigarette (5)

double def
21 IMPREGNATED
Suffused nitrogen going into stew of red pig meat (11)

N ( nitrogen ) in [ RED PIG MEAT ]*
23 BAP
Bloody awful performance: heads roll (3)

starting letters of " Bloody Awful Performance.."
25 SLIMMER
Cook slowly internalises pounds, having lost weight? (7)

SIMMER ( cook slowly ) containing L ( pounds )
27 FASTEST
Female when given exam first to finish (7)

F ( female ) AS ( when ) TEST ( exam )
28 LIBEL
Smear with 18? (5)

cryptic def; 18a is INK , clue refers to defamation by writing
29 SOVEREIGN
Charles done with throne at last? Omen about that! (9)

SIGN ( omen ) around [ OVER ( done with ) E ( thronE, last letter ) ]
DOWN
1 ACUMEN
Having last word about copper’s judgement (6)

AMEN ( last word ) around CU ( copper )
2 AMICABLE
Benign atomic power supply taken under M1 (8)

A ( atomic ) MI ( M1 ) CABLE ( power supply )
3 FREE FRANCE
Unemployed force supervised church for government-in-exile (4,6)

FREE ( unemployed ) F ( force ) RAN ( supervised ) CE ( church )
4 ODIN
Sculptor with initial cast shows ruler in Asgard (4)

rODIN ( sculptor, without starting letter )
5 WET BLANKET
Weary Willie clear in explosive tweet (3,7)

BLANK ( clear ) in [ TWEET ]*
6 SCAR
Mark needs answer coming into Senior Common Room (4)

A ( answer ) in [ S ( senior ) C ( common ) R ( room ) ]
7 UNWELL
Sick wife posh Eleanor nurses (6)

W ( wife ) in [ U ( posh ) NELL ( eleanor ) ]
8 SANSKRIT
Language without appeal applied to Krypton (8)

SANS ( without ) KR ( krypton ) IT ( appeal )
15 CAIRNCROSS
Stones on grave and Christian symbol for 26 (10)

CAIRN ( stones on grave ) CROSS ( christian symbol ) ; referring to john cairncross, member of the cambridge five spies
16 GOBI DESERT
Mouth that is opened by monarch reveals dry area (4,6)

GOB ( mouth ) [ ID EST ( that is -> i.e.) containing ER ( monarch ) ]
17 PLIMSOLL
Pump for shipping line? (8)

double def; the latter referring to lines drawn on sides of a ship to show how much buoyancy it can afford to have in different water types
20 UMBLE PIE
Entrails in pastry from pub Emile renovated (5-3)

[ EMILE PUB ]*
22 PHILBY
Stuff on radio in respect of 26 (6)

PHIL ( sounds like FILL, stuff ) BY ( in respect of )
24 PATENT
Secretary with Spanish wine lying open (6)

PA ( secretary ) TENT ( spanish wine )
26 MOLE
Spot with pigment, some Michelangelo made up (4)

hidden reversed in "..michelangELO Made.."
27
See 9

15 comments on “Financial Times No 17762 by NEO”

  1. Thanks Neo and Turbolegs!
    Enjoyable puzzle! Neat blog!

    Liked the INK-LIBEL combo (tho INK may not be all that cryptic).

  2. A very elegantly crafted puzzle from Neo which was a pleasure to unravel. Enjoyed ‘big farm device’ and the theme in general, as well as the surfaces for BAP and SOVEREIGN.
    That was my thought too, re INK, KVa.
    Thanks to Neo and Turbolegs.

  3. That was fun. Took me a while to get 9a as I was trying to form an anagram from “infamous moles” but once I got the crossing ODIN, I saw my error and correctly solved the anagram. And once I got MACLEAN I went searching for the others which helped no end.

    Liked CAIRNCROSS, BURGESS, GOBI DESERT, SANSKRIT, PLIMSOLL

    Thanks Neo and Turbolegs

  4. Thanks for the blog, a very traditional theme with references to a numbered clue, it was very well done , all the names did not lead to obscure entries to fill the grid.
    RECTANGULAR is very neat wordplay , good to see the correct version of UMBLE PIE for once, also the full use of ID EST for GOBI DESERT .

  5. Looks as if 19 is a triple definition, with Anthony Blunt one of the moles. Thank you to Neo for a fine puzzle and to TL for the blog.

  7. I agree with ub@5 re triple def. It was my second entry after 26D so I got the theme immediately – I was hoping desperately it wouldn’t be a bunch of very obscure moles. Most Scots I know would use NAE for NO, especially as in absence of sthg ie Nae whisky for me. (😉) I liked the INK clue, still valid since printers use it (at grossly inflated prices.). I didn’t know the expansion of ie so thanks to turbolegs.
    Between the Umble Pie and the Red Pig Meat I feel like a veggie lunch is in order today.
    A jolly wee puzzle. My thanks to all.

  8. LOi 15d CAIRNCROSS, because I hadn’t heard of him. Knew the other four, from various dramas and films over the years,
    but hadn’t noticed him in either Cambridge Spies(2003) or The Imitation Game(2014).
    Thanks N&T

  9. Thanks Neo. This was fun even though I was unaware of the CAMBRIDGE FIVE. I got mired in the SW and revealed PLIMSOLL and PHILBY. All else eventually fell into place with RECTANGULAR, BAP, FASTEST, SOVEREIGN, ODIN, WET BLANKET, and GOBI DESERT being favourites. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.

  10. A nice steady solve, helped by spotting the theme. We liked the anagrams for CAMBRIDGE FIVE, IMPREGNATE and UMBLE PIE. We couldn’t parse GOBI DESERT fully as we didn’t think to expand ‘i.e.’ to ‘id est’.
    Thanks, Neo and Turbolegs.

  11. What allan_c@10 wrote. I also loved PLIMSOLE, which I stared at for ages before the penny dropped.

    Themed puzzles often resort to a host of obscure words to increase the number of theme-related words. I imagine it must have been a challenge, but Neo managed to construct a puzzle around peoples’ names while avoiding obscurities. The puzzle was quite a pleasure as a result.

    Thanks Neo and Turbolegs

  12. I thoroughly enjoyed this although it was a DNF as I missed both 17 across and 17 down.

    Should definitely have got 17 down and gave in a bit too quickly.

    Bah.

  13. Martyn @11. I believe only the trainer can be spelt as PLIMSOLE but both can be PLIMSOLL. I suspect the former came about because shoes have ‘soles’ but that’s just a guess.

  14. Ah! I did not realise there are alternative spellings. Funnily I used them both – as I chanced on the correct spelling in the puzzle.

    After a bit of research, it looks as though the shoe can be spelled either way and the line is just “ll”.

    Thanks Hovis

  15. [As Martyn has no doubt discovered in his research, the Plimsoll line, a mark on the side of a ship to indicate safe loading conditions, is named from Samuel Plimsoll. who campaigned in Parliament for better safety at sea. At the time he was, ironically, MP for Derby, about as far from the sea as one can be in the UK. And, incideltally 2024 marks the 200th anniversary of his birth.]

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