Financial Times 17,782 by BOBCAT

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BOBCAT kicks off the week…

Apologies for the lateness off this blog. I took far too long to parse 13a and 26d. I'm also not entirely sure about 5a.

Anyway, a fun solve, with plenty of great clues. And a hidden POUNCE!

Thanks BOBCAT!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Very senior citizen laps up our flattery (4-4)
SOFT-SOAP

(SO (very) + OAP (senior citizen)) laps up FT'S (our)

5. One state ceding frontier right to another (6)
KANSAS

[ar]KANSAS (one state, ceding frontier + R (right))

10. Lavish praise on a university student admitted to appointment (7)
ADULATE

A + ((U (university) + L (student)) admitted to DATE (appointment))

11. Examine animal outside centre gypsies used regularly (7)
ANALYSE

AN[im]AL (outside centre) + [g]Y[p]S[i]E[s] (used regularly)

12. Front door opening without keys? Spooner suggests what’s needed (6,3)
LETTER BOX

A Spoonerism of "better locks", being what would be needed if the front door was opening without keys.

13. Supply more drink where Labour leads in Labrador (3,2)
TOP UP

TO PUP (where labour leads in Labrador)

15. Some Americans love Rishi (5)
OSAGE

O (love) + SAGE (rishi)

16. Key operative making notes in bars? (8)
MUSICIAN

Cryptic definition

19. They boom in Nova Scotia after a beer (8)
BITTERNS

NS (Nova Scotia) after BITTER (beer)

20. First-magnitude star I omitted in table (5)
ALTAR

ALTA[i]R (first magnitude star (in Aquila), I omitted)

21. Naval officer exchanges points for more money (5)
BONUS

BOSUN (naval officer, exchanges N and S (points))

23. Suspect girl’s not involved in energetically dispersing gas (9)
ACETYLENE

(ENE[rg]ET[i]CA[l]LY (suspect GIRL not involved))* (*dispersing)

25. No pressure for division of French company to display style (3,4)
ART DECO

[p]ART (division, no P (pressure)) + DE (of, French) + CO (company)

27. Ricotta conformed to statutory provision (4,3)
RIOT ACT

(RICOTTA)* (*conformed)

28. Withdrew direction to be silent order (6)
SHRANK

SH (direction to be silent) + RANK (order)

29. Bogus fireside gurus (8)
EDIFIERS

(FIRESIDE)* (*bogus)

DOWN
1. Where restaurants may be beset by some pernicious, primarily bovine disease (8)
SMALLPOX

MALL (where restaurants may be) beset by (S[ome] P[ernicious] (primarily) + OX (bovine))

2. In time Foucault displaced to and fro motion (11)
FLUCTUATION

(IN + T (time) + FOUCAULT)* (*displaced)

3. Perhaps Virginia intended to ignore article furnishing account? (9)
STATEMENT

STATE (perhaps Virginia) + ME[a]NT (intended, to ignore A (article))

4. Serve rhubarb extremely sour (5)
ACERB

ACE (serve) + R[hubar]B (extremely)

6. Modify flat that’s on the way up in centre of Bath (5)
ADAPT

(PAD)< (flat, <on the way up) in [b]AT[h] (centre of)

7. Telecoms company achieving 75pc coverage in island (3)
SKY

SKY[e] (island, 75pc coverage)

8. Odds on horse possessing little range (5)
SWEEP

SP (odds on horse, starting price) possessing WEE (little)

9. Most crushing resistance shown by first and second individuals on the left (8)
MARXISTS

(MAX (most) crushing R (resistance)) shown by IST (first) and S (second)

14. Act well in drama on prostitution (4,3,4)
PLAY THE GAME

PLAY (drama) on THE GAME (prostitution)

16. He projected car workers’ schedule falling back (8)
MERCATOR

MERC (car) + (ROTA)< (worker's schedule, <falling back)

Gerardus Mercator, a cartographer famous for the Mercator Projection (which makes Greenland look enormous)

17. Could this require putting up with obstacles in the way of wordplay for ‘flog’? (5,4)
CRAZY GOLF

Double (cryptic) definition

18. May such pieces provide one with a taster in performance? (8)
ARIETTAS

(I (one) with A + TASTER)* (*in performance) &lit

21. Soprano in lingerie displaying cheek (5)
BRASS

S (soprano) in BRAS (lingerie)

22. Writer doesn’t finish either half of hardback (5)
STERN

STERN[e] (writer, Laurence Sterne, doesn't finish)

stern being both "hard" and "back"

24. Went wrong under-reporting uprising to some extent (5)
ERRED

([un]DER RE[porting])< (to some extent, <uprising)

26. Scour bottom of lake for sailor (3)
TAR

TAR[n] (lake, scour bottom)

13 comments on “Financial Times 17,782 by BOBCAT”

  1. Loved this. Very difficult setter but fair and I managed to work everything out, to my relief, except for missing the unknown-to-me ARIETTAS, which I should have worked out. I didn’t care too much for the MUSICIAN clue and might have fallen foul there if I hadn’t guessed the possibility of the POUNCE nina.

  3. COTD: TOP UP
    Other faves: LETTER BOX (‘the without keys’ could be an intended part of the def? If so, the clue reads more complete to me.), ARIETTAS (had to Google, of course. Is it an &lit? The clue works as the def. Sure. The WP doesn’t include the ‘May such pieces provide’ part of the clue) and STERN.

    Overall, a great puzzle. Tough. Yes but very enjoyable. Thanks Bobcat.
    Great blog. Thanks Teacow!

    KANSAS
    Frontier=one side boundary/front boundary (A in this case)? That seems to be what Bobcat meant and that’s what Teacow also says. My parsing was the same.

  5. Thanks for the blog, enjoyable puzzle full of clever clues.
    ACETYLENE is very precise in the removal of GIRL , a great spot for the anagram.
    FLUCTUATION very neat and a reference to FOUCAULT’S pendulum.
    ALTAR had helpful wordplay , saved me thinking through hundreds of stars.

  6. Like Roz, I enjoyed the reference to FOUCAULT’s pendulum: very neat indeed. I also had very big ticks for the def in MERCATOR and the cunning device in STERN. Tough but rewarding puzzle. I was pleased to work out ARIETTAS but did not have the astronomical knowledge for ALTAR.

    Thanks Bobcat and Teacow

  9. We needed a wordfinder for ARIETTAS but managed to get everything else, although KANSAS went in unparsed. We particularly liked LETTER BOX (like KVa we think ‘without keys’ is part of the definition), ACETYLENE and FLUCTUATION.
    Thanks, Bobcat and Teacow.

  10. Thanks Bobcat and Teacow

    12ac: I read this as what I would call a “partial & lit” clue. The literal definition is just the three words “Front door opening”, as a letter box is (usually) an opening in a front door. Then the whole clue is the wordplay. If the front door is opening without keys, you need better locks, which Spooner would have said as “letter box”. I think that is what Teacow is indicating.

  11. I had PIANOMAN for a long time for the making music in bars and got PLAY THE GAME, BUT failed the rest of the southeast of the grid. Including the never heard ARRIETAS! Perhaps PIANOMAN is too American? but to be fair nothing in the clue appeared to tell me otherwise

  12. Some great clues, but also too much general knowledge with Altair, Rishi and Ariettas. At 20 first magnitude stars and I’ve certainly never heard of this one.

    Ran out of time in top left hand corner and gave up with three to go

    Also, too many of the “work out the answer and then solve the parsing” variety. I get no pleasure from that game.

    Not my favourite setter

  13. FrankieG@8, great picture. I had OUNCE as the nina. Does that make it a DNF for me today?

    I enjoyed this one. 23a ACETYLENE was an excellent anagram with the subtraction precisely indicated, as Roz noted. Other favourites were the superb Spoonerism at 12a LETTER BOX and the clever hardback Playtex at 22d STERN.

    Thanks Bobcat and Teacow for the fun and games.

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