Financial Times 17,784 by BASILISK

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Great fun from Basilisk.

I found this slightly easier that I usually expect from Basilisk, but no less entertaining.

I think we have a compound word theme going on – hinted at by the plus signs formed by the black squares in the grid. E.g. MEDIA + TOR; CUR + FEW; REAR + RANGE; CARP + ENTRY etc.

Thanks for the fun this morning Basilisk, and look forward to the next one.

ACROSS

1. Corrupt assistant married retiring go-between (8)
MEDIATOR

(ROT (corrupt) + AIDE (assistant) + M (married))< (<retiring)

5. Despicable individual I’m relieved to hear should be indoors now (6)
CURFEW

CUR (despicable individual) + “PHEW” (I’m relieved, “to hear”)

9. Limited availability of network radio’s lost work unfortunately (8)
RATIONED

(NET[work] RADIO)* (lost WORK, *unfortunately)

10. Who blue-pencilled it originally, at least in part? (6)
EDITOR

[pencill]ED IT OR[iginally] (at least in part) – semi &lit
For a semi &lit clue, the definition is not part of the wordplay, but requires the full clue to make sense – usually

12. Did career finish off employee in firm? (5)
HARED

[employe]E (finish off) in HARD (firm)

13. Modify plans to raise freedom of movement (9)
REARRANGE

REAR (to raise) + RANGE (freedom of movement)

14. Agrees to have child (4,2)
GETS ON

GET SON (to have child)

16. Get ready to make cuts in advance (7)
PREPARE

Cryptic/double definition

PARE is to make cuts, and PRE implies ‘in advance’

19. Great Britain at last isn’t involved with Europe’s borders (7)
INTENSE

([Britai]N (at last) + ISN’T with E[urop]E (borders))* (*involved)

21. Distress curtailed difficult dispute (6)
HARROW

HAR[d] (difficult, curtailed) + ROW (dispute)

23. Trade writer trapped in vehicle test (9)
CARPENTRY

PEN (writer) trapped in CAR (vehicle) + TRY (test)

25. Maintain case for commercial objective (5)
CLAIM

C[ommercia]L (case for) + AIM (objective)

26. Container ship (6)
VESSEL

Double definition

27. Withdrawing no one imposition provided that thing (8)
FIXATION

(NO + I (one) + TAX (imposition) + IF (provided that))< (<withdrawing)

28. Take turns to judge entertaining books (6)
ROTATE

RATE (to judge) entertaining OT (books, Old Testament)

29. End period of study at Harvard? (8)
TERMINUS

Cryptic definition

TERM (period of study) IN US (Harvard being an American university)

DOWN
1. Rebuilding harms east end of city resembling Slough (6)
MARSHY

HARMS* (*rebuilding) + [cit]Y (east end of)

2. Easing of hostilities briefly interrupted by stray nuclear weapon? (9)
DETERRENT

DETENT[e] (easing of hostilities, briefly) interrupted by ERR (stray)

3. Duck eggs served up in diner for starters (5)
AVOID

OVA< (eggs, <served up) + I[n] D[iner] (for starters)

4. Go too far on ladder (7)
OVERRUN

Cryptic definition

6. Boxers possibly subject to damage over time (9)
UNDERWEAR

UNDER (subject to) + WEAR (damage over time)

7. Play around near resting place (5)
FUTON

FUN (play) around TO (near)

For TO think ‘cheek to cheek’

8. Aggravated witness withholding name in brief statement (8)
WORSENED

SEE (witness) withholding N (name) in WORD (brief statement)

11. Inclination of Republican politician charged by America (4)
RAMP

R (Republican) + MP (politician) charged by A (American)

15. Most genuine support comes after seeing that (9)
SINCEREST

REST (support) comes after SINCE (seeing that)

17. Praise speech following publicity (9)
ADORATION

ORATION (speech) followed by AD (publicity)

18. Find disguise belonging to detective (8)
DISCOVER

Cryptic definition

DI’S (belonging to detective) + COVER (disguise)

20. Doctor barely tastes food (4)
EATS

[t]ASTE[s]* (barely, *doctor)

21. Spooner’s much more out of it and confused (7)
HAYWIRE

WAY HIGHER (much more out of it, Spoonerism)

22. Reforms what PM’s inauguration requires? (6)
AMENDS

Cryptic definition

In order for PM (afternoon) to start, we need AM to END

24. Harry tries something to improve Mark? (5)
RESIT

TRIES* (*harry)

25. Daily Mail’s original attraction (5)
CHARM

CHAR (daily) + M[ail] (original)

15 comments on “Financial Times 17,784 by BASILISK”

  1. I found 8d somewhat confusing. ‘See’ HOLDS ‘n’, but then surface would not work. Does ‘see’ also WITHHOLD ‘n’, as the parsing shows? Do ‘hold’ and ‘withhold’ mean the same thing? One def. of the latter is to keep for oneself, i.e. out of the solver’s sight? Otherwise great fun. Thanks to Basilisk and Oriel.

  2. Yes Oriel! Quite an entertaining puzzle! To match it, an enlightening blog!
    Thanks Basilisk and Oriel!

    Loved PREPARE, TERMINUS, OVERRUN, DISCOVER and AMENDS (there’s a pattern to it. Right?).
    OVERRUN
    on=OVER, ladder=RUN
    (Collins: RUN=a series of unravelled stitches, esp in stockings or tights; ladder)

  4. I enjoyed this. My only head scratch was to/near in FUTON, with which, despite your explanation, Oriel, I’m still not entirely comfortable.

  5. Agree with KVa@2 on 4d OVER+RUN – Liked 5a CUR+PHEW 🙂 – Didn’t much like 8d WOR(SE(N)E)D for using “withholding” to mean “holding” 😐
    Thanks B&O

  6. I would agree with entertaining and perhaps not quite as tricky as Basilisk can be

    Thanks to him and Oriel

  7. In the early stages, I thought this was going to be my third tough puzzle of the day after G & I but found myself aligning with Basilisk’s thinking – apart from RATIONED which I did not spot and which enabled me to fill in LOI, DETERRENT. Lots of nicely worded, succinct clues and the vast majority made sense when I tried to parse so nothing much to complain about.

    Thanks Basilisk and Oriel

  8. Thanks for the blog, great spot with the double words and plus signs , I always miss these things. I have just done a count and got 20 double words at a push.
    Very enjoyable puzzle , lots of neat, precise and clever clues.

  9. Similar to most puzzles, I too enjoyed this. I found a few of the reverse clues tricky or impossible to parse, otherwise medium difficulty.

    I do think Basilisk and I operate on different wavelengths, though.

    Thanks Oriel and Basilisk

  10. Thanks Basilisk. Count me as another who enjoyed this despite missing the compound words. My top picks were INTENSE, TERMINUS, DETERRENT, AVOID, UNDERWEAR, AMENDS, and CHARM. I failed with CURFEW and HAYWIRE and I couldn’t parse FIXATION. Thanks Oriel for explaining.

  11. Thanks Basilisk, Oriel.
    Nice. Didn’t get theme, though I looked for it.

    CURFEW, FIXATION, REARRANGE, HAYWIRE and DETERRENT make my list.

    Good refuge from Enigmatist; but it was good he is back in Gdn as well.

  12. This took some getting into, with several answers tentatively pencilled in, although most proved correct. We liked TERMINUS and FIXATION.
    Thanks, Basilisk and Oriel.
    A pedantic quibble, though about 9ac, RATIONED. In this context ‘rationed’ is an adjective, whereas ‘availabilty’ is a noun; we think the clue ought to read ‘Of limited availability …’ or something similar.

  13. Thanks Basilisk and Oriel

    allan_c @ 12 I think 9A works if read as an abbreviated verbal phrase, ie someone limited availability / rationed…

  14. Got there but rather slowly and with four or five unparsed – unusually high. Most clear / obvious when explained – thanks.

  15. Hmm, “thing” for FIXATION is quite an unhelpful leap. Pretty impossible without correct parsing first. Didn’t get that, AMENDS or CLAIM (should have) but puzzled out the rest.

    Agree that “withholding” should not be used to mean holding for WORSENED!

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