Financial Times 17,785 SOLOMON

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A third outing for Solomon in today's FT

I have never solved a Solomon before, and don't recall scoming across a Bluebird in the Indy either (Bluebird and Solomon being the same person), but I look forward to solving more in the future as this was an enjoyable experience. I gave a rare double tick to LOINCLOTH for the "tummy trouble", but many more clues gained a single tick. My only (very minor) quibble was with RUSSIAN, which may have benefited from a bit of editing, but the clue still worked as written, so, as I say, very minor.

Thanks, Solomon.

ACROSS
1 SIMILAR
Like a slim and wiry bare bum (7)

*(a slim ir) [anag:bum] where IR is [bare] (w)IR(y), "bare" indicating that outer layers have been removed.
5 BLOOPER
Mistake seen in second-rate Turner? (7)

B (second rate, as in B-movie or B-road) + LOOPER ("turner?")
9 NARCISSUS
One who bloomed following a period of self-reflection (9)

Cryptic definition of NARCISSUS, an ancient Greek hunter who fell in love with his own reflection.
10 TOTEM
Add dash symbol (5)

TOT ("add") + EM ("dash", in printing)
11 ATTIC
Old Greek building’s highest floor? (5)

Double definition
12 INFECTION
Covid-19? In a manner of speaking, there isn’t any left (9)

INF(l)ECTION ("a manner of speaking") without L (left)
13 PRONOUN
You, say, or I, say, abandoning the Church of England (7)

PRONOUN(ce) ("say") abandoning CE (Church of England)
15 LATRINE
Toilet queue overwhelms a gutless turnstile-operator (7)

LINE ("queue") overwhelms A + [gutless] T(urnstile-operato)R
17 KETCHUP
During chat, the other half of cake is put in sauce (7)

CATCH-UP ("chat") with KE instead of CA ("the other half of cake") put in becomes KE-TCHUP
19 TOUCH UP
Edit photo of exotic bird, erasing an expression that conveys urgency (5,2)

TOUC(an) ("exotic bird", erasing AN) + HUP ("expression that conveys urgency")
21 STEAM IRON
On board, I impress drunk mates with golf club (5,4)

*(mates) [anag:drunk] with IRON ("golf club")

The board in the clue is an ironing board.
23 CARGO
Wheels, what they do, and what they carry? (5)

CAR ("wheels") + GO ("what wheels do")
25 IDAHO
State in Mexico had isthmuses facing west (5)

Hidden backwards in [in…facing west] "mexicO HAD Isthmuses"
26 MARSEILLE
Ruins lie set back beside the French port (9)

MARS ("ruins") + <=LIE [set back] beside LE ("the" in "French")
27 GALAHAD
Celebratory occasion included the man who found the Holy Grail (7)

GALA ("celebratory occasion") + HAD ("included")
28 MINICAB
One minute ahead, Charlie ushers in a black taxi (7)

I (one) with min. (minute) ahead, + C (Charlie, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) + [ushers in] A + B(lack)
DOWN
1 SUNLAMP
Tanner’s belt put underneath newspaper (7)

BELT ("lamp") put underneath SUN ("newspaper")
2 MERIT
One who sets puzzles beginning to reconsider the object’s value (5)

ME ("one who sets puzzles") + [beginning to] R(econsider) + IT ("the object")
3 LOINCLOTH
Lion with tummy trouble pursued by idiot husband in Tarzan outfit (9)

LION with tummy touble (i.e. its insides in turmoil) becomes LOIN pursued by CLOT ("idiot") + H (husband)
4 RUSSIAN
Chekhov, for instance, starts to rewrite unpublished short stories including Ariadne and Neighbours (7)

[starts to] R(ewrite) U(npublished) S(hort) S(tories) I(ncluding) A(riadne) and N(eighbours)

The clue may have been better without the "and". Ther must be many better ways to clue the IAN at the end of Russian (in ancinet Norse, or including Ariadne's neighbours, or involving Alexander Nevsky, or…)
5 BASHFUL
Diminutive miner’s boron powder left around flue, oddly (7)

B (chemical symbol for "boron") + ASH ("powder") + L (left) around F(l)U(e) [oddly]

Bashful was one of the seven dwarves in Disney's version of the Snow White fairy tale, and the dwarves in that story were miners, so a "diminutive miner".
6 OPTIC
Work with jerk that’s full of spirit (5)

OP (opus, so "work") with TIC ("jerk")
7 PETRI DISH
Spirited fighting over hospital’s lab equipment (5,4)

*(spirited) [anag:fighting] over H (hospital)
8 ROMANCE
Date with whipped cream on (7)

*(cream on) [anag:whipped]
14 ON THE BALL
Acutely aware of concerning article written by degree students (2,3,4)

ON ("concerning") + THE ("article") + BA (Bachelor of Arts, so "degree") + L + L (learners. so "students")
16 TRUNCHEON
Club secretaries essentially switch sides at the start of meal (9)

(secre)T(aries) [essentially] + (l>R)UNCHEON (left becomes right ("sides switch") at the start of LUNCHEON ("meal"))
17 KISSING
Making amorous advances, former US politician overlooks old queen (7)

(Henry) KISSING(er) ("former US politician") overlooks ER (Elizabeth Regina, so "old queen")
18 PYRAMID
Where a fire is prematurely extinguished in the middle of ancient structure (7)

PYR(e) ("where a fire is", prematurely extinguished) + AMID ("in the middle of")
19 TANTRUM
Beat time on drum, topless, causing hysterics (7)

TAN ("beat") + T (time) on [topless] (d)RUM

20 PROVERB
Spin around book and say ‘don’t judge it by its cover’ (7)

PR (public relations, so "spin") + OVER ("around") + B (book)
22 MOOCH
Loiter about among low rugby goal posts (5)

C (circa, so "about") among MOO ("low") + H (the shape of "rugby goal posts")
24 RELIC
Fly discovered in boiled rice becomes a memento (5)

(f)L(y) [discovered, i.e. with its covers removed] in *(rice) [anag:boiled]

23 comments on “Financial Times 17,785 SOLOMON”

  1. I must have missed Solomon’s second outing but remember enjoying the first. Likewise this one which, for me, was a very quick solve but fun nevertheless.
    My favourites were NARCISSUS, MERIT, LOINCLOTH and PRONOUN.
    Thanks to Solomon and to Loonapick for parsing KETCHUP correctly. I was halfway there but kept trying to find an indication of ‘chat” also halved to go with ‘put’ and ‘(ca)ke’.

  2. Why is “belt” “lamp”?

    I knew not the British trademark “Optic”. And the rugby goalposts floored me. Nor could I parse KETCHUP, but I see now it’s quite clever.

    Very enjoyable, plenty of smiles.

  4. Apologies for some of the typos in the blog; doing a blog straight after waking at 6:20am is traumatic to that part of my brain which is responsible for interacting with my keyboard…

  5. 4a RUSSIAN – the italics are missing – Ariadne is a Chekhov short story; Neighbours a collection of same. So “Ariadne’s neighbours” wouldn’t work.
    As you say, loonapick, shame abour the “and”. Maybe just replace it with a comma, and put an ellipsis at the end – ‘including Ariadne, Neighbours…”
    [CA->KE]TCHUP was good.
    Thanks S&L

  6. Thank you, Loonapick @3. I tried very hard to account for the “p” in BEDLAMP. I know “lam” means to belt, but I’ve never heard of “lamp”. Neither has Collins, evidently.

  7. I did not see the ‘and’ in RUSSIAN as a problem: having identified the likelihood of an acrostic, it was just a matter of counting letters and, since an acrostic is basically a list, encountering ‘and’ before the final entry is fine. This morning I have done the Guardian, Indy and FT. Lovely if the ‘and’ was actually part of the acrostic but no issue at all with it not being. And, as FrankieG points out, they are valid Chekhov titles, whereas he did not write in Ancient Norse or about Alexander Nevsky as far as I am aware.

    I have enjoyed all of Solomon’s appearances so far; this one was a tad trickier in places but that’s no complaint. I didn’t parse KETCHUP so appreciate our blogger’s help there. Faves inc SIMILAR, INFECTION, LATRINE, STEAM IRON, CARGO, LOINCLOTH, ROMANCE and PROVERB.

    Thanks Solomon and loonapick

  9. There is a form of lighting called a belt lamp . I would prefer this as I nho lamp as a synonym for belt.
    A quick solve of an enjoyable puzzle so thanks to Solomon and Loonapick especially for rising early for the blog.

  12. Just last Sunday, Hoskins had a very similar clue for SUNLAMP (‘Star that’s hit tanner’). As PostMark, I have no objection on ‘and’ separating the last two entries of a list, although an ampersand may have been better. Wasn’t too keen on the ‘ushers in’ in 28a but a good crossword.

  13. I think the clue to RUSSIAN is fine. It’s saying “starts to” the first six words AND the seventh one.

  14. Thanks for the blog , very enjoyable , KETCHUP is very clever and I liked LOINCLOTH although idiot husband is perhaps a tautology.

  15. Thanks Solomon, that was most enjoyable. My top picks were NARCISSUS, STEAM IRON, MERIT, LOINCLOTH (love the bizarre surface), BASHFUL, PETRI DISH, TRUNCHEON, and RELIC. I had no issue with ‘and’ in RUSSIAN; I saw it as analogous to ‘and’ connecting words as part of anagram fodder. Thanks Loonapick for the blog.
    [Roz @ 14: If ‘idiot husband’ is perhaps a tautology what would say if a setter dared to use ‘wacky wife’ in a clue?]

  16. That was fun, thanks Solomon. Couldn’t parse KETCHUP. No problem with RUSSIAN here, and I assumed the choice of Ariadne and Neighbours was meaningful.

    Thanks both.

  19. Some interesting devices and an approachable degree of difficulty made this an enjoyable outing. I would not call it a “quick solve” as several clues required thought, but I progressed at a steady pace. Thanks to a forgiving grid, I found several answers easy to spot, even though the parsing took longer. In the end, a couple went unparsed including KETCHUP (like everyone else it seems). Thanks loonapick for solving that one.

    Several clues elicited smiles, and I agree that LOINCLOTH was special.

    Thanks Solomon and loonapick

  20. Lovely challenge. Thanks Solomon (and Loonapick for the blog)

    GDU@6 We also have seen lam as to belt. Could the p be put??

  22. Lamp = hit was certainly a common UK expression in the 70s and beyond.

    I remember an Araucaria clue along the lines of “Port hit America” for which the solution was LAMPEDUSA.

    And if P were to equal “put” it would be doing double duty.

  23. My OED tells me a meaning of lamp is hit. New to me too – but we do explore the outer reaches of English in crossword land.

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