Financial Times 17,789 by GURNEY

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A pleasant diversion today from Gurney, with a couple of uncommon wordplay devices appearing.

I do not see anything “extra” happening in this puzzle, except for the possible nina OWLIER across the middle.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 THERMOSTAT
Regulatory device sees mother recycling, say, no end (10)
MOTHER with the first two letters “recycling” to the end + STAT[E] (say) minus last letter (no end)
6 HARP
As outsiders leave, orphan playing instrument (4)
Anagram of (playing) [O]RPHA[N] minus outside letters (as outsiders leave)
10 RIDER
Jockey’s extra stipulation (5)
Double definition
11 MARGARINE
Forces member passing over retrograde newspaper’s spread (9)
MARINE ([armed] forces member) around (passing over) RAG (newspaper) reversed (retrograde)
12 PRATTLER
One talking foolishly in image promotion about toy (8)
PR (image promotion) around (about) RATTLE (toy)
13 NINJA
One with Japanese skill’s new home, German? Yes (5)
N (new) + IN (home) + JA (yes [in] German)
15 PROSPER
More tedious originally, include page for island, and do well (7)
PROS[I]ER (more tedious) substituting (include . . . for) first letter of (originally) P[AGE] for first letter of (originally) I[SLAND]
17 POTABLE
By Italian river somewhere to put food, safe to consume (7)
PO (Italian river) + TABLE (somewhere to put food)
19 LANTERN
It might help to see, briefly, country bird (7)
LAN[D] (country) minus last letter (briefly) + TERN (bird)
21 SECULAR
Lasting long time in Southeast, copper, looked all right from the start (7)
SE (Southeast) + CU (copper) + first letters of (from the start) L[OOKED] + A[LL] + R[IGHT]
22 TRESS
Lock of hair, very French, brushed in the middle (5)
TRÈS (very [in] French) + middle letter of (in the middle) [BRU]S[HED]
24 CHAPLAIN
Adam’s son getting regularly slapdash recalled inside — by this person? (8)
CAIN (Adam’s son) around (getting . . . inside) alternate letters of (regularly) [S]L[A]P[D]A[S]H reversed (recalled). I suppose the wordplay is part of the extended definition.
27 CLIENTELE
Church accepting legal claim, note left for customers (9)
CE (church) around (accepting) {LIEN (legal claim) + TE (note) + L (left)}
28 PRONE
Predisposed expert, extremely niche (5)
PRO (expert) + outside letters of (extremely) N[ICH]E
29 LATE
Recently but not now seen in goal at Everton (4)
Hidden in (seen in) [GOA]L AT E[VERTON]
30 BRIDGEHEAD
Game boss in advantageous position (10)
BRIDGE (game) + HEAD (boss)
DOWN
1 TURN
Performer’s act of kindness (4)
Double definition
2 EIDERDOWN
Order red wine? Do, it may keep us warm (9)
Anagram of (order) {RED + WINE + DO}
3 MERIT
Good quality, charmer, Italian, shows (5)
Hidden in (shows) [CHAR]MER IT[ALIAN]
4 SIMILAR
Type of card, rail, new, not very different (7)
SIM (type of card) + anagram of (new) RAIL
5 AIR-DROP
After broadcast, decline delivery (3-4)
AIR (broadcast) + DROP (decline). Chambers lists this as one word (without the hyphen).
7 ALIEN
Fighter in from France, unfamiliar (5)
ALI (fighter) + EN (in “from France,” i.e., in French)
8 PIED-À-TERRE
Nice fellow maybe welcoming romantic meeting in flat (4-1-5)
PIERRE (“Nice” fellow maybe, i.e., from Nice, France) around (welcoming) DATE (romantic meeting)
9 MAGNETIC
Attractive publication — bring up quote, fun ultimately (8)
MAG (publication) + {CITE (quote) + last letter of (ultimately) [FU]N} inverted (bring up)
14 APOLITICAL
Not much interested in Westminster or capital oil supply? (10)
Anagram of (supply) CAPITAL OIL
16 PLEASANT
Agreeable requests followed by worker (8)
PLEAS (requests) + ANT (worker)
18 BELLICOSE
Aggressive call before one’s retaining company, Eastern (9)
BELL (call) + {I’S (one’s) around (retaining) CO. (company)} + E (Eastern)
20 NUCLEAR
Greek character caught by king referring to power maybe (7)
NU (Greek character) + C (caught) + LEAR (king)
21 SEAWEED
Wonder in bishop’s place — first sign of dazzling plants (7)
AWE (wonder) inside (in) SEE (bishop’s place) + first letter of (first sign of) D[AZZLING]
23 EDICT
Media boss initially irritated by court ruling (5)
ED (media boss) + first letter of (initially) I[RRITATED] + CT (court)
25 LAPSE
Ways round English drop in standard (5)
LAPS (ways round) + E (English)
26 VEND
Victor with objective to seek new owner (4)
V (Victor) + END (objective)

17 comments on “Financial Times 17,789 by GURNEY”

  1. Liked PROSPER and CHAPLAIN (Looks like an extended def as the blogger says. CHAPLAIN to enforce discipline. Right?).
    LATE: I saw the def a bit LATE (tho it looks straightforward now).

    SECULAR
    looked all right from the start: Does the cryptic grammar work all right?

    Thanks Gurney and Cineraria!

  2. There were some nice surfaces (and some not-so-nice ones). As Cineraria noted, it was a pleasant diversion and I enjoyed it overall.

    I shared favourites with KVa@1 and add EIDERDOWN for its surface and nice anagram.

    I wonder where people use TURN to mean performer and an act of kindness (rather than a “good turn” in the case of the latter). Neither are in my dictionary, but I am sure these are real uses somewhere in UK and I look forward to hearing from others.

    I confess that I was getting irritated because PIED A TERRE “must have been wrong”. But it turns out I was not parsing it correctly and I thank Cineraria for putting me on the right course. It was my LOI and, on further thought, I add it to my list of favourites. A nice surface and the diversion fooled me.

    Sorry, this got a bit long. So, let me thank Gurney for an enjoyable puzzle and Cineraria for a reliably informative and entertaining blog.

    PS I did see OWLIER, but it did not help much

  3. Thanks for the blog, good puzzle with sound and clever clues throughout, PIED-A-TERRE vey neat hiding the capital of Nice at the front plus a French flavour.
    AIR-DROP still has the hyphen in Chambers 93 .
    Martyn@2 , TURN used in Music Hall or Variety shows – Our next turn is ….. It can mean the act or the performer . It also means a kind or malicious act so our setter is being optimistic.

  6. Following on from Roz@ 3, there is ‘star turn’ or leading role/performance which is a fairly common turn of phrase for theatre-goers etc.
    An enjoyable puzzle from Gurney in which THERMOSTAT, EIDERDOWN and BELLICOSE were favourites. Thanks to Gurney and Cineraria.

  7. Using the cross letters that I had, 11A was obviously “MARMALADE”! Well, it IS a “spread”! That sort of held me up a bit in the top, right-hand corner.

    Thanks to setter and Cineraria and all those people who welcomed me yesterday.

  8. Thanks Gurney and Cineraria

    1dn: Some time ago on the Radio 4 comedy panel game I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, they were doing a spoof version of Monopoly and one of the Chance cards (or similar) read “You are caught short during the second Act at the London Palladium. Miss a turn.” The definition in ODE 2010 is “a short performance, especially one of a number given by different performers in succession: a comic turn.” Not so sure about the second definition: perhaps the clue would benefit from a question mark on the end?

  9. A bit late to comment on a largely enjoyable puzzle. I share Diane’s favourites in THERMOSTAT, EIDERDOWN and BELLICOSE – three different ways of getting heated up, I guess. I was less impressed by the def for CHAPLAIN, even as a CAD.

    Thanks Gurney and Cineraria.

  11. Thanks Roz@3, Diane@6 and PB@8 for input on TURN meaning performer. Good to learn. So saying, the OED definition reads as performance rather than performer to me and no-one seems to have a definitive view on how it means act of kindness. Not important or a compliant. just a bit of a mystery.

  12. Had a good look at Chambers93 , a massive section on TURN.
    a performer’s act or the performer.
    act of kindness or malice.
    I think the setter is in the clear .

  13. Martyn @11. Chambers does give ‘Act of kindness or malice’ as one of the many definitions of ‘turn’, so I can’t fault Gurney but I can’t imagine anyone not saying ‘good turn’ rather than just ‘turn’ by itself.

  14. Many thanks, Cineraria, for the excellent blog and thanks also to all who commented.

    Guided by Collins on TURN but I guess one would hope there would be far more good turns than bad turns..

  15. Martyn@11: Sorry. I should have carried on to the next definition from ODE 2010, which reads “a performer giving such a performance”, referring to the definition I quoted in comment 8.

  16. Probably too late but thanks Hovis@13. Mystery solved. I think your solution is much better than the setter’s@14. We all know English is often very different to crossword language. To PB@15: Aha! that’s it.

    Thanks to the whole community for taking so much time to respond to my question.

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