Financial Times 17,796 by IO

by

Thanks to IO for the fun this morning.

Once I got started, this flowed in quite steadily. Some exceptional clues, no real obscurities, and lots of satisfaction in solving.

Do comment if you have anything to add – there are a couple of clues where I may well have missed a trick.

As ever, a pleasure to encounter IO here, and many thanks to him for the challenge.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Not just a one-off cup game (5)
BOWLS

Cryptic definition

A play on the two meanings of each word: ‘cup’ and ‘bowls’

4. Waterfall in picture cut out for school? (9)
TRAINABLE

RAIN (waterfall) in TABLE (picture)

9. Sound warning Tom, Dick and Harry about marble bust (5-4)
ALARM-BELL

ALL (Tom, Dick and Harry) about MARBLE* (*bust)

10. Line crossed by extra wit (5)
WILDE

L (line) crossed by WIDE (extra)

11. Painter, perhaps, who gives the Christmas address? (9)
DECORATOR

Cryptic definition

DEC (December) + ORATOR

12. Know about drug haul (5)
HEAVE

HAVE (know) about E (drug)

13. Embracing medium, I’ve a pattern represented on street (8,6)
PAVEMENT ARTIST

Embracing M (medium), (I’VE A PATTERN)* (*represented) on ST (street) – &lit

16. Centre of industry annexes marshland branch following Conservative cajolery (5,9)
CHARM OFFENSIVE

(HIVE (centre of industry) annexes ARM OF FENS (marshland branch)) following C (Conservative)

18. Trump’s core support returning chaos to America (5)
SNAFU

([tr]U[mp]’s (core) + FANS (support))< (<returning)

19. Newbie poet takes Underground train westbound (9)
DEBUTANTE

DANTE (poet) takes TUBE< (underground train, <westbound)

20. It’s a pity having completely retired in God’s name (5)
ALLAH

AH (it’s a pity) having ALL< (completely, <retired) in

21. Full scale undressing, one by one, for entertainment (9)
AMUSINGLY

[g]AMU[t] (full scale, undressing) + SINGLY (one by one)

22. It’s over after referee finally ended game in ball park (9)
ESTIMATED

IT’S< (<over) after [refere]E (finally) + MATED (ended game, chess)

23. English ‘co-pilot’ does away with stuff (5)
GORGE

G[e]ORGE (co-pilot); E (English) done away with

For the ‘George’ bit, you can read more on Wikipedia here

DOWN
1. Courvoisier, maybe, or inferior comparison in ads? (6)
BRANDY

Cryptic definition

If BRAND A is the top brand, BRAND Y is far inferior

2. Design a computer everyone will plug into fun gismo (15)
WHATCHAMACALLIT

HATCH (design) + A MAC (a computer) + ALL (everyone) will plug into WIT (fun)

3. Writer cooked meats to fill remarkable wrap: here’s a sample (8,7)
SOMERSET MAUGHAM

MEATS* (*cooked) to fill SOME RUG (remarkable wrap) + HAM (here’s a sample)

‘Sample’ referring back to ‘cooked meat’

4/14. E.g. work by Beckett: about three drafts he shredded (7,2,3,6)
THEATRE OF THE ABSURD

(ABOUT THREE DRAFTS HE)* (*shredded)

5. Bradley is confused by this psychologist (5)
ADLER

Cryptic definition

A reverse anagram: BRADLEY is: *confused (BY + ADLER (this))*

6. In love with May? I’m surprised (3,6,1,5)
NOW THERE’S A THING

In NOTHING (love); W (with) + THERESA (May?)

7. Wood Mike’s given spread with a rake on top dressing (8,7)

BALSAMIC VINEGAR

BALSA (wood) + MIC (Mike) + GIVEN* (*spread) + A + R[ake] (on top)

8. Hotel event Hilton stages in a prime location (8)
ELEVENTH

[hot]EL EVENT H[ilton] (stages)

‘Prime’ here referring to the mathematical meaning: a number only divisible by itself and 1.

15. Some leaves are green, say (8)
ECOSTATE

ECO (green) + STATE (say)

17. Sort that will run bible classes and correct texts? (2-4)
RE-TYPE

Cryptic/double definition

R.E. type – Religious Education

19. GP in the main behind initial plan (5)
DRAFT

DR (GP) + AFT (behind, in the main)

‘The main’ meaning the sea, and indicating a nautical term

23 comments on “Financial Times 17,796 by IO”

  1. I doubt I’ll ever call Io’s puzzles easy but they always reward a little effort. My first pass was woeful but the FOI, referencing Samuel Beckett (4d/14) was the perfect foundation on which to build. It remained my favourite, accompanied by 6d for its wordplay.
    Thanks to Io for a meaty challenge and to Oriel for a fine and much-needed blog.

  2. Thanks Io and Oriel.
    Great puzzle. Excellent blog.

    RE-TYPE (a minor point)
    Sort that will run bible classes=RE TYPE

  3. I agree with Diane. Pleased to have cracked this one. Loi was SNAFU, a good second term for Trump?

    Thanks to both .

  6. JH in a friendly mood here-the mere mention f Samuel Beckett and the word count gave me a good start and it flowed from there.
    I loved the WILDE clue-sheer class
    Thanks IO and Oriel

  7. Thanks Io and Oriel

    1ac: I would not call this a cryptic definition. For the first part, we can take cup=bowl, with “Not just a one-off” indicating the plural.

  8. A real challenge (for me, at least!) so took quite a while but very satisfying. Great setting and great blogging! Thanks to both.

  9. My favourite clue was CHARM OFFENSIVE. Annoyingly I didn’t spend long enough to parse 6D but guessed from crossers.
    A couple of quibbles though:
    7D “…rake on top ” = “R” doesn’t work for me.
    4A TABLE from PICTURE? Is that not a bit of a stretch? Diagram maybe.

    Thanks Io and Oriel

  10. Thanks for the blog, always good to have an IO Wednesday , great set of clues , especially the construction of the longer entries . NOW THERE’S A THING is lovely use of May misleading us with the month.
    I would call ADLER a compound anagram . Bradley = by “this” ( confused ) .

  11. Pentland5 @9 I did wonder about table=picture but it is there directly in Chambers. Perhaps from boards used for painting on.

  12. RE 10A: Would someone explain to me why “wide” means “extra”? I know that wider pants are extra large but I cannot see how this fits the definition.

    In 18A, I can see how the answer is constructed but I do not know how the answer (snafu) – a word with which I am not familiar – means “chaos to America”.

    Re 7D: I am a musician and have always railed against the use of “Mic” as an abbreviation for “microphone”, preferring to use the more soundlike “mike”.

  13. @12 The extras in cricket (runs added to the total without the batter hitting the ball) are Wide (ball too wide to reach), No Ball (illegitimate delivery), Bye (they run but didn’t hit the ball) and Leg Bye (they run but it hit the batter not the bat).

    Snafu (situation normal, all f***ed up) is American English, hence “to America”.

  15. Thank you Herb, I am not into cricket. And thank you for using asterisks in your explanation of “snafu”. I assume that it means “situation normal, all fowled up”. After all, I am a lady.

  16. Roz @11. I couldn’t find a direct definition for picture as table in Chambers online. My thinking was the word for picture should be “tableau”.

  18. Pentland5@16: Chambers online is not the complete dictionary. The definitions of table on page 1583 of the current edition of the full Chambers (the 2016 revised 13th edition) include “a board for painting on; a picture”.

  19. Annabelle@12 re 7dn: If you want to carry on using “mike” as your preferred abbreviation, you are free to do so. However, mic has sufficiently wide use that it is given in Chambers 2016, Collins 2023, and ODE 2010. ODE does not give a pronunciation, but the other two give the pronunciation of mic as for the first syllable of microphone.

  20. Pelham Barton@7: This is what I thought on cup/bowls, but the word “off” made me unsure. Thanks for your explanation. I really enjoyed this. I must have had 6-7 laugh-out-loud moments. Thanks to Io and Oriel.

  22. Hard to believe that this is the same setter that gave us the disaster in the Guardian last week. I really enjoyed this one and other than not fully understanding two word plays I loved the puzzle.

  23. I think there are in fact several obscurities here. ECOSTATE, George as autopilot, SNAFU being particularly US English? News to me. Still, I got most of it eventually so could have been worse.

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