Financial Times 17,895 by NEO

by

A breezy challenge from NEO

F: 8 DD: 7

ACROSS
9 LANDOWNER
Laird needs way to cross Irish county river (9)

[ LANE ( way ) containing DOWN ( irish county ) ] R ( river )
10 EPOCH
Bobby stops ambassador travelling back in time (5)

[ COP ( bobby ) in HE ( ambassador ) ], all reversed
11 PARADOX
Bath salts used by dad — this may seem absurd (7)

PA ( dad ) RADOX ( bath salts )
12 STOMACH
Male cat in bag — start to hunt bear (7)

[ TOM ( male cat ) in SAC ( bag ) ] H ( Hunt, starting letter )
13 OAR
Propel boat to Capri periodically (3)

alternate letters ( periodically ) of "..tO cApRi.."
14
See 6 down
17 WADER
Bird’s call for service in NYC? (5)

sounds like WAITER ( call for service in nyc ; play on american pronunciation )
18 APT
A pint suitable for the occasion (3)

A PT ( pint )
19 LADLE
French articles, about 500, showing Spooner’s need? (5)

LA LE ( french articles ) around D ( 500 )
21 SOUTH ISLAND
Sustain — hold out in antipodean territory (5,6)

[ SUSTAIN HOLD ]*; a beautiful part of new zealand
23 MAO
Chairman conspicuously virile banning church (3)

MAchO ( conspicuously virile, without CH – church )
25 ENDURED
Bore in ancient city stopped outside (7)

UR ( ancient city ) in ENDED ( stopped )
27
See 17 down
28 OUTDO
Not in party — that’s best (5)

OUT ( not in ) DO ( party )
29 SAUTERNES
Dicky sees aunt necking last of summer wine (9)

[ SEES AUNT ]* containing R ( summeR, last letter )
DOWN
1 ALEPPO
Drink very quietly over in Syrian city (6)

ALE ( drink ) PP ( very quietly ) O ( over )
2 INFRARED
Popular female, exquisite, died in radiation (8)

IN ( popular ) F ( fine ) RARE ( exquisite ) D ( died )
3 WORDSWORTH
Whose name aptly reveals what fine literature exploits? (10)

cryptic def; WORD'S WORTH
4 ONYX
Stone head of Oizys and her mother (4)

O ( Oizys, first letter ) NYX ( mother of oizys )
5 BRUSCHETTA
Toast Schubert, Brahms and Liszt? Cheers! (10)

[ SCHUBERT ]* TA ( cheers ); i learnt today that 'brahms and liszt' is cockney slang for tipsy, here being an anagrind
6/14 HERO WORSHIPPING
Overly admiring male on bank or boats collectively (4-11)

HE ( male ) ROW ( bank ) OR SHIPPING ( boats collectively )
7 SOMALI
African brought up in Manila mostly (6)

hidden, reversed in "..manILA MOStly"
8 THE HAGUE
Dutch city there not concerned with old Tory leader (3,5)

THEre ( not concerned; without RE ) HAGUE ( old tory leader, william jefferson hague )
15 RHAPSODIST
Musician knocks poet capturing hearts (10)

[ RAPS ( knocks ) containing H ( hearts ) ] ODIST ( poet )
16 POLE DANCER
Erotic entertainer seen in Spar with a reindeer (4,6)

POLE ( spar ) DANCER ( reindeer )
17, 27 Across WASTE NOT WANT NOT
Satan went to town spreading message for prodigal? (5,3,4,3)

[ SATAN WENT TO TOWN ]*
20 DOMINANT
Controlling spy boss brought in to kill worker (8)

[ M ( spy boss ) in DO IN ( kill ) ] ANT ( worker )
22 UPDATE
Latest news at university: daughter had some food (6)

UP ( university ) D ( daughter ) ATE ( had some food )
24 OBTUSE
Stupid baronet plunged into river (6)

BT ( baronet ) in OUSE ( river )
26 ROOT
Splendid batter for edible plant part (4)

double def; joe root from cricket
27 WOUK
Unagi’s head in frying-pan for author Herman (4)

U ( Unagi, first letter ) in WOK ( frying pan )

27 comments on “Financial Times 17,895 by NEO”

  1. What a great puzzle, capping off a really nice week in the FT.

    WASTE NOT WANT NOT was an utterly brilliant anagram and a fabulous surface. BRUSCHETTA was also brilliant (despite employing the dreaded rhyming slang) but I get the feeling I have seen it before. I had several other ticks, but will just point to WORDSWORTH

    Thanks for helping me understand 15d, Turbolegs. I would never had equated poet and ODIST, nor musician and RHAPSODIST.

    Thanks Neo and Turbolegs

  2. I agree fully with Martyn over BRUSCHETTA and WASTE NOT WANT.
    I would also add SAUTERNES (always like a naughty aunt reference), DOMINANT and, to cap them all, MACHO. I don’t know if Neo has read the book by 23a’s personal physician but this surface, which hints at an oversexed atheist, is perfect!

  3. Thanks Neo and Turbolegs
    FF8 and DD7. I agree with the blogger.

    Liked WADER (seen this trick only once before. I think it was in a G puzzle), LADLE (nice def), BRUSCHETTA (Excellent surface as well as innovative WP) and W N W NOT.
    Not impressed with ROOT (just the clue. I like the batter).

    A couple of minor points:
    THE HAGUE
    concerned with=RE and not concerned with=Not RE (if the blogger meant the same thing, sorry for repeating it).
    UPDATE
    at university=UP.

  5. Geoff @4: traditionally you are up at university when attending college – and misbehaviour there can get you sent down.

  7. I agree with blogger and the first few commenters, an excellent puzzle on which to end the week. Lots of sparkle and imagination in the cluing; not too difficult and, yes KVa, only the one slightly weak clue. I’m another to highlight the splendid BRUSCHETTA – maybe it has been done before but it’s the first time I’ve encountered it: how fortuitous. WASTE NOT WANT NOT is another nice spot and, for once, I was wise to the trick in WADER – which was actually the clue that enabled the long anagram to jump out at me. I’d also highlight the beautiful ONYX – nho either Oizys or her mother but what an absolutely brilliant construction – well done Neo for either knowing or finding that combo. And who doesn’t smile at the idea of reindeer-assisted erotic dancing in their local convenience store? Anyway, that’s enough HERO WORSHIPPING for now,

    Thanks Neo and Turbolegs

  8. 13A: Is “Oar” really a verb? I only know it as a noun.

    29A : I puzzled over this because I had always thought that the wine was “SAUTERNE” without the final “S” which would have suited a definition of “wines” rather than “wine”. Mea Culpa – I should have learned more French and less Latin!

    26D: I had never heard of Joe Root. I thought that “splendid batter” must have been a euphemism for a sex act, known in Australia as a “root”. Again, my fault.

    Thanks to all.

  9. Geoff, re 17A, I seem to remember an American movie with Robert de Niro which had him as a New Yorker saying something like “What Do You…” that sounded like “Whadda you…”.

    Maybe someone else can remember the name of the movie.

  10. Myra @8. I seem to recall a discussion on this in the past caused partly by Chambers giving Sauterne as the main spelling of the wine (and Sauternes the region). Somebody commented that googling the wine comes up with a load of pictures of said wine with all the labels having Sauternes as the spelling.

  11. Myra – ‘oar’ is one of those ‘crossword verbs’. It does exist but you will rarely if ever hear it used in the wild. But you’ll find it quite often in puzzles. ‘Sauterne’ without the final S is generally associated with a US grape product and is a semi-generic variety, deliberately misspelled. As for Joe Root, I think he has had to contend with that unfortunate overlap with the Australian term for his entire career, both on the pitch and in crosswords.

  12. Thanks, Hovis, I am happy to admit that I was wrong. It just gave me pause for a while in solving the puzzle. It is not a wine that I drink as prefer Pinot Gris, Chardonnay or any red wine.

  13. Really good end to a really good week in FT land, with WORDSWORTH for me just shading a sizable leading batch.

    In my Chambers you can have the wine with or without the final S, so no worries there.

  14. Thanks PostMark for your comments on both of my issues. Thanks also for your knowledge of Australian vernacular. You are probably also aware that the Lynne Truss book “Eats Shoots and Leaves” was adapted from the Aussie story that concluded with “Eats , Roots and Leaves”.

    And now it’s time for bed as it’s 9.20 pm down here. Goodnight all!

  15. WADER
    Romantic novel authors from Hollywood discussed? (6) G Paul May 2024
    This was the first time I came across this t-d trick.

  17. Thank you, KVa.

    I’m annoyed when I hear the one or two words that are often pronounced by Australians with T as D. I can’t think what they are right now. I’ll let you know if I think of them, as I’m sure you’re dying to know. 😉

    But there are a number of other American quirks of pronunciation that I would think of before this one.

  18. Just to add a couple of cents worth to the use of d for t by Americans. For those of us old enough to remember, the classic is of course Alan Sherman’s song from 1963 “Hello muddah, hello fadduh, take me home from camp Grenada”!

  21. I initially had the customer saying “Hi there” rather than waiter, which led to a very questionable EIDER, and it wasn’t even a down clue.

  23. Thanks Neo for a very gentle but very good crossword. My top picks were LANDOWNER, APT (love the simplicity), LADLE, BRUSCHETTA (brilliant surface), and, of course, WASTE NOT WANT NOT (‘Santa’ would work in place of ‘Satan’ but it wouldn’t have the same feel). With WADER, ‘American’ pronunciations are most often regional and Neo smartly chose NYC as the foreign indicator. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.

  24. A nice little warm down after the Boatman.
    NHO Herman WOUK but easily guessable from the clue. Maybe I should spend more time reading and less doing crosswords.
    Ta Neo, turbolegs

  25. That was fun – specially liked 19a LADLE and 21d OUTDO for wordplay+misdirection and surface respectively. 5d BRUSCHETTA was last in, needing a long hard stare. Didn’t help that I have it auditorily confused with prosciutto (sort of ham) due to watching too many Masterchef programmes. I dimly remember being exposed to Wouk in school perhaps (The Caine Mutiny, IIRC?) but don’t think I ever read it. But there’s a lot of books in Crosswordland that I never read.

    Thank you Neo and turbolegs.

  27. I’m late to this party, but had to say, 5(down) was the best I’ve seen for yonks.
    ( BRUSCHETTA)
    Only 6 words, perfect false surface reading, a not-so-easy solution, and an anagram indicator that’s obscure but absolutely fair. Genius.

    And…a “Spooner” bluff at 19(ac)., as a bonus.
    Great puzzle.

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