Financial Times 17,928 by VELIA

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VELIA kicks off this Christmas week…

A fun and not too tricky Monday morning solve. I took a while to get 11a though. Merry Christmas everyone!

 

Thanks VELIA!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Blooming Velia, kinda drunk with crackhead Charles (5,3,7)
ALIVE AND KICKING

(VELIA KINDA)* (*drunk) with C[rack] (head) + KING (Charles)

9. Into scrambled eggs, first to get enthusiastic reception (7)
OVATION

(INTO)* (*scrambled), OVA (eggs) first

10. Totally or partially (3,4)
NOT HALF

Double (cryptic) definition

11. One of two mini revelations? (5)
THIGH

Cryptic definition

Referring to what is revealed by a miniskirt

12. How do you get this string of successes? (5-4)
SMASH-HITS

SMASH HITS being a cryptic clue for THIS

13. Coffee from the US with nothing added (9)
AMERICANO

AMERICAN (from the US) with O (nothing) added

15. Music as teacher holds class (5)
CASTE

[musi]C AS TE[acher] (holds)

16. Take off motion to fill empty shelf (5)
SPOOF

POO (motion) to fill S[hel]F (empty)

18. Blocks the first of two short returns kept by corrupt boss (9)
OBSTRUCTS

(T[wo] (first of) + CURT (short))< (<returns) kept by (BOSS)* (*corrupt)

20. Compiler backs reign, changing leaders in crisis (9)
EMERGENCY

(ME)< (compiler, <backs) + REGENCY (reign, changing leaders (i.e. swapping the leading R and E))

23. Clean inside of Tesco urgently (5)
SCOUR

[te]SCO UR[gently] (inside of)

24. Football’s premier goalie turning green (7)
FOLIAGE

F[ootball] (premier) + (GOALIE)* (*turning)

25. Overact as some pig backed Putin briefly (3,2,2)
HAM IT UP

HAM (some pig) + (PUTI[n] (briefly))< (<backed)

26. Note small French issues on review, as in Groundhog Day (15)
REPETITIOUSNESS

RE (note) + PETIT (small, French) + (ISSUES ON)* (*review)

DOWN
1. Woe of translator shifting responsibilities (1,3,2,6,3)
A LOT TO ANSWER FOR

(WOE OF TRANSLATOR)* (*shifting)

2. Picture one born after wise men (7)
IMAGINE

I (one) + (NE (born) after MAGI (wise men))

3. Correct hip problem as found initially for singer (5,4)
EDITH PIAF

EDIT (correct) + (HIP)* (*problem) + A[s] F[ound] (initially)

4. Lad working up taboos (2-3)
NO-NOS

(SON (lad) + ON (working))< (<up)

5. Out go anoraks and jumpers (9)
KANGAROOS

(GO ANORAKS)* (*out)

6. Snag net (5)
CATCH

Double definition

7. Leaning to the right, dodgy capitalists forget past (7)
ITALICS

(C[ap]ITALIS[ts] (forget PAST))* (*dodgy)

8. Mist rises on errant priest chasing flowers as useless embellishment (2-6,7)
GO-FASTER STRIPES

(FOG)< (mist, <rises) on ((PRIEST)* (*errant) chasing ASTERS (flowers))

14. Decoration not made out to include sailors (9)
ADORNMENT

(NOT MADE)* (*out) to include RN (sailors)

15. Its charms may be festive (9)
CHRISTMAS

(ITS CHARMS)* (*may be) &lit

17. Lover heading down and father heading up share common ground (7)
OVERLAP

OVERL (lover, heading (L) down) + (PA)< (father, <heading up)

19. Laugh gets hotel customer extremely upset (7)
CHORTLE

(HOTEL + C[ustome]R (extremely))* (*upset)

21. Very big soldiers? (5)
GIANT

GI & ANT (soldiers)

22. Fantastic news source (5)
YAHOO

Double definition

15 comments on “Financial Times 17,928 by VELIA”

  1. An absolute romp, with many a CHORTLE – I had more than a dozen ticks and I’ve failed to whittle them down by even one but must just highlight the splendid peripheral entries.

    Huge thanks to Matilda for a whole lot of fun and to Teacow for a great blog.

  2. I think this is the first time I have tackled a puzzle by this setter as Velia.

    Favourites included: GIANT, ALIVE AND KICKING, SPOOF, EMERGENCY, HAM IT UP, REPETITIOUSNESS, GO-FASTER STRIPES

    Thanks Velia and Teacow

  7. Thanks Velia and Teacow

    8dn: Many years ago, I was lodging with a family and they were in the process of buying a new car. I asked the naive question “do go faster stripes actually make any difference to the performance of the car?”. The answer was “No, only to the performance of the driver.”

  9. Such a wide range of cryptic devices, and of varying difficulty.
    Mini skirts, and go-faster stripes; Edith Piaf, the Magi, and Christmas. So much originality, creativity, and imagination.
    Is this a good puzzle? NOT HALF.

    Seasonal cheers, Velia & T-cow

  10. A quick solve, but at a disadvantage in upstate New York (-15C) with 5 hour delay.
    In September enjoyed a 9 hour advantage in Adelaide.Advised in New York only Brits ask for a black coffee as an Americano!

  11. Really enjoyed this. I thought there were many clever things I had not seen before like NOT HALF clue and AMERICANO, ITALICS and CHRISTMAS. thank you all.

  12. Very enjoyable, particularly my last one in, THIGH, where I could see the word was the only(?) answer that fitted, but it took a couple of minutes more for the penny to drop – which it did with a smile.

    Thanks both.

  15. Pelham@7: The version I heard was that the term ‘go faster’ refers to your money, not the car!
    Thanks to Velia and Teacow for puzzle and explanations.
    And Christmas greetings to all.

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