Financial Times 17,990 by AARDVARK

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The scheduled blogger has been unable to blog today, so I volunteered at the last minute to step in.

This was a tough puzzle with some unusual wordplay, and I haven't been able to satisfactorily parse RAISE CAIN or HANGMAN unless the latter is simply a cryptic definition. Rather than hold the blog up any longer, I've decided to publish as I'm sure if anyone reads the blog, they may be able to fill in the gaps. I'm on Guaridan duty in the morning, so need to get some zzzs now.

Thanks, Aardcark and apologies for the late blog and the rushed effort at the blog.

ACROSS
1 REDRESS
Amend florid clothing that overlaps (7)

RED ("florid") + DRESS ("clothing") that overlaps, so RE(D)RESS
5 DO DOWN
Make small dumpling when empty (2,4)

DODO ("dumpling", as in idiot) + W(he)N [empty]
8 WHAC-A-MOLE
Arcade game completely captivating Bill (American) (4-1-4)

WHOLE ("completely") captivating Ac. (account (so "bill") + Am. (American)
9 SPROG
Musical genre introduced by singular child (5)

PROG (rock, a "musical genre") introduced by S (singular)
11 NOOSE
Smell maintains focus of boa constrictor (5)

NOSE ("smell") maintains [focus of] (b)O(a)
12 TWOSEATER
Proverbial company car Edgar unloaded — like this type? (9)

TWO ("proverbial company (two's company, three's a crowd)) + SEAT ("car" brand) + E(dga)R [unloaded]
13 TENERIFE
Island’s paper money bank recounted (8)

Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [recounted] of TENNER ("paper money") + REEF ("bank")
15 SPIDER
Is it taking residence around sink, getting a recoil? (6)

<=(RES (residence) around DIP ("sink"), getting a recoil) and &lit.
17 IN A FIX
Having problems with present regulars in Mayfair spot (2,1,3)

IN ("present") + [regulars in] (m)A(y)F(a)I(r) + X ("spot", as in X marks the spot)
19 GOURMAND
Voracious foreign correspondent, say, in extremities of Greenland (8)

OUR MAN ("foreign correspondent, say") in [extremities of] G(reenlan)D
22 SPICE RACK
Image with old king, during pillage, that’s holding mace? (5,4)

PIC ("image") with ER (Edward Rex, so "old king") during SACK ("pillage")
23 CHAPS
Dave’s partner engaging Peugeot’s first gear (5)

CHAS (as in Chas 'n' Dave, the musical double act) engaging P(eugeot) ['s first]
24 NYALA
Flipping amateur disturbs an antelope (5)

[flipping] <=(LAY ("amateur") disturbs AN)
25 TRIALOGUE
Hearing Victor’s excluded from latest conversation on Zoom? (9)

TRIAL ("hearing") + V (Victor) exluded from (v)OGUE ("latest")
26 REIN IN
Check on homes (4,2)

RE ("on") + IN + IN ("home" twice, so "homes")
27 HANGMAN
An arm and a leg laid out for this game? (7)
DOWN
1 ROWAN ATKINSON
Comedian visiting relative to obtain family tree above all (5,8)

AT ("visiting") + SON ("relative") to obtain KIN ("family") with ROWAN ("tree") above all
2 DRAGOON
Party involving scrap on drive (7)

DO ("party") involving RAG ("srcap") + ON
3 ERASE
Wipe out insurgent in Bruges area (5)

Hidden backwards in [resurgent in] "brugES AREa"
4 SHOOT OFF
Mum eggs on bigwig to leave quickly (5,3)

SH ("mum", as in "keep mum") + OO (eggs) + TOFF ("bigwig")
5 DAEMON
Wanderer touring Spain lifted spirit (6)

<=(NOMAD ("wanderer") touring E (International Vehicle Registration for "Spain"), lifted)
6 DISTEMPER
Paint detective capturing current mood (9)

DS ("detective" sergeant) capturing I (symbol for electrical "current" in physics) + TEMPER ("mood")
7 WORSTED
Successive characters in despair initially dyeing fabric (7)

RST ("successive characters") in WOE ("despair") + [initially] D(yeing)
10 GERTRUDE STEIN
US writer’s lodger spending half time with robust mug of beer (8,5)

(lod)GER [spending half] + T (time) + RUDE ("robust") + STEIN ("mug of beer")
14 RAISE CAIN
Get angry with flash champion blocking volley (5,4)
16 MONKFISH
Female entertained by style of jazz pianist? One could get hooked (8)

F (female) entertained by MONKISH (in the style of Thelonious Monk, a "jazz pianist")
18 AGITATE
A barrier enclosing PC World’s alarm (7)

A + GATE ("barrier") enclosing IT (information technology, so the "world" of the "PC")
20 AMALGAM
Filling publication with priest looking heavenwards? (7)

<=(MAG ("publication") + LAMA ("priest"), looking upwards)
21 TARTAN
Man in navy and brown pattern (6)

TAR (sailor, so "man in navy") and TAN ("brown")
23 COLON
Pass middle of zone where irrigation sometimes done (5)

COL ("pass") + [middle of] (z)ON(e)

9 comments on “Financial Times 17,990 by AARDVARK”

  1. RAISE CAIN and HANGMAN were not the only clues I could not parse. Thanks for the help with several others.

    What happened to the K in WHAC(K) A MOLE, and isn’t TWO SEATER two words? DAEMON was a jorum and DO DOWN along with a few other expressions were new to me.

    I ticked COLON (despite COL being crossword speak), GOURMAND and TARTAN.

    Overall, there were too many charades and not enough variety to reward me for such a tough work out.

    Thanks Aardvark and thanks especially to loonapick for stepping in

  2. My parsing for 14d was RAISE CAIN (“Get angry with”) = SEC (“flash”) + AI (“champion”, as in A1, as an adjective) within (“blocking”) RAIN (“volley”). It took me a while, though, to get there.

    Thank you, loonapick, for volunteering and Aardvark for an interesting, enjoyable and challenging puzzle.

  3. Thanks to setter & blogger – especially loonapick since I would not want to have to step in to blog this puzzle at the last minute – I found it very slow going – all fair, but it was a matter of plugging away gradually adding answers which then gave a crosser or two to help with solving 1 or 2 more.

    HANGMAN is, I think just a cryptic definition/hint referring to depicting the body part by part in hangman with the misdirection of costing an arm and a leg.

    RAISE CAIN: RAIN = volley surrounding (blocking) SEC (flash) & AI (champion, meaning excellent) to give “get angry with”. I think rain = volley is a bit weak but just about in the sense of a volley of missiles or to rain missiles – though some might question whether they were the same parts of speech grammatically.

    Edit: Beaten to the punch by LarryS – much too slow at typing.

  4. I didn’t enjoy this one at all and thought it deeply unsatisfactory, borderline unfair for FT. Some very good clues but also some horrors.

    Gave up with 2 to go

    Too much convoluted parsing and unknown expressions

    Spot = X. Never encountered before.

    Dodo = dumpling. Never heard of.

    ER = old King. I suppose fair, but misleading.

    PC World = IT. Hmmm

    Detective = DS? Hmmm

    Raise Cain I couldn’t parse

    For me, it was the worst sort of crossword; too much you basically do like a concise, and then try and figure out the parsing.

    Well done with the blog

  5. This was my Tuesday off for blogging, but I wish I had known that the regular blogger was having an issue, since I had time to take a crack at it. Thanks to loonapick for stepping in on a tough solve. I could not quite see the extra wordplay in SPIDER or TWOSEATER, and by that point, was content to consider the puzzle solved.

  6. I enjoyed the puzzle. I agree with shikasta that HANGMAN was just a cryptic definition and also on the parsing of RAISE CAIN. Among my favorites were REDRESS and MONKFISH. Thanks Aardvark and thanks to Loonapick for riding in like the cavalry to save the day.

  7. Thanks for stepping in with the blog , tricky puzzle but many neat and clever clues.
    I agree with Shikasta @3 for HANGMAN , laid out means drawn rather than spent .
    SPIDER is a TWOSEATER car , I know nothing about cars but it is in The Graduate .
    Moly@4 , X marks the spot , perhaps originally from Treasure Island .

  8. I really enjoyed this one. “Man in navy” was a cracking misdirection, and a lovely penny drop for MONKFISH (I wasn’t far from trying a quite unsatisfactory ROCKFISH).

    Moly @4 – most of your queries are to personal taste, but what’s wrong for ‘detective’ for DS? If it can be DI, as it so often is without comment, DS seems an entirely reasonable variant.

    Thanks to Aardvark, and to Loonapick for stepping in & giving a chance to pass my appreciation to the setter.

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