Financial Times 18,003 by GAFF

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A lovely themed crossword from Gaff.

The special instruction indicates what we are celebrating, but there are further related terms in the grid – of course there may be more than I have highlighted!

Great fun, and a well-constructed theme – many thanks to Gaff.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
9. Tree suffering a vague cut (5)
GUAVA

(A VAGU[e] (cut))* (*suffering)

10. Doctor isn’t a very good person (5)
SAINT

(ISN’T A)* (*doctor)

11. Remains of tree (3)
ASH

Double definition

12. Losing small dry figure (6)
THIRTY

THIR[s]TY (dry, losing S (small))

13. Many of you may be fine (8)
THOUSAND

THOU (you) + SAND (fine, maybe)

15. A jolly load (3)
ARM

A + RM (jolly)

‘Jolly’ is a nickname for a member of the Royal Marines (RM)

17. Latest information about temperature of pond life (5)
NEWTS

NEWS (latest information) about T (temperature)

18. Memorial can always influence relatively new leaders (5)
CAIRN

C[an] A[lways] I[nfluence] R[elatively] N[ew] (leaders)

19. Evidence of laptop among potter’s equipment (4)
CLUE

L[ap] (top) among CUE (potter’s equipment)

‘Potter’ referring to a pool/snooker player who aims to pot balls with a cue

20. Jellyfish hearts confused with plaice regularly (5)
ASPIC

([f]IS[h] (hearts) with P[l]A[i]C[e] (regularly))* (*confused)

21. Runs singularly but slower than a run (4)
TROT

Cryptic definition

24. Steward always goes back to cuddling sweetheart (5)
REEVE

EVER< (always, <goes back) to cuddle [sw]E[et] (heart)

25. Host’s decoration of the ear (5)
EMCEE

“MC” (decoration, “of the ear”)

MC is the Military Cross

26. Jaw of an ox (3)
YAK

Double definition

The first in the sense of talking at length

28. Song needs ear adjustment (8)
SERENADE

(NEEDS EAR)* (*adjustment)

29. Initial reports are lukewarm about yesterday’s show (6)
REVEAL

R[eports] A[re] L[ukewarm] (initial) about EVE (yesterday)

32. Gaff’s first to praise devil (3)
IMP

I’M (Gaff’s) + P[raise] (first to)

33. Incarcerating a nefarious rascal (5)
GANEF

[carceratin]G A NEF[arious] (In)

34. Lead girl perhaps (5)

GUIDE

Cryptic/double definition

DOWN
1/19. Creator of plots concocted each as airtight (6,8)
AGATHA CHRISTIE

(EACH AS AIRTIGHT)* (*concocted)

2. Charge is first move on tarmac (4)
TAXI

TAX (charge) + 1 (first)
As an airplane might

3. Swallows chocolate bar containing money (7)
MARTINS

MARS (chocolate bar) containing TIN (money)

4. Fool behind animal (3)
ASS

Triple definition

5. Control for illumination which glitters erratically without electrical resistance (5,6)
LIGHT SWITCH

(WHICH GLITT[er]S)* (*erratically, without ER (electrical resistance))

6. We leave broken cashew nut on stem (7)
STAUNCH

(CASH[ew] NUT)* (*broken, WE leave)

7. After wine, rest hands on your head with arrogance (10)
CAVALIERLY

After CAVA (wine), LIE (rest) + R, L (hands, right, left) on Y[our] (head)

8. Mystery of wag overwhelming excited hound (8)
WHODUNIT

WIT (wag) overwhelming HOUND* (*excited)

14. Desperately wants dieting to avoid a denouement (5,6)
TWIST ENDING

(W[a]NTS DIETING)* (*desperately, to avoid A)

16. Pest controllers need charts covering River Tiber’s ends (10)
MOUSETRAPS

MAPS (charts) covering (OUSE (river) + T[ibe]R (ends))

22. Adolescent badger at loose end follows opening of hole (7)
TEENAGE

NAG (badger) at [loos]E (end) follows TEE (opening of hole)

The hole one plays in a game of golf

23. Settle twisted nerve back for example (7)
REVENGE

NERVE* (*twisted) + E.G.< (for example, <back)

27. Source of kidneys at worse butcher (6)
KILLER

K[idneys] (source of) at ILLER (worse)

30. Be up for mischief (4)
EVIL

LIVE< (be, <up)

31. Murder is not on (3)
OFF

Double definition

19 comments on “Financial Times 18,003 by GAFF”

  1. CLUE, TAXI, LIGHT SWITCH, REVEAL, TEENAGE, REEVE (as in magistrate), EVIL are also theme words, plus TROTter and possibly SERENADE.

    Fun puzzle, thank you to Gaff and Oriel.

  2. Liked TROT (runs-trots-diarrhea—>trot (singularly. Hope my understanding is correct), MC and WHODUNIT.
    Thanks Gaff and Oriel.

  3. Brilliant crossword celebrating an author I devoured in my youth and still occasionally dip into.
    What a landmark and a super theme all worked cleverly throughout the grid, particularly the surface for 1d/19d.
    Yes, KVa, you’re correct!
    I had ticks galore.There was much w(hodun)it and of the several pithy clues, my favourites yielded YAK and EVIL.
    What the devil is a GANEF?! Good thing it was an inclusion!
    Knowing I’d be out for the day, it was a pleasure to solve this treat over breakfast.
    Thanks Gaff and Oriel.

  4. Thanks for the blog , impressive theme , even more so after Shanne@1 , and some very neat clues . GANEF is new to me and not in Chambers93 but the clue was very fair .
    For LIGHT SWITCH I cannot find ER for electrical resistance and as separate letters only the R seems valid .

  5. Thanks Gaff, except of course for the clues which required unsignalled splitting of a clue word, and for the two three letter words with only one checked letter each. Thanks Oriel for the whole blog.

    33ac further to Roz@4: I could not find ganef in Chambers 2016 either, but it is in Collins 2023 (p 802) as “US slang an unscrupulous opportunist who stoops to sharp practice”.

  6. Gaff breaking new ground with the word-splitting – now apparently it’s OK to split words into nonsense parts. Also amused by the new verb in 24a, to cuddling, and TWIST ENDING, another neologism?

  7. James@6
    TWIST ENDING
    Wiki says:
    A plot twist is a literary technique that introduces a radical change in the direction or expected outcome of the plot in a work of fiction. When it happens near the end of a story, it is known as a twist ending or surprise ending.
    So that seems okay.

    REEVE
    The surface works all right. Unable to make the cryptic reading work.
    ‘EVER goes back to cuddling E’ –if read together, does it work?
    Hmm…that seems like a stretch?

  8. But a dénouement is simply the tying up of loose ends, not necessarily a twist (interestingly in French it actually means the opposite – untying the knot)

  9. The MOUSETRAP has a TWIST ENDING – which is why everyone is sworn to secrecy. (But Wikipedia has spoilers).

  10. What is the justification for “of” in 26A? It forms no part of either definition. The same applies to the “of” in 11A unless the whole clue is to be regarded as a definition by example, in which case shouldn’t there be a question mark to indicate that? Another dubious “of” in 17A where the clue takes the form WORDPLAY of DEFINITION, which is the wrong way round – the answer is formed from (“out of”) the wordplay.

  12. 25ac: I think this is a rather feeble clue. EMCEE means “host” as master of ceremonies, so really it is two different meanings for the abbreviation MC.

    [I saw The Mousetrap some years ago. The murderer did it – and I am saying nothing more than that.]

  13. Entertaining enough, but some of the clues don’t pass muster for me. I’m still at a loss as to how “fine” = “sand” in 13A, don’t know what “at” is doing in both 22D and 27D, or “to” in 24A, don’t like “of the ear” as a homophone indicator at 25A, and having to split “Jellyfish” at 20A to get the definition is, to my mind, beyond the pale.

  15. 13ac: I think the idea here could be that sand is something which “may be fine”, but I will be delighted if someone can find a better explanation.

  16. Pelham Barton@15 I had both fine and sand as verbs with fine as in Chambers definition 4 ‘To change by imperceptible degrees” but I don’t think it’s any better than the way you suggest.

  17. @13, 15 & 16 My best guess at 13A is that “refine” (meaning 2 of “fine” as transitive verb in Chambers) is being equated to “smooth or polish” (meaning 2 of “sand” as a transitive verb in Chambers). But a link of this sort doesn’t really provide justification for using “fine” as a synonym of “sand”. The test has to be whether the words can be interchanged in a sentence without changing its meaning.
    In any event, what purpose is “may be” serving in the clue other than surface padding? “may be fine”, without more, does not serve to provide a definition of something which is a noun.

  18. “Reveal” could be a theme word as that what happens at the end of most Christie mysteries…

  19. Thanks, Pelham Barton @12. It was the ‘ears’ bit I didn’t understand, but now I see that it’s obviously the homophone indicator!

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