Financial Times 18,023 by GAFF

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A proper head-scratcher from GAFF today.

FF:7 DD:10

Preamble says it's an either-or situation. There is a mix of boating-related and world war ii-related clues. I am sure someone here will help enlighten.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1/21 BARNES BRIDGE
Bomb Wallis’ other half with game crossing (6,6)

BARNES ( bomb wallis other half , barnes wallis invented the bouncing bomb ) BRIDGE ( game )
4 DEAD HEAT
Waster had drug instead of black tie (4,4)

DEAD bEAT ( waster, with H – heroin , drug, replacing B – black )
10 AIR COOL
Blow to make chilling song trendy (3-4)

AIR ( song ) COOL ( trendy )
11 CAPTCHA
Party Leader caught in trap — a test for humanity (7)

[ P ( Party, first letter ) in CATCH ( trap ) ] A; nice surface
12 RATE
Judge pace (4)

double def
13 DEMOISELLE
Crane exhibition that is holding auction (10)

DEMO ( exhibition ) [ SELL ( auction ) in IE ( that is, id eat ) ]
15 CANINE
Film containing an Afghan, maybe (6)

CINE ( film ) containing AN
16 CATCHY
Head off irritating auditor’s first haunting (6)

CA ( auditor, Chartered Accountant ) iTCHY ( irritating, without first letter )
20 CANVAS
Ask opinion on reduced sail (6)

CANVASs ( ask opinion on, reduced )
21
See 1
24 CLEARWATER
Alter a crew to make a real difference (10)

[ ALTER A CREW ]*; &lit with reference to boating?
26 BEND
Bow at start of big finish (4)

B ( Big, first letter ) END ( finish )
28 REGAINS
Gets back controls restricting the state (7)

REINS ( controls ) containing GA ( state )
29/6 HARRODS DEPOSITORY
Where to find posh merchandise organised, or try roadside shop (7,10)

[ OR TRY ROADSIDE SHOP ]*
30 RETRYING
Call about damaged tyre having another crack (8)

[ TYRE ]* in RING ( call )
31 TWISTS
Misrepresents taunts around Primary School (6)

TWITS ( taunts ) about S ( School, primary i.e. first letter )
DOWN
1
See 14
2 RURITANIA
Hope country will indiscriminately ruin art with AI (9)

[ RUIN ART AI ]* ; anthony hope, prisoner of zenda
3 EYOT
Island turned up in toy exhibition (4)

hidden, reversed in "..TOY Exhibition"
5 ENCROACH
Sad missing rioting archdeacons invade (8)

[ aRCHdEACONs ( without letters of SAD ) ]*
6
See 29 Across
7 EXCEL
Lapsed religion has little light to shine (5)

EX ( lapsed ) CE ( religion, Church of England ) L ( Light, little of )
8 THAMES
Doctor has met runner (6)

[ HAS MET ]*
9 BLUES
Police’s melancholy uniform music (5)

quad def
14/1 UNIVERSITY BOAT RACE
Cute boy narrative is misplaced in long rivalry (10,4,4)

[ CUTE BOY NARRATIVE ]*
17 HEDGEHOGS
Beach defences rolled up when danger looms (9)

cryptic def; refers to the defense mechanisms in world war ii at beaches

18 ASSASSIN
Killer of animals at home (8)

ASS ASS ( animals ) IN ( at home )
19 FEUDISTS
Hands out reward rejected by antagonists (8)

FISTS ( hands ) around reverse of DUE ( reward ) ; needed help with the solve

22 SCORER
Test maiden’s recorder (6)

cryptic def; have a feeling that this can be improved upon
23 DELHI
Starts to discover every landowner had invaded Indian territory (5)

starting letters of "..Discover Every Landowner Had Invaded .."
25 EIGHT
Number 27 (5)

double def; refers to 27d which is CREW – solve here refers to crew of eight, boating term

27 CREW
Cut neck (4)

double def

27 comments on “Financial Times 18,023 by GAFF”

  2. Yes I twigged The Boat Race was the theme pretty early, and that makes 9D a quintuple definition once the respective colours are taken into account.

    I found the LHS fairly easy, but the RHS had me scratching my head as Turbolegs said. Even so, this was fun, thanks to Gaff and Turbolegs.

  5. Thanks Gaff and Turbolegs

    Spotting the theme certainly helped.

    I thought 24 should have been enumerated (5,5), as it certainly sound like two words in Boat Race commentary.

    And I think there’s a little more to 17, as hedgehogs roll into a ball with their spines out when threatened.

  6. Is the preamble a pun: “either oar,” i.e., could win the race? I am not familiar enough with this event for the theme words to mean anything much.

  7. Thanks for the blog , the theme was done well and lots of clever clues , UNIVERSITY BOAT RACE a very neat anagram ( the blog needs to include IS ) .
    SCORER I took to be someone who would record a maiden (over) bowled in a test ( cricket match ) . Maybe you are saying this already , I do not see anything else .

  8. Yes, the UNIVERISTY BOAT RACE takes places on Sunday between the universities – both of them (to quote Sir Humphrey). It is on the THAMES with its various TWISTS, passing HARRODS DEPOSITORY and Chiswick EYOT, then BARNES BRIDGE where coxes often make their move on the BEND. If one CREW of EIGHT gets too close to the side of the other they are said to ENCROACH. Win or lose, the rowers and coxes will receive BLUES – prestigious varsity sporting awards. Let’s hope Oxford sustain a good enough RATE to enable them to EXCEL and win this year, even if it’s only by a CANVAS (the length of the deck of the bow, which was traditionally covered with canvas) and REGAINS bragging rights. Hopefully though it will be by CLEAR WATER – more than a boat’s length. There was only ever one DEAD HEAT, in 1877, but the umpire John Phelps was over 70 and blind in one eye and most agree Oxford pipped it. Allegedly the phrase “Honest John” was coined as a result. And they introduced finishing posts after that.
    Not sure if you would call the crews FEUDISTS? It’s only rowing, after all.

  9. DEAD HEAT and FEUDISTS: my faves.
    Also liked UNIVERSITY BOAT RACE.

    CANVAS
    Canvass is ‘ask opinion from’. Right?
    (canvass voters/shareholders etc.,)
    I am not sure if ‘Ask opinion on’ is okay.

    Thanks Gaff and Turbolegs.

  10. CLEARWATER (as pointed out others CLEAR WATER)
    Probably, it’s WP+def with
    the def being ‘a real difference’ and the WP being the anagram as noted in the blog.

  12. KVa@9 CANVASs in the UK a term used mainly during elections , knocking on doors , asking opinion on voting intentions .

  13. Lovely puzzle. We guessed the theme at once and took the ‘either-or situation’ as a reference to John Snagge’s famous remark when commentating on the boat race, “I can’t see who’s ahead, but it’s either Oxford or Cambridge!” May the best team win, but we’ll be rooting for the Dark Blues.
    Thanks, Gaff and Turbolegs.

  15. I enjoyed the puzzle, but was completely thrown off schedule by it coming out 9 1/2 hours after the FT puzzle usually appears. Thanks Gaff for a nice challenge and Turbolegs for a great blog.

  19. I had CROP = CUT & NECK which seemed to fit really well in isolation, not so much with anything else.. the theme helped not a jot, despite some interest back in the day.. I found it very tough in places..
    Thanks GAFF n Turbolegs

  23. In response to Anil Shrivastava@21,see Letters in the FT of 12/13 April. Harvard and Yale have their’s on the Thames in New London, Connecticut.

  24. I agree with Christopher @22. I just cannot parse this clue. I can see that the answer is an anagram of “maiden’ (srecor) der” but I cannot see what indicates this. I can accept that someone who “scores a test” could be a “recorder”, although I cannot see anything in the clue to indicate this. A “maiden” could refer to cricket – a subject that I know nothing about but, if it were a “maiden over”, the scorer would have nothing to do. Maiden could also refer to a virgin – again a subject that I barely (no pun intended) remember but I still cannot apply that to this clue.

    I do hope than someone can shed some light on this clue.

  25. Although the clue may be a little weak I think the idea is the scorer will record a bowler who bowls a maiden over( no runs scored) in a Test Match.

  26. This took me absolutely ages. I lost interest in the boat race many years ago and the theme floated past unnoticed. I agree about the scorer. Thanks all.

  27. I had 16a as citing (sounds like sighting) which made hedgehogs impossible to deduce. My wife and I are old enough to recognise a lot war-related vocab but neither of us knew beach defences were hedgehogs.

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