Financial Times 18,060 by XELA

by

Xela is today's compiler.

This is the second Xela I have blogged, and this was as enjoyable as the first one – and I learned a couple of things too, including THE TOP END and TONE ARM (which I may have once known, but forgotten).

Thanks, Xela.

ACROSS
1 SAMPLE
Second sizeable piece incorporated from another song (6)

S (second) + AMPLE ("sizeable")
4 PROFITED
Expert and competent senior journalist made a return (8)

PRO ("expert") + FIT ("competent") + Ed. (editor, so "senior journalist")
10 TONE ARM
Thumb possibly covers handy needle holder (4,3)

TOM (Thumb, perhaps) covers NEAR ("handy")
11 PAYWALL
Benefit with every single feature limiting access (7)

PAY ("benefit") + W (with) + ALL ("every single")
12 SOFT
Well, this newspaper is not rigorous enough! (4)

SO ("well") + FT (Financial Times, "this paper")
13 SUNDAY BEST
Star sated by fantastically posh clothes (6,4)

SUN ("star") + *(sated by) [anag:fantastically]
15 DISHES
Daughter more or less starts to eat solid foods (6)

D (daughter) + ISH ("more or less") + [starts to] E(at) S(olid)
16 ASSISTS
Helps musicians just after the intro (7)

(b)ASSISTS ("musicians", just after the intro)
20 CONTENT
Happy videos, for a TikToker (7)

Double definition
21 SHEESH
Yikes, that girl’s full of energy and hyper at the outset (6)

SHE'S ("that girl's") full of E (energy) and H(yper) [at the outset]
24 TICKETY-BOO
Fine pass boy produced with ball (7-3)

TICKET ("pass") + *(boy) [anag:produced] with O (ball)
26 POEM
Writer has months to create haiku (4)

(Edgar Allan) POE ("writer") has M (months)
28 ON THE GO
Busy period of time principally eradicated one’s sense of self (2,3,2)

(m)ONTH ("period of time", principally eradicated) + EGO ("one's sense of self")
29 SINCERE
Not playing games after initially routing everybody (7)

SINCE ("after") + [initially] R(outing E(verybody)
30 KEEPSAKE
Don’t discard wine — it has sentimental value (8)

KEEP ("don't discard") + SAKE ("wine")
31 MENDES
English director requiring guys from over in France (6)

MEN ("guys") + DES ("from" in French, so "over in France")
DOWN
1 SET ASIDE
Reserve arranged to join first-class squad (3,5)

SET ("arranged") to join A ("first-class") + SIDE ("squad")
2 MANIFESTO
Declaration of obvious love (9)

MANIFEST ("obvious") + O (love, in tennis)
3 LEAD
Heavy metal headliner (4)

Double definition
5 RAPIDEST
Type of music that is quicker than all others (8)

RAP ("type of music") + ID EST ("that is")
6 FLY-BY-NIGHT
To leave an airport late perhaps is irresponsible (3-2-5)

FLY BY NIGHT ("to leave an airport late perhaps")
7 TRADE
In the end, unpleasant shareholder drama destroyed the business (5)

[in the end] (unpleasan)T (shareholde)R (dram)A (destroye)D (th)E
8 DILUTE
Thin cover put over work truck (6)

<=LID ("cover", put over) + UTE ("work truck")
9 AMP UP
Little pooch requires a minute at first to get excited (3,2)

PUP ("little pooch") requires A + M (minute) [at first]
14 GENTLENESS
Being compassionate sent Engels wild (10)

*(sent engels) [anag:wild]
17 THE TOP END
Opted then to go round part of Australia (3,3,3)

*(opted then) [anag:to go round]

The Top End is the most northern part of Australia's Northern Territory.
18 IN MY BOOK
Where I may record notes as I see things (2,2,4)

"I may record notes" IN MY BOOK
19 CHAMPERS
Trophy winners drinking the last drops of some superior bubbly (8)

CHAMPS ("trophy winners") drinking [the last drops of] (som)E (superio)R
22 AT WORK
Couple on board boat toiling away (2,4)

TWO ("couple") on board ARK ("boat")
23 JOUST
Bloke centrally involved in fair old fight? (5)

(bl)O(ke) [centrally] involved in JUST ("fair")
25 CUTIE
“Stop filming…that is lovely!” (5)

CUT ("stop filming") + i.e. (id est, "that is")
27 ONCE
Way back when some action ceased (4)

Hidden in [some] "actiON CEased"

24 comments on “Financial Times 18,060 by XELA”

  1. My knowledge of Latin — or, more precisely, lack of knowledge — precluded my fully parsing RAPIDEST.

    My forty-year-old Linn Sondek turntable still makes beautiful music, so TONE ARM came to me quite quickly.

    A very enjoyable and satisfying puzzle, thanks Xela & Loonapick.

  2. Good puzzle. Thanks Xela.
    Neat blog. Thanks loonapick.

    Liked PAYWALL, SUNDAY BEST, AMP UP and AT WORK.

    ONCE
    Saw it as two defs and WP
    Def 1Way back
    Def 2 When
    WP as in the blog.

  3. Quite challenging but most enjoyable. I learned the same two things as loonapick . I also did not know the other definition of SAMPLE.
    Thanks Xela and loonapick.

  4. A very enjoyable puzzle, with some smooth and crafty surfaces. The TIKTOK reference in 20(ac) sent me in the wrong direction, looking for something more obscure than just CONTENT.
    THE TOP END, 17(d), sounded like a wind-up to me! Another day at school.
    10(ac), “Thumb” is a DBE [ TOM] that I always fail to spot straight away.
    Nice to see TICKETY-BOO, at 24(ac): surely a godsend for cryptic setters, and Xela has produced a fine clue.
    I thought it came from the phrase, ” that’s just the ticket”; but I read that it may be an adaptation of the Hindi ” Tikai Babu”, meaning, “that’s OK boss” ( or similar).
    Lovely crossword & blog.
    Tom Thumbs-Up, Xela & loonapick

  5. I join the (exclusive?) little club with loonapick and SM in learning about both TOP END and TONE ARM. I was onto the record player bit quite early on but had no inkling as to what the first bit might be until SET ASIDE went in towards the end of the solve. I found this the trickiest of the three GIFT puzzles today – I must have been right on the wavelength for G and I – but that is NO criticism of the setter. Indeed, a fine set of clues from top to toe with PROFITED, DISHES, TICKETY-BOO, SINCERE, RAPIDEST, FLY-BY-NIGHT, AT WORK and JOUST being my fairly long list of big ticks. But pretty much everything was good.

    Thanks XELA and loonapick

  7. I’d agree with you, KVa, re the DBE for HAIKU – a QM would have done the job. But I think you might be reading a bit too much into ONCE. On the one had, you are right that it could parse with two defs plus WP but I’m not convinced there is a huge amount of point in the setter introducing that extra element. If there were two defs that were substantially different, maybe so. But ‘Way back’ and ‘when’ are fairly similar. I’d be inclined to go with ‘Way back when’ as the defining phrase; Occam’s Razor and all that …

  8. PostMark@7
    The def ‘way back when’ works better.
    ‘Way back’ alone doesn’t seem to work in the sense of ‘in the past’.
    Thanks for correcting me.

    1. Computers are much cheaper now than they were once (I thought ‘way back’ could fit in this sentence. Probably, it doesn’t).
    2. Once you’ve tried their ice cream, you’ll be back for more (‘when’ in a distinct sense fits in this sentence).

  10. PM @ 9 Your comment reminds me of a t-shirt I once had:

    “I’m not arguing. I’m just explaining why I’m right”. 😉

  11. 🙂
    But ‘way back’ and ‘when’ aren’t similar (even after the abovementioned redirection).

  12. Haven’t seen Xela in quite a while but this was a welcome return.
    I liked SUNDAY BEST, TICKETY BOO (lovely surface, likewise THE TOP END), the delightfully brief POEM and KEEPSAKE (for the wine).
    Thanks to Xela and hope to see another of your offerings soon. Thanks also to Loonapick, especially for explaining TONE ARM which I should perhaps have known, growing up with vinyl. I think my generation was perhaps more excited that we could play cassettes in the car’s tape deck or even a ghettoblaster to worry much about the anatomy of a record player or the purity of vinyl. I feel differently now!

  13. Simon S @10: a fellow compiler and poster on here amused me with his, ‘I am not pedantic, just precise’

  15. I agree with the positive comments. Same favorites as Diane@12.

    I rememberedTONE ARM but took the longest time to solve the clue. Like ENB@4, I went down the wrong track with TikTok. In my case, I wasted time thinking of words that describe a clock.

    Thanks Xela and loonapick

  16. Thanks for the blog , really neat set of clues .
    Geoff@1 I bought my Linn Sondek LP12 plus Ittok TONEARM 30 years ago , my parents gifted me their vinyl collection , hundreds of 60s and 70s original albums , first pressing vinyl .

  17. Really enjoyed this with DILUTE the last to fall. Minor point: the needle is held by the cartridge which is attached to the tonearm. Roz the current equivalent of your Sondek will set you back about £25,000!

    Cheers X&L

  18. It cost me £1200 new , with Ittok and Asak , with a traded in Rega . I did some work for the spooks , I was not a spook , just a technical project . Very well paid so I spun it out for six weeks , could have done it in a week , decided to treat myself .

  19. Apparently new Linn Sondeks (beefed up version with more solid plinths, or something — I don’t remember) are around $100,000 here in Oz.

  20. This took a few visits (around visiting the Chelsea flower show) and I found it tricky but always satisfying. Some of the difficult ones proved to be obvious, but that is often the way when one’s mind gets set on completely the wrong track.

  22. [ Geoff@19 , at one hifi show they did a blind listening test between the very latest Linn and an original 1973 model with Basik tonearm and cartridge ( there is one in the design museum in Glasgow ) . Nobody could tell the difference , the results were completely random . ]

  23. I wanted 16a to be ELLISTS – I just couldn’t sink to a low enough pitch.

    Re 10a, I wish that some audio company would make a cartridge called a Haystack.

    KVa and PostMark @ various – I agree with everything you both said.

    Thanks, XL, for the entertaining cruciverbal spreadsheet.

  24. Like Loonapick, I had never heard of TONE ARM (I’m a CD kinda guy) or THE TOP END, but the rest of the crossword was just right -many thx Xela !

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