Financial Times 18,084 by IO

by

A glance at the grid might hint at what we are in for.

As IO goes, I’d say this is actually quite accessible, but with the length of the clues, it requires some patience. I did enjoy this overall so many thanks to the setter.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
8. News, I’m afraid, that my rebels will be ordered to capture policymakers (7,8)
GENERAL ASSEMBLY

GEN (news) + (ALAS (I’m afraid) that (MY REBELS)* (*will be ordered) to capture)

9. Unlikely to be affected by psychiatrist remaining uncontracted? (6-9)
SHRINK-RESISTANT

Cryptic/double definition

10/11/16. Oh, is “No Rain” a hit? Hot, happy, high hopes thus when remixed (3,3,3,3,3,3,2,3,3,3,6)
THE SUN HAS GOT HIS HAT ON HIP HIP HIP HOORAY

(OH IS NO RAIN A HIT HOT HAPPY HIGH HOPES THUS)* (*when remixed) – &lit

A bit convoluted to be a true &lit clue I think, but I can give credit to the intention and complexity

17. Loud burst, typical of volume in tipsy request for liaison (5,4,2,4)
WOULD LIKE TO MEET

(LOUD* (*burst) + LIKE (typical of) + TOME (volume)) in WET (tipsy)

18. Oxford institution solving the case of Beelzebub with ale, ordinarily (8,7)
BODLEIAN LIBRARY

(B[eelzebu]B (the case of) with ALE ORDINARILY)* (*solving)

DOWN
1. Jack and Henry treasure recording that’s unfinished Handel oratorio (7)
JEPHTHA

J (Jack) and H (Henry) treasure EP (recording) + THA[t] (unfinished)

2. Woman lecturer is coming between me and sex (7)
MELISSA

L (lecturer) + IS coming between ME and SA (sex)

3. Leave one’s congregation a plant? (4-2-3-6)
JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT

Cryptic definition

To ‘jack in’ is to quit/leave; pulpits and congregations are elements of the church

4. Cheers relatives entering parliament, one way to approach problem (7,8)
LATERAL THINKING

LATER (cheers) + KIN (relatives) entering ALTHING (parliament)

‘Cheers’ in the sense of ‘goodbye’; Althing is the parliament of Iceland

5. One G.M.T. Sumner, last man, 100 not out? (1,5,2,3,4)
A STING IN THE TAIL

A (one) + STING (GMT Sumner, the musician’s full name) IN THE TAIL (last man)

Cricketing term

6. Do it in a time that’s extraordinary (7)
IMITATE

IT in (A TIME)* (*that’s extraordinary)

7. Leonid Brezhnev’s top punk group (7)
BLONDIE

(LEONID B[rezhnev] (top))* (*punk)

12. Explosive power too unstable in oven (7)
KILOTON

TOO* (*unstable) in KILN (oven)

13. Perhaps old son’s died in cold (7)
CHILDLY

D (died) in CHILLY (cold)
‘Old’ referring to the archaic nature of the word

14. Spineless creatures here care about your setter! (7)

WORMERY

WORRY (care) about ME (your setter)

15. Chief island in group realised Gershwin’s potential (7)
MADEIRA

MADE IRA (realised Gershwin’s potential)

‘Made’ can mean to realise your potential or achieve something great; Ira is Gershwin’s first name

32 comments on “Financial Times 18,084 by IO”

  1. Great puzzle. Agree with the blogger that this was an accessible Io.
    Excellent blog. Thanks Io and Oriel.

    My faves were many. Will mention a few: SHRINK-RESISTANT, W L TMEET, L THINKING and MADEIRA.

    A STING IN THE TAIL
    Is it meant as a CAD? At least the ‘last man, 100 not out?’ part is needed for the def, I think.
    (The) last man could be THE TAIL. To account for the IN, should we read it as ‘one GMT Sumner, last man’=A STING IN THE TAIL?

  2. J I T PULPIT
    Leave one’s congregation? —-I think the ? is meant for the WP.
    Does one’s congregation indicate that this person is the one addressing the congregation
    from the pulpit?

  4. I’m afraid I still fail to see the appeal of this setter. Each to his own I guess. A 35 letter anagram – really! SA (sex appeal) = “sex”. “wet” = “tipsy”. JEPTHA. CHILDLY. JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT. Bunged in A STING IN THE TAIL from the crossers. Again, not my cup of tea.

  5. Kva sums it up very nicely in the first paragraph of their comment

    I didn’t bother to check the long anagram worked but am enjoying the perfect ear worm for today

    Thanks very much to Io and Oriel

  6. KVa – I read JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT as if the priest of a church leaves their congregation, they jack in (leave) the pulpit from whence they preach – and in some flavours of churchmanship the preaching is the most important part of the church experience.

    I’m with crypticsue @5 – I got as far as that looks like THE SUN HAS .. and didn’t bother checking the anagram worked all the way through, but it was my first clue in, which opened up the grid nicely.

    Thank you to Io and Oriel

  7. Thanks for the blog , I do like these grids with lots of long answers and many anagrams . Did not make the smaller answers too obscure . I remember a time when Paul and Enigmatist in the Guardian were competing for the longest entry . Paul had the poem “Rain” by Spike Milligan but was beaten by “King of the road” by Roger Miller .
    BODLEIAN LIBRARY has to be my favourite , it was my favourite place for seven years .
    I do not see how A STING IN THE TAIL works properly , last man seems to overdoing his duty .

  8. I managed to parse all except A STING IN THE TAIL. The A STING part is obvious enough, and I found references to IN THE TAIL or tailenders as referring to those lower in the batting order in cricket, (so Sting batting last in cricket, I guess?), but then what does the remainder of the clue mean, “100 not out”? An allusion to more cricket jargon?

  9. Cineraria @8 the last man scoring 100 not out is rare and would be A STING IN THE TAIL for the opposition , but the last man has been used in the wordplay .

  10. I suppose A STING IN THE TAIL refers to the fact that the tail end batsmen are the least proficient batsmen so for one to score a century would be unexpected.
    I wasted time trying to base the clue on a 19th century naval captain called Sumner who developed a new navigation system.

  12. Roz@7 I believe this is the long Paul clue…

    Here ‘n’ there in the heavens’ watery mire are tiny slits, so the harsh weather is slight, not bulky, perhaps? (Spike Milligan) (5,3,5,2,3,3,5,3,4,4,2,3,6,4,2,5,5,3,4,2,4)

    There are holes in the sky
    where the rain gets in
    but they’re ever so small
    that’s why rain is thin

    I’m not sure of the Enigmatist one though , does anyone know it ?

  13. Yes Jay it was the whole poem .
    I know the Enigmatist answer – Trailers for sale or rent , rooms to let fifty cents , no phone no pool no pets , aint got no cigarettes.
    All my diaries from before 2010 are in the attic so I can’t research this .

  14. I wanted to say that MELISSA was one of the ways in ( Gates) to the puzzle but, because of the issue identified by Hovis, it wasn’t. I am torn between admiration for and mild annoyance with the very long anagrams.

  15. Slow going and if I’d remembered that Io was Enigmatist I might have given up sooner. BODLEIAN LIBRARY was the way in. Nearly finished in the end but gave up too soon to get the first across clue. You can count me in the club that hadn’t heard of JEPHTHA, CHILDLY or JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT before (but of course I’m happy to learn). Apparently the latter is also called a bog onion, which I expect will come up next week. Fun challenge overall. Thanks to Oriel and Io.

  16. For those that hadn’t heard of JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT, how did you decide between the various possibilities for *A*K that could make the wordplay function? It could be PACK, LACK, WALK, BALK, or, my favourite alternative, CARK. I cheated. Did not everyone?

  20. No, but all those things being done IN THE PULPIT would have the desired effect. It was not an entirely serious comment.

  21. James. I certainly cheated on that one. To be honest, I thought my guess that it was going to end with IN-THE-PULPIT seemed highly unlikely so was surprised when that panned out. Nobody has yet explained the SA = ‘sex’ (she has SA doesn’t mean she has sex) and WET = “tipsy” (she’s feeling a bit tipsy not meaning a bit wet). I await responses.

  22. Hovis@21: I can only find SA = sex appeal (and other meanings completely unconnected to sex). The fact that it can mean either sex appeal or sexual intercourse does not in my view allow these terms to define each other.

    Chambers 2016 p 1781 has “given to drinking, or tipsy (sl)” towards the end of the list of meanings for wet adj. This is supported by SOED 2007, which gives “tipsy, drunk. colloq.” as part of meaning 11 of the adjective wet on p 3610. This meaning is dated late 16th century but not marked as archaic or obsolete in any way.

  23. I am pleased that I hammered out the THE SUN etc. anagram without to my knowledge ever having heard, or even heard of, the song. The “The sun” was obvious from the crossers, and the “hip hip hip hooray” part was a guess, then I deleted those letters on a notepad app, and what I had left over didn’t leave too many options.

    STING IN THE TAIL went in unparsed; I don’t know enough cricket to get what was going on.

    Otherwise, this was my first error-free Io offering, so there’s that.

  26. If ever there was a setter in need of an editor, it’s this one.

    Does the FT have a crossword editor? Allegedly so. Does he edit the crossword? Seemingly not.

  27. I loved seeing this grid and smiled broadly at it’s ambition but alas it was far too much for me though I tried and tried. Thank you all

  28. MacGuffin @ 26

    If you wish to criticise, please be specific

    What would you like the editor to have changed?

  30. I was away on holiday and only solved this today. What a cracker, Mr Henderson, you have surpassed yourself with a remarkable grid that has no Azed-type words. Bravo.

    10 must be my favourite as it was a song I learned from a college mate after that horrible winter of 1971 (Yes, we, Newcastle students, supported the miners and refused to buy coal).

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