Financial Times 15,626 by Redshank

Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 12, 2017

Redshank gives us a bunch of nice and fairly easy clues and a couple of tricky ones (such as, for me, 16dn and 27ac ).  My clue of the week is 3dn (REEK) for its fine surface.

Across
1 SPHERE Notice proclaiming bookie’s ball? (6)
S.P. HERE (notice proclaiming bookie, S.P. standing for Starting Price)
4 AMICABLE Taxi cuts a great deal on good terms (8)
CAB (taxi) in A MILE (a great deal)
9 TRADER He sells revolting left-wing paintings (6)
RED (left-wing) + ART (paintings) all backwards (revolting)
10 ACCURATE Bang on about recidivist cleric (8)
CA (about) backwards (recidivist) + CURATE (cleric)
12 RAGS Papers redesigned and given sexy fronts (4)
R[edesigned] A[nd] G[iven] S[exy]
13 ADROITNESS Skill needed to devise in-store ads (10)
Anagram (to devise) of IN STORE ADS
15 STANDING ROOM Supply curry where there are no seats (8,4)
STAND-IN (supply, as in supply teacher) + GROOM (curry)
18 BRAINWASHING Changing mind, supporter in US city sheds weight (12)
BRA (supporter) + IN (in) + WASHING[ton] (US city sheds weight)
21 GAINSAYERS Those in opposition, for instance, blocking winners (10)
SAY (for instance) in (blocking) GAINERS (winners)
22 DIET Worms had one regular intake (4)
Double/cryptic definition (with further explanation in comment #3 below)
24 IN THE CAN Jailed but ready to be released (2,3,3)
Double definition
25 THWART What broke Burton’s heart? Scotch (6)
Anagram (broke) of WHAT + [bu]RT[on]
26 TEESSIDE NE industrial zone offers places for driving team (8)
TEES (places for driving) + SIDE (team)
27 IMPEND Current tip of warp is fed in to fix loom (6)
I (current) + [war]P in MEND (fix)
Down
1 SATIRIST He sends up Salvation Army flag during races (8)
SA (Salvation Army) + IRIS (flag) in TT (races)
2 HEADGEAR Guard a king carrying a crown, say (8)
A (a) in HEDGE (guard) + A (a) + R (king)
3 REEK Royals consume drugs and smoke in Balmoral (4)
EE (drugs) in R and K (royals).  ‘Reek’ is a Scots word for smoke, known best perhaps in the saying “lang may your lum reek” (meaning long may your chimney smoke).
5 MICROBREWERY Mike and Robert were working on line in beer plant (12)
MIC (mike) + ROB (Robert) + anagram (working) of WERE + RY (line, i.e. railway line)
6 COURTHOUSE 500 wearing track suits here? (10)
THOU[sand] (500) in COURSE (track)
7 BEAKER He makes dough defending European Cup (6)
E (European) in BAKER (he makes dough)
8 EVEN SO Last couple avoid vespers in any event (4,2)
EVENSO[ng] (last couple avoid vespers)
11 IDENTITY CARD I refuse to entertain bird with eccentric credentials (8,4)
I (I) + TIT (bird) in DENY (refuse) + CARD (eccentric)
14 ADDRESSEES Group getting letters dreads fixed notices (10)
Anagram (fixed) of DREADS + SEES (notices)
16 MITIGATE Mollify small child holding a gun (8)
I (a) + GAT (a gun) together in MITE (small child).  ‘Gat’ means a gangster’s pistol — something I had not known.
17 AGITATED A good place to see art in 11 in a state (8)
A (a) + G (good) + TATE (good place to see art) in ID (11)
19 AGEIST Bigot adrift touring Spain (6)
E (Spain) in A GIST (a-drift)
20 BIG TOE Corn grows here? I beg to differ (3,3)
Anagram (differ) of I BEG TO
23 WHIM Fancy wife going with that bloke! (4)
W (wife) + HIM (that bloke!)

12 comments on “Financial Times 15,626 by Redshank”

  1. Thanks Pete and Redshank.
    Quite enjoyable.

    Didn’t know the Balmoral ref to REEK, though I had the answer. Needed parsing for 1a as well.

    22a is still not clear to me.

  2. I had a complete off-week as I struggled with this one; didn’t even get half. Interestingly though I did manage both 16dn and 27ac. 16dn Gat came to me from the Gatling gun and I assumed this to be an abbreviation. REEK came to me from “Auld Reekie” a name for Edinburgh no doubt from the days of coal fired smoke. And I was fooled by the Diet of Worms (which I know of but didn’t put two and two together; a clever clue!)

  3. Thanks Redshank and Pete

    This one took the morning train ride into work on Tuesday plus another quarter hour session over lunch to get out. My holdups were slightly different – had a hard time with AGEIST (initially going for a weaker EGOIST until I couldn’t parse it) and ACCURATE (with the ‘recidivist’ bit – had trouble with the same word in the Dante puzzle from the same weekend with different word play).

    I thought that COURTHOUSE was very clever – especially liking the 500 bit of it and the tricky misdirection with ‘track suits’. Also liked the clue for BIG TOE.

  4. Jeremiah @ 8

    My reading is

    500 = half of 1000, so THOUsand

    wearing = being inside (if you’re wearing a shirt, you could be said to be inside it)

    COURSE = track (racecourse/racetrack)

    So COUR – THOU – SE = COURTHOUSE = where (law)SUITS are heard.

    hth

  5. After getting the easy ones, I bailed on this. I don’t like clues that depend on abbreviations (such as S.P.) that are not common (to me at least).

    Also explain: I = current, IRIS = flag, TT = races, EE = drugs. Clearly not for me.

  6. Ah, I am getting sloppy. Sorry.

    I fancy that ‘I’ as an abbreviation for electrical current is not widely known and is not even very common in crosswords although I have seen it before. When one studies electronics (as I have a little) one learns equations such as V = I * R where V stands for volts, I for current and R for resistance.

    ‘Flag’ is another name for the flower that is commonly called iris. In general usage, one rarely encounters the word used in this sense but in crosswords it is common. ‘Races’ cluing TT is also frequently seen in cryptics and refers to yearly motor-cycle races held in the Isle of Man and called TT Races. Here TT stands for Tourist Trophy.

    ‘E’ is an abbreviation for the drug Ecstasy so ‘drugs’ can clue EE (ecstasy and more ecstasy).

    All these are well worth remembering.

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