Financial Times 15,834 by FALCON

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Fine Tuesday fare from the Falcon, with meticulous cluing which includes one hidden gem…

I was finding this a bit ho-hum until I came to parse 8 down for the blog and I’m not sure I’d have spotted the trick if I hadn’t been morally obliged to tease it out… Thanks and respect to Falcon, made my morning.

completed grid
Across
1 PRESCIENCE Being there, crossing Channel Islands, shows foresight (10)
  PRESENCE (‘being there’) surrounds C[hannel I[slands].
6 SCAN Examine client’s head in clinic (4)
  ’Head’ of ’Client’ in SAN[atorium] (‘clinic’).
9 WILDCAT With tidal variation around Cape and exploratory oil well (7)
  [W]ith + anagram (‘variation‘) of TIDAL around C[ape].
10 SKID ROW Small child in front of bank in down-and-outs’ place? (4,3)
  S[mall] + KID (’child’) + ROW (‘bank’, as in ‘array’).
12 SPELL IT OUT Leave one in no doubt what order the letters come in? (5,2,3)
  Double definition.
13 URN Go, heading off to get vase (3)
  tURN, (one’s ‘go’, as in a game), minus its ‘heading’.
15 AGENDA Timetable: notice article containing information (6)
  AD[vertisement] = ‘notice’ + A contains GEN (‘information’).
16 REVERENT Respectful of US patriot not dropping round (8)
  Paul REVERE (he of the famous Ride in the American war of Independence) + NoT, dropping its ‘O’ (’round’).
18 LANDMARK Come down and stay close to Blackpool Tower, say (8)
  LAND (‘come down’) + MARK (‘stay close to’, as in soccer).
20 FORAGE Anger after Foreign Office prompts raid (6)
  RAGE after F[oreign] O[ffice].
23 TOT Nip, or nipper? (3)
  Double definition.
24 LANCASHIRE Money collected by earl in poor county (10)
  CASH in anagram (‘poor’) of EARL IN.
26 EARNEST Intensely serious, boy penning note (7)
  ERNEST (boy’s name) surrounds ‘note’ of ‘A’.
27 SOUPCON After first course, perhaps study little (7)
  SOUP (a possible ‘first course’) + CON (to ‘study’).
28 TALL Time everyone of more than average height (4)
  T[ime] + ALL.
29 VEHEMENTLY With strong conviction, treated them evenly (10)
  Anagram (‘treated’) of THEM EVENLY.
Down
1 PAWN Clumsily handle new piece (4)
  PAW (‘clumsily handle’) + N[ew].
2 ECLIPSE Obscure film excerpts shown in middle of week (7)
  CLIPS (‘film excerpts’) in EE (‘middle of wEEk’).
3 CECIL B DEMILLE Director caught and led imbecile off round rear of Windmill (5,1,7)
  C[aught], in cricket, + anagram (‘off’) of LED IMBECILE around end of ‘windmilL’.
4 ENTAIL Call for translation of Latin after end of service (6)
  E (=’end of servicE’) + anagram (‘translated’) of LATIN.
5 CUSTOMER Client’s order, in general (8)
  O[rder] of M[erit] (an award or ‘order’) in General (George Armstrong) CUSTER.
7 CAROUSE Party may make Charlie get excited (7)
  C[harlie], in radio code, + AROUSE (‘get excited’)
8 NOW AND THEN Occasionally note old conductor’s baton in that case (3,3,4)
  After some thought… the definition ‘occasionally’ does double duty in also instructing us to read only the 1st of each 8 letter sequence in ‘Note old cOnductors’ to give NO, which must be some sort of record. Thereafter, obvs, WAND = ‘baton’ + THEN (‘in that case’).
11 IN THE DOGHOUSE Where one may find a disgraced boxer? (2,3,8)
  Cryptic def. Boxer dog, of course.
14 WALL STREET Wastrel let loose in financial centre (4,6)
  Anagram (‘loose’) of WASTREL LET.
17 BRUNETTE Dark lady, Ms Davis maybe, about to direct (8)
  BETTE (Davis) around RUN (to ‘direct’).
19 NATURAL Turning brown, Russian river, as is to be expected (7)
  TAN (‘brown’, reversed) + URAL (‘Russian river’).
21 APRICOT Arrangement of mostly tropical fruit (7)
  Anagram (‘arrangement’) of most of TROPICA(L).
22 LASSIE Girl, fool to be taken in by fairy story (6)
  ASS (‘fool’) in LIE (‘fairy story’).
25 ENVY Begrudge diplomat lacking nothing (4)
  ENVoY (‘diplomat’) without its O (‘nothing’).

*anagram

11 comments on “Financial Times 15,834 by FALCON”

  2. To muffyword:
    Natch, and I almost left it at that, but I thought, “What’s ‘conductor’s’ doing there? The clue works (better) without it and ‘wand’ as far as I know isn’t a term for a conductor’s baton.’ I do hope I’m right!

  4. A bit more pedestrian, but I’m afraid my parsing of 8d was the same as muffyword @1.

    I don’t have Collins, but here’s some supportive evidence from the OED entry for ‘baton’:

    4.4 Music. The light stick or wand used by a musical conductor for beating time. (From mod.Fr., and often pronounced as French.) Also in the phr. under the baton of, under the conductorship of, conducted by.

    Not too difficult but very enjoyable and with a few new terms including the ‘exploratory oil well’ and FORAGE for ‘raid’. I particularly liked SOUPCON and IN THE DOGHOUSE.

    Thanks to Falcon and to Grant.

  6. Just to add more authority:

    My Chambers has for wand: a rod of authority, a rod used by a fairy, magician, conjurer, conductor or diviner.

    I often remember hearing of a conductor “waving his wand”.

    I enjoyed this puzzle very much so thank you both.

  7. Thanks to Falcon and GB. I did not have trouble with wand or parsing NOW AND THEN, but after unusually quick progress (for me) I did pause before getting LANDMARK. Lots of fun.

  8. Thanks falcon. Nice to see Wall Street again, I had it in a recent puzzle. I liked APRICOT. And LANCASHIRE. Thanks grant for the blog

  9. Good puzzle (as ever from the ex-Everyman).

    Easy(ish) but so well clued.

    Should have been yesterday’s!

    Many thanks, Grant & Falcon.

  10. Thanks Falcon and Grant

    Found this quite straightforward starting with ENVY and finishing with SPELL IT OUT just under 20 minutes later and thought it quite enjoyable.  Noticed a number of people involved in the word play – Paul REVERE, CECIL B DEMILLE, George CUSTER and Bette DAVIS – which is not usual for this setter.

    Actually thought that NOW AND THEN was the clue of the day and must admire the thought process in the blog for it’s construction – however I don’t think that Falcon would have that level of convoluted-ness in his DNA from what I’ve seen of him.

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