Financial Times 16,013 by CRUX

by

Well… this seemed like a much harder Monday morning FT than usual!

Some lovely clues today – 16a, 4a, 24a, 31a, 2d
Took ages to get 5d and 6d (which we thought was hyphenated) since we’d assumed BIG NAME for 11a without parsing it.

All very enjoyable.

Thanks CRUX

completed grid

Across

1 Bring up name of American composer (6)
FOSTER
Double definition
Stephen Foster was the “father of American music”

4 Tripe and nuts wanted for urban revelry? (3,5)
RED PAINT
(TRIPE AND)* (*nuts)
Paint the town red

10 Manage unruly trio act like the three stooges (3,4)
RUN RIOT
RUN (manage) (TRIO)* (*unruly)

11 A notorious celebrity (3,4)
ILL FAME
Cryptic definition

12, 13 Characteristic of players requiring a change of field (4-10)
LEFT-HANDEDNESS
Cryptic definition

15 Glutton of a girl possessed by G&T (6)
GANNET
ANNE (a girl) possessed by G and T

16 Just one time to reflect for referee (7)
MEDIATE
MEDI[t]ATE (to reflect, with just one T (time))

20 Made a false move and blacked out reportedly (7)
FEINTED
“fainted” (blacked out, “reportedly”)

21 Ask somebody to get lost! (6)
BEGONE
BE GONE (ask somebody to get lost)

24 Sort of negativism designed to speed things up (10)
TIMESAVING
(NEGATIVISM)* (*sort of)

26 Showed contempt with angry words (4)
SPAT
Double definition

28 Baby’s toy right to be viewed as potential killer (7)
RATTLER
RATTLE (baby’s toy) + R (right)

29 Liner nearly given a queen’s name (7)
TITANIA
TITANI[c] (liner, nearly) given A
From A Midsummer Night’s Dream

30 Problems arise from originally taxing foreign currency (8)
TROUBLES
T[axing] (originally) + ROUBLES (foreign currency)

31 Defile a stretch of the Arctic – anyone could! (6)
CANYON
[arcti]C ANYON[e] (a stretch of)

Down

1 Leading members of the quadrupeds (8)
FORELEGS
Cryptic definition

2 Crazy fun with scene about the king – ha-ha! (4,5)
SUNK FENCE
(FUN with SCENE)* (*crazy) about K (king)
A ha-ha is a fence in a ditch

3 Short eastern movie that’s a legend (4)
EPIC
E PIC (Eastern picture, short)

5 To be held up by an activist is criminal (8)
EVILDOER
(LIVE)< (to be, <held up) by DOER (an activist)

6 A fortune to join golf club could knock you back (10)
PILEDRIVER
PILE (a fortune) to join DRIVER (golf club)

7 Senseless wasting seconds – still senseless! (5)
INANE
IN[s]ANE (senseless, wasting S (seconds))

8 Finally fly, having set off twice (6)
TSETSE
(SET SET)* (*off, twice)

9 Strategy to sacrifice sheep – lost sheep? (5)
STRAY
STRA[teg]Y (sacrificing teg, a sheep)

14 Where members appreciate good service (6,4)
TENNIS CLUB
Cryptic definition

17 A couple of hundred to the pound isn’t much (3,1,5)
TWO A PENNY
TWO (a couple) + A PENNY (hundred to the pound)

18 Boiling preserve can be difficult (8)
PERVERSE
(PRESERVE)* (*boiling)

19 Check filter again, perhaps (8)
RESTRAIN
RE-STRAIN (filter again, perhaps)

22 What you can do with 4 to cause trouble (4,2)
STIR IT
Double definition

23 Some birds, initially, know nothing of their song (5)
KNOTS
K[now] N[othing] O[f] T[heir] S[ong] (initially)

25 Transport check to illustrate “Safety First”, for instance (5)
MOTTO
MOT (transport check) + TO

27 A regular smoker (in secret, naturally) (4)
ETNA
[secr]ET NA[turally] (in)

13 comments on “Financial Times 16,013 by CRUX”

  1. Thanks, Teacow. I enjoyed it very much, and completed it, but I still don’t understand 12/13ac LEFT-HANDEDNESS or why the word ‘finally’ is in the clue for 8dn. Thanks for a great Monday ramble, Crux.

  2. I didn’t know the name of the American composer at 1a, or that “defile” was another word for “canyon”, so I’ve learnt something today. I put a question mark next to “Finally” at 8d as I couldn’t see how it related to the clue and “Fly having set off twice” would have worked just as well. Thanks to Crux and Teacow.

  4. Hornbeam @ 1- 12/13a is a cricketing reference. When a left-handed player replaces a right-handed player at the crease a change of field is required, mainly because the slip fielders will be on the wrong side.

  5. Another not getting the point of ‘finally’ in 8d. Also don’t think I get 11a.

    Surely, 21a is to be parsed as BEG ONE (ask somebody).

    Thanks all.

  6. I meant to say I parsed 17d slightly differently. If something is two for a penny, then there would be 200 for a pound. Not a lot of difference from your parsing, I admit.

  8. Tried to get into this after a hard day at work and I’m afraid 2dn & 12, 13 have just made me lose my temper.

    I won’t bother with any Crux crosswords again.

  9. What is the point of the word ‘finally’ in 8dn?
    In 6dn, does a piledriver knock you back? No, it drives piles!!!

    I despair.

  10. l usually do three cryptics every day,ie the DT,Graun and the FT.This Crux one was the hardest for ‘easyish’ Monday.

  11. Grumpy @9

    “In 6dn, does a piledriver knock you back? No, it drives piles!!!”

    If you care to check in any of the usual references (Chambers, Collins or the ODE), you will see that there is an alternative definition for PILEDRIVER.

     

  12. I agree this was tough for a Monday.  I, too, don’t see why finally is in 8d.  & I put ILL NAME for 11ac which I think is a valid alternative answer.  Grumpy@9 – I think PILEDRIVER refers to a punch.

    Thanks to both blogger & setter.

  13. Thanks Crux and Teacow

    Am a fan of this setter, but did find this a bit of a curate”s egg, I’m afraid.  Maybe it was the lateness in the day that I got to it … maybe the issues with some of the clues that have been mentioned above, but I found myself using a word finder just to hurry along the process in the end.

    Having said that, there were some seriously good clues – the fun with LEFT-HANDEDNESS when the penny dropped, the clever anagram for TIME-SAVING and the PILEDRIVER that made Grumpy … well grumpy !!!

    Finished in the NE corner with that PILEDRIVER, EVILDOER (that was also quite clever) and ILL-FAME (one of the suss ones for mine) as the last few in.

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