Financial Times 16,070 by ARMONIE

by

An ARMONIE to start off the week, and our 50th FT blog!

Nicely written and not too troubling… as one expects from ARMONIE.
The TIRO in 28a was new to us, and SPLIT proved to be much more problematic than it should have. DRESDEN and EVENING DRESS were particular favourites.

Thanks ARMONIE!

completed grid

Across

1 Drunk stout initially from hose (6)
TIGHTS
TIGHT (drunk) + S[tout] (initially)

5 Fabric ruined? Search me! (8)
CASHMERE
(SEARCH ME)* (*ruined)

9 Colour of suit kept by writer (3-5)
PEA-GREEN
AGREE (suit) kept by PEN (writer)

10 Give power to some given a blemish (6)
ENABLE
[giv]EN A BLE[mish] (some)

11 One tucking into rank fish (6)
PLAICE
I (one) tucking into PLACE (rank)

12 Where player’s not seen having bad leg (8)
OFFSTAGE
OFF (bad) + STAGE (leg)

14 Is East in time for puzzle? (12)
DISORIENTATE
(IS + ORIENT (east)) in DATE (time)

18 Don appears after ironing formal wear (7,5)
EVENING DRESS
DRESS (don) appears after EVENING (ironing)

22 Drink tisane brewed by Lawrence (8)
ANISETTE
(TISANE)* (*brewed) by TE (Lawrence, of Arabia)

25 Soldier – a man allowed a cocktail (6)
GIMLET
GI (soldier) + M (man) + LET (allowed)

26 Shop’s exit (6)
OUTLET
Double definition

27 Present and organise race (8)
DONATION
DO (organise) + NATION (race)

28 Trainee tucking into quiche that’s smoother (8)
FLATIRON
TIRO (trainee) tucking into FLAN (quiche)

29 Discharge from old well (6)
EXHALE
EX (old) + HALE (well)

Down

2 Correct a slide in principles (6)
IDEALS
(A SLIDE)* (*correct)

3 A Greek, in secret, is henpecked (3-6)
HAG-RIDDEN
A GR (greek) in HIDDEN (secret)

4 Writer sees road levels up continuously (9)
STEVENSON
ST (road) + EVENS (levels up) + ON (continuously)

5 Honesty and love withheld by rotter (7)
CANDOUR
AND O (love) withheld by CUR (rotter)

6 A place to store decomposed flesh (5)
SHELF
(FLESH)* (*decomposed)

7 Intended partner to tuck into food (5)
MEANT
N (partner, in bridge) to tuck into MEAT (food)

8 Downgrade king’s eastern envoy (8)
RELEGATE
R (king) + E (eastern) + LEGATE (envoy)

13 Child finds tin has nothing in (3)
SON
SN (tin, chemical symbol) has O (nothing) in

15 Development in Greece men vandalised (9)
EMERGENCE
(GREECE MEN)* (*vandalised)

16 Trial marriage produces international confrontation (4,5)
TEST MATCH
TEST (trial) + MATCH (marriage)

17 Net value is adjusted and that’s final (8)
EVENTUAL
(NET VALUE)* (*adjusted)

19 One needs divinity for exasperation (3)
IRE
I (one) needs RE (divinity, religious education)

20 Research done initially during study in China (7)
DRESDEN
(RES (research) + D[one] (initially)) during DEN (study)

21 Shrink back from touching snake (6)
RECOIL
RE (from) touching COIL (snake)

23 Lance accepts coppers in shop (5)
SPLIT
SLIT (lance) accepts P (coppers)
“Shop” as in “inform on”

24 Pharaoh briefly has gold coach (5)
TUTOR
TUT (pharaoh, tutankhamun, briefly) has OR (gold)

9 comments on “Financial Times 16,070 by ARMONIE”

  1. Thanks Armonie and Teacow

    Normally when I see the same word, such as WRITER or SHOP, twice in a set of clues I’m concerned that the setter has slipped up. Not so today: I think the way Armonie has used both with completely different meaning each time is delightful.

  2. Elegant and concise clueing, but straightforward to solve. I too took a while to parse SPLIT which was last one in. Odd to see the same colour in another of today’s crosswords. OFFSTAGE my favourite. Thanks Armonie and Teacow.

  3. Thanks to Armonie and Teacow. Enjoyable. I had trouble with FLATIRON because I had never come across the “tiro” spelling (other than the name of Cicero’s assistant) and with the parsing of SPLIT. Yes, DISORIENTATE(d) is listed as an alternative but it has always seemed to me unnecessary -ate padding of a solid verb, disorient.

  4. Thanks to Teacow and Armonie

    I liked this but if anyone can help with a few queries I would appreciate it:

    27a D0 = ORGANISE?

    5d WITHHELD = CONTAINED?

    23d SPLIT = SHOP? (rather than SPLIT ON = SHOP)

     

  5. Dansar @ 4

    27A: Are you going to do / organise the arrangements?

    5D: ‘withheld’ as ‘retained’, so ‘AND O’ retained by ‘C…UR’

    23D: yes, it’s a stretch, but stretch the rules!

    hth

  6. Thanks Armonie and Teacow.
    Congratulations on 50,thanks!

    @3 acd… we have ‘conversate’ in American TV, that is so jarring to hear..what’s wrong with ‘converse?

  7. Dansar, while I was thinking about answers to your questions, Simon (@5) once again had the better of me.

    There were a few things in this otherwise typical Armonie puzzle that weren’t really my cup of tea.

    The use of ‘from’ as link word [as used here] is not brilliant IMHO and I am also not keen on just ‘partner’ for one of the four bridge players [used as a couple I am fine with it].

    And there is Armonie (aka Chifonie) again with his ‘man’ being M.  I really don’t understand why he does it time after time but I can’t be bothered anymore. What is even more annoying is that he defines M as ‘a man’ with a misleading ‘a’.

    Ah well, bar that it was all fine.

    So, thanks to Armonie and to Teacow for reaching a milestone which will soon be a Milestone.

  8. Simon S @ 5

    Thank you, yes I can see WITHHELD = RETAINED, and I suppose the setter is being doubly clever/devious in suggesting that we might have to drop an element rather than enclose it.

    I still have a problem in thinking where SHOP might replace SPLIT but I can concede it for the sake of the surface, especially if I think of Lance as the Fishmonger played by Paul Whitehouse.

    DO = ORGANISE, however I still don’t like. I can only see it as being one of any number of things a person might have to if they were to DO/PERFORM a task. DO the arrangements might just as well be given as SEE TO/MAKE/SCHEDULE/FACILITATE. I think my point is that DO is such a chameleon that it can be used to stand in for just about any verb, but its meaning is unknowable without context.

    Just a couple of examples that spring to mind:

    Did you DO the lottery? DO = BUY A TICKET FOR

    Did you DO your teeth? DO = BRUSH………

    It’s neverending.

     

  9. Thanks Armonie and Teacow (congrats on the 50)

    Only got to print this one out recently due to travelling.  Found that it took a bit longer to do than normal for this setter and came here with FLATIRON unparsed.

    I find his clues generally quite exact and usually with the lesser known definition of a word in many cases – such as SPLIT.  Also was not all that keen on N=partner without his partner being used.

    Finished in the SW corner with FLATIRON, OUTLET and SPLIT the last few in.

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