Financial Times 16,334 by ORENSE

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Brisk Tuesday solve with some very nice constructs and, happily, a few things to talk about…

EXCEL was lovely, NAURU was new to me, and I’m not quite sure about the parsing of HAS.
Seeing QUARTZ, LOCKJAW & EXCEL in the grid, I confidently typed ‘pangram’ here, which led me, duty-bound, on a wild goose chase for the letter ‘V’…
Thanks to Orense for the diversion.

completed grid

 

Across
9 ADAMANTLY A lady will be upset about male, tense in a determined way (9)
  Anagram (‘upset’) of A LADY around MAN, T[ense].
10 NAURU North American university game and state (5)
  N[orth] A[merican] + U[niversity] + R[ugby] U[nion], to give the obscure – to me, anyway – and tiny Micronesian island ‘state’.
11 LOCKJAW Infection resulting from Spooner’s Scottish legislation? (7)
  Spoonerism of ‘Jock law’ (imagined ’Scottish legislation’).
12 OUTCROP Work on criminal court appearance (7)
  OP (‘work’) after anagram (‘criminal’) of COURT. ‘Appearance‘ a little flabby, I thought.
13 NUB Essence of writer needing change of heart (3)
  NIB (‘writer’), central letter amended.
14 NOBEL PRIZES No voting system accepted by central American country’s annual awards (5,6)
  NO + BEL.IZE’S (“central American country’s”) split by P[roportional] R[eprentation] (‘voting system’).
17 FIXER Person who will arrange 28 regularly in pine, say (5)
  Alternate lettersof ‘eXcEl‘ (solution to 28) in F.IR (a ‘pine’).
18 HAS Plans ahead, rejecting experiences (3)
  Reversal contained in ‘planS AHead’, although I’m struggling to find the containment indicator. ‘Experiences’ doing some kind of double duty, perhaps. Thoughts welcome.
19 APHID Power resting in a concealed pest (5)
  P[ower] in A + HID (‘concealed’).
21 DOCUMENTARY Sort of programme producing a comedy turn? (11)
  Neat anagram of A COMEDY TURN.
23 GUM Stick that may be chewed (3)
  Double definition.
25 EPITAPH Inscription from untidy heap covering bed? (7)
  PIT (informal ‘bed’) in anagram (‘untidy’) of HEAP.
27 MOORHEN Low layer attached to end of altar rail (7)
  MOO (of cattle, to ‘low’) + end of ‘altaR’ + HEN (‘layer’). Moorhens & coots are types of ‘rail’.
28 EXCEL Do better than 40 in Latin oral (5)
  Homophone (‘oral’) of XL, Latin for 40. My clue-of-the-day.
29 NOTRE DAME Remote and strange view of Paris (5,4)
  Anagram (‘strange’) of REMOTE AND. Always thought Notre Dame oddly brutalist-looking for a monument to the BVM but all the best to her anyway.
Down
1 FALL IN Collapse, exhausted, after onset of flu (4,2)
  ALL IN (‘exhausted’) after start of ‘Flu’.
2 MATCHBOX Where strikers may be found seeing game on television? (8)
  MATCH on the BOX.
3 PANJANDRUM Pompous official judge’s first with spirit to support censure (10)
  1st of ‘Judge’ + AND (‘with’) + RUM (‘spirit’), all after PAN (to ‘censure’).
4 STOW Pack exhibit, needing time for hotel (4)
  ShOW (‘exhibit’), H[otel] replaced by T[ime]
5 MYCOPLASMA My company has something in the blood that causes pneumonia, perhaps (10)
  MY + CO[mpany] + PLASMA (‘something in the blood’).
6 GNAT Design a thing to catch insect (4)
  Anagram (‘design’) of A THING.
7 QUARTZ Question skill with unknown mineral (6)
  QU[estion] + ART (‘skill’) + Z (mathematical ‘unknown’).
8 SUPPOSED First couple of subs quietly sat and thought (8)
  SUbs + P (‘quiet’) + POSED (of models &c, ’sat’).
15 BEHINDHAND Supporting worker in arrears (10)
  BEHIND (‘supporting’) + HAND (‘worker).
16 READY MONEY Cash required by needy mayor in trouble (5,5)
  Anagram (‘in trouble’) of NEEDY MAYOR.
17 FIDGETED Looked nervous seeing unusually gifted newspaper leader (8)
  Anagram (‘unusually’) of GIFTED + ED[itor].
20 HOGSHEAD Sulphur found in pignut barrel? (8)
  S[ulphur] in HOG HEAD (‘pig nut’ when split).
22 CLINCH Secure simple job covering line (6)
  C.INCH (‘simple job’) contains L[ine].
24 MINDER Guard duties firstly adopted by underground worker (6)
  MIN.ER (‘underground worker’) contains 1st of ‘Duties’.
26 AULD Ancient Scottish notice protecting the centre of Mull (4)
  AD (‘notice’) contains ’centre of mUL{l}.
27 MATE Sailor offering check on board (4)
  Double def, ‘mate’ being one form of ‘check’ in chess.

*anagram

14 comments on “Financial Times 16,334 by ORENSE”

  1. Thanks Orense and GB

    Not sure about the containment indicator in 18, but my parsing for 6 was a containment (to catch) in desiGN A Thing.

  2. I parsed 6 in the same way as Simon S@1. However, HAS in 18 beats me. I did enjoy a lot of the clues, though … smiled at 2dn MATCHBOX and strikers. Thanks, GB and Orense.

  3. Like Grant, I thought this must be a pangram then realised V was missing. I have to suspect that Orense had intended to do a pangram then either thought it was too much hassle getting the V or, perhaps, some last minute changes removed a V without realising.

    I thought 18a was a little iffy but feel that “rejecting” just about does the double duty. Here “rejecting” = “turning its back on” which just about indicates a reversal and inclusion. Hmm?

    Thanks to Orense and Grant.

  4. NAURU and BELIZE are both named as money laundering states and with READY MONEY and an FT crossword I thought something was in the Setter’s mind

  5. Yup, 6 is parsed as all agree. Pure idleness on my part.
    To Hovis @3:
    The putative pangram must have crossed Ortense’s mind. As an exercise, I went through the grid trying to find a 1-for-1 substitution of ‘V’ for something and there isn’t one. The SE corner looks ripe for re-development if Orense were so inclined. My view is that we’re just being teased, which is quite fun in itself.
    Can’t remember the specifics but a coupla years back there was a ‘pangram-minus-‘F’ and the setter came onto the blog to say, “There is no effin’ pangram”, which was jolly.

  6. Thanks to Grant and Orense

    VARLET and TUB would have been fairly easy substitutions, so perhaps the omission was intentional.

    It is 26 NOV after all.

  7. Or VALLEY and YOB.

    Extra advantage: we’ll get rid of NUB (13ac) which wasn’t my favourite because the letter that had to be replaced was the unchecked one.

    Not wrong, of course. Just not my favourite.

    Apart from (perhaps) 18ac – like others I hesitated too – a very well-written crossword.

    Many thanks to Orense for that & to Grant for the blog.

  8. Nice one. Thanks Orense and Grant. I didn’t know fir was a type of pine, but I do now. As Dansar@6 says… 26 NOV. Very clever! Incidentally, a pangram missing a letter is known as a lipogram. There was a great example in a Times Quick Crossword maybe a couple of years ago from a setter dubbed NOEL. Not only were there no ‘L#’s in the grid, but none in any of the clues either. And, what is more, across the middle of the puzzle was a Nina “IPOGRAM”!

  10. I was aware of Brendan’s lipogram. Spectacularly missing E in the solutions and clues. Personally, when the missing letter is a lesser used one, such as a V, it becomes a poor man’s pangram. Omission of a common letter is quite the reverse. NOV as NO V may well have been intentional though. Will we ever know?

  11. Thanks Orense & Grant.

    For 18 across I think that the blog is correct in suggesting double duty for experiences. The clue as a whole (including the numeration) can be read as “Plans ahead (backwards) has (experiences) a three-letter word meaning experiences”.

  13. To psmith @11:
    That’s roughly what I meant, although I hadn’t thought of including the numeration, good notion.
    Barring the possibility of (God forbid) an error, I think you’re right.
    Lot of head-scratching for a tiddler!

  14. Thanks Orense and Grant

    Did this one last week but got caught up by a busy end to the week and catching some sort of bug so only got around to checking it off today.  A little look in the morning and quickly finished off over lunch, so not too many holdups.  HAS did for a minute or two but settled on it as per @11 and @13.  Thought NUB was fair enough, like Sil@7 – I usually don’t like the unchecked letter being the swap – but in this case the clueing left one in no doubt. Did a double take with the definition for OUTCROP, but did manage to find it or at least the verb to mean ‘appear’.

    NAURU is well known down here because of the super phosphate that they had loads of … and a horrible hexagonal tower building that they built in Collins St – that I think that they lost the ownership of over some fraud.  It was also where we tried to dump a whole lot of refugees … to most of our shame !

    Finished in the SW corner with the innocuous CLINCH and EPITAPH..

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