Financial Times 16,378 by ZAMORCA

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ZAMORCA kicks off the working week…

I’ve yet to check the print version, but certainly the online version had the added challenge of showing the wrong grid. It wasn’t far off though.

Nothing too challenging here, though 24A as LOI had me stumped for a while for some reason. I particularly liked 1A.

Thanks ZAMORCA!

 

ACROSS

1 Take away vehicles come back round time and time again (8)
SUBTRACT
((CAR BUS)< (vehicles, <come back) round T (time)) and T (time again)

5 So do I stupidly accept upper class being offensive? (6)
ODIOUS
(SO DO I)* (*stupidly) accept U (upper class)

9 Flower advice includes short chat by leading horticulturalist (8)
HYACINTH
(HINT (advice) includes YAC[k] (chat, short)) by H[orticulturalist] (leading)

10 Good having a cuppa with posh cake (6)
GATEAU
G (good) + having A + TEA (cuppa) with U (posh)

12 Report month’s crop (5)
MAIZE
“May’s” (month’s, “report”)

13 On the loose in top London shop? (2,7)
AT LIBERTY
Double definition

14 Spies are first class men (6)
AGENTS
A (first class) + GENTS (men)

16 Over-eager to find nothing good in adolescent (3,4)
TOO KEEN
(O (nothing) + OK (good)) in TEEN (adolescent)

18 Straighten out student after university’s first night party (7)
UNRAVEL
L (student) after (U[niversity] (first) + RAVE (night party))

20 Popular retirement place got back thousands initially owing (2,4)
IN DEBT
IN (popular) + (BED)< (retirement place, <got back) + T[housands] (initially)

22 Wail about Paul heading off on wild water (9)
CATERWAUL
(C (about) + [p]AUL (heading off)) on (WATER)* (*wild)

23 Supporter holding poles is nervous (5)
TENSE
TEE (supporter) holding NS (poles, north and south)

24 Old film about revolutionary city (6)
EXETER
EX (old) + ET (film) + (RE)< (about, <revolutionary)

25 Ache with cold during Asiatic storm (8)
SCIATICA
C (cold) during (ASIATIC)* (*storm)

26 Organised tours crossing Thailand in coaches (6)
TUTORS
(TOURS)* (*organised) crossing T (thailand)

27 Scenery for play is way to add time and place (5,3)
STAGE SET
ST (way) to add AGE (time) and SET (place)

DOWN

1 Plan for hiding revolutionary Frenchman in London area (6)
SCHEME
hiding (CHE (revolutionary) + M (frenchman)) in SE (london area)

2 Strike on home station in France has nurse running from battle (7,1,7)
BEATING A RETREAT
BEAT (strike) on IN (home) + GARE (station in france) + TREAT (nurse)

3 Increase in income for artist is key (5)
RAISE
RA (artist) + IS + E (key)

4 Ignore girl with sword (7)
CUTLASS
CUT (ignore) + LASS (girl)

6 Daughter’s mounting conflict with family’s to cause deep wound (4,5)
DRAW BLOOD
D (daughter) + (WAR)< (conflict, <mounting) with BLOOD (family)

7 I supplied guns and thieves to get gambling machines (3-5,7)
ONE-ARMED BANDITS
Double definition

8 Son’s untidy work’s ultimately affecting learning (8)
STUDYING
S (son) + (UNTIDY)* (*work) + [affectin]G (ultimately)

11 Large intestine absorbed excess (4)
GLUT
L (large), GUT (intestine) absorbed

15 Close to containing complicated fever, don’t worry (5,4)
NEVER FEAR
NEAR (close to) containing (FEVER)* (*complicated)

17 Seeking to acquire one hundred thousand most swiftly (8)
QUICKEST
QUEST (seeking) to acquire (I (one) + C (hundred) + K (thousand))

19 Find within temple a painted vault (4)
LEAP
[temp]LE A P[ainted] (within)

20 Poorly lit centre of most of main town’s criminal (7)
ILLICIT
ILL (poorly) + [l]I[t] (centre) + CIT[y] (main town, most of)

21 Dame, gutted with supporting role, is to leave (6)
DEPART
D[am]E (gutted) with PART (supporting role)

23 Want to change German intonation (5)
TWANG
(WANT)* (*to change) + G (german)

7 comments on “Financial Times 16,378 by ZAMORCA”

  4. Thanks to Zamorca and Teacow. I printed out the puzzle shortly after it appeared but managed to finish fairly quickly (though the two long solutions have an odd look). Maybe this approach is a concession to those who find Monday puzzles too easy? I enjoyed it.

  5. Thanks, Teacow, for a nice blog.

    That said, I am afraid that 18ac (UNRAVEL) needs a bit of tweaking.
    It seems to me that the setter meant: U + N[ight] + RAVE + L.
    ‘First night’ for N is one of my genuine pet hates.
    In her previous crossword Zamorca used ‘last navel’ for L, so she is clearly a setter who is not against this ‘device’.
    For me, ‘leading horticulturalist’ for H is something in the same category.
    (and Pan joined her today by using ‘first found’ for F – what a day!)

    Anyway, on the whole the puzzle was enjoyable as ever.
    I needed the blog to parse ILLICIT (20d).
    I was fooled by ‘lit centre of’ meaning I – we’ll have to take ‘of’ as part of this, don’t we?

  6. I agree puzzle not too difficult since even I finished it in one session! English not being my mother tongue, I did not know CATERWAUL.

    I was unable to parse 24a (LOI): TEX cold have been a ‘revolutionary’ old film, but anyway EXETER seemed a likely city with 3 E’s.

    I too liked 1a.

    Thank you ZAMORCA (how do you know she is a she?) and TEACOW!

  7. Thanks Zamorca and Teacow

    Quite a straightforward solve which took three pretty short sessions when I could grab 5-10 minutes through the day – a strange one at that … after half the state on fire over Christmas, over the last two days we get smashed with hailstones and drenched with rain !!

    Thought that the word play for 7d was ONE (I) + ARMED (supplied guns) + BANDITS (thieves).  Liked the construction of the other long one as well.

    Finished in the NE corner with DRAW BLOOD and AT LIBERTY (where I hadn’t heard of that department store).

     

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