Financial Times 16,392 by REDSHANK

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An elegant puzzle, thank you Redshank.

image of grid
ACROSS
1 ANCESTRY Experts attempt to introduce new stock (8)
 

ACES (experts) TRY (attempt) contains (to introduce) N (new)
5 HASSLE Harry interrupts Martha’s sleep (6)
 

found inside martHA'S SLEep
10 POTHERB Basil perhaps gets further in the lead (7)
 

OTHER (further) in PB (Pb, lead)
11 HOTLINE In crisis, leaders use this hotel in Barking (7)
 

anagram (barking, mad) of HOTEL IN
12 ROUGE Cheeky slap makes one red (5)
 

ROUGE is makeup (slap) used on the cheek
13 NORTH STAR PM once began ignoring Ted’s guide for mariners (5,4)
 

NORTH (Frederick North, former Prime Minister) then STARted (began) missing TED
14 ASTEROID BELT A couple of items boxer may have, circling ring? (8,4)
 

A then STEROID and BELT (two items a boxer may have)
18 SPRING BUDGET Financial plan bound to shift taxes primarily (6,6)
 

SPRING (bound) BUDGE (to shift) Taxes (first letter, primarily)
21 SUPERHERO Like Batman, he rose up, flying over Robin’s head (9)
 

anagram (flying) of HE ROSE UP containing (over) Robin (first letter, head)
23 SPACE Small step where 14 is (5)
 

S (small) PACE (step)
24 ALUMNUS An article by American snubbing company’s old member (7)
 

A coLUMN (an article) by US (American) missing CO (company)
25 EIDOLON Phantom language in East London teacher ignored (7)
 

IDO (language, derived from Esperanto) in E (east) LONdon missing DON (teacher)
26 YODELS Sings regularly in Tyrol valleys, forgetting a line (6)
 

tYrOl (every other letter, regularly) then DELLS (valleys) missing one L (a line)
27 STOPPAGE Industrial action disrupts postage, adding 1p (8)
 

anagram (disrupts) of POSTAGE including P (1p, one P)
DOWN
1 AMPERE Before 12, English salesman put up current unit (6)
 

AM (before 12 noon) then E (English) REP (salesman) reversed (put up)
2 CATGUT What bassists use to pull short pin up (6)
 

TUG (to pull) TACk (pin, short) reversed (up)
3 STEVENSON His doctor transformed the way service finishes early (9)
 

ST (street, the way) then EVENSONg (service, finishing early) – created the character Dr Jekyl who transformed into Mr Hyde
4 ROBIN REDBREAST Birders aren’t fussed about old British bird (5,9)
 

anagram (fussed) of BIRDERS AREN'T contains (about) O (old) B (British)
6 AITCH A chapter includes it (5)
 

A CH (chapter) includes IT- this clue includes the letter H
7 SHIFT KEY It gives access to a capital if the sky changes (5,3)
 

anagram (changes) of IF THE SKY
8 EXECRATE Recoil from current banger (8)
 

EXE (a current, the River Exe) then CRATE (banger, old car)
9 SHERWOOD FOREST Hood frees worst off here (8,6)
 

anagram (off) of HOOD FREES WORST – a great anagram!
15 DRESSED UP Deceptively enhanced sweet briefly served up in party (7,2)
 

DESSERt (sweet, briefly) reversed (served up) inside DUP (Democratic Unionist Party)
16 ISOSTASY Excluding me, some say it’s altered earth’s equilibrium (8)
 

anagram (altered) of SOme SAY ITS missing ME
17 PROPOUND Present stance of eurosceptics? (8)
 

the stance of eurosceptics is PRO POUND
19 DAHLIA Trouble encountered turning round plant (6)
 

AIL (trouble) HAD (encountered) all reversed (turning round)
20 SEANCE Notice a knock occasionally intruding during this? (6)
 

SEE (notice) contains (with…intruding) A kNoCk (every other letter, occasionally)
22 RENAL Right way up in relation to wee producers (5)
 

R (right) then LANE (way) reversed (up) – of the kidneys

11 comments on “Financial Times 16,392 by REDSHANK”

  1. Elegant indeed & not at all easy.
    ‘Eidolon’ & ‘isostasy’ were both new to me, though perfectly gettable.
    And there were many excellent covert defs. ‘Catgut’ was kind of O.K., tho’ I don’t personally know any bassists who use it, ‘renal’ was sneaky, ‘steroid’ rather tongue-in-cheek and ‘Stevenson’ off-the-wall clever. (‘Jekyll’ [sic] btw, I always say this, is pronounced ‘Jee-kull’).
    And I think that ‘rouge’ might easily be upgraded to a whole-clue def and ‘Sherwood Forest’ to an arguable &lit; a brilliant anagram anyway, I do agree.
    Excellent fun, thanks to Redshank & to PeeDee for a fine blog.

  3. Excellent, even better than today’s Eccles in the Indy. A few new words semi-guessed correctly and some top clues including the STEVENSON and ASTEROID BELT defs and the surfaces for ROUGE and SHERWOOD FOREST. One of the best so far this year.

    Thanks to Redshank and PeeDee

  5. Thanks PeeDee and Redshank.
    Grant Baynham has already said most of what I wanted to say.
    All I’ve to add is that I did like SHIFT KEY, and I was never going to get STEVENSON without seeking help. I’ve never come across further = other before – it doesn’t chime with me.

  6. To Grumpy@5:
    As TV presenters say at the end of the show, ‘In further news…’ or ‘In other news…’

  7. Excellent crossword — thanks Redshank. Never heard of ISOSTASY but I got it from the parsing; EIDOLON, however, required a look-up for me. YODELS was a favorite because it not only means “sings” but it also can mean “sings regularly in Tyrol,” a clever blurring of definition and the parsing elements. SHERWOOD FOREST seemed to do the same. Thanks Grant for the blog.

  10. Thanks Redshank and PeeDee

    An interesting challenge with a number of cracking clues included.  A few new terms in ‘slap’ for makeup, SPRING BUDGET and ISOSTASY.  Had seen EIDOLON (although I needed the word play to spell it correctly, had gone EILODON as my first attempt).

    Thought STEVENSON, SHERWOOD FOREST and SHIFT KEY were the best of a very good lot, with many not too far behind them.

    Finished in the SW corner with that SPRING BUDGET, ALUMNUS (tricky definition) and the clever PROPOUND as the last few in.

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