Financial Times 16,437 by Julius

Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 28, 2020

We are lucky to see a puzzle from Julius about once a year, and this proved an excellent one. I managed to mess myself up by initially getting a wrong answer for 10ac which led me to get an answer for 6dn that I thought had to be right (because of the checked letters) but could not otherwise justify.

My favourite clues are 1ac (WEB BROWSER), 19ac (THE DERBY), 22ac (MEDIOCRE), 3dn (BREAK) and 5dn (STEALING THE SHOW). Thank you, Julius.

Across
1	WEB BROWSER	German composer penning British lines for Opera, perhaps (3,7)
		B (British) + ROWS (lines) together in (penning) WEBER (German composer). I wonder if most people are familiar with the web browser named Opera. I use it occasionally.
7	FIRE	Dismiss bishop, no longer part of the cloth (4)
		FI[b]RE (cloth with B for bishop removed)
9	ABLE	Competent board short of time (4)
		[t]ABLE (board short of T for time)
10	NO ENTRANCE	René cannot be disturbed (sign on 24) (2,8)
		Anagram (be disturbed) of RENE CANNOT. Does ‘be disturbed’ properly work as an anagram indicator? As opposed to simply ‘disturbed’ that is.
11	ROCKET	Davy peeled salad leaf (6)
		[c]ROCKET[t] (Davy peeled)
12	LARKSPUR	Early birds returning, beginning to rip up delphinium plant (8)
		LARKS (early birds) + R[ip] UP backwards (returning)
13	GLOBULIN	Head of Gold Bullion manufactured protein (8)
		G[old] + anagram (manufactured) of BULLION
15	OPEN	Oklahoma’s first state prison without barriers (4)
		O[klahoma] + PEN (state prison). ‘Pen’, short for penitentiary, is a common term in the U.S.
17	DOWN	US index dropping – Joe’s depressed (4)
		DOW [jo]N[es]
19	THE DERBY	Other people bred, trained, entered June event on the 17s (3,5)
		Anagram (trained) of BRED in (entered) THEY (other people). This event, properly call The Epsom Derby, takes place at the Epsom Downs Racecourse on the first Saturday of June each year.
22	MEDIOCRE	Julius? Old, cold, boring, disastrous, second-rate (8)
		ME (Julius) + O (old) and C (cold) in (boring) DIRE (disastrous)
23	GODWIN	Internet “lawmaker”, 17, getting mixed up with GI (6)
		Anagram (getting mixed up with) of DOWN (17) GI. If you do not know who Mike Godwin is, I suggest reading his Wikipedia entry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Godwin).
25	ALTOGETHER	Participating in deal to get Hereford United (10)
		Hidden word
26	OVAL	Cricket ground, nonviable, regularly deserted (4)
		[n]O[n]V[i]A[b]L[e]
27	SPIT	Sulphur mine’s depth excavated by a shovel? (4)
		S (sulphur) + PIT (mine) I had to go to my Chambers to verify the meaning of SPIT intended here, which is “a spade’s depth”. Incidentally it can also mean a spadeful and, as a verb, to dig with a spade. So we have an obscure term that is poorly defined in two ways. First, a spade and a shovel are close but not the same and, second, one can surely use a spade, or even with more effort a shovel, to excavate more than the tool’s own depth.
28	NEWSCASTER	Fresh, exciting actress giving a headline performance? (10)
		NEW (fresh) + anagram (exciting) of ACTRESS
Down
2	EMBROIL	Involve little brother wearing revolting lime clothing (7)
		BRO (little brother) in (wearing…clothing) LIME (lime) backwards (revolting)
3	BREAK	Holiday snap (5)
		Double definition
4	ORNATELY	In the rococo style, worn at Élysée gathering . . . . (8)
		Hidden word (gathering)
5	STEALING THE SHOW	. . . . whose late nights carousing is getting plenty of attention (8,3,4)
		Anagram (carousing) of WHOSE LATE NIGHTS
6	RETURN	Comeback electronic act supporting Queen (6)
		R (queen) + E (electronic) + TURN (act) I equivocated between RETURN and RETORT here. Ended up choosing RETURN but not with complete confidence. P.S. I made the right call here. The solution has now been published and the answer is RETURN.
7	FLAGSTONE	Florida street’s left-over sidewalk material (9)
		FLA (Florida) + ST (street) in (over) GONE (left)
8	RECLUSE	Publicity-shy individual burst ulcer on seaside vacation (7)
		Anagram (burst) of ULCER + S[easid]E
14	BANDICOOT	The first two letters of bird – bald bird – and marsupial (9)
		B AND I (the first two letters of bird) + COOT (bald bird). Coots are not bald at all but are frequently mentioned in the expression “as bald as a coot”.
16	BERGERAC	Taxi turned up carrying R. Gere, sozzled, somewhere in Dordogne (8)
		Anagram (sozzled) of R GERE in CAB (taxi) reversed (turned up)
18	OVERLAP	Lay on another finished circuit (7)
		OVER (finished) + LAP (circuit)
20	BRIGADE	Troops ordered to defend oil installation (7)
		RIG (oil installation) in (to defend) BADE (ordered)
21	SCREEN	Televise Cliff’s discarded material, last seen in Eurovision (6)
		SCREE (cliff’s discarded material) + [eurovisio]N
24	DOORS	Gates: “Nothing right in Microsoft operating system” (5)
		O (nothing) and R (right) in (in) DOS (Microsoft operating system) The proper name of the operating system referred to is MS-DOS but everyone and dog referred to it as simply DOS, so okay.

11 comments on “Financial Times 16,437 by Julius”

Eileen

#1 - Thu 9th Apr 20, 07:58

Thanks for a great blog, Pete. [Actually, we’re lucky enough to get a Julius puzzle every two or three weeks or so but it’s nice to see him in the Prize slot.]

I agree with your favourites [especially the outrageously inaccurate MEDIOCRE, which made me laugh], with the addition of 16dn BERGERAC and 21dn SCREEN, both lovely surfaces and constructions. I also liked the cleverly hidden ALTOGETHER and ORNATELY, with its link to the neat anagram in STEALING THE SHOW.

I’d never heard of Godwin’s Law [thought it must be some Anglo Saxon enactment] but was interested to find out about it.

Many thanks, Julius, for another super puzzle.

Sil van den Hoek

#2 - Thu 9th Apr 20, 10:52

Another highly enjoyable crossword from Julius.
As ever one with what I call a ‘now-feeling’.
For some reason, it feels that there is an underlying theme, perhaps something to do with computers or computer screens. I am probably seeing things that aren’t there.

At first, I wondered why Julius in 2d used two similar containment indicators but the surface needs them.
And, indeed, Pete, as you say in your blog, we should see them as one. Totally fine.
Also, in the same clue I think ‘revolting’ is a reversal indicator rather than an anagrind.
Personally, I am not a great fan of the ‘vacation’ device like it is used here (in 8d).
But that is probably a matter of taste.
Finally, what is precisely the definition in 28ac?
The word ‘giving’ suggests, rather confusingly, that it is ‘a headline performance?’ but it’s not.
I can see what Julius did/means – not sure whether I am 100% convinced.

But who cares?
This was a very fine crossword.
Many thanks to Julius for that, and to Pete for the blog.

brucew@aus

#3 - Thu 9th Apr 20, 12:57

Thanks Julius and Pete

Always enjoy when this setter pops up … and as you say only rarely on a weekend. A few unknowns – the ‘Opera’ at 1a, GLOBULIN (although I feel that I should’ve known it), the French town of BERGERAC and that meaning of SPIT.

Went with RETURN with no qualms at 6d, but can now see that RETORT (with TORT as a ‘wrongful act’ also works) – be interesting to see which one is the official answer. Thought that 28a might be nearly an &lit – more likely to be the weather girl than the actual NEWSREADER down here though !

Finished with STEALING THE SHOW, WEB BROWSER (which was probably my favourite too) and that RETURN (maybe RETORT) as the last few in.

Pete Maclean

#4 - Thu 9th Apr 20, 15:49

Sil, Thanks for the correction on 2dn. That is a mistake I often make. And thanks also for pointing out the issue with the definition of 28ac.

Tony Santucci

#5 - Thu 9th Apr 20, 19:56

Thanks Julius for a prize puzzle. Liked ROCKET, THE DERBY, and RECLUSE as well as MEDIOCRE. I agree with Eileen that the latter is “outrageously inaccurate.” Thanks Pete for the blog.

acd

#6 - Thu 9th Apr 20, 20:06

Thanks to Julius and Pete. A challenge for me, to say the least. I made much use of Google (e.g., for BERGERAC and GLOBULIN), did not know Opera as a WEB BROWSER, and chose RETORT. I did parse GODWIN but was doubtful as I missed the connection to Godwin’s Law.