Financial Times 16,480 by HAMILTON

by

Hamilton. A different kind of fun.

A quicker solve than some of Hamilton’s with, as usual, plenty to admire and to infuriate in equal proportions. Thanks to him, and apologies for a late, gremlin-troubled blog.

completed grid
Across
1   See 8
 
8, 1 PLAYING SECOND FIDDLE Less demanding for performer in subsidiary role (7,6,6)
  Cryptic definition, or possibly a double definition. A little woolly, one feels.
9 MINIBAR Obstacle to back of car being filled daily with drink? (7)
  MINI (‘car’) + BAR (‘obstacle’) + cryptic def.
11 NOTELET On which to jot thanks that TV fundraiser returned minus original host! (7)
  Pleasing reversal of TELEThON, minus 1st of Host.
12 SKILLED Qualified to finish off in Sunday’s early edition (7)
  KILL (‘to finish off’) in S[unday] + ‘early’ bits of EDition.
13 SWEAR Promise to put the last of exhibits at the front (5)
  Last of ‘exhibitS’ + WEAR = (to ‘put’, although I’m guessing there’s an ‘on’ missing).
14 ILL AT EASE Will ate a second helping which made him uncomfortable (3,2,4)
  Hidden in ‘wILL ATE A SEcond’, though the ‘helping’ & ‘him’ feel a bit flabby.
16 LEVEL BEST Even overcome by great effort (5,4)
  LEVEL (‘even’) + OVERCOME (to ‘best’).
19 ABBOT Australian bishop has program for head of order (5)
  A[ustralian] B[ishop] + BOT (automatic computer ‘program’).
21 ECLOGUE Eastern church holds book with Euripides’ second poem (7)
  E[astern] + CE (‘church’) contain LOG (‘book’) = 2nd of ‘eUripides’.
23 AROUSER One wakes you and gets you excited! (7)
  Double def (just).
24 EXALTED Praised genuine topless guy grabbing kiss (7)
  rEAL (‘genuine’) minus 1st + TED (a guy) contain X (‘kiss’).
25 GRANDMA Old lady needs a lot of money to graduate (7)
  GRAND (£1,000, a lot of money) + MA (‘graduate’).
26 PTERODACTYLS Partly costed edit to Jurassic Park flyers (12)
  Anagram (‘edit’) of PARTLY COSTED.
Down
1 STARTLE Roget’s gutted to be found in stereotypical shock . . . . (7)
  RogeT, eviscerated, in STALE (‘sterotypical’).
2 CHILLER . . . . horror story in the cold store (7)
  Double def.
3 NIGHT-TIME Close to t-ten, say (5-4)
  NIGH (‘close’) + T-TIME (stuttering echo of ‘t-ten’, itself a possible time of night).
4 FUMES Blows one’s top about smoke (5)
  Double def.
5 DENTIST Professional looking down in the mouth? (7)
  Cryptic def.
6 LOBELIA I’ll go up to receive award and a blue-flowering plant (7)
  ILL, reversed, inludes OBE then A.
7 UP ONES SLEEVE Criminal uses envelope; it’s where secrets are kept (2,4,6)
  Anagram (‘criminal’) of USES ENVELOPE.
10 RED LETTER DAY It’s special when post arrives from China (3,6,3)
  Cryptic def.
15 LETHARGIC Teach girl to embroider, but she’s idle (9)
  Anagram (’embroider’) of TEACH GIRL. Again, the ‘she’ seems shoe-horned in.
17 VALIANT Secure reversal in duty, which is courageous (7)
  NAIL (‘secure’), rversed in VAT (a ‘duty’).
18 LIGHTER The more superficial, the less demanding (7)
  Double def, rather close again.
19 ANOMALY Layman with nothing to revise would be an exception (7)
  Anagram (‘to revise’) of LAYMAN + 0.
20 BESIDES Starts for Bristol and Exeter teams too (7)
  1st letters of Bristol, Exeter + SIDES (‘teams’).
22 ENDED In Southend, education is done (5)
  Hidden in ‘southEND EDucation’.

*anagram

13 comments on “Financial Times 16,480 by HAMILTON”

  1. This was a quick solve, but a lot of fun (e.g. 3dn NIGHT-TIME and 26ac ‘Jurassic Park flyers’). More, please. Thanks to Hamilton & GB.

  2. I too had to make believe an “on” in13 ac. Otherwise a fun solve, especially the long ones. Thanks both..

  3. I parsed 13a as ‘exhibits’ = wears, with the last letter, ‘s’, put to the front to make SWEAR.

    I thought both PLAYING SECOND FIDDLE and LIGHTER were only fair, but made up for by NIGHT-TIME and MINIBAR.

    Thanks to Hamilton and Grant

  4. Thanks Hamilton and Grant

    Yep … a quicker than normal solve for me too today.  The only clue that did seem to have the trademark quirk was the SWEAR – had it as a double use of ‘last’ for WEAR (in the sense of ‘withstand continued use’), but see the absent ‘on’ was probably the more likely scenario.

    Was able to find separate dictionary definitions that fitted the double definition clues – although agree that they were very close.

    Also enjoyed the long ones which all went in without too much effort and probably resulted in the easier than normal solve.

    Finished in the SW corner with ECLOGUE, EXALTED and VALIANT the last few in – not because they were the hardest but rather that was the end of the circular grid fill from the NW corner around.

  5. Thanks to Hamilton and Grant. I took a while getting started but getting the long clues speeded up the process. Still, MINIBAR and FUMES took forever.

  6. Thanks Hamilton and GB

    I had 8/1 as a double definition, split ‘Less demanding for performer’ and ‘in subsidiary role’. I don’t think the definition as underlined above matches the solution.

    And I agree with WordPlodder @ 3 about 13.

  7. To Simon@6:
    Agree, but my app wouldn’t let me do a double-underlining and anyway I think that the DDs are annoyingly close, in the Hamilton way.
    And I too agree about 13; it’s sound & I let my heigh-ho-it’s Hamilton attitude got the better of me.

  8. Generally enjoyable — MINIBAR, EXALTED, and ILL AT EASE were fun though it took me forever to realize the latter was hiding in plain sight. Failed on ECLOGUE, a new word for me. Thanks Grant for parsing — couldn’t get the wordplay for VALIANT or the second part of NIGHT-TIME. Thanks Hamilton.

  9. We also parsed 13ac as Wordplodder et al.  We liked ECLOGUE and PTERODACTYLS.

    Thanks, Hamilton and Grant.

  11. Hamilton’s crosswords are often labelled as ‘quirky in places’.
    Today’s offering was actually quite straightforward.

    I am with Simon S @6 on 8/1, and I don’t think there should be anything doubly underlined.
    I found the use of ‘early’ in 12ac a bit odd, certainly if you know that S can be ‘Sunday’ and ED can be ‘edition’.
    In my opinion, 14ac is all right – “wordplay makes you definition” is totally acceptable (even if Hamilton uses ‘him’ instead of a more ‘neutral’ person like the solver).
    On the other hand, I am puzzled by ‘about’ in FUMES (4d).
    That is surely not a proper link word?
    Like Kev @10, I don’t see what’s so good about 3d.
    I do get it (I think) but I don’t like it (at all).

    Many thanks to Grant (for the blog) & Hamilton (for accompanying my morning coffee).

  12. Thanks to both. I found this a little loose and eventually got to the same point as wordplodder@3 for SWEAR.
    I suspect the “about” in 4d should be included as part of the first the first definition. Yes, it is a link word, but it seems attached to the others.

  13. I think 23a isn’t so bad if you take the first definition “one that wakes you” as A Rouser? (Maybe you already meant that.)

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