FINANCIAL TIMES 16,563 by SLORMGORM

by

Good start to the week.

Thanks to Slormgorm for this Monday morning challenge. A couple of old chestnuts, but overall a good challenge on the correct level of difficulty expected on a Monday.

image of grid

ACROSS
7. Sick of Paris, having eaten English lunch? (4)
MEAL

MAL (sick, of Paris) having eaten E (English)

8. A clergyman cuddling daughter is direct (10)
ADMINISTER

A MINISTER (a clergyman) cuddling D (daughter)

10. Rip off an item of clothing (6)
FLEECE

Double definition

11. Hand out endless beer? That’s logical! (8)
RATIONAL

RATION (hand out) + AL[e] (beer, endless)

12. Type of jazz released due to head of Mercury (4,4)
FREE FORM

FREE (released) + FOR (due to) + M[ercury] (head of)

13. Posh performer taking bit of penicillin will make recovery (6)
UPTURN

U (posh) + TURN (performer) taking P[enicillin] (bit of)

15. A shocking bit of weather seen by the globe? (4,9)
BALL LIGHTNING

Cryptic definition

18. American ace on medicine is petrifying female (6)
MEDUSA

US (American) + A (ace) on MED (medicine)

20. People providing help for a few punters (8)
ABETTERS

A + BETTERS (punters)

22. Getting drunk? I can’t with ale or port (8)
ALICANTE

(I CAN'T + ALE)* (*getting drunk)

24. Short periods of time can be magical things (6)
SPELLS

Double definition

25. After dressing, greet a nice relative (5-5)
GREAT-NIECE

(GREET A NICE)* (*after dressing)

26. Loud sound out of one hooter (4)
NOSE

NO[i]SE (loud sound, out of I)

DOWN
1. Ordeal pleb suffers is worthy of contempt (10)
DEPLORABLE

(ORDEAL PLEB)* (*suffers)

2. Rude beauty scratching bottom makes bloomer (8)
BLUEBELL

BLUE (rude) + BELL[e] (beauty, scratching bottom)

3. Look in wonder at old boy that’s upended outhouse (6)
GAZEBO

GAZE (look in wonder at) + OB< (old boy, <upended)

4. Coach popular with supporter around club (8)
INSTRUCT

IN (popular) with STRUT (supporter) around C (club)

5. Group using some bass or treble (6)
ASSORT

[b]ASS OR T[reble] (using some)

6. Paper Arab leader put round European cheese (4)
FETA

FT (paper) + A[rab] (leader) put round E (European)

9. Madman eagerly crashed into old Escort (4,9)
MARY MAGDALENE

(MADMAN EAGERLY)* (*crashed)

14. Large dress needs alterations whatever the cost (10)
REGARDLESS

(LARGE DRESS)* (*needs alterations)

16. Liberal bringing in money for education (8)
LEARNING

L (liberal) + EARNING (bringing in money)

17. Ultimately, need hint to get a letter jumble (2,3,3)
IN THE END

(NEED HINT)* (*to get a letter jumble)

19. Naked relation briefly appears on commercial (6)
UNCLAD

UNCL[e] (relation, briefly) appears on AD (commercial)

21. One who is taking seven around small festival (6)
EASTER

EATER (one who is taking seven) around S (small)

23. Fat boy eats last grain of sugar (4)
LARD

LAD (boy) eats [suga]R (last grain of)

22 comments on “FINANCIAL TIMES 16,563 by SLORMGORM”

  5. Tried googling. I’m still getting told to subscribe. As I’m only interested in the crossword I’m not going to take out an expensive subscription.

     

  7. @6 mark: It worked for me. Thanks. Some of us ran into a pay wall some weeks back and it went away after a few days. We can only hope.

  9. Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow
    Nothing too difficult, although it took a little while to get BALL LIGHTNING as the last one – a new term for me.
    Had ABETTORS at 20a – both seem to be acceptable spelling. Thought that ‘taking seven’ was another term for EATING, but ‘one taking meal’ (answer of 7a) made more sense.
    Nice entry into the week.

  11. you’re welcome.
    it’s the same problem that occurred several weeks ago and the same solution worked for me then too. it’s a bit weird.

  13. At first I hit the pay wall on my desktop but I got to the crossword a few minutes afterward on my phone. That is harder for me to decipher that most of this fine puzzle by Slormgorm. Favourites were MEAL, SPELLS (good surface), MARY MAGDALENE, and UNCLAD (funny surface.) I failed at ABETTERS because I had an “e” as the 1st letter due to a lazy misspelling of Magdalene. Thanks to both.

  15. We fairly raced through this – just as well, as we’d struggled with the Indy.  We did think a couple of the anagrams, for ALICANTE and GREAT-NIECE, were rather too obvious, but we liked DEPLORABLE and REGARDLESS.

    Thanks, Slormgorm and Teacow.

  16. Like allan_c, I raced through this.
    A quick look at it after midnight plus my morning bowl of cereal were enough.
    All good and in a way the perfect Quiptic, were this not the FT.
    Just one thing, 20ac’s ABETTERS was not a problem at all – although, yes, for Americans there might be an O for the second E – but where does ‘few’ come in?
    Many thanks Teacow for the blog & Slormgorm for a gentle puzzle (wot, no drugs whatsoever?)

  17. Thanks Slormgorm & Teacow.

    Sil: I think “few” is there to allow “punters” to be plural after “a”.

  19. Thank you to Slormgorm and Teacow. Fairly smooth sailing today, though we failed to parse EASTER, and like allan_c we felt the two anagrams were rather obvious. A good gentle start to the week.

  20. Sil:  I was somewhat delayed by “few” when solving, but concluded that it had been introduced because “pupil” (singular) followed by a separate indicator for “s” would have needed more words.

  21. Usually, typing in the puzzle no into Google, as Mark suggests, works for me too but had to wait till late in the day for the pleasure of solving this grid from Slormgorm. Completed at a steady canter with much to enjoy. And even if GREAT NIECE was barely concealed, MARY MAGDALENE was a well hidden find. GAZEBO, UNCLAD, LARD and BLUEBELL were my favourites.
    MEDUSA was my LOI. Easy enough in retrospect but whenever I see ‘female’ or ‘bloomer’ as in 2d, I know there’s a long list of possibles to consider.
    Thanks Teacow and Slormgorm for the fun.

  22. A bit late but for Tiffin’s sake, you should parse the “seven” in 21d as a cross reference to 7a: “meal.” Clever and a bit of a misdirection.

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