Financial Times 16,611 by SLORMGORM

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As ever, a super puzzle from Slormgorm.

Quite a few well-composed anagram clues this morning.
16a is oft-seen, but oh well – a goodie in my book.
Firm favourites today include 20a (ah, clever!), 22d (had me thinking), 24a and 26a (again, very clever).
Many thanks Slormgorm!

image of grid

ACROSS
1. Carp seen by banks of Gloucester river (6)
GROUSE

G[louceste]R (banks of) + OUSE (river)

4. Ultimately criminal’s bad, being recognised by cops (6)
LAWFUL

[crimina]L (ultimately) + AWFUL (bad)

8. Censure maiden entering criminal hangout (7)
CONDEMN

M (maiden) entering CON DEN (criminal hangout)

9. Articles in The Post by foremost of sportswriters (7)
COLUMNS

COLUMN (the post) by S[portswriters] (foremost of)

11. Bug messing around with printer is troubling (10)
PERTURBING

(BUG + PRINTER)* (*messing around)

12. Passion is displayed in amphitheatres (4)
HEAT

[amphit]HEAT[res] (is displayed in)

13. Venture must get around concerning French cap (5)
BERET

BET (venture) must get around RE (concerning)

14. Do cinema up to show The Joker? (8)
COMEDIAN

(DO CINEMA)* (*up)

16. After day out, flirtation becomes mutual bond (8)
ALLIANCE

[d]ALLIANCE (flirtation; D (day) out)

18. Famous educational establishment rejected daughter (5)
NOTED

(ETON)< (educational establishment, <rejected) + D (daughter)

20. Revolving science room door initially is unlocked! (4)
BALD

(LAB)< (science room, <revolving) + D[oor] (initially)

21. One likely to throw mud in wild garden riot (10)
DENIGRATOR

(GARDEN RIOT)* (*wild)

23. Delphi Visionary is written on bow of canal boat (7)
CORACLE

ORACLE (Delphi visionary) is written on C[anal] (bow of)

24. Stone fireplace with flipping hot interior (7)
GRANITE

GRATE (fireplace) with IN< (hot, <flipping) interior

25. Chatty nurses heading to racetrack covered with turf? (6)
GRASSY

GASSY (chatty) nurses R[acetrack] (heading to)

26. Boris Johnson? One petitions to get rid of him! (6)
LEADER

[p]LEADER (one petitions, to get rid of him (i.e. lose the leader))

DOWN
1. Good relish that a hygienic chef had a hand in? (5)
GLOVE

G (good) + LOVE (relish)

2. Greybeard is tired, sitting on rear of ship endlessly (7)
OLDSTER

OLD (tired) sitting on STER[n] (rear of ship, endlessly)

3. I’m a star, an amazing friend to those in need (9)
SAMARITAN

(I’M A STAR AN)* (*amazing)

5. A desire to get to a more advanced state (5)
ALONG

A LONG (a desire)

6. Embarrassed-looking drunk collared by US agent (7)
FLUSHED

LUSH (drunk) collared by FED (US agent)

7. Paul finally gets finale on a script for Help! (4,1,4)
LEND A HAND

[pau]L (finally) gets END (finale) on A HAND (a script (in the sense of writing))

10. Villain in car Met ordered around front of Subaru (9)
MISCREANT

(IN CAR MET)* (*ordered) around S[ubaru] (front of)

13. A drug pipe overlooked by police in Aussie backwater (9)
BILLABONG

A BONG (a drug pipe) overlooked by BILL (police)

15. I agree men must let loose animals kept for display (9)
MENAGERIE

(I AGREE MEN)* (*must let loose)

17. Island princess once seen touring northern state (7)
INDIANA

I (island) + DIANA (princess once) seen touring N (northern)

19. Did exercises (triceps primarily) then showered (7)
TRAINED

T[riceps] (primarily) then RAINED (showered)

21. Small boy climbing around English valleys (5)
DALES

S (small) + LAD (boy) (<climbing) around E (English)

22. Snooker player, having lost head, is a beast (5)
OTTER

[p]OTTER (snooker player, losing head (i.e. one who pots))

8 comments on “Financial Times 16,611 by SLORMGORM”

  1. Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow

    Noticed a variation of some ‘seen before’ clues – LAWFUL, ALLIANCE, NOTED, CORACLE and GRANITE, but as you say some terrific original ones as well – agree that BALD was the stand out which brought a wry smile when it finally landed.  I reckon that might have seen OTTER similarly clued as well at some point.

    Always happy to see an Australian connection and 13d was another really good clue.  Tipped the hat to GRASSY as well.

    Finished in the NE corner with FLUSHED, LEND A HAND (in which the ‘script’ bit took a while to see) and the clever COLUMNS the last in what was a very good kick off to the week.

  2. Pleasant start to the week with BALD my favourite. Saw (p)LEADER for 26a but couldn’t see how P came from “him”. Not entirely convinced such an anthropomorphism works but “it” would spoil the surface. Thanks both.

  3. Hear, hear, a jolly good start to the week. But I too have my doubts about 26ac LEADER — good idea that doesn’t quite work. Thanks, to both Slormgorm and Teacow.

  5. BALD, BILLABONG, SAMARITAN and COMEDIAN were my picks today. And, the well-placed question mark in 26a made me laugh, regardless of the quibbles.
    Thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow.

  6. Thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow. Great fun. I’m another who was slow to accept pLEADER and especially enjoyed BALD. I knew BILLABONG from the lyrics of “Waltzing Matilda.”

  7. Thanks Slormgorm for an easy-to-read, fun-to-solve crossword. Liked GRANITE, INDIANA, and LEADER — the latter for both its surface and wordplay. Thanks Teacow for parsing.

  8. Not going BALD tearing my hair out in the lab because some use-it-or-lose-it annual leave beckons.  Free time unlocked!

    And a Slormgorm puzzle is always a treat. 🙂

    I wondered what people would make of LEADER.  I enjoyed the penny-drop, but using a pronoun in that way to point to the answer, which then has a different reading in the wordplay … well, I remain to be convinced but am still a happy solver.

    Many thanks Slormgorm and Teacow.

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