Financial Times 16,770 by HAMILTON

Ah, Hamilton. As usual, fun of a different kind.

Quite conventional for him. I could take issue with a few constructions but I’d just sound tetchy, so I’ll leave it to others this morning. Feel free. (Although, ‘dicky-bird’, honestly…). Thanks, H.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1	LEOTARDS	Guy on time machine with one-off garments! (8)
		LEO (random ‘guy’) + TARDiS (Dr. Who’s time machine) minus 1. A leotard is a one-piece garment, hence shriek.
5	CRITIC	Dangerous to lose a Liberal judge (6)
		CRITICal (‘dangerous’) without A L[iberal].
9	GRENOBLE	Worthy King Edward first to French city (8)
		NOBLE (‘worthy’) preceded by GR (‘king’) + 1st of E{dward}.
10	AMOUNT	Could be Sally holding doctor’s number (6)
		A.UNT (Aunt Sally being a fairground game) contains MO (‘doctor’).
12	OFFER	What one might suggest to most of the Treasury (5)
		cOFFER (most of ‘treasury’).
13	IMPEACHED	Rogue second to get hurt, then arraigned (9)
		IMP (a little ‘rogue’) + 2nd of ‘gEt’ + ACHED (‘hurt’).
14	SMUDGE	Song opens with slander, say, about Mark (6)
		1st of S{ong} + MUD (‘slander’ as in mud-slinging) + reversal of EG (‘say’).
16	THIRSTS	Cravings Damien had in back street (7)
		(Damien) HIRST, artist, in reversal of ST[reet].
18	ILLICIT	What’s permissible to the Italian – isn’t! (7)
		LICIT (‘what’s permissible’) after IL (It. ‘the’).
20	TOGGLE	Button had returned with broken leg (6)
		GOT (‘had’, reversed) + anagram (‘broken’) of LEG.
22	READY-MADE	Unoriginal drama eyed suspiciously (5-4)
		Anagram (‘suspiciously’) of DRAMA EYED.
23	INBOX	Message centre for US state case (5)
		IN[diana] + BOX (‘case’).
24	TRIVIA	Begins to receive intelligence by way of pub quiz questions? (6)
		1st letters of T{o} R{eceive} I{intelligence} + VIA (‘by way of’).
25	CAMISOLE	I’m so excited to be dressed in new lace underwear! (8)
		Anagam (‘excited’) of IM SO inside another (‘new’) of LACE.
26	RIYADH	To some extent each day I reflect back on foreign capital (6)
		Hidden, reversed (‘back’), in ‘eacH DAY I Reflect’.
27	GLIMPSED	Saw Gilbert & Sullivan adopt weary reporter (8)
		G + S around LIMP (‘weary’) + ED[itor] (‘reporter’).
DOWN
1	LAGOON	Olga’s travelling on shallow lake (6)
		Anagram (‘travelling’) of OLGA + on.
2	OVERFAMILIARITY	Ordinary truth surrounding routine and unwelcome presumptuousness (15)
		O[rdinary] + VER.ITY (‘truth’) surrounds FAMILIAR (‘routine’).
3	AMOUR	The morning belongs to us, love (5)
		AM (‘morning’) + OUR.
4	DELAINE	Dress material finally selected by Ms Paige (7)
		Last of ‘selecteD’ + ELAINE (Paige, the singer).
6	RAMPAGING	Angry about a politician going on the warpath (9)
		R.AGING around A + MP.
7	TOUGH AS OLD BOOTS	Hot tubs also good for making one robust (5,2,3,5)
		Anagram of 1st 4 words.
8	CITY DESK	Maybe London correspondents subject to perverse Sky edict (4,4)
		Anagram (‘perverse’) of SKY EDICT.
11, 20 down	SPOT THE BALL	Competition to find sports equipment, or a masquerade? (4,3,4)
		Sort of double cryptic definition.
15	DICKY-BIRD	What young Robin calls young Martin? (5-4)
		Childish nickname for birdies. So what a young lad might call a ‘martin’ (breed of bird). Well, you get the idea.
17	VIBRATOR	Vocal effect really starts something to make you quiver (8)
		VIBRATO (‘vocal effect’) + 1st of R{eally}.
19	TRAM	Upmarket transport (4)
		Reversal (‘up’) of MART (‘market’).
20		See 11

21	EXPEND	Splash out on some Tippex pen dispensers (6)
		Hidden in ‘tippEX PEN Dispensers’.
23	IDIOM	Former dictator gets award for expression (5)
		IDI (Amin, late dictator of Uganda) + O[rder] of M[erit] (‘award’).

9 comments on “Financial Times 16,770 by HAMILTON”

Thanks Hamilton and Grant
I do not think 9ac really works, unless “first” is doing double duty, to give the first letter of Edward, but also to tell us to put the GRE before the NOBLE.

Very much enjoyed this offering, a steady write-in, from Hamilton.
I liked the sweet simplicity of 3d, the dress material at 4d and the anagram at 7d best.
Like Pelham Barton, I had misgivings about 9a. The answer was plain and I assumed ‘George Rex’ was meant but as ‘king’ is usually just ‘R’, it left me feeling unsure about the ‘g’.
Grant, there’s a small typo in 13a: IMP + E (2nd letter ‘get’ ACHED. Thanks for the blog, especially parsing of SMUDGE, and Hamilton and for today’s fun.

Great fun.

I don’t see a problem with 9a. GR is king George Rex + first letter of Edward +Noble. Fave was 17d.

Thanks both.

I agree with Pelham Barton@1 re 9a, and didn’t much like SPOT THE BALL, though the answer was clear, but these were minor quibbles in a very satisfying puzzle. Thanks to Grant for the restraint in letting the rest us bring up our minor niggles and to Hamilton for a pleasant exercise.

Paul @3. Surely the clue as written gives NOBLEGRE unless, as said above, you have “first” doing double duty.

We found this tricky in places but all gettable, although we agree that 9ac is a bit unsatisfactory with ‘first’ having to do double duty. We thought too that 15dn was a bit iffy. The rest was fine, though. DELAINE was new to us but clear from the wordplay and confirmed in Chambers. Favourite was CAMISOLE for the surface.
Thanks, Hamilton and Grant.

Thanks to Hamilton and GB.
No quibbles really – very pleasant solve.

Missed vibrator but otherwise fairly straightforward. Liked Smudge. Didn’t like Dicky Bird.

Thanks Hamilton and Grant
A couple of quirky clues but nothing too outlandish – will take that for the variety of styles. Did need the blog to be sure of the DICKY BIRD parsing and liked the CITY DESK and INBOX clues.
Not sure that I knew DELAINE as a material, but knowing the singer, it could be nothing else.
Finished with CRITIC, SPOT THE BALL (had almost forgotten that competition and some of the weird spots that the football could be in an AFL photo) and VIBRATOR the last one in.

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