Financial Times 16,778 by NEO

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Neo is today's FT setter.

This was a comparatively straightforward solve aided greatly by the long solutions around the perimeter being fairly easy.

Middle-and-leg may be difficult for non-cricketers, and "dog" doesn't appear in Chambers as rhyming slang, but other than that, there weren't any obscure words or meanings.

Thanks, Neo.

ACROSS
1 MIDDLE-AND-LEG
Lord’s guard hit hard with chair support (6-3-3)

MIDDLE (hit hard, in cricket, i.e. strike the ball with the middle of the bat) + AND ("with") + LEG ("chair support")

Lord's is a famous London cricket ground, so the solution is related to cricket. Middle-and-leg is a stance taken by a batsman as he awaits the ball to be bowled, in which his bat is initially guarding the middle and leg stumps.
8 OMNIBUS
Passenger vehicle’s bumper (7)

Double definition
9, 3 CUSTER’S LAST STAND
Star student class involved in massacre (7,4,5)

*(star student class) [anag:involved]
11 NUMBERS
Holy book for cardinals? (7)

Double definition
12 THISTLE
Degraded silt that chokes the plant (7)

*(silt) [anag:degraded] that chokes THE

I was originally unsure of "chokes" as an insertion indicator, but if you think of someone choking on a morsel of food, I suppose it works.
13 HOLES
Scrapes cavities (5)

Double definition
14 AUTOGRAPH
Car diagram shows what fan may require (9)

AUTO ("car") + GRAPH ("diagram")
16 HOMICIDAL
Murderous house police to probe encrypted mail (9)

Ho. (house) + CID (Criminal Investigation Department, so "police") to probe *(mail) [anag:encrypted]
19 PIPER
Support holding piano for this player (5)

PIER ("support") holding P (piano, in music notation)
21 TETANUS
Dicky ate nuts getting lockjaw (7)

*(ate nuts) [anag:dicky]
23 PULLEYS
Weight-lifters’ stretches keeping you back (7)

PULLS ("stretches") keeping <=YE ("you") [back]
24 HEARING
Ambassador leads a consortium in enquiry (7)

HE (His excellence or "ambassador") leads A RING ("consortium")
25 ORIGAMI
Oriental art fiddle old Parisian chum conceals (7)

RIG (fiddle) concealed by O (old) AMI (French for friend, so "Parisian chum")
26 DEPARTMENTAL
Go out to lunch as an office? (12)

DEPART ("go") + MENTAL ("out to lunch")
DOWN
1 MINIMAL
Token note the French sent north (7)

MINIM ("note") + <=LA ("the" in "French", sent north)
2 DABBERS
Dilettantes chucking out 50 ink- pads (7)

DABB(l)ERS ("dilettantes") chucking out L (50 in Roman numerals)
3
See 9
4 ASCOT
Late start for lucky creature in prestigious meeting (5)

(m)ASCOT ("lucky creature", starting late)
5 DASHING
Shattering some old ash in grove (7)

Hidden in [some] "olD ASH IN Grove"
6 ELECTRA
Greek girl drops ecstasy in claret when sloshed (7)

E (ecstasy) dropped in *(claret) [anag:when sloshed]

Electra was a central character in at least two Ancient Greek plays.
7 DOWN THE HATCH
This is said to be the precursor of a swallow (4,3,5)

Cryptic definition
10 SHEPHERDS PIE
Woman perished at sea having eaten soft food (9,3)

SHE ("woman") + *(perished) [anag:at sea] having eaten P (piano in music notation, so "soft")
15 TELEPHONE
Dog or elephant worker leaving in temper (9)

ELEPH(ant) with ANT ("worker") leaving, in TONE ("temper")

Dog and bone is Cockney rhyming slang for "telephone"
17 METHANE
Gas will give shivering men heat (7)

*(men heat) [anag:shivering]
18 CANTINA
Two containers on a Spanish saloon bar (7)

CAN + TIN ("two containers") on A
19 PALMIST
Old songwriter exiles son, one given lines to read (7)

P(s)ALMIST ("old songwriter") exiles S (son)
20 PREVAIL
Cleric fills bucket to prove superior (7)

Rev. (reverend, so "cleric") fills PAIL ("bucket")
22 SIGHT
View the place we’re told (5)

Homophone [we're told] of SITE ("place")

15 comments on “Financial Times 16,778 by NEO”

  1. Some tough clues held me up but managed to complete. I did know the cricket term in 1a (for once) but had to look up MIDDLE for “hit hard”, so was beaten by yet another cricket term.

    Dog and bone for phone allowed me to get 15d but never heard it said as just “Dog”. Given that a lot of rhyming slang works this way, it doesn’t surprise me though.

    A pleasant challenge.

  2. Must have been on Neo’s wavelength today as I was able to finish unaided for once but with online confirmation of 1a, my LOI (always sigh when cricket terms arise).
    Wonderfully inventive wordplay, as expected, and I enjoyed working out, for instance, the lengthy anagram at 3/9. Other top picks were 2, 6, 7 and 13.
    Thanks Neo and Loonapick.

  3. Loonapick,
    I rather liked the surface of 12a conjuring, as it did, low-grade materials stopping up a cement works. Nice misdirection, I thought.

  4. Pardon my ignorance, but how does omnibus mean bumper? I don’t think it does on this side of the pond.
    As for dog and bone and middle and leg, I think I need to put a Cockney on retainer, preferably one who knows cricket! 🙂
    Otherwise, a fun puzzle. Thanks, NEO, and thanks to Loonapick for the blog.

  5. EdK@USA An omnibus edition is one with many copies of a book or newspaper . Often called a bumper edition. Surprised this has not crossed the ocean.

  6. Just a pleasant jaunt.. altho the long clues were well misdirected I felt… eg looking for some ovine folklore for 7dn.. but nothing I didn’t know..
    Thanks Neo n loonapick

  7. I saw 1a straight away, but I did think that those like EdK@USA @4 who aren’t familiar with cricket terminology might have some trouble with it. I hadn’t specifically heard of the ‘Dog’ (by itself) CRS for TELEPHONE but could work it out easily enough from the more commonly used term, as pointed out by Hovis @1.

    I spent a while wondering if 1a wasn’t correct after all and tried in vain to justify ‘botters’ as a new term for ‘Dilettantes’. The excellent 9a/3d anagram didn’t come easily either. As is often the case, I liked my LOI, the ‘one given lines to read’ def for PALMIST.

    Thanks to Neo and loonapick.

  9. I’m bemused by the use of ‘dog’ as Cockney rhyming slang without any indicator that this is the case. If it’s considered necessary to use homophone, anagram etc. indicators, why should the same not apply to rhyming slang? This is not a criticism of this puzzle, which I really enjoyed, just wondering

  10. Never had a chance to finish this — cricket terms and rhyming slang are just not in my toolbox — I did like CUSTERS LAST STAND (I’ve visited the battlefield and read numerous books on the battle), NUMBERS (good double definition), and ELECTRA (amusing surface). Thanks to both.

  11. Thanks Neo for an enjoyable puzzle but needed Loonapick to explain a couple.
    On a general point, as the FT becomes ever more global in its target audience, I think there should be a re-think on the heavy use of cricket terms and Cockney rhyming slang. Nb I’m a Londoner and a cricket fan but think the playing field needs levelling up.

  12. [Lemski @11: After doing American crosswords for decades I became bored with them and decided to visit the British ones several years ago. They are a joy in comparison; I don’t mind not knowing everything — in fact, I’m learning a few things in the process.]

  13. I agree…I too am learning many new things from British crosswords (I am in India).
    But I do confess I am at a total loss when I see Cockney clues. My favourite clue in this grid was 7D. Very nice.

  14. Thanks Neo and loonapick
    Got to do this on Friday but with Mother’s Day here this weekend meaning a trip up to the country, only got around to checking it off today. Was able to solve it steadily, although the top and right hand perimeter clues both only came quite late in the piece.
    Like the precision of this setter’s clues – you know exactly what is required to solve them, even if one is not across the subject matter sometimes.
    TETANUS was my first one – a write-in from the definition and then quickly saw the anagram fodder. Finished with MIDDLE AND LEG, taking some time for the penny to drop on the cricket term, ASCOT (not sure why it took so long) and TELEPHONE (again took time for the CRS to come to mind for ‘dog’). Enjoyed the solve.

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