Financial Times 16,826 by LEONIDAS

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Today's FT puzzle is provided by Leonidas.

On my first pass through this puzzle, I didn't feel confident that I would complete this one, as I only had half a dozen entries in place, but the rest of the answers eventually revealed themselves at a steady pace, so that I didn't take noticeably longer to solve this than most puzzles (I don't time myself as I am writing the blog as I go along). My LOI was MADRIGAL, but had I not misspelled CANTALOUPE, that may have gone in earlier, as I was looking for something with an E as the second letter instead of an A.

Overall, I enjoyed the challenge, with PADDLE STEAMER and UNCONTROLLED among my favourites.

Thanks, Leonidas.

ACROSS
1 MISSION CREEP
War planners try to avoid this church oddball (7,5)

MISSION ("church") + CREEP ("oddball")
10 AIRLOCK
Leaderless congregation on song in chamber (7)

[leaderless] (f)LOCK ("congregation") on AIR ("song")
11 NOVELTY
Trinket from Ely on TV broadcast (7)

*(ely on tv) [anag:broadcast]
12 DWELT
Dutch world German inhabited (5)

D (Dutch) + WELT ("German" for "world")
13 MADRIGAL
Girl east of capital briefly gets work (8)

GAL ("girl") east of (i.e to the right of) MADRI(d) ("capital", briefly)
15 ELIMINATOR
Assassin maybe destroyed lair on time (10)

*(lair on time) [anag:destroyed]
16 MYNA
Flyer mailed, initially a single one returned (4)

M(ailed) [initially] + <=ANY ("a single one", returned)
18 TICK
Check what your cardiologist wants to hear (4)

A cardiologist would like to hear the "tick" of your heartbeat.
20 SHOPAHOLIC
One who’s been down the aisle too often (10)

Cryptic definition
22 AMASSING
Mains gas supply coming together (8)

*(mains gas) [anag:supply]
24 ADIEU
See you with something rolled in gold (5)

DIE ("something rolled") in Au (chemical symbol for "gold")
26 EVEN OUT
Remove bumps from transport to venue (4,3)

*(to venue) [anag:transport]
27 MANHUNT
Number caged in staff shelter: a tiger’s revenge? (7)

N (number) caged in MAN ("staff") + HUT ("shelter")
28 UNCONTROLLED
Strange Scottish books turn editor wild (12)

UNCO ("strange" in "Scottish") + NT (New Testament, so "books") + ROLL ("turn") + ED (editor)
DOWN
2 ISRAELI
Citizen is superior to King raised on island (7)

IS superior to (i.e. above) <=LEAR ("King", raised) on I (island)
3 SMOOTHIE
Small insect that is circling over drink (8)

S (small) + MOTH ("insect") + I.E. (id east, so "that is") circling O (over, in cricket)
4 OIKS
Boorish lot’s heartless boarish noises (4)

[heartless] OI(n)KS ("boorish noises")
5 CANTALOUPE
Elaborate lace put on a fruit (10)

*(lace put on a) [anag:elaborate]
6 ELVER
Lithe juvenile crossing Channel verified (5)

Hidden in [crossing] "channEL VERified"
7 PHLEGMY
Extremely peevish on stage, setter’s full of cold? (7)

[extremely] P(eevis)H on LEG ("stage") + MY ("setter's")
8 PADDLE STEAMER
Prince mixes up crew on main royal vessel (6,7)

P (prince) + ADDLES ("mixes up") + TEAM ("crew") on ER (Elizabeth Regina, the queen, so "main royal")
9 BY ALL ACCOUNTS
Nobleman entombed in rotten clay slab reportedly (2,3,8)

COUNT ("nobleman") entombed in *(clay slab) [anag:rotten]
14 WASHINGTON
State of dirty items not being spun (10)

WASHING ("dirty items") + <=NOT [being spun]
17 SHRAPNEL
Shell various planes blockading empty hangar (8)

*(planes) [anag:various] blockading [empty] H(anga)R
19 CHATEAU
Beverage doubly acceptable in castle (7)

CHA + TEA ("beverage", doubly) + U ("acceptable", originally from upper class)
21 LEISURE
Rest of fleet is regularly taken out, of course (7)

(f)L(e)E(t) I(s) [regularly taken out] + SURE ("of course")
23 STOIC
Endure mostly being interrupted by old Greek (5)

STIC(k) ("endure", mostly) being interrupted by O (old)
25 EMIR
Governor finally spoke on Russian station (4)

[finally] (spok)E on MIR ("Russian" space "station")

13 comments on “Financial Times 16,826 by LEONIDAS”

  1. Thanks to both setter and blogger. I had the same experience as loonapick: initial run through did not produce much but I gradually got into my stride having misspelled the melon as cantoloupe. Very enjoyable with MISSION CREEP my favourite.

  2. A slow-burner for me too and not one that I could finish unaided. Never heard UNCO before, for instance.
    However, I took a lot of pleasure from the rest of the grid. SHOPAHOLIC, ADIEU, ELVER and OIKS all earned ticks. Thanks to Leonidas for some witty and original surfaces and also to Loonapick for unlocking a few mysteries.

  4. Diane said it well, “a slow burner.” This took awhile and I finally used a word finder to get UNCONTROLLED (UNCO was unknown to me), MADRIGAL (work as the definition was too broad for me), and AMASSING (stupidly forgot that supply could be an anagram indicator.) I also thought “citizen” was too broad a definition for ISRAELI but I guess it’s like using boy or girl as the definition for a given name which occurs often. I enjoyed MANHUNT (great surface), PADDLE STEAMER, and MISSION CREEP. Thanks to both.

  5. Interesting! My experience was almost identical to those above. It took a while to get started but after that the smiles grew as the squares filled. It was just the thing I needed on a cold afternoon, although I did have a break in the middle when I had to go and do something else. I suspect that break made it easier for me to finish.
    A number of the terms really had to swim hard to reach the surface so I could include them. But the clueing was fair and the puzzle very attainable.
    Thanks for the fun Leonidas and the explanations Loonapick.

  6. This took some getting into but it all came right in the end. Curiously, having struggled with 3dn in today’s Indy we found ourselves struggling with 3dn here and it was our LOI. A few others took some teasing out, too. OTOH we thought of SHOPAHOLIC at once for 20ac but we wondered afterwards if anyone was tempted to put ‘bridesmaid’ on the basis of ‘always the bridesmaid, never the bride’.
    Favourites were MANHUNT and PADDLE STEAMER.
    Thanks, Leonidas and loonapick.

  7. Once more a very good crossword from Leonidas.
    Impeccable technique but sometimes I wish the surfaces would be slightly more ‘exciting’.
    After this crossword I did the one in The Times – and it actually had a similar feeling (for me) – a positive feeling, by the way.
    Somehow, Leonidas’ puzzles are different from the majority of crosswords in the FT.
    Closer to Basilisk than to Wanderer – both setters which I admire, I hasten to say.
    Many thanks to loonapick & Leonidas

  8. Yes, Allan @6,
    I also thought of bridesmaid when the grid was bare but somehow I knew it was a different aisle Leonidas was after…

  9. We were even slower than everyone as it took 2 days of dipping in and out. The last Leonidas puzzle was the first I’d done and I really enjoyed it and decided to look out for the next one – and this was worth the wait. Thanks to Leonidas and loonapick.

  10. Thanks Leonidas and loonapick
    The same struggle getting started as others and it took about twice the average solving time to get this one out, spilling over to the second day. What’s worse, it ended up as a DNF with errors on the AIRLOCK / OIKS crossers (where had AIRHOLE – pretty much parsed with [W]HOLE as almost passable for ‘congregation’ and OXEN describes clumsy stupid men but had looked up the blog to find out about the ‘boarish noises’ and wham the error !!!).
    Lots of interesting definitions and ways of getting to them with those erroneous pair the last couple in.

  11. Just spotted this puzzle late last night, so very late to comment. No 8 from Leonidas, and well up to the high standard of the previous ones.

    I solved this pretty quickly, but must confess to using a word wizard on a few occasions, but I managed to parse everything, which is to me a major part of completing a puzzle.

    Sil @ 7 likened this setter to Basilisk, which I agree with. Also similar to Maize in the Indy.

  13. I thought “adieu” was more permanent than “see you” — more like “goodbye forever”. “Au revoir” is closer to “see you”, isn’t it?

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