Financial Times 16,883 by JASON

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Filling the grid this morning wasn’t too much of a challenge, but some of the parsing took me longer than usual.

Thanks to Jason for a fun but challenging puzzle this morning. A combination of easy clues and some that were much trickier to work through. I have “cover” doing double duty in 5a, and 24a was my LOI due to a lack of confidence in my solution (and I was wrong here, so blog amended! Thank you to the first two commenters). Otherwise some great clues and clever thinking from Jason.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Nonetheless, lock is a prop (8)
BUTTRESS

BUT (nonetheless) + TRESS (lock)

5. Hour regularly spent getting key cover for motorists (6)
HUBCAP

H[o]U[r] (regularly spent) getting B (key) + CAP (cover)

9. Take too much old derv that is processed crude (8)
OVERDRAW

O (old) + (DERV)* (*that is processed) + RAW (crude)

10. To wit, source of oil’s an embarrassing predicament (6)
SCRAPE

SC (to wit, scilicet) + RAPE (source of oil)

11. Eccentric elder cad gets certified (8)
DECLARED

(ELDER CAD)* (*eccentric)

12. Do well left tailing intel gatherers? (6)
SOCIAL

SO (well) + L (left) tailing CIA (intel gatherers)

14. In the Odyssey this ogre’s home and supply gets ravaged (10)
POLYPHEMUS

(HOME + SUPPLY)* (*gets ravaged)

18. Sweeper going round drive, good chap bound to join union (10)
BRIDEGROOM

BROOM (sweeper) going round RIDE (drive), G (good)

22. Knock back one pouting in movie lacking content (6)
IMBIBE

I (one) + BIB (pouting, type of fish) in M[ovi]E (lacking content)

23. Sure fine with diet having been fixed (8)
DEFINITE

(FINE + DIET)* (*fixed)

24. Time associated with literal dread (6)
TERROR

T (time) associated with ERROR (literal)

25. It gets used in delicate viewer’s aid? (8)
SUBTITLE

IT gets used in SUBTLE (delicate)

26. City’s former partner backing network (6)
EXETER

EX (former partner) + RETE< (network, <backing)

27. Humanitarian group happily records start of success (3,5)
RED CROSS

(RECORDS)* (*happily) + S[uccess] (start of)

DOWN
1. Fair noble’s moved with introduction of debate (6)
BLONDE

(NOBLE)* (*moved) with D[ebate] (introduction of)

2. Ditch fish maintaining resistance (6)
TRENCH

TENCH (fish) maintaining R (resistance)

3. Right, a face like Michelin’s blown-up product? (6)
RADIAL

R (right) + A DIAL (a face)

4. Ray, we hear, drilled sidewalk surfer (10)
SKATEBOARD

SKATE (ray, type of fish) + “BORED” (drilled, “we hear”)

6. Blue Berets set over His Excellency’s shed (8)
UNCLOTHE

UN (Blue berets) + CLOT (set) over HE (His Excellency)

7. It’s Mum who does the cleaning? An impressive gift (8)
CHARISMA

CHAR IS MA (i.e. cleaner is mum)

8. Beyond compare – as is the lower house (8)
PEERLESS

Double definition

13. One side of fabulous penthouse east of Hackney (10)
HYPOTENUSE

(PENTHOUSE)* (*fabulous) + [Hackne]Y (east of)

15. Matelots in the drink (8)
ABSINTHE

ABS (matelots) + IN THE

16. Fork out for fabulous bus rides (8)
DISBURSE

(BUS RIDES)* (*fabulous)

17. One sitting in Strasbourg is lifted by stony Welsh town (8)
PEMBROKE

MEP< (one sitting in Strasbourg, <lifted) by BROKE (stony, as in stony-broke)

19. Semaphore code, initially it lifted most of diplomacy (6)
TICTAC

(C[ode] (initially) + IT)< (<lifted) + TAC[t] (diplomacy, most of)

20. Writer taking in street’s small bar (6)
BISTRO

BIRO (writer) taking in ST (street)

21. Wilted cress sandwiches, English will be withdrawing (6)
RECESS

(CRESS)* (*wilted) sandwiches E (English)

11 comments on “Financial Times 16,883 by JASON”

  2. Found this too hard and gave up on the NE quadrant. Thanks for the missing parsings. For 24, I have T + ERROR. “LIteral” can refer to a misprint.

  4. Yet again the FT the hardest of the Monday puzzles and satisfying to fill the grid, even if it wasn’t perfectly parsed. I didn’t know the misprint sense of ‘literal’ for ERROR, a BIB = ‘pouting’ = type of fish, the ‘ogre’ in ‘the Odyssey’ or TIC(-)TAC as a kind of ‘semaphore’. I also wondered about “cover” doing double duty for HUBCAP; there’s another example in today’s Guardian puzzle.

    My pick was the ‘sidewalk surfer’ def for SKATEBOARD.

    Thanks to Jason and Teacow

  5. Thanks Jason and Teacow
    1dn and 13dn: Small point, but I think that in each of these clues the added letter should be considered part of the anagram fodder. In 1dn, I think we need “introduction of” to indicate the first letter of “debate”, so it should not also be working as a containment indicator.

  6. I thought this was tricky for a Monday puzzle but very surprised when I completed the grid given a v slow start.
    I think I was saved by the anagrams! My LOI was CHARISMA as I was convinced it was something based on CHARITY (gift). Thanks Teacow and Jason.

  7. Thanks for the blog, little grumbles first. I agree for 5AC about double duty and I never like it. Polyphemus is a Cyclopes but I suppose ogre is just about okay. 27AC I never like happily for an anagram, merrily is much better with a hint of being drunk.
    However I did really enjoy this overall, many fine clues and a nice challenge for a Monday. TICTAC is used at racecourses by the bookies, a kind of semaphore with their hands.

  8. ACD

    I needed a lot of help with parsing, especially with the BIB in IMBIBE and with TERROR, but I was also slowed down with OVERDRAW because I started with overdose and overdone. I enjoyed SKATEBOARD when I finally got the crossers.

  9. I had a similar experience to Hovis but it was the SE corner which foiled me.
    A lot of guesswork today, not knowing, for instance ‘bib’ and just couldn’t seem to get on Jason’s wavelength.
    I did like HYPOTENUSE and POLYPHEMUS [agree with John re those helpful anagrams], along with ABSINTHE and SKATEBOARD.
    Thanks Roz for explaining TICTAC.
    Cheers also to Jason and Teacow.

  10. Thanks Jason and Teacow
    Another ‘not so straightforward’ start to the week, but a very enjoyable one that still fell inside my average FT solving time. Main hold ups were to do with component parts of the word play – BIB (a fish that I didn’t know – or its other name ‘pouting’), RETE (another new term) and to a lesser extent CAP for ‘cover’.
    Am sure that the CHAR IS MA must have been used before, but thought it was a gem and the ‘sidewalk surfing’ SKATEBOARD brought a grin as did the ‘chap bound to join union’ at 18a.
    Finished in the SW corner with IMBIBE, PEMBROKE and EXETER the last few in.

  11. Thanks Jason and Teacow. I finished it but with considerable help from Word Wizard; agree that parsing was a challenge. Loved SKATEBOARD and POLYPHEMUS. Thanks for explaining IMBIBE, TERRIR and TIC-TAC-TOE.

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