Financial Times 16,941 by REDSHANK

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A proper head-scratcher from REDSHANK, thanks to whom for an excellent Friday treat.

FF: 9 DD: 9

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 DREAMY
Lovely old mates of Brian Cox last in astronomy (6)
D: REAM ( old mates of brian cox, name of the music band he was a part of ) Y ( astronomY, last letter )
4 TRUE BLUE
Staunch Tory regularly tortures police officer (4-4)
TRUE ( ToRtUrEs, regularly ) BLUE ( police officer )
9 A LEVEL
Test All About Eve (1,5)
ALL around EVE – not very cryptic
10 INVEIGLE
Sweet-talk pair of Europeans living abroad (8)
[ EE ( pair of europeans ) LIVING ]*
12 NEAR
Close down earmarked stores (4)
hidden in “..dowN EARmarked..”
13 HELIOTROPE
He left grease around heart of green plant (10)
HE [ reverse of { PORT ( left ) OIL ( grease } ] E ( heart of grEen )
15 GOBBLEDEGOOK
Put away vanity and sanction bull (12)
GOBBLED ( put away ) EGO ( vanity ) OK ( sanction )
18 TRAUMATISING
Shocking yet refreshing amusing trait (12)
[ AMUSING TRAIT ]*
21 ROOD SCREEN
Back entry to show division in church (4,6)
ROOD ( entry = DOOR, reversed ) SCREEN ( show )
22 SPAT
Rained a little, leading to flood briefly (4)
SPATe ( flood, briefly ) – my loi
24 CLEANSER
Son enthralled by daily soap (8)
S ( son ) in CLEANER ( daily ) , my foi
25 WALNUT
Regulation rejected by head cabinetmaker (6)
WAL ( regulation = LAW , reversed ) NUT ( head )
26 EXORCISE
Troops interrupt duty to get rid of spirit (8)
OR ( troops ) in EXCISE ( duty )
27 BEHEAD
Top eastern ambassador visits poor (6)
[ E ( eastern ) HE ( ambassador, His Excellency ) ] in BAD ( poor )
DOWN
1 DRAINAGE
What sickly gardenia needs? (8)
&lit; [ GARDENIA ]*
2 EWE LAMBS
English doctor in Wales knitted jumpers in spring (3,5)
E ( english ) [ MB ( doctor ) WALES ]*
3 MIEN
The look of one who’s in pieces (4)
I ( one ) in MEN ( pieces, chess )
5 RUNNING MATES
Fellow candidates competing against couples (7,5)
RUNNING ( competing ) MATES ( couples )
6 ELECTRONIC
Pick different iron clubs, exploiting chips? (10)
ELECT ( pick ) [ IRON ]* C ( clubs )
7 LEGION
Celeb, say, boring host (6)
EG ( say ) in LION ( celeb )
8 EYELET
By the sound of it, I’ll film small opening (6)
EYEL ( sounds like i’ll) ET ( film )
11 HEADQUARTERS
Base local idiots drinking two pints (12)
HEADERS ( local idiots ) containing QUART ( two pints )
14 ULTRASONIC
Like bats or lunatics, raving? (10)
[ OR LUNATICS ]*
16 SIXPENCE
Former cost of videos halved? (8)
cryptic def; expansion of VIDeos ( halved ) ; SIX ( VI ) PENCE ( D )
17 AGITATED
Old paper and rubbish imported in a distressed state (8)
AGED ( old ) containing [ I ( paper ) TAT ( rubbish ) ]
19 ORACLE
Authority hide boat with no bow (6)
cORACLE ( hide boat , without bow i.e. without starting letter )
20 BOLERO
The Spanish up in Middlesbrough dance (6)
LE ( reverse of EL, ‘the’ in spanish ) in BORO ( middlesbrough )
23 DAME
Titled woman furious about drug (4)
DAM ( furious = MAD , reversed ) E ( drug, Ecstasy )

16 comments on “Financial Times 16,941 by REDSHANK”

  1. Thanks Turbolegs and Redshank.
    It was a head-scratcher as you say; I came to see parsing for: DREAMY, HELIOTROPE, SIXPENCE.
    Very nice, indeed.

  2. Thanks for the blog and the explanation for 11D, I have not seen HEADERS before in this sense.
    Very fine puzzle, a few favourites to name, SIXPENCE for the VI D , HELIOTROPE and GOBBLEDEGOOK both seem to fit together so nicely.
    Not quite sure for ORACLE even though the wordplay is fine. “Authority hide boat ” does not seem right , unless authority is a plural , authority hideS boat would spoil the word play.

  3. I paused too at the surface of 19d but drew the same conclusion as Roz. I very much like Redshank as a setter but this grid got the better of me today. There were simply too many things I didn’t know like ‘headers’, the Brian Cox band and WALNUT in this sense (lovely word though).
    GOBBLEDEGOOK, SPAT and INVEIGLE were favourites.
    It was not without its moments, however, so thanks to Redshank and Turbolegs.

  6. Thanks Redshank and Turbolegs

    2dn: I think this should be taken as E + MB in [WALES]*: this accounts for the word “in” in the clue and avoids the indirect anagram.

  7. Redshank in top form. Too many favourites to list them all, so I’ll leave it at the ‘vid’ wordplay for SIXPENCE and the HELIOTROPE head scratcher at the very end.

    A worthy Friday challenge.

    Thanks to Turbolegs and Redshank

  9. Thanks Redshank and Turbolegs

    Roz @ 2: how about “The local authority hide clarity behind a wall of verbiage”?

  11. gsolphotog @10. I didn’t know this either. My Chambers app didn’t shed any light but my Collins mentions that header is a dialect term (hence local) for a mentally unbalanced person.

  15. Thanks Redshank and Turbolegs
    Found this quite tough, taking nearly twice the normal solving time to finish it. A number of clues that I had to look up things to get me going – D REAM was a band that I had never heard of until looking up Brian Cox, HEADERS (for ‘idiots’) was a new term needed an anagram finder to help find TRAUMATISING and ULTRASONIC to get momentum going after a lull.
    Thought that SIXPENCE was the best of a very good bunch of clues.
    Finished in the NE corner with ELECTRONIC, HELIOTROPE and LEGION the last few in.

  16. My understanding is that a coracle is a boat often made from reeds, branches etc. and hide or other natural cover materials.

    Thanks to everyone. Good puzzle.

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