Financial Times 17,004 by REDSHANK

by

A friendly challenge from REDSHANK this Friday AM. Thanks REDSHANK!

FF: 9 DD: 7

I thought this was on the easier end of his usual offerings.

ACROSS
1 RELATE
Tell uncle perhaps after four quit (6)

RELATivE ( uncle, perhaps ) without IV ( four, roman numerals )
4 UP-TO-DATE
Trendy university head traps fox (2-2- 4)

U ( university ) [ PATE ( head ) containing TOD ( fox ) ]
9 TITHE
Article about Italian tax given to church (5)

THE ( article ) around IT ( italian )
10 TROOPSHIP
Services carrier, one in posh port under repair (9)

I ( one ) in [ POSH PORT ]*
11 CAESIUM
Exotic music impresses a European, not heavy metal (7)

[ MUSIC ]* containing [ A E ( european ) ]
12 EMPEROR
Caesar for one backed theatre in his capital (7)

reverse of [ REP ( theatre ) in ROME ( ~ his capital ) ]
13 NAIF
Ingenuous supporter tours India, heading west (4)

FAN ( supporter ) around I ( india ), all reversed
14 ESOTERIC
English drunk at Morecambe understood by few (8)

E ( english ) SOT ( drunk ) ERIC ( morecambe )
17 GOINGS-ON
Try stylish German lad’s funny business (6-2)

GO ( try ) IN ( stylish ) G ( german ) SON ( lad )
19 ERSE
Irish take part in prayer service before admitting saint (4)

doubly clued; hidden in "..prayER SErvice.." ; S ( saint ) in ERE ( before )
22 TAFFETA
Banker in Wales put away revolutionary material (7)

TAFF ( banker in wales, river ) ETA ( put away = ATE, reversed )
24 IMPASSE
This writer’s mostly accepted deadlock (7)

I'M ( this writer's ) PASSEd ( accepted, mostly )
25 SOBRIQUET
Small old block of fuel’s extra handle (9)

S ( small ) O ( old ) BRIQUET ( block of fuel, coal block usually )
26 HELLO
How do you do play without books? (5)

otHELLO ( play, without OT – books, Old Testament )
27 SPECKLED
Spotted quantity of dry goods in sleigh (8)

PECK ( quantity of dry goods ) in SLED ( sleigh )
28 STASIS
Inactive state agents once succeeded (6)

STASI ( state agents once ) S ( succeeded )
DOWN
1 RETICENT
Reserved this occasionally in 4 (8)

TI ( ThIs, occasioally ) in RECENT ( 4 referring to the answer to 4a )
2 LATHERING
Preparing to shave piece of wood in work outside (9)

LATH ( piece of wood ) [ IN in ERG ( work ) ]; i had to look up this meaning of LATH in chambers
3 TIEPIN
Record I put in can as security device (6)

[ EP ( record ) I ] in TIN ( can )
5 PROJECTIONIST
One shows film boss going up first after cast (13)

PROJECT ( cast ) ION ( boss = NO.1, reversed ) IST ( first )
6 ON PAPER
Leg exercises broach average in theory (2,5)

ON ( leg, cricket reference ) [ PE ( exercises ) in PAR ( average ) ]
7 ABHOR
Group of Arab horses can’t stand (5)

hidden in "..arAB HORses.."
8 EXPERT
Assuming power, try hard to acquire boffin (6)

EXERT ( try hard ) containing P ( power )
10 TIME SIGNATURE
It shows rhythm by one with good character (4,9)

TIMES ( by ) I ( one ) G ( good ) NATURE ( character )
15 CHRYSALIS
Young winger is rashly replaced after cold (9)

[ IS RASHLY ]* after C ( cold )
16 GENEROUS
Liberal, say, upset and edgy, ignoring victor (8)

GE ( say = EG, reversed ) NERvOUS ( edgy, without V – victor )
18 ICE RINK
Officer in Knightsbridge guards place for slippers (3,4)

hidden in "offICER IN Knightsbridge.."
20 PTOSIS
Spot is developing into eye problem (6)

[ SPOT IS ]*
21 UPSHOT
Outcome of lob? (6)

cryptic def; a LOB could be called an ' up shot '
23 FABLE
Female on island resurrected romance (5)

F ( female ) reverse of ELBA ( island )

11 comments on “Financial Times 17,004 by REDSHANK”

  1. Always enjoy a Redshank puzzle and this was no exception. My favourite was probably 26a, with 15d a close second. There was much to like besides, such as 17a and 3d (definition) and 11a and 14a (surface). 18d was well disguised.
    I had a handful not fully parsed, though, so came here seeking answers.
    Thanks for the fun, Redshank, and Turbolegs for explaining 2d, 5d and 8d in particular.

  2. Diane has saved me a lot of typing, as I agree with all her favourites, for the same reasons. (I love GOINGS-ON as an expression.)

    I also liked UP-TO-DATE, EMPEROR and TIME SIGNATURE.

    Many thanks to Redshank and to Turbolegs.

  3. Very enjoyable puzzle, with favourites as mentioned above plus the double wordplay for ERSE, my last in. Thanks for explaining LATHERING which was beyond my parsing skills.

    I think the def for 28a is ‘Inactive state’ rather than just ‘Inactive’ as STASIS is a noun and ‘Inactive’ by itself is an adjective. Happy to be told if I have the wrong end of the stick.

    Thanks to Redshank and Turbolegs

  4. Thanks Redshank and Turbolegs
    11ac: I think “not” must be part of the definition here. A quick web search gave an authoritative source showing caesium with a density of 1.873 g per cubic cm, compared to copper which is 8.96 g per cc.

  6. In 2d I had no trouble with ”lath” but couldn’t parse there “ering” so thanks Turbolegs. I agree with Pelham re “caesium” which is in group 1 of the periodic table. Thanks Redshank for a fun Friday offering.

  7. Thanks Redshank for a friendly Friday crossword. My favourites included ESOTERIC, TIME SIGNATURE, and GENEROUS. For once I could pretty much parse everything, either before entering my answer or shortly thereafter. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.

  8. Thanks Redshank for a gentle start to the weekend. LATHERING and TIME SIGNATURE went in unparsed, so thanks Turbolegs for the explanations.

  9. Thanks for the blog, all my favourites have been mentioned from a lovely puzzle.
    CAESIUM is very low density as are all group 1 metals, lithium at the top is the least dense of all metals.
    Caesium is also the softest metal, you can cut it with a blunt knife, Francium may be softer but not possible to check.

  10. I agree with Wordplodder@3 with regard to 28a. STASIS is an inactive state whereas STATIC would just be inactive.
    A pleasant way to spend time and I only got to it this morning.
    Thanks both.

  11. Thanks Redshank and Turbolegs
    A more gentle puzzle than normal from this setter, although I did miss the parsing of a couple of clues – somehow missed the PATE part of 4a and never did re-check for the cleverly hidden ICE RINK. Did like the subtle definitions which have been picked up Wordplodder and Pelham – and not sure that I had actually seen them as such until coming here. Don’t know whether I have seen BRIQUET spelt without the TE on the end.
    Finished in the SW with SOBRIQUET and PTOSIS before finally writing in PROJECTIONIST at 5d.

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