Financial Times 17,034 by LEONIDAS

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A fun puzzle from LEONIDAS this Friday

FF: 9 DD: 7

ACROSS
1 DING DONG
Good fellow in row G has argument (4-4)

[ G ( good ) DON ( fellow ) ] in [ DIN ( row ) G ]
5 MASSIF
Collection initially is feted as “top of the range” (6)

MASS ( collection ) IF ( "..Is Feted..", initially )
9, 10 BACKSEAT DRIVER
Onboard expert with a verdict: brake’s worn (8,6)

[ A VERDICT BRAKE'S ]*
12 LINGS
Chuck cycling for fish (5)

SLING ( chuck ) with first letter moving to the last ( cycling )
13 EXCITEDLY
Old quote Dolly regularly used with enthusiasm (9)

EX ( old ) CITE ( quote ) DLY ( DoLlY, regularly )
14 AMULET
Charm smuggler into bath when naked (6)

MULE ( smuggler ) in AT ( bATh, naked i.e. without end characters )
16 OKINAWA
Home and Away briefly set on fine island (7)

[ IN ( home ) AWAy ( briefly ) ] after OK ( fine )
19 INSIGHT
Perception of thing is shifting (7)

[ THING IS ]*
21 SLEIGH
Vehicle butcher reported (6)

sounds like SLAY ( butcher )
23 BIKINI WAX
Brazilian stripping for the beach? (6,3)

cryptic def
25 PRATE
Waffle dish changing hands (5)

PlATE ( dish ) with L-left replaced by R-right ( changing hands )
26 RUNWAY
One in flight essentially leaving taxi here (6)

RUNaWAY ( one in flight, essentially leaving i.e. without central character )
27 BAR CHART
Pub talk about brewer’s last diagram (3,5)

BAR ( pub ) [ CHAT ( talk ) about R ( breweR, last letter )
28 EPONYM
Name juvenile in centre of demo (6)

PONY ( juvenile ) in EM ( dEMo, centre of )
29 SKIN-DEEP
Shallow end pike’s ravaged (4-4)

[ END PIKE'S ]*
DOWN
1 DABBLE
Mob having leader supplanted by Dutch tinker (6)

rABBLE ( mob ) with first letter replaced by D ( dutch )
2 NICKNAMES
Unofficial titles such as clink and choky (9)

cryptic def; wonder if there is more to this clue than just this
3 DOSES
Females securing second jabs (5)

DOES ( females ) containing S ( second )
4 NEATEST
Most elegant swallow occupies shelter (7)

NEST ( shelter ) containing EAT ( swallow )
6 AIR STRIKE
Hit that must have come from Sky (3,6)

cryptic def ; not very cryptic though unless i have missed something
7 SAVED
Kept bringing up Hindu gods (5)

reverse of DEVAS ( hindu gods )
8 FERRYMAN
Spooner’s tipsy enthusiast is steerer of boat (8)

spoonerism of MERRY ( tipsy ) FAN ( enthusiast )
11 ECHO
Letter for radio penned by Czechoslovakian (4)

contained in "..czECHOslovakian" – E
15 LEGENDARY
Celebrated finale below stage (area really empty) (9)

[ END ( finale ) after LEG ( stage ) ] A ( area ) RY ( ReallY, empty i.e. without inner letters )
17 AGGRAVATE
Bother adorning most of tomb with marble (9)

AGATE ( marble ) containing GRAVe ( tomb, most of )
18 DISBURSE
Pay out when organising bus rides (8)

[ BUS RIDES ]*
20 TOWS
Draws Cram running toward the north (4)

reverse of SWOT ( cram )
21 SIX PACK
Batch of beers let go, saving nine pence (3-4)

SACK ( let go ) containing [ IX ( nine ) P ( pence ) ]
22 BELT UP
Advice for 9, 10’s own safety (4,2)

not so cryptic def ; see 9,10a
24 KENDO
Drunken doctor admits fighting with sticks (5)

hidden in "drunKEN DOctor.."
25 PECAN
Bird missing kernel of slim nut (5)

PEliCAN ( bird , without LI { kernel i.e. central letters of sLIm } )

17 comments on “Financial Times 17,034 by LEONIDAS”

  1. Thanks for the blog , I did like the neat and concise style of the clues.
    NICKNAMES – clink and choky are terms for prison – the NICK.
    BELT UP – A back-seat driver should wear a seatbelt and also keep quiet.

  2. I felt 2d and 22d were good cryptic clues for the reasons Roz states. Wasn’t sure whether LING was a mass noun but am quite willing to accept LINGS as a plural. Another great outing from Leonidas.

  4. Andrew, I wondered about that too. Thought it might be some unknown slang and forgot to check. Couldn’t find this meaning.

  5. I agree with Turbolegs that AIRSTRIKE was not so very cryptic but NICKNAMES was a favourite, along with that annoying car passenger and the sound advice to BELT UP (as mentioned by Roz and Hovis)!
    I would also add KENDO for its amusing surface and SKIN DEEP – as soon as I saw the enumeration, I knew that I’d need the opposite of ‘shallow’.
    Great fun from Leonidas, always worth the effort.
    Thanks also to Turbolegs, in particular for the parsing of SIX PACK.

  6. I thought the idea of hit shows from Sky TV made 6d a reasonable cryptic definition but I seem to be in a minority here.

  7. I think I agree with Hovis about AIR STRIKE, as well as with Roz and Diane re the amusing BELT UP and NICKNAMES (I learned choky only last week – from a crossword). Not sure what you mean about SKIN DEEP, Diane – surely it does mean shallow?

    Great puzzle and great blog – thanks to both.

  8. Eileen,
    Yes, SKIN DEEP, certainly. I just meant DEEP/SHALLOW and that I saw the anagram would produce DEEP before I saw ‘skin’ to go with it and thereby arrive at ‘shallow’.

  11. The most enjoyable puzzle of the week for me. As Turbolegs’ assessment suggests, lots of fun and a good challenge at the same time. I ticked five clues as being favourites with the best of a very good lot being BELT UP and NICKNAMES wasn’t far behind.

    Thanks to Leonidas and Turbolegs

  12. Thanks to Leonidas and Turbolegs. Lots of fun I usually don’t do well with this setter, but this time to my surprise I got and parsed everything. I particularly enjoyed the BACKSEAT DRIVER.

  13. A fun puzzle indeed, even though I couldn’t get 1a. DING DONG does not mean an argument on this side of the Atlantic, at least in my experience and my dictionary. And without the D, I found myself unable to get DOSES (although having seen it I feel it should have been obvious). Furthermore, in the US, PRATE (to speak foolishly) and WAFFLE (to be indecisive) are not synonymous, although I did write PRATE in as the answer. I’d never heard of BELT UP as an expression to mean “be quiet” or “shut up”, but my US dictionary informs me that I was ignorant of this use. Thus, a great double meaning that I learned. Also was glad to learn CHOKY as a synonym for NICK, CLINK, and JAIL. (In the US we have “pokey”.) That made 2d more enjoyable.

    I agree with Andrew and Hovis about “pony”. Otherwise, however, a lot to enjoy. I especially liked BAR CHART. And after I got BIKINI WAX, with its X and K, I was looking for a pangram, but it was not to be found.

    So, thanks to Leonidas for many fun clues and to Turbolegs for getting me over the rough spots.

  14. Thanks Leonidas, that was most satisfying. Good clues and surfaces throughout — I liked AMULET, RUNWAY, SIX-PACK, PECAN, and NICKNAMES — I guessed DING-DONG and LINGS so thanks Turbolegs for explaining. In AGGRAVATE, I questioned using “grave” for “tomb” but I’m sure some dictionary will say it’s OK.

  15. Number 15 from Leonidas. I thought it was a bit easier than his prior offerings. The only solution I hadn’t heard of was OKINAWA, but the wordplay was straightforward, and it looked like a Japanese word, so I just entered it.

  16. Totally agree about ‘pony’, not sure what I was thinking there. A foalish mistake. Thanks to Turbolegs and all who have commented.

  17. Thanks Leonidas and Turbolegs
    This one stayed empty until last weekend when I got to enjoy what has become a continuation of really fine puzzles by this setter. As it turns out, got to enjoy him again in today’s puzzle which I was able to complete on publication day.
    All of the key points have been well and truly covered off by earlier commenters but would add the praise to the two clever double definitions at 2d and 22d. Made a similar mistake by assuming that 26a was merely a cryptic definition until it was pointed out here that there was a subtraction of the A from RUNAWAY to truly derive the answer.
    Finished in the SE corner with the clever BAR CHART, AGGRAVATE and SLEIGH the last few in.

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