Financial Times 17,119 by SLORMGORM

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SLORMGORM provides this morning’s puzzle….

Solid clues, as one expects from this setter. Nothing too challenging, but very enjoyable nonetheless.

 

Thanks SLORMGORM!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Robot old lady hit gets irate ultimately (7)
MACHINE

MA (old lady) + CHIN (hit) gets [irat]E (ultimately)

5. Nipper bro let off, admitting first of sins (7)
LOBSTER

(BRO LET)* (*off) admitting S[ins] (first of)

9. Drug smuggler in Orange County fled to the west (5)
NARCO

(OC (Orange County) + RAN (fled))< (<to the West)

10. They might help you see captions I redesigned (9)
OPTICIANS

(CAPTIONS I)* (*redesigned)

11. Medical officer addicted to Polish liquor (9)
MOONSHINE

MO (medical officer) + ON (addicted to) + SHINE (polish)

12. Chaps must split bill? That’s correct! (5)
AMEND

MEN (chaps) must split AD (bill)

13. Having been struck, one will become inflamed (5)
MATCH

Cryptic definition

15. Hit the person in charge of an organisation (6,3)
NUMBER ONE

Double definition

18. A French tree seen around uni lacking admirers? (9)
UNPOPULAR

UN (a, French) + POPLAR (tree) seen around U (uni)

19. Encountered books written about a symbolic item (5)
TOTEM

(MET (encountered) + OT (books))< (<written about)

21. Conservative embarrassed by old principles (5)
CREDO

C (Conservative) + RED (embarrassed) by O (old)

23. Support protecting liberal principal in a spot (9)
BLACKHEAD

(BACK (support) protecting L (liberal)) + HEAD (principal)

25. Old American pit workers can be testing folk (9)
EXAMINERS

EX (old) + A (American) + MINERS (pit workers)

26. Public disturbances can be hugely fun occasions (5)
RIOTS

Double definition

27. Behind-pinching socialist will get reported (7)
RELATED

RED (socialist) pinching LATE (behind)

28. Old relative eager to get a durable fabric (7)
NANKEEN

NAN (old relative) + KEEN (eager)

DOWN
1. Extremely small parent’s lowest point (7)
MINIMUM

MINI (extremely small) + MUM (parent)

2. Vegetable that goes with premium ginger (6-3)
CARROT-TOP

CARROT (vegetable) that goes with TOP (premium)

3. English player seen in press with Scottish leader (5)
IRONS

IRON (press) with S[cottish] (leader)

Jeremy Irons, I assume

4. Passionate online movement a failure essentially (9)
EMOTIONAL

E (online) + MOTION (movement) + A + [fai]L[ure] (essentially)

5. Move like a snake shedding skin that’s supple (5)
LITHE

[s]LITHE[r] (move like a snake, shedding skin)

6. A butcher about to steal shilling in foreign capital (9)
BUCHAREST

(A BUTCHER)* (*about) to steal S (shilling)

7. Tense German must leave rank occupation (5)
TRADE

T (tense) + [g]RADE (rank, G (German) must leave)

8. Career that’s consuming Dutch novelist (7)
RUSHDIE

(RUSH (career) + IE (that’s)) consuming D (Dutch)

14. One who mesmerises writhing python is on time (9)
HYPNOTIST

(PYTHON)* (*writhing) + IS on T (time)

16. Moralist gets upset by bit of nooky and this? (6,3)
MORTAL SIN

(MORALIST)* (*upset) by N[ooky] (a bit of)

17. Exactly where a fielder might put sunscreen? (2,3,4)
ON THE NOSE

Double definition

18. You might say Bob on a drop of retsina gets hazy (7)
UNCLEAR

UNCLE (Bob, you might say, Bob’s your uncle) on A + R[etsina] (drop of)

20. One lad supporting Trump-like president (7)
MADISON

(I (one) + SON (lad)) supporting MAD (Trump-like)

James Madison was the 4th US President

22. Message European man via a mobile phone (1-4)
E-MAIL

E (European) + “male” (man, “via mobile phone”)

23. In the sack, engineers might do this (5)
BREED

in BED (the sack), RE (engineers)

24. Religious work fine to be put up by artist and knight (5)
KORAN

(OK)< (fine, <to be put up) by RA (artist) and N (knight)

17 comments on “Financial Times 17,119 by SLORMGORM”

  1. I had more laughs than usual over a SLORMGORM, a fine thing for a Monday. I especially liked MINI MUM, MO ON SHINE, MAD I SON and B(RE)ED. Thanks to him and Teacow.

  2. Good fun, quite a few smiles. Never heard of Jeremy Irons. Couldn’t parse EMAIL (I long ago stopped hyphenating it) till I came here. Thanks for an enjoyable hour this afternoon.

  3. This was a great start to the week. Thankfully there have been no other US Presidents quite like Trump and the statesmanlike and uxorious Madison was the antithesis of DT.

    Thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow

  5. As others above have commented, this was witty and playful, especially the cheeky BREED.
    I had ticks for so many: IRONS, CARROT TOP, MADISON and OPTICIANS.
    A lovely start to the week
    Thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow.

  8. Geoff Down Under – I am English born but have lived in Australia for decades: how could you not know Jeremy Irons? Brideshead, French Lieutenant’s Woman; Die Hard, The Borgias – and many more.

    I agree with you about hyphenating “email” – I was an early adopter of Compuserve back in the last century but now accept the missing hyphen as being acceptable so was surprised to see the clue as “1-4”. Maybe Slormgorm is older than both of us!

    Re 7D, I do not understand why “T” equates to “tense”. Nor in 1A how “chin” means “hit”.

    Whilst I do not subscribe to his politics, I do not believe that the description of 20D is appropriate for Donald Trump. Attack the man’s ideas, not the man. Ad hominem attacks belittle the accuser, not the accused.

    Thanks, Teacow, for the blog.

  9. Peter @8: T is an abbreviation for tense, as in the tense of a verb, and “chin” (verb) can mean to attack by striking on the chin – both are in Chambers.

  11. Peter, I lead a sheltered life, but now you mention it, I confess I probably have heard of Jeremy Irons.

    They say there are two signs you’re losing the plot. The first is you start forgetting things, and the second I don’t remember. ??

  12. Thanks for the blog, the usual set of fine clues from this setter. MORTAL SIN stood out for me, nooky is one of my favourite words.
    I think many things with hyphens gradually lose them over time, this seems to have almost happened for email now.

  13. Entertaining as ever from Slormgorm. Favourites were MORTAL SIN, the MINI MUM and the semi-&lit BREED. No other hair colours that I could see but also good to spot the (RELATED) BLACKHEAD and CARROT-TOP.

    Thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow

  14. Thanks Slormgorm, that was fun. For some reason I had a slow start but after I got UNPOPULAR everything else fell into place. I particularly liked MOONSHINE, LITHE, TRADE, and RUSHIE. Thanks Teacow for the blog.
    [Peter @8: I generally agree with your dislike of ad hominem attacks against any person but one can say that Trump is “mad” about his “stolen” election. His anger is objectively undeniable.]

  15. [Eileen @7: No need for a correction — we all know that “hanks” is just “thanks” without “time” for proofreading.]

  16. Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow
    A quick and enjoyable solve over a cup of coffee and muffin on a welcome Queen’s Birthday holiday yesterday.
    Started with CREDO and finished in the NW corner with EMOTIONAL, MACHINE and MOONSHINE.
    Thought that NUMBER ONE, BREED and MORTAL SIN were the best of a pretty good lot.

  17. Many Toms to TC for a great blog and to all who solved and commented.

    Hope to see you all next time around, but until then its cheers and chin chin from me. 🙂

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