Financial Times 17,128 by LEONIDAS

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Medium difficulty Leonidas puzzle this morning.

I enjoy Leonidas crosswords as they tend to have just the right amount of a-ha moments to let the solver feel he has been challenged without being unfairly misled or having to resort to the dictionary. This was typical. It took me a while to get started, but once I had a few clues in place, the crossing letters revealed other answers fairly regularly. I can't parse POTOMAC to my satisfaction, but will gladly be put right by one of my betters.

Thanks, Leonidas

ACROSS
1 PILGRIMAGE
Dismal time on regularly uphill journey (10)

GRIM ("dismal") + AGE ("time") on [reguarly] (u)P(h)I(l)L
6 STOP
Prevent loads of dosh being returned (4)

<=POTS ("loads of dosh", being returned)
10 TOWEL
Digger that hasn’t run dry (5)

T(r)OWEL ("digger" that hasn't R (run, in cricket))
11 KAMASUTRA
Trauma as king misinterpreted manual? (9)

*(trauma as k) [anag:misinterpreted]
12 CRACKNEL
Drug half of elephant’s biscuit (8)

CRACK ("drug") + [half of] NEL(lie) (the "Elephant", as in "Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk and said goodbye to the Circus")
13 EDICT
Fish put back by court order (5)

<=IDE ("fish", put back) by Ct. (court)
15 COAL GAS
Leaves to collect seaweed for fuel (4,3)

COS ("leaves") to collect ALGA ("seaweed")
17 POTOMAC
River flower near to river from the east (7)

PO ("river") + TO + <=CAM ("flower" i.e. river, from the east i.e backwards]

This clue simply doesn't work unless I am missing something. The only part that is "to the east" is the flower, so the "to the east" needs to be close to "flower" in the clue.
19 BREWERS
Ale experts better after draining jugs (7)

B(ette)R [after draining] + EWERS ("jugs")
21 FOREMAN
In favour of recalling title “Gaffer” (7)

FOR ("in favour of") + [recalling] <=NAME ("title")
22 DELFT
Crockery gift maker stored in empty depot (5)

ELF ("toy maker" at Christmas) stored in [empty] D(epo)T
24 CLAYMORE
Former pugilist with additional Highland weapon (8)

(Cassius ) CLAY (aka Muhammad Ali) ("former pugilist") with MORE ("additional")
27 VITRIOLIC
Terribly civil about threesome? Quite the opposite (9)

*(civil) [anag:terribly] about TRIO ("threesome")
28 ROBIN
Nick at home being a crime fighter (5)

ROB ("nick") + IN ("at home")
29 RAPT
Hunter leaving gold to be transported (4)

RAPT(or) ("hunter") leaving OR ("gold" in heraldry)
30 FREEWHEELS
Shoes given away across western coasts (10)

FREE HEELS ("shoes given away") across W (western)
DOWN
1 PATE
Record briefly over final bit of The Crown (4)

<=(TAP(e) ("record" briefly, over)) + [final bit of] (th)E
2 LOWER-CASE
Small type of cow maybe squashing bag (5-4)

LOWER ("cow, maybe" i.e. something that lows) squashing CASE ("bag")
3 RELIC
Part of squirrel iconised as something holy (5)

Hidden in [part of] "squirREL IConised"
4 MYKONOS
Thousands surrounding yard soon toppled Greek place (7)

M + K ("thousands") surrounding Y (yard) + *(soon) [anag:toppled]
5 GYM SLIP
Gay mates both extremely on edge in school dress (3,4)

G(a)Y M(ate)S [both extremely] on LIP ("edge")
7 TUTTI
Tattooist uses the ten inks originally all at once (5)

T(attooist) U(ses) T(he) T(en) I(nks) [originally]
8 PLASTICINE
Adult in silent pic possibly is modelling material (10)

A (adult) in *(silent pic) [anag:possibly]
9 ASSENTER
Come in to support fool who might agree to all sorts (8)

ENTER ("come in") to support ASS ("fool")
14 SCUBA DIVER
One who checks tanks before going to bed? (5,5)

Cryptic definition
16 GREAT TIT
Moving target essentially for kite flyer (5,3)

*(target) [anag:moving] + [essentially for] (k)IT(e)
18 MEMORABLE
Revolution of island capital master easily recollected (9)

[revolution of] <=(ELBA ("island") + ROME ("capital") + M (master))
20 SECULAR
Lay copper end of spool inside special organ (7)

Cu (chemical symbol for "copper") + [end of] (spoo)L inside S (special) + EAR ("organ")
21 FIANCEE
Partner initially is actually not coping in charge (7)

[initially] I(s) A(ctually) N(ot) C(oping) in FEE ("charge")
23 LET-UP
Relief from dispute likely in recession (3- 2)

Hidden backwards in [from…in recession] "disPUTE Likely"
25 MORPH
Figure of 8 dance upset husband (5)

<=PROM ("dance", upset) + H (husband)

The 8 in the clue refers to 8d, plasticine. Morph was a plasticine man who featured in a series of stop-motion animations on British TV, starting out as a "guest" in Tony Hart's shows, then getting his own series.
26 ONUS
Britain avoiding extra responsibility (4)

B (Britain) avoiding (b)ONUS ("extra")

10 comments on “Financial Times 17,128 by LEONIDAS”

  1. Thanks for the blog, agree with your summary, I loved FREEWHEELS and MORPH for the figure of 8.
    I think you have got POTOMAC and just confused yourself. PO = flower and CAM = river ( then reversed ) .

  3. 25d was the only one I didn’t get, and I can see from here that I had no hope from half a world away. Similarly 12a that I guessed but couldn’t parse. Otherwise pretty straightforward and enjoyable.

  4. Thanks setter and blogger. 25d was my last one in, as I was never much of a Morph fan….

    I believe the parsing of 17a is PO (flower) + near TO + river (CAM) backwards. If next replaces near it would be clearer perhaps.

  5. Very enjoyable. As a child, I used to watch Vision On so was familiar with MORPH. Loved this clue, along with DELFT (for the gift maker), MYKONOS and TOWEL.
    Thanks to Leonidas and Loonapick.

  7. Thanks to both for another enjoyable puzzle. I too failed with 25d. Never hear of the plasticine man and not sure I want to make his acquaintance. As with Geoff Down Under it was a hopeless case.

  8. I managed to guess MORPH correctly, thinking that PLASTICINE can be formed into many shapes, but it was no more than a guess, so not properly solved. I took a while to get going too, but then all went in fairly steadily. Just my ignorance but I’d never heard of a CRACKNEL ‘biscuit’ before and POTOMAC with those ‘river(s)’ and a ‘flower’ took some working out, as noted.

    Is our esteemed setter ‘at home… a crime fighter’ I wonder.

    Thanks to Leonidas and loonapick

  9. Thanks Loonapic. Pretty good, but I have a couple of niggles. ‘Lay’ is not synonymous with ‘secular’ – if it were, where would that leave Lay-preachers?
    Also ‘cos’ = ‘leave’s isn’t great. If that’s acceptable are we going to see setters also using ‘iceberg’ and ‘little gem’ to define ‘leaves’? Where will it end?

  10. Lay is used to describe anyone who is not a member of the clergy, as is secular. And I see no problem with cos = leaves

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