Financial Times 17,149 by SLEUTH

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SLEUTH kicks off this Monday morning…

A fairly gentle start to the week, with a nice mix of clues and some great surfaces.

 

Thanks SLEUTH!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
9. Lofty group of nuns has difficult assignment (4,5)
TALL ORDER

TALL (lofty) + ORDER (group of nuns)

10. Man ironically greeted when touring area with a tropical fruit (5)
GUAVA

(GUV (man ironically greeted) touring A (area)) with A

11. Chap carrying voguish quartet from Rome in people carrier (7)
MINIVAN

MAN (chap) carrying (IN (voguish) + IV (quartet from Rome))

12. Apparent area of religious significance with noted dynasty (7)
SEEMING

SEE (area of religious significance) with MING (noted dynasty)

13. Pioneering female is drawn for the most part (3)
EVE

EVE[n] (drawn, for the most part)

14. Top film star gained ally at work after embracing director (7,4)
LEADING LADY

(GAINED ALLY)* (*at work) embracing D (director)

17. On a regular basis, Roman’s first location for finding water (5)
OASIS

[r]O[m]A[n]S [f]I[r]S[t] (on a regular basis)

18. Sound mildly disapproving of bend in motorcycle event (3)
TUT

U (bend) in TT (motorcycle event)

19. Old story about very limited Greek product (5)
OLIVE

O (old) + LIE (story) about V (very)

21. US actress ruined the mood largely? That’s uncomfortably true (5,2,4)
CLOSE TO HOME

CLOSE (US actress, Glenn Close) + (THE MOO[d] (largely))* (*ruined)

23. Select for audience film (3)
PIC

“pick” (select, “for audience”)

25. Lead place for retreat in recently formed company (5-2)
START-UP

STAR (lead) + (PUT)< (place, <for retreat)

27. Old king’s one objection to fish (7)
HALIBUT

HAL (old king) + I (one) + BUT (objection)

28. Feature in a church newspaper (5)
ORGAN

Double definition

29. Rock band most hear mistakenly around middle of gig (9)
AEROSMITH

(MOST HEAR)* (*mistakenly) around [g]I[g] (middle of)

DOWN
1. Obstruct major route in Sweden yet to be built (6)
STYMIE

MI (major route) in (S (Sweden) + (YET)* (*to be built))

2. Fighter shunning society is defamatory about battle site (8)
FLANDERS

F (fighter) + [s]LANDERS (is defamatory about, shunning S (society))

3. Recover chapter introducing novels ace composed (10)
CONVALESCE

C (chapter) + (NOVELS ACE)* (*composed)

4. Some sedentary ex-PM (4)
EDEN

[s]EDEN[tary] (some)

5. Cook top citrous food from a deli? (10)
PROSCIUTTO

(TOP CITROUS)* (*cook)

6. American hotel visitors not half getting fever (4)
AGUE

A (American) + GUE[sts] (hotel visitors, not half)

7. Impression from a malleable element in Pennsylvania (6)
PATINA

(A + TIN (malleable element)) in PA (Pennsylvania)

8. Excitedly log a grey medieval church ornament (8)
GARGOYLE

(LOG A GREY)* (*excitedly)

15. Legal case supported by place with a new strategy (6,4)
ACTION PLAN

ACTION (legal case) supported by PL (place) with A + N (new)

16. See golf shot played with tee at end flying off? Indication of fear, maybe (10)
GOOSEFLESH

(SEE GOLF SHO[t] (with tee at end flying off))* (*played)

17. Event in grounds (8)
OCCASION

Double definition

20. Where one might find boozing with large drinks accompaniment virtually open to view? (2,6)
IN PUBLIC

IN PUB (where one might find boozing) with L (large) + IC[e] (drinks accompaniment, virtually)

22. One’s first line of goods has something with zest? (6)
ORANGE

O[ne] (first) + RANGE (line of goods)

24. Hear Yankee describing a memorable song? (6)
CATCHY

CATCH (hear) + Y (yankee)

26. Fail abysmally in military vehicle (4)
TANK

Double definition

27. Wound the feelings of English actor (4)
HURT

Double definition

(John Hurt)

18 comments on “Financial Times 17,149 by SLEUTH”

  1. Pleasant start to the week with a few that held me up, notably GUV for ‘Man ironically greeted’ at 10a and OCCASION for ‘grounds’ at 17d. Luckily I’d recently seen something on the TV about the ‘Rock band’ at 29a, which otherwise might have given me trouble, even with the anagram.

    There’s an EDEN, EVE and LEADING LADY but no other references to the Book of Genesis that I can see. Favourites were the ‘sedentary ex-PM’ at 4d and the amusing surface for IN PUBLIC.

    Thanks to Sleuth and Teacow

  2. Good fun, and the right level of difficulty. START-UP was in both this and the Guardian puzzles today, the latter having stumped me as I was unaware that a tup was a ram. No such problem here. Reducing both “fighter” and “society” to their first letters in 2d irritated me. I’m sure someone will direct me to some authoritative list that shows that they can thus be initialised, but there seem to be fewer and fewer things in cryptics today that can’t. I hadn’t heard of John Hurt nor Glenn Close … I must watch the wrong films. I didn’t know that a patina could be an impression. So I’ve expanded my knowledge today.

    We’re thinking of you Brits in the heat. Keep your peckers up.

  4. Just right for a Monday morning where it is already 29 degrees and our usual cooling sea breeze seems to have given up 🙁

    Thanks to Sleuth and Teacow

  5. An enjoyable Monday exercise over breakfast. First in was 1a’s gimme and the last that ‘rock band’ with its smart wordplay.
    My favourite was mention of LEADING LADY, Glenn, in CLOSE TO HOME. Also liked SEEMING and GOOSEFLESH.
    Geoff,
    I guess if you never saw Fatal Attraction or Elephant Man, you’re not one for the movies.
    A few parsing queries (guava, start-up) which are answered smoothly here by Teacow, thanks.
    And cheers to Sleuth for the fun.

  6. Geoff, like you I live in Australia (Melbourne) and I find it hard to believe that you don’t know of John Hurt or Glenn Close. Okay JH may be unforgettable but Glenn’s shower scene in “The Big Chill” is unforgettable.

    I’m with you on 7D – I didn’t know this definition: to me, a patina is covering layer, but when I discarded the “malleable element” of “lead” it was the only obvious answer.

    16D was new to me: I had only heard of “goosebumps” before.

  9. Thanks Sleuth and Teacow

    The F = Fighter usage is from the USAF. While it is in Chambers, they also use B = Bomber, which isn’t.

    And S = Society occurs in numerous abbreviations.

    Geoff – please don’t post spoilers to other puzzles. I already knew that this puzzle included START UP before I started, as I’d read the thread on the Guardian puzzle.

  10. Thanks Sleuth, that was most satisfying. I’m a fan of clever, witty surfaces and there were many here including LEADING LADY, CLOSE TO HOME, and GOOSEFLESH. I also ticked MINIVAN, HALIBUT, ORANGE, and CATCHY as top choices. I, like others, failed to parse GUAVA and START UP. Thanks Teacow for the blog.

  11. Thanks for the blog, a lot of good clues , Diane and Tony mention my favourites. GUV is often used in TV police dramas , often ironically , sometimes for a female boss.
    F – 111 fighter planes were often seen in Oxford in the late 1980s , pretty sure there is an F – 15 as well.

  13. thanks Sleuth & Teacow
    Who’s more famous, John or William Hurt? William was in the Big Chill with Glenn Close, and died in March, possibly coinciding with writing the puzzle?

  14. James @13: The clue refers to an English actor so John Hurt fits the bill. William Hurt was an American actor. Both were award-winning. My guess is that John is “more famous” in Britain, William in America, but even casual film fans know both of them.

  15. Having entered GROVELLING for 16d, was unable to solve 29a. I did think of the rock band but thought it was Arrowsmith – like MOST, I guess I HEAR it “mistakenly”.

  16. A pleasant stroll (metaphorically only on such a hot day). We didn’t parse CLOSE TO HOME but it was obvious from definition and crossing letters. And our knowledge of rock bands is minimal but AEROSMITH was clear from the anagram fodder.
    Thanks, Sleuth and Teacow.

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