Financial Times 13,356 by Cincinnus

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Prize puzzle from the weekend FT of April 10
Cincinnus keeps up his great style. My favourite clues here are 1A, 16&17A, 24A and 6D.

Across
1. CAPONS – CAP (EU policy) + ON (on) + S (small). “CAP”, as Sil pointed out below, is the Common Agricultural Policy.
4. MISDEEDS – anagram of DID SEEM + S[inful]
10. PRESS ON – PRESS (reporters) + ON (working)
11. LOWERED – LOWER ED[itor] (not the editor-in-chief)
12. TREK – TR (Turkey) + E[lia] K[azan]
13. DEAN MARTIN – DEAN (head of department) + MARTIN[i] (drink – not last one)
16, 17. LITTLE RICHARD – DICK is short for Richard
20, 21. BRITISH LEGION – anagram of IN THIS BIG ROLE
24. UNSALARIED – anagram of A NURSE LAID
25. GASP – G[r]ASP (understand right away)
27. HALCYON – anagram of ANY LOCH
29. APPLIED – A (a) + PP (very quiet) + LIED (song)
30. RESERVED – double definition
31. CRANES – double definition. I gather this refers to the title character of the TV sitcom “Frasier” whose surname is Crane.

Down
1. CAPITALS – double definition by example
2. PRESENT ARMS – PRESENT (here) + RM (Royal Marines) in AS (as)
3. NEST – hidden word
5. ILLINOIS – I (one) + L (left) + IN (home) in LOIS (Clark’s girl — referring to Clark Kent)
6. DOWN AT HEEL – anagram of LOATHED NEW
8. SIDING – SID (Vicious chap) + IN (in) + G (good)
9, 7. INNER EAR – NN (knights) in IE (that is) + REAR (back)
14. TERMINATION – TERM (period) + I (island) + NATION (people)
15. PLATELAYER – LATE (former) in PLAYER (actor). A platelayer is somehow who works on the rails.
18. ESTRANGE – E (English) + STRANGE (eccentric)
19. IN SPADES – IN (fashionable) + SPADES (suit)
22. AUTHOR – AU (in French) + THOR (the Thunderer)
26. SPUR – SPUR[ned] (rejected)
28, 23. LAS VEGAS – VEGA (star) in LASS (girl)

4 comments on “Financial Times 13,356 by Cincinnus”

  1. Thanks, Pete, for another Cincinnus-blog.
    One that I didn’t find very special this time.
    At places even somewhat bland and too easy, but who am I to blame this great setter.

    One of your favourites was 1ac (CAPONS) – I guess, CAP stands for Common Agricultural Policy? So the ‘on’ is the ‘on’ from the clue?
    Another one that you liked was LITTLE RICHARD (16,17ac), but I don’t think L.R. would call himself a R&B star: he was a rock ‘n’ roller – so R&R would have been better.
    The other musical reference can be found in 8d: SID must surely be Sid Vicious, bass player of the Sex Pistols (d.1979).

    I liked the simpleness of 15d (PLATELAYER), but the prize for my Clue of the Day – alas no really great anagrams this week [although 20,21 comes near] – goes to: 1d (CAPITALS). Also simple, but smooth.

  2. Pete

    I have been away from crosswords for a while so I must be a bit rusty but I should like further explanation of 11A, why in spades means not half, and why lied = song.

    I agree with Sil van den Hoek about Little Richard. By the way what is R&B?

    cheers

    John

  3. In 29a, LIED is a German lyric or song, esp. an art-song. The plural form is ‘lieder’, which too occurs often in crosswords as ‘songs’.

    R&B is an abbr. for ‘rhythm and blues’.

    19d: “in spades”, I gathered, means “extremely, emphatically, to a great extent”. The definition of this U.S. slang (I would be interested in knowing the origin) is indicated by the definition “Not half”.

  4. Sil, Thanks for the correction on 1a. I can claim some excuse for missing CAP since I do not live in the EU but I had heard of the Common Agricultural Policy.

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