Financial Times 17,290 by SLORMGORM

by

A rare departure from Mondays for Slormgorm today.

Many thanks to Slormgorm – a very enjoyable puzzle with some lovely surfaces.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Old French bread (5)
FRANC

Cryptic definition

4. Girl at bar plays rock here? (9)
GIBRALTAR

(GIRL AT BAR)* (*plays)

9. Fancy Slormgorm’s a spirit with energy (7)
IMAGINE

I’M (Slormgorm’s) + A + GIN (spirit) with E (energy)

10. Drop of Malbec flipping weary editor deserved (7)
MERITED

M[albec] (drop of) + TIRE< (weary, <flipping) + ED (editor)

11. US theatre I promote or nag about (9,4)
OPERATING ROOM

(I PROMOTE OR NAG)* (*about)

14. Husband loves pinching bishop’s bum (4)
HOBO

H (husband) + (OO (loves) pinching B (bishop))

15. Criminal losing it by north London borough (9)
ISLINGTON

(LOSING IT)* (*criminal) by N (north)

18. Tory stupid to get NHS department in pickle? (9)
CONDIMENT

CON (Tory) + DIM (stupid) to get ENT (NHS department)

19. Woman finally made two grand? Ace! (4)
EMMA

[mad]E (finally) + MM (two grand) + A (ace)

21. Isn’t Pole struggling with Sting LP? (9,4)
LISTENING POST

(ISN’T POLE STING)* (*struggling)

24. People who flog old comic actor (7)
SELLERS

Double definition

26. Touchy jazz fan upset one roofer laid (7)
TACTILE

CAT< (jazz fan, <upset) + TILE (one roofer laid)

27. Old maids in DJs, might one say? (9)
SPINSTERS

Cryptic definition (disc jockeys spin records)

28. Gag poor fellow in hearing (5)
RETCH

“WRETCH” (poor fellow, “in hearing”)

DOWN
1. A way around isle that’s passable (4)
FAIR

FAR (a way) around I (isle)

2. Skinny doctor’s first aid kit? (1,3,2,5)
A BAG OF BONES

Cryptic definition

3. Wound up Conservative gets lubricated (6)
COILED

C (Conservative) gets OILED (lubricated)

4. Grandee in ridiculous syrup (9)
GRENADINE

(GRANDEE IN)* (*ridiculous)

5. Film graduate on motorway touring Britain (5)
BAMBI

BA (graduate) on (M1 (motorway) touring B (Britain))

6. A bishop shot up by soldier with a big head? (8)
ARROGANT

A + RR (bishop) + GO< (shot, <up) by ANT (soldier)

7. Needleworker’s work is tasteless stuff (3)
TAT

Double definition (tattoo)

8. Basic training needed for adult miner (10)
RUDIMENTAL

(ADULT MINER)* (*training needed)

12. I’ll supply you with contacts at work (11)
OPTOMETRIST

Cryptic definition

13. Those ticked off by inspection on Rolls (10)
CHECKLISTS

Cryptic definition

16. Literature one software mogul contests in court (9)
LITIGATES

LIT (literature) + I (one) + GATES (software mogul)

17. Loch overlooked by resort has pleasant quality (8)
NICENESS

NESS (loch) overlooked by NICE (resort)

20. Prisoner must get dog…agree? (6)
CONCUR

CON (prisoner) must get CUR (dog)

22. Congressional results matter (5)
ISSUE

Double definition

23. You old? That’s awful, right? (4)
YEAH

YE (you, old) + AH (that’s awful)

25. One after the heart of Alex Garland (3)
LEI

I (one) after [a]LE[x] (the heart of)

15 comments on “Financial Times 17,290 by SLORMGORM”

  1. Thanks, Slormgorm & Oriel. Good to have a relatively gentle one after the last few days of toughies. Some fun clues here – 14a is delightful.

  2. Thanks for the blog and all the others this year, great to have the FT paper in print again. Super puzzle, a bit like Cyclops but not going too far. Lovely set of clues including some great anagrams but I will just pick out the simple HOBO.
    For TAT I did not think of tattoos, it is also a form of sewing to make tattings, I wonder what the setter meant ?
    Very minor quibble I think for TACTILE, I am never sure about upset=reverse for an Across clue.

  5. I’ll echo the comments above about welcoming a relatively mild solve.
    I enjoyed GIBRALTAR, CONDIMENT, SELLERS and TACTILE to name but a few. Just wasn’t particularly sold on YEAH but this was just a minor ruffle.
    And I agree with Roz both on the return of print and also the Cyclops feel of a few clues, especially ISSUE which raised eyebrows initially over the precise nature of that ‘matter’.
    Thanks to Slormgorm and to Oriel.

  6. Re 23D: “Ah, isn’t that a lovely puppy?” “Ah, isn’t she beautiful?”. I’m not sure that “Ah” is a bad observation.

    I had no problem with 22D. If a man has “congress” with a woman, then the result (nine months later) would be, in legalese an “issue”. So “matter” and “issue” are synonyms.

  7. According to the Setters page here, Slormgorm is an alter ego of the Indy’s Hoskins. I wasn’t aware of that before but it does explain a few things! (Fewer drug references than yesterday’s Hoskins though.)

  9. An excellent puzzle and blog, with thanks to Slormgorm and Oriel.

    Another possible way to parse 13d might be CHECK (inspection) on LISTS (rolls).

  10. All went smoothly except for 6d. I fixated on a B for “bishop” and a GI for “soldier” and finished up with a new word “abrigant” ! thanks Slormgorm and
    Oriel.

  11. My suggested alternative parsing @9 is, of course, under the presumption that “Those ticked off” is sufficient to define CHECKLISTS.

  12. Thanks Slormgorm, that was fun with witty surfaces throughout. My top choices were GIBRALTAR, RETCH, HOBO, ISSUE, and YEAH. I parsed CHECKLISTS like LarryS. I didn’t fully parse ARROGANT so thanks Oriel for the blog.

  13. Slormgorm & Oriel thank you. Very nice and enjoyable for me yeah. Only yeah was the one I never got. But still I give you a Yeah! In the American sense for the fun. Anil

  15. Thanks Slormgorm and Oriel. Pleasant solve. Not difficult except last one, YEAH. Liked HOBO and SPINSTERS. Agree with Roz about TAT, and Larry and Tony on CHECKLISTS.
    With Geoff I wondered about LP, but on Abbreviations.com it’s listed as short for a military listening post. Probably used in the Signal Corps, etc?

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