Financial Times 17,307 by SLORMGORM

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An agreeable puzzle today from Slormgorm . . .

. . . with a number of grins and oddities thrown in to keep us on our toes.   This assortment of words feels like the makings of a Dashiell Hammett novel, but if there is an actual theme here, I am missing it.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 SEARCH ME
I have no idea if a schemer will change (6,2)
Anagram of (if . . . will change) A SCHEMER
5 PLEASE
Tickle quiet liberal with lack of awkwardness (6)
P (quiet, in music) + L (liberal) + EASE (lack of awkwardness)
10 MOVE OUT
Leave home and travel abroad (4,3)
MOVE (travel) + OUT (abroad)
11 HIGH HAT
What can be part of a drum kit and a stovepipe? (4,3)
Double definition
12 LONG SHOTS
Remote possibilities of awfully hot snogs around lake (4,5)
L (lake) + anagram of (awfully) HOT SNOGS. I am taking “around” to mean “in the vicinity of.”
13 RACER
Bishop seen around a church in sporty motor (5)
RR (bishop) around (seen around) [A + CE (church)]
15 ARUBA
Island that can be spotted in Tokomaru Bay (5)
Hidden in (spotted in) [TOKOM]ARU BA[Y]
16 GANGSTER
Grand way to stop feeling of antagonism in criminal (8)
G (grand) + [ST (way) inside (to stop [up]) ANGER (feeling of antagonism)]. I kept trying to make something out of “angst” with this one, which, of course, did not work.
19 CONTRACT
Pamphlet found on conservative shrink (8)
CON (Conservative) + TRACT (pamphlet)
20 NARCO
Drug smuggler sprinted back to meet firm (5)
RAN (sprinted) reversed (back) + CO (firm)
21 BASES
Layers which can be seen in some diamonds? (5)
Double definition, the first, the plural of base or possibly basis; the second, referring to a baseball field
23 SHIFTLESS
What one will do changing to an automatic car … idle? (9)
Cryptic definition, i.e., a driver will shift less with an automatic transmission.
25 ASHTRAY
Place some might park their butts for a while? (7)
Cryptic definition. I am not entirely sure what “for a while” indicates, i.e., while smoking?
27 ABANDON
A group performing in desert (7)
A + BAND (group) + ON (performing)
28 HOTTER
Hard type seen at The Den is more fiery than others (6)
H (hard) + OTTER (type [of animal] seen at [a] den)
29 MESSIDOR
Famous player upset bar in month in France once (8)
MESSI (famous player, i.e., Lionel Messi) + ROD (bar) reversed (upset), referring to the French Revolutionary calendar
DOWN
1 SOMALIAN
Wild animals flanking old person from Africa (8)
Anagram of (wild) ANIMALS around (flanking) O (old)
2 ADVENTUROUS
A sour nude TV broadcast could be daring (11)
Anagram of (broadcast) A SOUR NUDE TV
3 CROISSANT
Son tucking into cooked C-rations for breakfast? (9)
S (son) inside (tucking into) anagram of (cooked) C-RATIONS
4 METRO
Police turned over men in the French underground (5)
MET (police) + OR (men) inverted (turned over)
6 LAGER
Royal revolutionary, one a lout might knock back (5)
REGAL (royal) reversed (revolutionary)
7 ACH
I’m surprised Scottish pine will be cut down (3)
ACH[E] (pine, minus the final letter or “cut down”), also spelled “och”
8 ENTER
Come in and get involved in record (5)
Triple definition
9 CHESTNUT
Old joke involving Carlsen super-fan I’ve been told? (8)
[Near-?]homophone of (I’ve been told?) CHESS NUT (Carlsen super-fan, referring to Magnus Carlsen).  See KVa@6 ff. in the comments.
14 CLEAR-HEADED
He declared a drunk sober (5-6)
Anagram of (drunk) HE DECLARED A
16 GLASS EYE
Good girl and I picked up part of a socket set? (5,3)
G (good) + LASS (girl) + EYE [homophone of (picked up) I], referring to the eye socket in which it rests
17 SAND TRAPS
Spartans fighting around top of damaged bunkers (4,5)
Anagram of (fighting) SPARTANS around D (first letter or “top” of “damaged”)
18 POISONER
Criminal and inmate missing first right around Ohio (8)
P[R]ISONER (inmate) minus (missing [the] first [instance of]) R (right) around O (Ohio)
21 BEACH
Composer getting hold of ecstasy in The Strand? (5)
BACH (composer) around (getting hold of) E (ecstasy)
22 SARGE
Wise man skirting Republican military type (5)
SAGE (wise man) around (skirting) R (Republican)
24 IMAGE
Vision wizard gets after first of incantations (5)
First letter of (first of) I[NCANTATIONS] + MAGE (wizard), with “gets after” indicating the order of the wordplay
26 HAT
Have an aversion to energy-sapped bowler? (3)
HAT[E] (have an aversion to) minus (sapped) E (energy)

17 comments on “Financial Times 17,307 by SLORMGORM”

  1. Thanks, Slomgorm for the enjoyable puzzle, and Thanks, Cineraria for the nice blog.

    ASHTRAY:
    Had similar thoughts. People park their cig butts for a while during smoking and then for a while (longer…depending on when they choose to clear their ashtrays).
    LONG SHOTS:
    Liked the use of ‘around’ to mean ‘by’.
    Liked CHESTNUT.

  2. An enjoyable exercise, thank you Slormgorm. I thought the definition for LAGER was a little odd. So it’s a lout’s drink, is it? Well aware of a high hat in a drum kit, but stovepipe hats are new to me. Chess/chest … are we getting into approximate homophones now? Where will it end? 🙁 I’m assured that otters live in holts or crouches, but I guess they’re just a specific version of the more generic “den”.

  3. Pleasant puzzle after a few more difficult ones elsewhere today. Even so, I missed the ‘diamonds?’ baseball reference at 21a and have to admit ignorance of Marcus ‘Carlsen’, which meant 9d went in from the def. Never heard of MESSIDOR either, though was aware that there was a French revolutionary calendar and wordplay was helpful.

    GDU @2, for LAGER at 6d, the ‘one a lout might knock back’ def is a reference to the term “lager louts” which is more commonly used in the UK than it is in Aust. Thanks for your info about the abodes of otters – I’m sure it will come in useful one day in a crossword.

    Thanks to Slormgorm and Cineraria

  4. Thank you, Wordplodder, for your enlightenment regarding lager louts. I don’t remember ever hearing it here. We don’t talk about lager much either, come to think of it. “Beer” covers all bases.

  6. From what all of you say, I understand that chess nut isn’t an exact homophone of chestnut.
    I do not understand why (My knowledge in this area is limited.).
    Could someone enlighten me?

  7. Very enjoyable with some lovely surfaces, especially 14a. Also liked SHIFTLESS, MESSIDOR and HAT.
    I’ve come across those baseball diamonds here before so I was alert to that clue this time around.
    Thanks to Cineraria for explaining who Magnus Carlsen is – I got this from the definition. I have no problem with chess/chest homophone in this case because I think you would rarely hear someone clearly enunciate the first ‘t’ in chestnut.
    Like Geoff, I knew the otter- specific word ‘holt’ though I think the more generic ‘den’ here is fine.
    Thanks to Slormgorm and Cineraria.

  8. KVa, perhaps I’m overly fussy, but I always pronounce the first “t” in “chestnut”.

    There, I’ve got it off my chess. 🙂

  9. KVa@6: Now, that is interesting. Both Chambers and my standard US dictionary give as the only pronunciation [ches’ nut], which is an exact homophone. In my pronunciation, the first “t” is distinctly enunciated, and my whole life, I would have detected others’ pronunciation as at least fleetingly pronouncing the first “t.” Having now listened to several versions of “The Christmas Song,” however, I am not sure whether any of those singers is or is not enunciating the first “t.”

  13. [Peter @11

    I’ve just run a quick search. In the UK 2020 was the first year that automatics outsold manuals by 55-45%. So well over 50% of cars currently on the road must be manual.]

  14. Thanks for the blog, a lot of neat and clever clues here . Not seen ashtrays for a long time , I remember them on the table in meetings with grooves around the rim to rest the cigarette. Not sorry to see them go, people used to smoke in restaurants, imagine that.
    GLASS EYE my favourite for the socket set.

  15. As the tongue is in the same place for /t/ and for /n/, it’s impossible to hear the t unless someone actually breaks chestnut into chest and nut and releases a breath between the t and the n, although it feels like you are pronouncing the t as the tongue is in the right place.

  16. Thanks, Slormgorm & Cineraria. As Roz says, lots of neat and clever clues – agree on “socket set” being a highlight. The anagram for CROISSANT is also a nice find.

    On the pronunciation of CHESTNUT, Slormgorm neatly heads off the homophone police by writing the clue as “I’ve been told”. Who are we to tell him he’s wrong on that?

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