Financial Times 17,423 by BASILISK

Basilisk at his witty best.

A very enjoyable challenge. Some cleverly misleading clues, some fantastic cryptic definitions, and just a few simpler ones to help fill the grid.

 picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Issue that could be seen as more dull? (6)
MATTER

Cryptic definition

(more matt = more dull)

4. Certainly going the wrong way after losing following (2,6)
OF COURSE

OF[f] COURSE (going the wrong way, after losing F (following))

9. Record music for film? (5)
SCORE

Double definition

10. Something one has to go through alone? (9)
TURNSTILE

Cryptic definition

11. State disheartened American model (7)
REPLICA

REP[ub]LIC (state, disheartened) + A (American)

12. Malicious person repents following conversion (7)
SERPENT

(REPENTS)* (*following conversion)

13. What about returning desire? (4)
ACHE

(EH (what) + CA (about, i.e. circa))< (<returning)

14. Fugitives in criminal case pressure witness performing volte-face (8)
ESCAPEES

(CASE)* (*criminal) + P (pressure) + SEE< (witness, <performing volte-face)

17. Bringer of news announced salary for each navigation guide? (8)
PAPERBOY

(“PAY” (salary) + “PER” (for each) + “BUOY” (navigation guide)) (“announced”)

19. Shore bird’s speed over water (4)
KNOT

Double definition

22. Irreverent rascals promise to pay charges (7)
IMPIOUS

IMPS (rascals) charge IOU (promise to pay)

24. Plastic doilies put on pedestal (7)
IDOLISE

(DOILIES)* (*plastic)

25. Group of people not entirely marvelling at her ingenuity (9)
GATHERING

[marvellin]G AT HER ING[enuity] (not entirely)

26. Opportunity to improve on sequence of strokes in pool? (5)
BREAK

Cryptic definition

In a game of pool, the first move is the “break”, and starting a new game is an opportunity to improve on the last

27. Complaints bolster mistreated university dons (8)
TROUBLES

(BOLSTER)* (*mistreated), U (university) dons

28. What may alert member of parliament? (6)
HOOTER

Double definition

Parliament is the collective noun for owls

DOWN
1. Dodgy hearing primarily impaired in strong wind (8)
MISTRIAL

I[mpaired] (primarily) in MISTRAL (strong wind)

2. I’m sorry he’s beginning to board cruise vessel (9)
TROOPSHIP

OOPS (I’m sorry) + H[es] (beginning) to board TRIP (cruise)

3. Quote author about sickening stuff (6)
EMETIC

(CITE (quote) + ME (author))< (<about)

5. Advance warning on account of on-line tagging? (13)
FORESHADOWING

FOR (on) + E-SHADOWING (online tagging, “account of”)

6. Comply with state monitor (7)
OBSERVE

Triple definition

7. Amplify level during broadcast (5)
RAISE

“RAZE” (level, “during broadcast”)

8. Books incorporated in first woman’s results (6)
EVENTS

NT (books, i.e. New Testament) incorporated in EVE’S (first woman’s)

10. Engineer registers vans going further than allowed (13)
TRANSGRESSIVE

(REGISTERS VANS)* (*engineer)

15. Firm captures New Age and Nationalist feeling (9)
SENTIMENT

SET (firm) captures N (new) + TIME (age) + N (nationalist)

16. Protestor barely disrupting proceedings? (8)
STREAKER

Cryptic definition

18. Saw demonstrator start off brawl (7)
PROVERB

PROVER (demonstrator) + B[rawl] (start off)

20. Tiny gadget with a spinning top (6)
MIDGET

WIDGET (gadget) gets a spinning top

i.e. the “W” spins over to be an “M”

21. Repeatedly express disapproval for stupid mistake (6)
BOOBOO

BOO (express disapproval for) + BOO (repeatedly)

23. Area outside building involved in occupation (5)
PATIO

[occu]PATIO[n] (involved in)

39 comments on “Financial Times 17,423 by BASILISK”

  1. Thanks, Basilisk and Oriel,

    Liked MATTER, OF COURSE, OBSERVE and MIDGET.

    BREAK
    I was thinking…
    ‘Opportunity to improve on’ as one def (I am waiting for a break).
    ‘Sequence of strokes in pool?’ as a cryptic def.

    I don’t know if ‘opportunity’ and to ‘impove on’ (break a record) could be two separate def’s.

  2. I found that easier than the last Bssilisk I attempted – or I’m getting used to their style. The MIDGET trick was neat, something I’ve seen in a different puzzle but forget to look for.

    Thank you to Basilisk and Oriel

  3. I saw two definitions for BREAK too – a lucky break and a pool break. Checking, it seems as if they do have different etymologies, the lucky break comes from wishing on a wishbone.

  4. Entertaining and a good level of difficulty, thanks Basilisk. I missed the buoy in 17a. Didn’t parse OBSERVE. I’m fine with two of the three definitions, but “state”? And why are results events?

    Ta for the blog, Oriel.

  5. If someone said that to me, I would assume that “observed” meant “noticed”.

  6. I think BREAK is a triple definition:
    Opportunity
    To improve on (as in “break a record”)
    Sequence of strokes in pool

    I agree with KVa@2 on FOR (on account of). It seems as though there is some other wordplay going on (such as OWING = on account???), but I can’t figure it out. I have never heard of “E-SHADOWING”; is that a Basilisk coinage?

  7. As Shanne says @3, there was no sting in the the tail in today’s puzzle but plenty of enjoyment. I’ve not seen the ‘w/m’ flip (MIDGET) before but I’ll also try to keep this trick in mind.
    My favourites were KNOT and IDOLISE for the -‘plastic doilies’.
    Geoff @5
    I think event or result are both derived from the Latin, ‘eventus’.
    Thanks to Basilisk and Oriel.

  8. I admit I was thinking along the lines of ‘as a result’/’in the event’ but I don’t think they really mean the same.

  9. GDU@2: “result” is the second definition in Chambers. “In the event of” = “as a result of”

  10. Agree with KVa@1 re BREAK – I saw it as a triple def: Opportunity, improve on, sequence of strokes in pool
    With “strokes in pool” meant to mislead us into thinking about swimming.

  11. Cineraria@8
    FORESHADOWING
    I took E for online and SHADOWING for tagging separately.
    FOR for on account of.
    Is something still missing?

    me@1
    BREAK
    I was split between a double and a triple def.
    I think we can settle for a triple def.

  12. Thank you for trying, people, but in my books “event” will never mean “result” (yes, they can have slightly similar meanings in phrases when surrounded by different words), and “observe” will never mean “state”. Call me stubborn.

  13. I also thought FORE (as in golf) might be “advance warning” or just “warning,” and the whole clue might be &lit somehow, but, again, I make any of that parse.

  14. GDU@16
    One last attempt at ‘observe=state’.

    to make a remark about something (dictionary.cambridge.org):
    “I’ve always found German cars very reliable,” he observed.
    She observed that it would soon be time to stop for lunch.

    Maybe you accept ‘observations=remarks’ more readily?!

  15. KVa, again in that situation I’d take “observed” to mean “noted”.

    I would never consider playing Scrabble with a professional, as I know that they have a vastly expanded lexicon of “words” (inverted commas essential) that 99.9% of English speakers would never have heard of, and many of which I expect are dodgy and unlikely to be found in an average dictionary. But I thoroughly enjoy playing with people who still have their feet on the ground.

    I think there may be parallels in Cryptic Crossword Land!

  16. I would like to register extreme admiration for the surface of 1d
    20d none too shabby either.
    Thanks JC and Oriel

  17. I rarely have to comment on here because Geoff Down Under almost always says what I’m thinking . . . today it’s the result/event thing . . .

  18. Thanks for the blog, really clever set of clues, I also enjoyed the trick in MIDGET , PAPERBOY a neat use of homophones.
    EVENTS are certainly results in Particle Physics and in probability theory.

  19. Thanks Basilisk and Oriel

    6dn: In my book (better known as Chambers 2014), “to remark in words, to comment” is among the definitions of observe vt.
    8dn: In my book, “event” is the second definition given for result n.

  20. Andrew @23, I saw the Nina(s) which I think you’re referring to, but I don’t know what they mean. I also noticed the self-referential SERPENT at 12a. I had some doubts about EVENTS for ‘results’ as discussed in detail by posters above, but in it went as a “sort of works” answer.

    I missed the triple def for BREAK which I only saw as a double. Lots of good clues, of which OBSERVE (which I did parse as a triple def) and the WIDGET with the ‘spinning top’ were my picks.

    Thanks to Basilisk and Oriel

  21. Another great crossword from Basilisk although I don’t think of your alter ego is that malicious. My other favourite clue was 28a as I always enjoy an owl-related clue

    Thanks to both setter and blogger

  22. Thanks Basilisk. I did not find this as masterful as last weekend’s Serpent in the Indy but it was still a solid crossword in my opinion. I noticed the connection between answers in the top and bottom rows but I’m not sure that’s a full fledged nina unless I’m missing something else. Favourite clues included MIDGET for its clever device, ESCAPEES for the mini story it tells, and GATHERING which was nicely hidden in a readable surface. Thanks Oriel for the blog.

  23. Yes, I meant MATTER OF COURSE and TROUBLESHOOTER in the top and bottom rows – I don’t know if they have any particular significance, but they’re obviously intentional, and Basilisk (and his alter egos) almost always includes a Nina or theme of some kind.

  24. Pelham Barton @ 24 & Wordplodder @ 26, I will reluctantly concede defeat re observe/remark. It’s a usage I’ve never encountered. However the four dictionaries I’ve consulted (Oxford, Merriam-Webster, Macquarie and Collins) have no reference to “event” as a meaning for “result”. I don’t place Chambers on quite as high a pedestal as do many in Crossword Land.

    But I’ve enjoyed our spirited discussion.

  25. And having just looked at Chambers online I find …

    result noun 1 an outcome or consequence of something. 2 colloq (often results) a positive or favourable outcome or consequence • His action got results. 3 a number or quantity obtained by calculation, etc. 4 a sport a final score, eg in a football match, etc • the result was six nil to Aberdeen; b (results) a list of final scores eg published in a newspaper or broadcast on TV or radio • listen to the results on the radio. 5 colloq a win in a game • We got a result. 6 (results) a list of marks a student has obtained in an examination or series of examinations. verb (resulted, resulting) intrans 1 (usually result from something) to be a consequence or outcome of some action, event, etc. 2 (usually result in something) to end in a specified way • Carelessness results in mistakes.

    Curiouser and curiouser.

  26. Perhaps “a rolling top” in 20d might make a better clue ? Spinning about a vertical, and rolling about a horizontal, axis?

  27. Geoff @32: I do not regard Chambers as a higher authority than other similar sized dictionaries such as Collins or the Oxford Dictionary of English when it comes to weekday FT puzzles. Chambers is the one that I own because it is the one recommended for the Azed crossword, which I usually attempt when I am at home on a Sunday. My view is that setters cannot reasonably be expected to overrule any one of these dictionaries, and so I will always accept a definition in any one of them as a sufficient justification on the question of validity, but never on the question of obscurity. The entry you have quoted @33 is from the Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, which is more limited in scope than the “full” Chambers Dictionary, of which the 13th edition was published in 2014 (with a corrected version in 2016).

  28. Geoff @32, 33 etc., when checking definitions for crosswords, you’re better off looking up the solution. The clue is supposed to have a definition of the solution, so here results is given in the clue as a definition of EVENTS. Looking up event in Chambers, we find result given as a definition. You’re much less likely to find the solution given as a definition of the word in the clue.
    As for equating result and event in my head, I’m struggling too, but happy to assume it’s a gap in my vocabulary.

  29. Many thanks to Oriel for the excellent blog, and thanks to everyone who has taken the time to comment.

    As James @36 observed, the clue should contain a definition of the solution, so the setter will usually refer to the dictionary entry for the solution to obtain a suitable definition. However, it is also useful to think about whether the chosen definition could be substituted for the solution in a sentence. I accept that “result” doesn’t really satisfy that test for EVENT.

  30. Tim Berners-Lee invented the WWW while working at Cern , the then accelerator celled LEP was producing numerous EVENTS / results and he wanted a way to share these with research groups over the internet, In Particle Physics the two terms are used interchangeably to mean exactly the same thing.
    In probability theory EVENTS are the set of results possible from a random experiment.

  31. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/event#Noun
    ‘4. An end result; an outcome (now chiefly in phrases) – “In the event, he turned out to have what I needed anyway.”
    1624, Democritus Junior – The Anatomy of Melancholy – “hard beginnings have many times prosperous events”
    1707, Semele – Eccles and Congrieve; scene 8 – “Of my ill boding Dream / Behold the dire Event.”
    1741, Edward Young – The Complaint: Or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality – “dark doubts between the promise and event”‘
    All very cheerful, eh? 🙂

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