Financial Times 17,425 by NEO

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A fun challenge from NEO with a delectable variety of clues.

FF: 9 DD: 8

ACROSS
1 CHURCHWARDEN
Parish representative a heavy smoker? (12)

double def
8 PALADIN
Boy breaking bread for French champion (7)

LAD ( boy ) in PAIN ( bread, french )
9 PANDORA
She released evil over Republican in police car (7)

[ O ( over ) R ( republican ) ] in PANDA ( police car )
11 CABARET
Show Spartan having whip round (7)

BARE ( spartan ) in CAT ( whip )
12 SLAVISH
Prodigal son comes first, being submissive (7)

S ( son ) LAVISH ( prodigal )
13 STENO
Such a worker as scribbled notes? (5)

&lit; [ NOTES ]*
14 BLACKMAIL
Exact money? (9)

cryptic def
16 URIAH HEEP
Musical university retired collection broadcast for rock band (5,4)

reverse of [ HAIR ( musical ) U ( university ) ] HEEP ( sounds like HEAP – collection )
19 TASTE
Judgement correct as Tertullus shows (5)

hidden in "..correcT AS TErtullus.."
21 T-SHIRTS
Garments Trish knitted on back street? (1-6)

TS ( reverse of ST – street ) [ TRISH ]*
23 NORWICH
Immediately caging rook in Berlin I see! (7)

[ R ( rook ) in NOW ( immediately) ] ICH ( I, german )
24 ERUDITE
Educated English lewd about sex? (7)

E ( english ) [ RUDE ( lewd ) around IT ( sex ) ]
25 ORIFICE
Opening gold reserve involves one key (7)

OR ( gold ) ICE ( reserve ) containing [ I ( one ) F ( key ) ]
26 NECROMANCERS
Diabolical screen wraps around Catholic magicians (12)

[ SCREEN ]* around [ ROMAN C ( Catholic ) ]
DOWN
1 CALIBRE
Bore on the Tube? (7)

cryptic def
2 UNDERGO
Junior needing work experience (7)

UNDER ( junior ) GO ( work )
3 CONSTABLE
Artist in Cape working with horses (9)

C ( cape ) ON ( working ) STABLE ( horses )
4 WIPES
Soiled pews one sits in? Cleaning products needed (5)

[ PEWS ]* containing I ( one )
5 RANSACK
Controlled bullet in rifle (7)

RAN ( controlled ) SACK ( bullet , fire from employment )
6 EXOTICA
A quote about old times turned up in curious collection (7)

[ A CITE ( quote ) ] reversed around [ O ( old ) X ( times ) ]
7 SPACE SHUTTLE
Gap to close: tile’s one missing in Columbia? (5,7)

SPACE ( gap ) SHUT ( close ) TiLE ( without I – one )
10 ACHILLES HEEL
A cold fish admitting she has fatal flaw (8,4)

A CHILL ( cold ) [ EEL ( fish ) containing SHE ]
15 ALPENHORN
One calls to Lower House: planner worried outside! (9)

[ PLANNER ]* around HO ( house )
17 IN HOUSE
Heinous criminal done by own organisation? (2-5)

[ HEINOUS ]*
18 HARRIER
Hunting bird hunting dog (7)

double def
19 TURBINE
Engine right inside slow boat in Spain (7)

[ R ( right ) in TUB ( slow boat ) ] IN E ( spain, Espana )
20 SPIRITS
Drinks lacking body? (7)

cryptic def
22 STEAM
Second XI shows power (5)

S ( second ) TEAM ( xi, 11 in roman numerals, cricket )

14 comments on “Financial Times 17,425 by NEO”

  1. For ALPENHORN the definition should be “One calls to Lower” – it was used to call the cows at milking time.

  3. Not ever having been a smoker, 1A was totally unknown to me. I would have thought that the answer would have been 6-6 rather than all one word but an Internet search confirmed the answer.

    Re 13A – I have never heard of this abbreviation despite living in the land of abbreviations Australia.

    Thanks Turbolegs.

  4. Lots of good things, with a couple of tricky parsings thrown in. I was sure 26 contained a mistake, but the ‘around’ is the C (for circa), so it’s C ROMAN inside the anagram. Agree with Frankie on the horn.

  5. Thanks Neo and Turbolegs
    26ac: I had my doubts about this, but think Ui Imair@4 has cracked it. “wraps” is a sufficient containment indicator.

  6. While the explanation offered by Ui Imair and Pelham Barton is fine, I still feel more convinced by the ‘diabolical’ SCREEN effectively wrapping (or sandwiching) ROMAN C.

  7. Thanks for the blog, very good set of clues , many of them very concise which I like. NORWICH instead of Ely for once for the see.
    Is a CHURCHWARDEN renowned for being a heavy pipe ? I know they are long.

  9. I was lucky to see 1a straight away which set me up for the rest of the puzzle. I have heard of STENO but it seems a very old fashioned term; are there stenographers any more? I’m in the Uni Imair @4 and PB @5 camp for the parsing of NECROMANCERS but either works. I’m not sure I knew PALADIN for ‘champion’ but the wordplay left little doubt.

    Good way to get back on track after a particularly tough one elsewhere (alas, behind a paywall) today.

    Thanks to Neo and Turbolegs

  10. Another fun challenge from Neo. Given how many years I spent taking shorthand notes, I really should have seen 13a a lot earlier than I did

    Thanks to Neo and Turbolegs

  11. I found this very hard to get going on, for some reason. I saw Uriah Heep in concert in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1977, with Foreigner. Very loud.

  12. Afternoon. Thanks t-legs et al.

    The NECROMANCERS one in my mind had ROMAN defined by Catholic, with the C representing around. That made wraps as a containerind nice and neat for me, so Ui gets the stuffed toy. Frankie is right (again, to my mind) about the horn definition. Interesting though how others see things.

    Cheers
    Neo

  13. One thing I love about this website is the engagement from the setters.

    Thanks Neo, Turbolegs and all

  14. Thanks Neo for the Friday challenge. This took me an evening and a morning sitting to complete but it was time well spent. Among the many good clues my top picks were URIAH HEEP, NORWICH, EXOTICA, and ACHILLES HEEL. I didn’t understand the 2nd definition of 1ac so thanks Turbolegs for the blog.

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