Financial Times 17,472 by GOLIATH

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An excellent puzzle from Goliath.

A very enjoyable steady solve. Nice to see this setter in a rare Wednesday appearance. Characteristically witty with a good range of clues. Many thanks to Goliath.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1/ 7. Song and dance and poor ratings after each class (10,4)
PERFORMING ARTS

(RATINGS)* (*poor) after PER (each) + FORM (class)

9. Some jewellery for lovemate (4)
OPAL

O (love) + PAL (mate)

10. Cartoons showed space voyage before squadron leader got demoted (5,5)
COMIC STRIP

CO[s]MIC TRIP (space voyage), before S[quadron] (leader) got demoted

12. Very dull in hospital department recently (2,2,4)
AS OF LATE

(SO (very) FLAT (dull)) in A & E (hospital department)

13. Without me, don’t assume nasty surprises (8)
ASTOUNDS

(DON’T ASSU[me])* (*nasty, without ME)

15/3. Artistic collection showing stricken fort in the midst of viral illness (9)
PORTFOLIO

(FORT)* (*stricken) in the midst of POLIO (viral illness)

17. Selection of recipes turned into a poem (4)
EPIC

[re]CIPE[s]< (selection of, <turned)

19. Some strange country bumpkin outside missing his family (8)
HOMESICK

(SOME)* (*strange), HICK (country bumpkin) outside

22/11. Darling, bananas seldom new fruit (8,6)
HONEYDEW MELONS

HONEY (darling) + (SELDOM NEW)* (*bananas)

23. All the nuts? Deadly (6)
LETHAL

(ALL THE)* (*nuts)

25. Tear possibly caused by doctor engaged in minor procedure (6,4)
LITTLE DROP

DR (doctor) engaged in LITTLE OP (minor procedure)

26. This could be the top twenty (4)
HITS

(THIS)* (*could be) semi &lit

27/28. A role model doesn’t put down a poor past lover more than necessary (3,1,3,7)
SET A BAD EXAMPLE

SET (put down)+ A + BAD (poor) + EX (past lover) + AMPLE (more than necessary)

DOWN
2. Speak fast (7)
EXPRESS

Double definition

4. Backtrack about the FT being contrary (8)
RECUSANT

RECANT (backtrack) about US (the FT)

5/24. Why Le Monde matters to Macron (2,5,3,5,2,3)
IT MEANS THE WORLD TO HIM

Cryptic definition

‘Le Monde’, a French newspaper, literally means ‘The World’ in French. Macron being the president of France of course.

6. Reptiles vacantly gaze and check onlookers (6)
GECKOS

G[az]E and C[hec]K O[nlooker]S (vacantly)

7. Are they perhaps asleep? Not when a lion’s about! (9)
ANTELOPES

(ASLEEP NOT)* (*are they perhaps) semi &lit

8. Idiot the electorate really starts to follow on this? (7)
TWITTER

TWIT (idiot) + T[he] E[lectorate] R[eally] (starts to)

14. Reportedly banned from major chest radiotherapy (9)
ORCHESTRA

“BAND” (“reportedly”), [maj]OR CHEST RA[diotherapy] (from)

16. Calf eating pig’s head gets this disease (8)
SMALLPOX

SMALL OX (calf) eating P[ig’s] (head)

18. Outline for moving back into big house (7)
PROFILE

FOR (<moving back) into PILE (big house)

20. A little heat round oven by the seaside (7)
COASTAL

CAL (a little heat, calorie) round OAST (oven)

21. Well or hard, but not good (6)
ADVERB

Cryptic definition

Well and hard are both adverbs, but good is not

20 comments on “Financial Times 17,472 by GOLIATH”

  1. The puzzle is great. The blog does complete justice to it. Nothing remains unexplained.
    Thanks, Goliath and Oriel!

  2. A steady solve this morning. So thanks to Goliath for a clever puzzle and to Oriel for the blog which I needed to parse some clues completely.HONEYDEW MELONS my favourite .

  3. Very enjoyable. No head scratches, no quibbles and plenty of smiles. Thanks Goliath & Oriel.

  4. Very happy to see Goliath at the helm today; always good entertainment.
    5d was my hands-down favourite with the fruit (11/22) a close second. Also enjoyed the pithy 23 and 26.
    The full parsing of 18 had me scratching my head till I came here for the blog.
    Did wonder if ‘opal’ needs to be set or mounted before it’s considered jewellery although ‘her fingers dripped with diamonds, pearls’ and opals’ conveys this idea elliptically perhaps.
    No matter, I had much fun with this.
    Thanks to Goliath and Oriel.

  5. Enjoyed this. MER for me on 10a, as I think of a comic strip comproming several frames making a single cartoon, but the definition here is plural so I would expect the answer to be ‘conic strips’. Thanks setter and blogger.

  6. Thanks for the blog, very good set of neat clues, clever wordplay throughout, I even liked the cryptic definitions and I am not usually fond of these . I think that COMIC STRIP can be thought of as a series of cartoons, IF by Steve Bell certainly was.

  7. ADVERB – “but not good” – Wiktionary disagrees…
    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/good#Adverb
    ‘Etymology 2 – From Middle English goode (“good, well”, adverb), from the adjective. Compare Dutch goed (“good, well”, adverb), German gut (“good, well”, adverb), Danish godt (“good, well”, adverb), Swedish godt (“good, well”, adverb), all from the adjective.
    Adverb – good (comparative better, superlative best – (nonstandard) – Well; satisfactorily or thoroughly. – “The boy done good. (did well)””
    …giving plenty of quotations including Harry Chapin and Quentin Tarantino.
    LITTLE DROP doesn’t seem to be in any dictionary.
    Loved the clue for TWITTER – Yes, the electorate really starts to follow idiots on this. 🙂
    Thanks G&O

  8. ‘An excellent puzzle’ indeed – and a great blog, too.

    My ticks today were for 10ac COMIC STRIP, 19av HOMESICK, 22,11 HONEYDEW MELONS, 27,28 SET A BAD EXAMPLE, 5,24 IT MEANS THE WORLD TO HIM, 7dn ANTELOPES, 14dn ORCHESTRA (well hidden, as far as I was concerned) and 16dn SMALLPOX – all great surfaces, as usual.

    Lots of fun – many thanks to both setter and blogger.

  9. I enjoyed this. I confess I struggled at first and almost gave up to pay full attention to the TV I had been half watching. But I got there and I am glad for it. Reading Oriel’s excellent explanations, it all looks so easy in hindsight!

    I was unable to see the parsing for COMIC STRIP (missed seeing COsMIC). I liked many clues and cannot argue with any of the choices above, but nominate SMALLPOX as the one that made me smile most.

    Thanks Oriel and Goliath

  10. I want to add that I envy SM’s “steady solve” (see SM@2). My solve could be described as “jerky” at best. I solved 3-4 quickly, then nothing for 10 minutes or so, 5 minutes of watching TV followed by staring at the grid with increasing desperation. Then 3-4 answers would present themselves in quick succession. Repeat pattern several times.

  11. A great puzzle as far as i’m concerned.
    No ridiculously obscure answers and some really clever clues.
    thought 5d was the best (once the penny dropped).

  13. Thanks Goliath for setting exactly what I like in a crossword. The difficulty level and mix of devices hit the sweet spot for me. I loved the hidden ORCHESTRA as well as OPAL, HOMESICK, ANTELOPES (clever surface), SMALLPOX, and my last one in, PROFILE when I finally figured out the parsing. My only complaint is that Goliath doesn’t appear more often. Thanks Oriel for the blog.

  15. Tony @14 Sure, but that’s a different sort of drop. LITTLE DROP in that sense would not be sillier than green car as a solution, merely equally silly. But drop as given by ‘tear’ is defined as small (a small rounded blob of liquid that hangs or falls at one time).

  18. FrankieG @17: “To have taken a ‘little drop’ (of drink), to be tipsy” could lead to “going on a tear”, a U.S. expression for getting drunk.

  19. In fact it appears in Crossword Compiler’s list of ‘compounds and phrases’, which is no doubt how it ended up in the puzzle. Perhaps the setter tried and failed to discover its meaning, but couldn’t be bothered to change the grid to accommodate a different entry.

  20. Tony Santucci@18 – In Ireland we call it “on the tear” and “a drop taken” can mean tipsy. 🙂
    So I think the clue works, now.

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