Financial Times 17,510 by PHSSTHPOK

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Phssthpok kicks off Thursday morning.

This was an enjoyable solve that didn't take too long, but was still challenging enough to be satisfying.

I'm not 100% convinced by the crossword grammar for TIN at 18ac – I is occupyING TN, rather than "I occupy TN", and for 3dn where LIGATE is a verb ("to tie up") in three sources I have checked. I can't find "tied up" as a meaning, but maybe someone else has more sources to correct me here.

Thanks Phssthpok

ACROSS
9 SUPER BOWL
Game bird marvellous as starter (5,4)

OWL ("bird") with SUPERB ("marvellous") [as starter]
10 ACORN
A grain or fruit (5)

A + CORN ("grain")
11 CARAFES
Could be either argon or radium in restaurants’ bottles (7)

Could be either Ar (argon) or Ra (radium) in CAFES ("restaurants"), so C(Ar)AFES or CA(Ra)FES (both work)
12 EN GARDE
Warning of exploding grenade (2,5)

*(grenade) [anag:exploding]
13 ERA
Times are turning (3)

<=ARE [turning]
14 IGNORAMUSES
Fools almost all neglect interests (11)

[almost all] IGNOR(e) ("neglect") + AMUSES ("interests")
17 SCHWA
Sound unstressed by selection of Bosch watercolours (5)

Hidden in [selection of] "boSCH WAtercolours"
18 TIN
Can I occupy Tennessee? (3)

I to occupy TN (abbrevaition of "Tennessee")
19 COMMA
Mark bullets caught in mirror (5)

<=(AMMO ("bullets") + C (caught, in cricket), in mirror)
21 PASTEURISED
To be safe, treated historic European Union expansion to capital of Denmark (11)

PAST ("historic") + EU (European Union) + RISE ("expansion") to [capital of] D(enmark)
23 GAG
Censor joke (3)

Double definition
25 ORGANIC
Living in cargo pants (7)

*(in cargo) [anag:pants]
27 COMPETE
Time not right for presenter’s face (7)

T (time) not R (right) in COMPE(r)E ("presenter") becomes COMPE(T)E
28 THEFT
Rustling newspaper (5)

The FT (Financial Times) ("paper")
29 ELEVATION
Rise in transport adopting electric vehicle (9)

ELATION ("transport") adopting EV (electric vehicle)
DOWN
1 PSYCHE
Tinker with spy and soldier’s spirit (6)

*(spy) [anag:tinker with] and CHE (Guevara) ("soldier")
2 APPROACH
Outlook software bug (8)

APP ("software") + ROACH ("bug")
3 PROFLIGATE
Professor tied up libertine (10)

Prof. (professor) + LIGATE ("tied up")
4 MOOS
Sounds made by deer? Not quite (4)

[not quite] MOOS(e)
5 BLUEPRINTS
Designs rude photos (10)

BLUE ("rude") + PRINTS ("photos")
6 FANG
Tooth fairy originally more than half angel (4)

F(airy) [originally] + [more than half] ANG(el)
7 MOURNS
Laments brief periods holding funerary container (6)

MOS ("brief periods") holding URNS ("funerary container")
8 UNDERSEA
Submarine founders easily when casing removed (8)

Hidden in [when casing removed] "foUNDERS EAsily"
15 NUTCRACKER
Mad person nearly crazy for shelling out 16 (10)

NUT ("mad person") + [nearly] CRACKER(s) ("crazy")
16 MACADAMIAS
Isaac married Adam in bizarre twist — nuts! (10)

*(isaac m adam) [anag:in bizarre twist] where M = married
17 SUPPORTS
Drinks (including fortified wine, in brackets) (8)

SUPS ("drinks) including PORT ("fortified wine")
20 MAGNETIC
CGI meant altering drawing (8)

*(cgi meant) [anag:altering]
22 SIGHED
Did moan sound camp? (6)

Homophone of [sound] SIDE ("camp")
24 GLEANS
Learns bias in grammar school (6)

LEAN ("bias") in GS (Grammar School)
26 NOTE
Register has A – D and F – Z? (4)

A-D and F-Z indicates NOT E
27 COED
Mixed fish pie finally eaten (4)

COD ("fish") with (pi)E [finally] eaten

33 comments on “Financial Times 17,510 by PHSSTHPOK”

  1. A steady and enjoyable solve from the unpronounceable one!
    12A’s ‘warning’ was first in and I progressed clockwise finishing with 1D.
    My favourite was 11A’s ‘bottles’ and I liked the surface for 20D ‘(drawing’).
    Thanks both to Phssthpok and Loonapick.

  2. Couldn’t work out why Che is a soldier. And I’d have been happier if 27d was (2-2). Nothing else to report. An enjoyable experience at Goldilocks level. Thanks Phssthpok & Loonapick.

  3. Loonapick, I thought ‘can’ was doing double duty so I didn’t hesitate over 18AC but I did pause over ‘lighter = ‘tied up.

  5. Thanks, Phssthpok and loonapick!

    TIN
    Agree with what you said in your opening remarks.

    PROFLIGATE
    I thought LIGATE could be an adjective as well. Could not find any basis for it.

    NUTCRACKER
    The def and the solution seem to have a part of speech mismatch.
    Maybe we have to read it as ‘it is used for…’?

  6. Me @3
    Meant ‘ligate’ (autocorrect gremlins).
    Ligate is the infinitive while ‘tied up’ is the past tense.

  7. Enjoyed this and agree with Loonapick’s assessment so thanks to both setter and blogger . I had 6d as a hidden clue: halF ANGel.

  8. Thanks P… and loonapick

    Re 3D, the OED has ‘ligate’ as ‘bound, tied’, but flagged as Obs rare with a reference to someone called R Cawdrey in 1604.

  12. Really liked CARAFES – made me laugh.

    Also liked: IGNORAMUSES, MACADAMIAS, PSYCHE

    not heard of SCHWA

    Thanks both

  14. KVa on NUTCRACKER@5&10 “… (in a Five and Ten Cent Store) …”
    The Wiktionary definition is ‘1 – An implement for cracking nuts.”
    Here it’s “for shelling out 16” – MACADAMIAS.

  15. FrankieG@14
    If you see what I said @5, you will notice that I only have a problem
    with the part of speech mismatch (or I imagine such a mismatch).
    I am not convinced that the underlined words correctly describe the tool
    under discussion.
    I find such mismatches every now and then but others don’t agree in
    most of the cases.
    That implies that I am doing something fundamentally wrong.
    I will analyse this further and see where I am erring.

  16. 9a – SUPER BOWL – The wordplay has its own entry in Wiktionary…
    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/superb_owl
    ‘Proper noun – SUPERB OWL – (US, euphemistic) – The Super Bowl.
    Usage notes – This spelling is used, jocularly or seriously, to try to avoid being sued by the NFL, when trying to associate places, events and products with the Super Bowl without acquiring a license first.’
    Also: on Super Bowl Sunday, bird watchers worldwide post pictures of superb owls. Here’s a gratuitous off-topic ornithological link…
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_eagle-owl#/media/File:Bubo_bubo_3_(Martin_Mecnarowski).jpg

  17. Re 10A: isn’t an acorn a nut and not a fruit?

    Re 4D: do deer really “moo”. My brief investigation turned up “bellow” and bleat” for deer; “moo” for cows.

    I agree with GDU about 27D but, sadly, the hyphen, is dying out, Remember when “email” was “e-mail”? And “website” was two words?

    I also puzzle over “Che” as a “soldier”. He usually appears in crosswordland as a rebel or revolutionary.

    Thanks loonapick.

  19. Peter@17
    ACORN
    If there is a nut, there should be a fruit too. No?
    MOOSE
    The def is just ‘sounds’. The deer didn’t make any sound in our story.
    PSYCHE
    As CHE Guevara was a guerilla fighter, calling him a soldier is all right.

  22. KVa, an orange is a fruit, as is a lemon, a lime, a tangelo, a mandarin and even a tomato. None of them have nuts – only pips.

    I can see your point on “moos” but I still think that it is a very loose definition if it is not related to “deer”. The answer may just as well be “beeps” or ‘dings” or “clangs”.

  23. Peter@22
    ACORN
    You understood what I meant. 🙂
    MOOS
    I think (prompted by your question) the clue works well as an extended def.

  25. Phssthpok can be really tough but this was one of his gentlest offerings. I had the same query about the tense mismatch for LIGATE which has now been answered by Simon S @8, although I think to include the use of a word described as “Obsolete. rare. Apparently only attested in dictionaries and glossaries” in the OED and with only one illustrative quotation is stretching things a bit.

    I took the def for NUTCRACKER to be ‘(something used) for shelling out 16 (MACADAMIAS)’ as suggested by KVa @5.

    I liked MOOS which also works as a cryptic def for me, again as suggested by KVa, this time @23.

    Thanks to Phssthpok and to loonapick

  26. Peter @ 17

    One reason I mourn the demise of the hyphen in “co-ed” is that without it it looks like a monosyllabic word pronounced the same as “code”. I also believe that the hyphen serves a purpose in “co-operate” and that without it we end up talking about charges for making barrels.

  27. This was pretty good I thought. I’m not sure about side = camp.
    I had ‘does’ for 4 down as in the plural of “do(e), a deer, a female deer…” – it being a sound as it is a musical note.

  29. Karen@27
    I think camp=side in the sense of a group or a faction of a larger group. Someone will correct me if I am wrong.

    Is the plural of ‘do’ not spelt as ‘dos’?

  31. Thanks for the blog , good set of neat clues, CARAFES was a nice idea. The SUPERB OWL is hard to resist, Peto used it a few months ago but nice to see it again. There is a genuine superb starling and bird of paradise.

  32. Like Karen @27, I, too, had ‘does’ for 4d and I still think it works, though ‘moos’ is better.
    Thanks to setter and blogger. All good fun.

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