Financial Times 17,515 by JULIUS

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Thanks to Julius for this morning’s puzzle.

One I whizzed through for the most part, but admittedly got stuck parsing 2d for ages – just couldn’t see it… The four perimeter terms are all related of course. 18a is a bit niche, but how else do we learn anything! Many thanks to Julius.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Decreasing support for an alternative to 28? (7,5)
IRONING BOARD

Cryptic / double definition

An ironing board is a stand/support for removing creases/decreasing

10. Cuddly in ginormous blankets — not getting up! (5,2)
LYING IN

[cudd]LY IN GIN[ormous] (blankets)

11. Country showcasing island art school (7)
REALISM

REALM (country) showcasing IS (island)

12. Disputed territory tense? I’ll say so! (5)
TIBET

T (tense) + I BET (I’ll say so)

13. Very fashionable young man recalled, licence to kill, hot stuff! (8)
VINDALOO

V (very) + IN (fashionable) + LAD< (young man, <recalled) + 00 (licence to kill – as in 007 for example/James Bond)

15. Where daddy turned into a horrible man? (6,4)
EDWARD HYDE

(WHERE DADDY)* (*turned)

From the horror novella by R. L. Stevenson: Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

16. Eat out and so on, ending in lunch (4)
ETCH

ETC (and so on) + [lunc]H (ending in)

18. Python moved furtively when discovered (4)
IDLE

[s]IDLE[d] (moved furtively, when discovered)

From the software: Integrated Development and Learning Environment, for Python, a coding language
EDIT: (Thanks Diane) Idle refers to Eric Idle from Monty Python of course

20. Constantly changing security number which I use when managing my dough (7,3)
ROLLING PIN

Cryptic definition: ROLLING (constantly changing) + PIN (security number)

22. Family doctor covering triage barking “pull yourself together!” (3,1,4)
GET A GRIP

GP (family doctor) covering (TRIAGE)* (*barking)

24. Out of bounds, ships spot underwater hazard (5)
HIPPO

[s]HIP[s] [s]PO[t] (out of bounds)

26. Implement U-boat’s first “silent running” (7)
UTENSIL

U[-boat]’s (first) + (SILENT)* (*running)

27. Couple that is traversing edge of Russian plain (7)
PRAIRIE

PAIR (couple) + I.E (that is) traversing R[ussian] (edge of)

28. Gadget helping to make great strides? (7,5)
TROUSER PRESS

Cryptic definition

I assume having newly pressed trousers might put some pep in one’s step?
EDIT: See comments. 

DOWN
2. Brilliant Sky display — Egghead gets unlimited whiskey (7)
RAINBOW

[b]RAIN BO[x] (egghead, gets unlimited) + W (whiskey)

3. American Conservative supporting gun reform is futile (8)
NUGATORY

(A (American) + TORY (Conservative)) supporting (GUN)* (*control)

4. Number regularly sampling Indian tea? (4)
NINE

[i]N[d]I[a]N [t]E[a] (regularly sampling)

5. Pretty girl, British, modelling Dior label (6,4)
BARBIE DOLL

B (British) + (DIOR LABEL)* (*modelling)

6. Prize runs into a lot of cash (5)
AWARD

R (runs) into A WAD (a lot of cash)

7. Flier heading north allowed a drop (7)
DRIBLET

BIRD< (flier, <heading north) + LET (allowed)

8. Fine milky coffee on northern cycling trip having finished climb (10,3)
FLATTENING OUT

F (fine) + LATTE (milky coffee) on N (northern) + OUTING (trip, cycling)

9. Tom’s hoovering busily, trying to tidy up (9,4)
SMOOTHING OVER

(TOM’S HOOVERING )* (*busily)

14. Books moved inch closer (10)
CHRONICLES

(INCH CLOSER)* (*moved)

17. Flying sensation which is intangible? (2,3,3)
IN THE AIR

Double definition

19. Drunk, that chap’s beginning to tango — most nimble! (7)
LITHEST

LIT (drunk) + HE’S (that chap’s) + T[ango] (beginning to)

21. Dad put on dodgy syrup which was made from reeds (7)
PAPYRUS

PA (dad) put on (SYRUP)* (*dodgy)

23. Appetizing US tortilla filled with relish (5)
GUSTO

[appetizin]G US TO[rtilla] (filled with)

25. Breaking end off thin mast (4)
SPAR

SPAR[e] (thin, breaking end off)

24 comments on “Financial Times 17,515 by JULIUS”

  1. Trust Julius to make light of household chores and implements! Really enjoyed the related perimeter answers but my top picks among an impressive crop were ROLLING PIN and GET A GRIP.
    Though a quick solve, it was done with much 23D and not a few grins.
    Thanks for the levity, Julius, and Oriel.

  4. Well, parsing RAINBOW was beyond me, so thanks, Oriel. Only half managed to parse FLATTENING OUT, too. And I missed the perimeter theme — as I almost always do.

    I enjoyed this muchly, with no outrageous obscurities and Goldilocks level of difficulty. Thanks Julius.

  8. Didn’t have any problem getting 2d but struggled a bit with my last two: DRIBLET & REALISM. On 2d, I spent a couple of minutes trying to think of a 4-letter bird ending in D until a lightbulb flash – BIRD.

    I guess ROLLING PIN also fits the flattening/smoothing theme.

  9. 17d IN THE AIR – I’d separate the double definitions as “Flying” & “sensation which is intangible” rather than “Flying sensation” & ” which is intangible”

  10. A real romp, with smiles all the way, especially for 22ac GET A GRIP!

    Lovely surfaces throughout – too many to list but must just mention 10ac LYING IN (very evocative), 15ac EDWARD HYDE, 18ac IDLE and 5dn BARBIE DOLL,.

    Many thanks to Julius for a lot of fun and Oriel for the blog.

  11. Always a treat to get a crossword from this setter and I’ve had the pleasure of solving two today (and blogging one of them)

    No-one will be at all surprised to learn that my views on this one exactly match those of Eileen

    Many thanks to Julius and Oriel

  13. IDLE in the Python programming language is also a reference to Eric, so it comes to the same thing in the end.

  15. What Eileen @10 said. GET A GRIP with its amusing surface is my clue of the week so far. I also liked RAINBOW with its brainbox and whiskey. Thanks Julius and Oriel.

  16. Thanks for the blog, delightful puzzle even with all the references to ironing. My least favourite activity and the one chore I can not share out. ROLLING PIN was a great clue and something I do like.

  17. I managed to do another crossword midweek, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Come to think of it, I always enjoy Julius

    I had similar likes to those above. I had never equated an egghead with a brainbox, so it took me for ever to parse RAINBOW. DRIBLET was a new word to me, and I had the same thought as Diane about strides.

    I have an alternative solution to IDLE. I agree with Eric from Monty Python, but a second parsing for IDLE could be leave granted at the end of WW2 to British soldiers – also called python. Don’t ask me why it is called python, but I remember it from a past crossword, and I think it fits.

    Thanks Julius and Oriel

  18. Thanks to Oriel for the blog, and thanks to those who have commented.
    Somebody could at least have said something about “smooth surfaces”.
    I’ll get mi coat.

    best wishes to all, Rob/Julius

  19. An enjoyable solving experience with no real problems. RAINBOW was our LOI, not because we couldn’t parse it but because we were thinking of something like a meteor shower or the northern lights. We liked ROLLING PIN (a change for ‘dough’ to mean just that, not money) and GET A GRIP.
    Thanks, Julius, for the smooth surfaces – and Oriel, for the blog.

  20. Rob/Julius@18, I was hard pressed to iron out a way to pin down a comment about your smooth surfaces, so you beat me to it. Thanks for all the fun.

  22. Late comment with praise to Julius for the wrinkle free puzzle. I would be hard pressed to better it.
    Thanks also to Martyn for the recondite information on PYTHON. I have learnt something new today.
    Thanks to Julius and Oriel

  24. Great fun – loved the puns round the edges. (I may have seen one of them before: that’s the principle of decreasing returns). I was thrown by 15a – Googled the real Edward Hyde and wondered “Why does Julius think he’s a horrible man?”.

    Thanks Julius!

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