Financial Times 17,532 by BOBCAT

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.ft.com/content/641ea686-20aa-4bdd-bad0-e0d17919bf9f.

A quick blog to fill in.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 SYSTEMATIC
Orderly reorganisation of messy attic (10)
An anagram (‘reorganisation’) of ‘messy attic’.
6 ISLE
Is it key? I’ll say! (4)
Sounds like (‘say’) ‘I’ll’.
9 LITMUS TEST
Indicator literally needs to point without trace of ambiguity (6,4)
A charade of LIT (‘literally’) plus MUST (‘needs to’) plus E[a]ST (‘point’) minus the A (‘without trace of Ambiguity’).
10 LOAD
Charge a lot (4)
Double definition.
12 RECORD PLAYER
It reproduces sound of instrument — capturing performance (6,6)
An envelope (‘capturing’) of PLAY (‘performance’) in RECORDER (‘instrument’).
15 NETWORK
A number recalled attending function to make contacts (7)
A charade of NET, a reversal (‘recalled’) of TEN (‘a number’) plus (‘attending’) WORK (‘function’, verb).
16 RESERVE
Keep putting off opening book (7)
[p]RESERVE (‘keep’) minus the first letter (‘putting off opening’).
17 RANGOON
Old form of capital managed by idiot (7)
A charade of RAN (‘managed’) plus GOON (‘idiot’). Now Yangon, the capital of Myanmar.
19 CHECKER
Cashier man on board in US (7)
Double definition.
20 DOMINO EFFECT
Reaction bringing blended coffee to mind (6,6)
An anagram (‘blended’) of ‘coffee to mind’.
23 EASY
Simple agreements to delay start (4)
YEAS (‘aggreements’) with the initial Y moved to the end (‘to delay start’).
24 AFTERSHAVE
Surface application for use following stubble clearance (10)
Cryptic definition.
25 TINY
It’s very small beer for Australians lacking heart (4)
TI[n]NY (canned ‘beer for Australians’) minus the middle letter (‘lacking heart’).
26 CLOSES DOWN
Winds up depressed following near miss at last (6,4)
A charade of CLOSE (miserly, ‘near’) plus S (‘misS at last’) plus DOWN (‘depressed’).
DOWN
1 SOLD
Convinced one to leave a substantial figure (4)
SOL[i]D (‘substantial figure’) minus the I (‘one to leave’).
2 SITE
Location of relations in the Home Counties (4)
An envelope (‘in’) of IT (sexual ‘relations’) in SE (south-east, ‘Home Counties’).
3 EAU DE COLOGNE
Rubbish a good clue — even with no sign of victory’s scent (3,2,7)
An anagram (‘rubbish’, imperative) of ‘a good clue e[v]en’ minus the V (‘no sign of victory’).
4 ARTWORK
Illustrations of couple leading resistance found in old getaway vehicle (7)
An envelope (‘found in’) of TWO (‘couple’) plus R (‘leading Resistance’) in ARK (‘old getaway vehicle’).
5 INSIDER
Popular team player’s finishing one not out (7)
A charade of IN (‘popular’) plus SIDE (‘team’) plus R (‘playeR‘s finishing’).
7 STONY BROKE
Insolvent’s falsifying special book entry (5-5)
An anagram (‘falsifying’) of S (‘special’) plus ‘book entry’.
8 ELDERBERRY
Sort of wine made from ancient fruit (10)
A charade of ELDER (‘ancient’) plus BERRY (‘fruit’).
11 PLASTER CASTS
Actors sporting stickers for identical productions (7,5)
An envelope (‘sporting’) of CAST (‘actors’) in PLASTERS (‘stickers’?)
13 INGREDIENT
Italian bottles in gender-fluid component (10)
An envelope (‘bottles’) of NGREDIEN, an anagram (‘fluid’) of ‘in gender’) in IT (‘Italian’).
14 STONEMASON
Chiseller going after old lady covered in gems (10)
A charade of STONEMAS, an envelope of MA (‘old lady’) in STONES (‘gems’) plus ON (‘going’), with ‘after’ indicating the order of the particles.
18 NEEDFUL
Paying attention, after change of Head, is necessary (7)
HEEDFUL (‘paying attention’) with the first letter altered (‘change of head’).
19 COFFERS
Policemen not very quietly stuffing fines in chests (7)
COPPERS (‘policemen’) with the PP (‘very quietly’) replaced by FF (‘fines’).
21 SAGO
It’s full of starch but droops almost completely over (4)
A charade of SAG[s] (‘droops’) minus the last letter (‘almost completely’) plus O (‘over’).
22 MEAN
Princess, no longer in the middle of the middle, becoming middling? (4)
The ‘Princess no longer’ is presumably ME[gh]AN. She is titled Dutchess of Sussex, as the Queen granted her husband the title of Duke of Sussex; otherwise she would have been Princess Henry of Wales. I cannot think how GH is ‘the middle of the middle’.

Thanks to KVa @1; the Princess is (who else in a crossword?) Di, and the ‘middle’ is ME[di]AN.

26 comments on “Financial Times 17,532 by BOBCAT”

  3. Thanks for stepping in , great blog, I agree with KVa for MEAN, for once these terms are used correctly. Median is the middle value, and I suppose the mean is a middling value. Perhaps Di could have been former princess.
    A really good set of clues with clever wordplay. IT=relations turns up two days in a row , no comment.

  4. Very enjoyable, thanks Bobcat, and thanks PeterO for your second blog today!

    I wasn’t aware that “tinny” was home-grown. Down here it’s a boat too — do we own the copyright for that also? 😉

    I wasn’t sure which way to interpret 18d, and whether the first letter was N or H. And I initially had INSIDES for 5d, which slowed me down a bit.

  5. Not sure why the blog went for ‘close’ = ‘miserly’ in 26a, rather than the more straightforward ‘close’ meaning ‘near’. Interesting that they both work though.

  7. MEAN was my LOI and I struggled for ages to justify it – having felt from the beginning that DI was involved. Or, strictly, not involved. I kicked myself when the penny dropped but had to see it on the page before the word ME(di)AN jumped out at me. Very clever. SYSTEMATIC, AFTERSHAVE and SOLD were my podium.

    Thanks Bobcat and the hardworking PeterO.

  8. Hi Geoff : two days in a row when “relations” has been used as a definition for “It” – 2D.

    8D is rather unknown in Australia but it’s a great Elton John song.

  9. “it” for relations (2d SITE), “It” for Italian (13d INGREDIENT) – sexy and exotic – wholly unlike Information Technology.

  10. Re 18D: was I the only one to write in, with confidence, “needing” being “heeding” with the first letter changed?

  12. Same as Roz @3, including the same parsing for MEAN as KVa. Same as Peter@10, I also wrote in NEEDING.

    I liked the long anagrams in particular – some must have taken the setter some time to produce

    Thanks PeterO and Bobcat

  13. Peter, PostMark and Martyn: Re: 18d NEEDFUL, I never make that mistake (or always, depending on how you look at it), because I write in (in pencil) both letters – in this case N/H. Then I use the fact that this is a “cross”word to lead me to the correct choice.

    My favourite clue was 11d PLASTER CASTS for the theatrical misdirection of actors and productions, and the correspondingly clever definition.

    Thanks Bobcat (I didn’t see any feline references) for the fun and PeterO for heroically stepping in and explaining a couple of clues that I couldn’t parse.

  14. Thanks Bobcat. I found this on the easier end of the Bobcat spectrum with my favourites being LITMUS TEST, RECORD PLAYER, CHECKER, SOLD, and MEAN. Thanks PeterO for the blog.
    [cellomaniac @13: I too looked for feline references and the best I could do was INGREDIENT which is an anagram of “tigrine den” and PLASTER CASTS which is an anagram of “strapless cat.” I highly doubt these were intended.]

  15. I too found this at the easier end of the Bobcat spectrum, though took far too long to find Stonemason , as I wasn’t convinced by Easy until you explained the parsing.

    Does “trace of” always been the first letter of the following word?

  16. On the easy side, but 17a Rangoon or Yangon isn’t the capital any more – I’m not even going to try and type the new one! Many thanks to both.

  17. A pleasant and not too taxing puzzle; we liked LITMUS TEST, AFTERSHAVE and ARTWORK.
    We did notice the absence of a feline reference, though
    Thanks, Bobcat and PeterO

  19. If this is at the easier end of the Bobcat spectrum, I will need to think carefully in future whether to attempt the Bobcat puzzle of the day. This was of middling difficulty for me, and took longer than average. That would put a medium Bobcat in the difficult range for me and I hate to imagine where a difficult Bobcat would be.

  22. As a child, I first learned that RANGOON was the capital of Burma from this Superman comic in 1962:
    https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Superman_Vol_1_153#Synopsis_for_%22The_Secret_of_the_Superman_Stamp!%22
    ‘… RAGOON (sic) .. threatened by a geyser … rescued by Superman. In gratitude … the mayor … wishes to issue a special commemorative stamp … However, when the Man of Steel looks at the photograph he asks them not to use it and offers to put on another super-feat … better than the original … Superman takes the original picture, and reveals to the reader why he rejected it: When the post offices in RAGOON (sic) stamp the envelope it could potentially reveal Superman’s secret identity should the the (sic) “OO” in RAGOON (sic) align up (sic) with Superman’s eyes, making it appear as though he is wearing glasses.’ — Useless knowledge since 2005/6, when Yangon was replaced by,,,
    “Naypyidaw, officially romanized Nay Pyi Taw (lit.?’Royal Capital’), … the capital and third-largest city of Myanmar.” – TILT.
    Thanks B&PO

  23. Plaster casts = Identical productions? Really? I had a plaster cast when I broke my arm. It was made to fit me. There could not possibly be an identical one.

    Cashier = checker is an Americanism which I do not recognise.

  26. Darren W @23
    I am sorry that I overlooked your post; as blogger, I should have been sent an automated email copy, but I can find no trace of it. In any case, Kev @24 and 25 has answered your points. I would only add that, in addition to the use of a plaster mould to make (identical) metal parts, as in Kev’s link, a plaster cast is a copy of a sculpture – that is given as the first meaning in Chambers, with your medical version as second. I remember years ago seeing the plaster cast of Trajan’s Column (all 35 or so metres of it, in two sections) in the V&A Museum in London. Hardly surprisingly, there are not many copies around in this case, but other sculptures lend themselves better to identical productions.

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