Financial Times 17,610 SLORMGORM

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SLORMGORM gives us something to do on Christmas Day…

To be honest, I didn't expect there to be a crossword today. I'm on holiday in Mauritius, and luckily brought my laptop with me.

Anyway… a fun puzzle! And Happy Christmas to all of you!

Thanks SLORMGORM!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Play Peter Pan director set up? (9)
ENTRAPPED

(PETER PAN)* (*play) + D (director)

6. Some socks, a gumboot and cloak (5)
SAGUM

[sock]S A GUM[boot] (some)

9. A pal game to have a roll is not a pro (7)
AMATEUR

A + MATE (pal) + (RU)< (game, Rugby Union, <to have a roll)

10. Plant in border seen near Yale, perhaps (7)
HEMLOCK

HEM (border) seen near LOCK (Yale, perhaps)

11. State of fashion? God-awful primarily! (5)
TONGA

TON (fashion) + G[od] A[wful] (primarily)

12. Pouches holding the king’s crown jewels? (9)
CODPIECES

Cryptic definition

14. Hat Slormgorm would put on student (3)
LID

ID (Slormgorm would) put on L (student)

15. Hate drug stop led by detective (11)
DETESTATION

(E (drug) + STATION (stop)) led by DET (detective)

17. Officer dim cavalier got in a lather (4,7)
VICE ADMIRAL

(DIM CAVALIER)* (*got in a lather)

19. Signal gadget man picked up (3)
CUE

"Q" = CUE (gadget man, from James Bond, "picked up")

20. People in general belch it up, sadly (3,6)
THE PUBLIC

(BELCH IT UP)* (*sadly)

22. Dance held in Assam ballroom (5)
SAMBA

[as]SAM BA[llroom] (held in)

24. Will article by lawyers ultimately stand? (3,4)
THE BARD

THE (article) by BAR (lawyers) + [stan]D (ultimately)

26. One who started a company in fall (7)
FOUNDER

Double definition

27. Informers taking in English judges (5)
RATES

RATS (informers) taking in E (English)

28. Corporate complaint? (9)
BELLYACHE

Cryptic definition

Corporation meaning belly

DOWN
1. Faithful old wife heading to alimony court (5)
EXACT

EX (old wife) + A[limony] (heading) + CT (court)

2. Worked out and showered after shift’s end (7)
TRAINED

RAINED (showered) after [shif]T (end)

3. Russian royal’s port I polished off (9)
ALEXANDRA

ALEXANDR[i]A (port, I polished off)

4. Drug found in meal a captor cooked (11)
PARACETAMOL

(MEAL A CAPTOR)* (*cooked)

5. I made a bloomer in party with husband (3)
DOH

DO (party) with H (husband)

6. Small old lady sent up pious Greek figure (5)
SAMPI

S (small) + (MA)< (old lady, <sent up) + PI (pious)

The supposed name of a Greek numerical character representing 900

7. Reportedly rubbish energy food from Italy (7)
GNOCCHI

"knock" = GNOC (rubbish, "reportedly") + CHI (energy)

8. Be practicable to earn money in US, I’m told (4,5)
MAKE SENSE

"make cents" = MAKE SENSE (earn money in the US, "I'm told")

13. Awfully crude flag is thus? (11)
DISGRACEFUL

(CRUDE FLAG IS)* (*awfully) &lit

14. I travel to Barking to see David Blaine? (9)
LEVITATOR

(I TRAVEL TO)* (*barking)

16. Early bus exploding by YMCA … duck! (9)
AYLESBURY

(EARLY BUS)* (*exploding) by Y

I'm not quite sure what the remaining "MCA" has to do with the clue.

18. Mild Labour leader gets in fix (7)
CLEMENT

L[abour] (leader) gets in CEMENT (fix)

19. Income dictates housing? Laughable! (7)
COMEDIC

[in]COME DIC[tates] (housing)

21. Range of unpopular lavatories? (5)
URALS

UR[in]ALS (lavatories, unpopular – i.e. not IN)

23. A never-ending environmental grant (5)
AGREE

A + GREE[n] (environmental, never-ending)

25. Call friend in America up (3)
DUB

(BUD)< (friend in America, <up)

11 comments on “Financial Times 17,610 SLORMGORM”

  1. Thanks, SLOMGORM and Teacow!
    Liked CUE and MAKE SENSE.

    CODPIECES
    Cryptic def. Agree with the blog.
    Did some dictionary searches…
    pouches=CODS(rare/archaic/obsolete-different dictionaries categorise the word differently)
    king=PIECE (a chess piece. The ? should be utilised here as well, I think).
    CODS holding PIECE.
    Crown jewels=CODPIECES (archaic/obsolete)=The male genitals.
    Not sure, if this was how it was intended by the setter (CAD + one def cum wordplay).

    AYLESBURY
    MCA…duck
    Someone has to help…

  3. For the removal of the MCA I think that Americans regularly refer to the YMCA as the ‘Y’. I recall seeing that in an American set puzzle before.

    Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow and Happy Christmas to all.

  4. We don’t even have to rely on Blah’s recollections: Chambers has Y’s second nounal def as A YMCA or YWCA hostel (N American informal). I’m afraid I did need an anagram solver for that one which was LOI. I had the fodder but could not come up with a meaningful word anagramming it in my head. I’ve heard of AYLESBURY duck but it was not going to come to mind.

    Nice puzzle before the day gets underway. Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow and Merry Christmas to all

  6. Gosh . I have led a sheltered life not to have heard of dining at the Y.
    Learned other new words: SAGUM and SAMPI which is also an archaic Greek letter. Nothing too hard but great fun doing the puzzle in a brief moment of household calm.
    Thanks and season’s greetings to Slormgorm and Teacow.

  7. Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow

    9ac: Interesting to see pal = mate without going through the rhyming slang “China”.

    16dn: further to earlier discussions, Collins 2023 has “Y. abbreviation for YMCA or YWCA” without any indication that it is (any longer) specifically American)

  9. Just the right standard for Christmas Day.

    Thanks for explaining Ton equals Fashion. I’ve never heard the expression. Also, the parsing of Gnocchi was a mystery to me.

    Happy Christmas all

  11. I had the same parsing as Pelham Barton@10 for 7dn (GNOCCHI).

    All the best to all setters, bloggers and solvers!

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