Financial Times 17,621 JULIUS

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A very gentle challenge from JULIUS this Friday.

FF: 8 DD: 6

 

A few references to the loo but not enough to call a theme I guess.

ACROSS
1 EARTHEN CLOSET
‘I must go in here, dear’ — ‘Then close the curtains!’ (7,6)
hidden in “..dEAR THEN CLOSE The..”
9 GROWN-UP
Adult gathering welcomes discontented women (5-2)
GROUP ( gathering ) containing WN ( WomeN, without inner letters )
10 VICEROY
Very cold, hosting the old Queen and old Governor in her place (7)
V ( very ) [ ICY ( cold ) containing {  ER ( old queen ) O ( old ) } ]
11 ENTRY
Aristocracy spurning grand portal (5)
gENTRY ( aristocracy, without G – grand )
12 LUBRICANT
Foreign lunatic claiming British oil? (9)
[ LUNATIC ]* containing BR ( british )
13 OBLATION
Offering former pupil nothing in classical language (8)
OB ( former pupil ) [ O ( nothing ) in LATIN ( classical language ) ]
15 STAPLE
Churning out plates of everyday food (6)
[ PLATES ]*
18 OCTADS
October commercials reduced to groups of eight (6)
OCT ( october ) ADS ( commercials )
19 BARNACLE
Clingy individual that might be attracted by Hull? (8)
cryptic def
22 DAIRYMAID
Forged Riyad papers mum kept as a farmgirl (9)
[ RIYAD ]* MA ( mum ) ID ( papers )
24 LIMIT
Julius is drunk, going over the maximum (5)
LIT ( drunk ) containing I’M ( julius is )
25 STIPEND
Clergyman’s income? Mine’s been sent back at last (7)
reverse of PIT’S ( mine’s ) END ( last )
26 BETOKEN
Portend live cryptocurrency? (7)
BE ( live ) TOKEN ( cryptocurrency )
27 HERCULE POIROT
Hotel croupier, funny chap with a moustache (7,6)
[ HOTEL CROUPIER ]*
DOWN
1 EL GRECO
Greengrocer gleefully set up frame for artist (2,5)
hidden, reversed in “..greengrOCER GLEefully..”
2 ROOM TO LET
Strangely, 24D with more space available (4,2,3)
[ LOTTO ( answer to 24d ) MORE ]*
3 HANDY
Useful boundaries at Headingley (5)
cryptic def; boundaries of HeadingleY are H AND Y
4 NAPOLEON
French leader to sleep over? Revolting Coward! (8)
NAP ( sleep ) O ( over ) reverse of NOEL ( coward )
5 LAVABO
Slave labor completely disrobed to wash here (6)
sLAVe lABOr ( disrobed, i.e. without end letters )
6 SACRISTAN
Church officer weeps, drained of energy in the grip of the devil (9)
[ CRIeS ( weeps, without E – energy ) ] in SATAN ( devil )
7 TERRA
Their dream? Every now and again to leave Earth (5)
“ThEiR dReAm..” ( alternate letters of )
8 MYRTLE
Elm fallen over outside? Try climbing shrub (6)
reverse of ELM outside reverse of TRY
14 TEDDY BEAR
Sleeping partner’s one-piece with nothing on (she says) underneath! (5,4)
TEDDY ( one-piece ) BEAR ( sounds like BARE – nothing on )
16 PACEMAKER
Head of UN for one ignoring European race regulator (9)
PeACEMAKER ( head of un for one, without E – european )
17 MANDIBLE
LibDem, suffering fracture, fitted with a new jawbone (8)
[ LIBDEM ]* containing [ A N ( new ) ]
18 OLDEST
Most senior people jiggle modestly when undressed (6)
m [ ODESTL ]* y ( without outer characters )
20 EXTINCT
Former alchemist’s elixir gone forever? (7)
EX ( former ) TINCT ( alchemist’s elixir )
21 LANDAU
Secure American upper-class carriage (6)
LAND ( secure ) A ( american ) U ( upper-class )
23 IRISH
The nationality of Murdoch, according to Connery? (5)
cryptic def; referring to the thick scottish accent of connery and how he would pronounce iris
24 LOTTO
When squiffy, bishop avoided game with long odds (5)
bLOTTO ( squiffy, without B – bishop )

17 comments on “Financial Times 17,621 JULIUS”

  1. Another short but sweet interlude from Julius with smiles aplenty starting with 1a and continuing all the way to 27a, not to mention the surface of 18d !
    Always a help knowing French with this setter but 5d was fair enough without it.
    Thanks to him and Turbolegs.

  3. Recently we had Hercule Poirot as an anagram of “our helicopter” and now “hotel croupier”. Both brilliant.

  4. Thanks Hovis@2. Fixed the error.

    Regards,
    TL

    P.S: Diane@1, nice to see you chime in so quickly after the blog went up.

  5. Hovis @3: that leaves ‘puerile cohort’ and ‘ulterior epoch’ still to come, though slightly less natural phrases to incorporate in a clue. The first must have some political application, surely …

    A nice gentle puzzle for the first Friday of the year. LUBRICANT, TEDDY BEAR and PACEMAKER join the Belgian on the podium for me. Riyad, the capitalised Coward and ‘labor’ all qualify as ‘nice try’

    Thanks Julius and Turbolegs

  7. I had a LOL before I had even started with 1a, the definition of which might be extended to include ‘ I must go in here dear’ or even to the entire clue making it a rather adept or possibly brilliant &lit.

    Thanks Julius for a really enjoyable crossword and Turbolegs for the blog. 23d makes shensh now.

  8. Thanks for the blog, very neat clues as usual , I will add HANDY to the favourites above, I always like the X and Y trick. PACEMAKER has a good definition.

  9. Another lovely puzzle from Julius.

    I’ll echo Diane’s and PostMark’s favourites and Newbie’s thoughts on 1ac.

    Many thanks to Julius and Turbolegs.

  10. Thanks Julius and Turbolegs

    13ac: There has been a 13ac every day this week, and this is the first one I have found satisfactory, after two dodgy indicators, one ambiguous unchecked letter, and a ghastly device which a lot of people seem to like, but I do not.

    Further to Diane@1, I do not normally say which was my last one in, but today it was 18dn, for the simple reason that I solved the other thirty-one clues before I even read that one.

  11. Thanks Julius and Turbolegs

    Excellent fun puzzle.

    Diane @ 1: the French simply took over a Latin word, seen mainly in a monastic context.

  12. Julius = my favourite

    Marvellous

    Many excellent clues, including earthen closet, which I only spotted was hidden when I got the answer, towards the end of a very enjoyable solve.

    Thanks to all.

  14. I always enjoy a Julius puzzle, and I echo the praise and favourites of everyone else

    Was I the only one to find this more difficult than average for Julius? There were several new or seldom-used words and the clues seemed a lot more wordy than usual. So saying, once I got a toehold in the SW corner, it was a steady solve in an anti-clockwise direction.

    Many thanks to Julius and Turbolegs

  15. Thanks Julius for another excellent and entertaining crossword. I found this a bit more difficult than Turbolegs did but it wasn’t as challenging as Julius can sometimes be. I liked STIPEND and I thought for a second that “mine’s” was Julius’ way of saying his income was the “pits”. Other ticks went to GROWN-UP, HERCULE POIROT, SACRISTAN, MYRTLE, and OLDEST. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.

  16. Thank you Julius! Especially liked 1a (great spot) and 27a. As for 18d: jiggle: probably; modestly: not so sure. Thanks also Turbolegs for the blog.

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