Financial Times 17,696 by ARTEXLEN

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ARTEXLEN kicks off this Easter Monday….

Happy Easter from Toronto everyone! I found this particular puzzle quite challenging, though that might be the result of my lack of sleep and numerous wines on my flight over here. Great clues, had fun.

 

Thanks ARTEXLEN!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Crimson plant frames close to wall (5)
BLUSH

BUSH (plant) frames [wal]L (close to)

4. Childish social youth involves the Parisian with debauchery in Revolution (9)
PLAYGROUP

PUP (youth) involves (LA (the, Parisian) with (ORGY)< (debauchery, <in revolution))

9. Fell from apartment next to number nine? (7)
FLATTEN

FLAT TEN (apartment next to number nine)

10. One frequently pickled in Higher Kinnerton (7)
GHERKIN

{hi]GHER KIN[nerton] (in)

11. Figure cut around everyone — make recording of drive (13)
PARALLELOGRAM

(PARE (cut) around ALL (everyone)) + LOG (make recording of) + RAM (drive)

14. Back gas ring very good (4)
OKAY

(YAK (gas) + O (ring))< (back)

15. One taking in small hippo, perhaps (9)
SWALLOWER

S (small) + WALLOWER (hippo, perhaps)

18. Miscalculated rent in place to the north (7,2)
TRIPPED UP

RIPPED (rent) in TUP (place to the north, as in t’up north)

19. Healthy hot beverage (4)
HALE

H (hot) + ALE (beverage)

21. A Gulf airline’s misrepresented cause of delay (6,7)
SIGNAL FAILURE

(A GULF AIRLINE)* (*misrepresented)

24. Ace by champ in middle of torrid decider (7)
ARBITER

A (ace) by (BITE (champ) + in [to]RR[[id] (middle of))

26. Chemical compound’s close study read aloud (7)
NITRILE

“nigh trial” = NITRILE (close study “read aloud”)

27. Domineer new intern, say (9)
TYRANNISE

(INTERN SAY)* (*new)

28. Person in lofty position that’s graduated (5)
RULER

Double (cryptic) definition

DOWN
1. Dull coloured fan (4)
BUFF

Double definition

2. You heard ringing catching forty winks — that’s not pleasant (11)
UNAPPEALING

(“you” = U (you, “heard”) + PEALING (ringing)) catching NAP (forty winks)

3. Negative people make milliners lose heart (6)
HATERS

HAT[t]ERS (milliners, lose heart)

4. Writing on boxer and son editor sanctioned (9)
PENALISED

PEN (writing) on ALI (boxer) and S (son) + ED (editor)

5. Row from a drag queen regularly ignored (5)
ARGUE

A [d]R[a]G [q]U[e]E[n] (regularly ignored)

6. Be longer going around French city (8)
GRENOBLE

(BE LONGER)* (*going around)

7. Boor dismissed knight in swinish exclamation (3)
OIK

OI[n]K (swinish exclamation dismissed N (knight))

8. Desire chaps to trap cunning weaselly beast (4,6)
PINE MARTEN

(PINE (desire) + MEN (chaps)) to trap ART (cunning)

12. Ally in retreat fighting over natural resources (3,8)
RAW MATERIAL

MATE (ally) in (LAIR (retreat) + WAR (fighting))< (<over)

13. Competitor’s stable filled by leaders of talented equestrianism (10)
CONTESTANT

CONSTANT (stable) filled by T[alented] E [questrianism] (leaders of)

16. Mechanism activated a pelican crossing quietly (9)
APPLIANCE

(A PELICAN)* (*activated) crossing P (quietly)

17. Address God protected by saint with an unnatural glow (5,3)
SPRAY TAN

(PRAY (address God) protected by ST (saint)) with AN

20. Customer has time for new club (6)
PUTTER

PUNTER (customer, T (time) for N (new))

22. Very much recognise spoken language (5)
FARSI

“far see”= FARSI (very much recognise, “spoken”)

23. Drink further after teetotaller’s left (4)
BEER

BE[tt]ER (further, after TT (teetotaller) left)

25. Nuts out of my pub (3)
BAR

BAR[my] (nuts, out of MY)

14 comments on “Financial Times 17,696 by ARTEXLEN”

  1. Good fun, thanks Artexlen & Teacow. There were one or two where synonyms caused some head-scratching, but a trip to the dictionary and this blog cleared them up. NITRILE & PINE MARTEN were new to me.

  2. What GDU said. I would never have got “nigh trial” in a thousand Mondays, nor TUP for place to the north. Nor could I bother with parsing PARALLELOGRAM. So thanks for the explanations

    While it started off at a cracking pace; I also found parts quite difficult – mostly on the right. Favourites were SIGNAL FAILURE and RULER.

    Thanks Artexlen and Teacow

  3. Thanks Artexlen and Teacow!

    SIGNAL FAILURE (a minor point)
    (A GULF AIRLINE’S)*

    FARSI
    very much=FAR, recognise spoken=SI (though considering it as a homophone of far+see doesn’t make any difference).

    NITRILE
    The nigh bit was straightforward. The trial bit was a guess (I couldn’t think of another somewhat similar-sounding word for study) as I pronounce TRILE in NITRILE rhyming with file/tile.

    TRIPPED UP
    T’UP: Couldn’t find any reference. Someone may help. Is it a slang term? (to the North=UP, but I can’t justify the T. I am missing something).
    I was thinking that the clue was meant to be a down clue originally (Isn’t it easy to assume that the setter is wrong?). PUT reversed. 🙂

    Top faves: RULER, CONTESTANT and BEER.

  4. An enjoyable holiday puzzle with some not commonly seen words like PARALLELOGRAM, NITRILE and TYRANNISE to keep us on our toes.

    Like KVa @3, I wondered about TUP in TRIPPED UP and agree it would have worked fine for a down clue (‘place to the north’ = reversal of PUT). Maybe, for an across clue, it should have been ‘… clue to the west’ instead? Still, just by suggesting that it almost certainly means I’m wrong, not our setter.

    Thanks to Teacow and Artexlen

  5. Thanks for the blog a very good set of clues.
    The PINE MARTEN is rare in the UK , slowly recovering and may help to limit the grey squirrels.
    I know NITRILE from gloves, I am allergic to something in the latex ones.
    TRIPPED UP – I think KVa@3 may be right about TUP being correct for a Down clue. Perhaps the grid has been flipped , it does happen sometimes , I think it will reverse about the main diagonal.

  6. Lots to like here with the same query as others about ‘to the North’ and not convinced by the suggested T’UP though it’s a nice try. Not sure how the FT feels about L&S but ‘setback’ would have worked or the setter cold have done something with RAM. I suspect it might have originally been intended for a Down. NITRILE is a nho and left me with one incorrect letter as I went for the known (to me) NITRITE with an unparsed second syllable. Roz – I see from Chambers that NITRILE is a form of cyanide – so choose your gloves carefully!

    Thanks Artexlen and Teacow

  7. Thanks Artexlen (except for 18ac) and Teacow (for the whole blog)

    18ac:; It looks to me as though Artexlen may have reused an old clue that was originally written for a down answer without seeing that it does not work as an across clue.

  8. MrPostMark @6 I think the Chambers entry was written by Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey , the nitriles form a huge range of compounds including nitrile polymers , perfect for bio-degradable gloves.

  9. [Roz @8: my minds eye image of you has never extended to rubber gloves. I don’t know whether I find the concept reassuring or worrying! Either way, I am sure you would be more than competent at handling cyanide 😉 ]

  10. An enjoyable and mostly straightforward solve. PARALLELOGRAM was nicely constructed – I also liked SIGNAL FAILURE and PLAYGROUP.

    Agreed about 18ac only working for an across, but these things happen.

    I couldn’t remember if I’d heard of NITRILE before – like PostMark, my preference was for NITRITE, but it stubbornly refused to parse, where NITRILE just about did. Certainly went in with fingers crossed. Phew.

    Thanks Teacow & Artexlen.

  11. [ Just certain things in the lab , protactinium generators , mercury etc . One time use and they degrade naturally. The latex type give me a bit of a rash ]

  12. PM@6 re 26ac: Chambers 2016 actually says “nitrile n any of a group of organic cyanides (general formula RC≡N)”, where ≡ shows a triple covalent bond. I do not think that “a form of cyanide” is a fair paraphrase of that definition.

  13. Decent puzzle for a late-ish sofa solve. Happy with Nitrile as a homophone solution, once I’d worked out what it was meant to sound like. Actually found the glove material sweatier n less tactile than the latex versions which were all that were available back in the day, but witnessed the discomfort of those allergic. Anyway, it all pieced together in the end.
    Thanks Artexlen n Teacow..

  14. I’m happy that I got half including parallelogram. But many things here were above my grade. But quite fun for the things I got! Thank you Teacow and artexlen

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