Financial Times 17,768 by JULIUS

by

A trademark delight from JULIUS today.

FF: 9 DD: 7

ACROSS
1 MONKFISH
Seafood stew of Minsk hotel (8)
[ OF MINSK ]* H ( hotel )
5 TINKER
Fiddle with tricky puzzle, not having succeeded (6)
sTINKER ( tricky puzzle, without S – succeeded )
10 SEVEN
Witnessed around 5, or later? (5)
SEEN ( witnessed ) around V ( 5 )
11 LARK ABOUT
Play Karla, after fixing boxing match (4,5)
[ KARLA ]* BOUT ( boxing match )
12 OCCURRING
Officer Commanding Circus keeps vicious dog, as it happens (9)
[ O ( officer ) C ( commanding ) RING ( circus ) ] containing CUR ( vicious dog )
13 TIARA
Trip abroad regularly taken for the triple crown? (5)
alternate letters of “TrIp AbRoAd..”
14 TAILOR
Follow order, voided suit from him (6)
TAIL ( follow ) OR ( OrdeR voided i.e. without inner letters )
15 CONTROL
Key notary, oddly fashionable trousers (7)
NRT ( “..NoTaRy..”, odd letters of ) in COOL ( fashionable )
18 EVENING
A bit late in the day, probing 10 in Government (7)
EVEN ( probing 10, answer to 10a is sEVEN ) IN G ( government ) – i am not sure if probing is to imply removal of first letter so its likely this parsing needs some help. i did think of 10 being an even number but then the ‘probing’ is unaccounted for.
20 SMILEY
Cheerful at last, Miss Cyrus? (6)
S ( misS, last letter ) MILEY ( cyrus )
22 ORATE
Speak pompously, very elaborate but not new (5)
ORnATE ( very elaborate, without N – new )
24 ON THE NOSE
Precisely where to rest one’s specs? (2,3,4)
double def
25 OLD STAGER
Veteran monarch in pursuit of The Monarch of the Glen? (3,6)
ER ( monarch ) after OLD STAG ( monarch of the glen, referring to the painting by edwin landseer )
26 EAGER
Keen East German patrolling area (5)
[ E ( east ) GER ( german ) ] containing A ( area )
27 CENTRE
Middle Church scripture lessons featuring Bible books (6)
[ CE ( church ) RE ( scripture lessons, Religious Education ) ] containing NT ( bible books )
28 PERSONAE
Characters featured in Beanos repeatedly making a comeback (8)
hidden reversed in “..bEANOS REPeatedly..”
DOWN
1 MOSCOW
City sounded out Archbishop Lang, according to Spooner (6)
sounds like spoonerism of COSMO ( archbishop cosmo gordon lang, canterbury )
2 NOVICIATE
November 1: US spies trace discontented young nun (9)
NOV I ( november 1 ) CIA ( us spies ) TE ( TracE, without inner letters )
3 FUNERAL DIRECTOR
Ultra-reinforced moulded coffin supplier (7,8)
[ ULTRA REINFORCED ]*
4 SOLDIER
Mature person in senior role in the Armed Forces (7)
OLDIE ( mature person ) in SR ( senior )
6 INATTENTIVENESS
ADD sensitive tenant moving out (15)
[ SENSITIVE TENANT ]*, Attention Deficit Disorder
7 KRONA
Currency geek upset to have second article censored (5)
reverse of ANORaK ( geek, without the second A )
8 RATEABLE
Rodent having the capability to store energy? That could be valued (8)
[ RAT ( rodent ) ABLE ( having the capability ) ] containing E ( energy )
9 TRAGIC
Extremely sad; time to roll a smoke (6)
T ( time ) RAGIC ( smoke = CIGAR, reversed )
16 REED ORGAN
Ron agreed to play harmonium (4,5)
[ RON AGREED ]*
17 MESOZOIC
Zoom ices recollected from ages ago (8)
[ ZOOM ICES ]*
19 GEORGE
Such as Cheddar cheese finally fed a royal prince (6)
GORGE ( such as cheddar ) containing E ( cheesE, finally )
20 SET FREE
Collection of songs 70s London rock band released (3,4)
SET ( collection of songs ) FREE ( 70s london rock band )
21 HEARSE
Tries European vehicle owned by 3 (6)
HEARS ( tries ) E ( european ) – refer 3d
23 AUDEN
Study under American university lecturer and poet (5)
A ( american ) U ( university ) DEN ( study ) – w.h.auden , lectured at oxford

30 comments on “Financial Times 17,768 by JULIUS”

  1. EVENING
    Looks like this
    probing sEVEN IN Government
    (If you probe a place, you search it in order to find someone or something that you are looking for: Collins)

  2. Surfaces to “Noviciate” and “Tragic” made me smile. Thought “Set Free” construction was very good.
    Very nice, really liked this , only thought 17d was a little clunky and obvious, but that’s just nit picking…
    Thank you to Julius and Turbolegs

  3. As always, wonderful surfaces on all clues and some impressive anagrams.

    I found this more difficult than Turbolegs’ rating of 7. Perhaps my brain was in the wrong place, but there were also several references either I had not heard of or rarely think about. For example, Free is new to me, I rarely think of Miley Cyrus, I suspect anorak only equals geek in UK & equally suspect OLD STAGER is rarely heard outside GB, and I had no idea Cheddar has/is a gorge. I could go on.

    I agree with KVa’s parsing for EVENING.

    It is always difficult for me to pick a favourite from a Julius puzzle – I always find so many clues that I love. Aside from the brilliant anagrams, I think the clues that made me smile most were LARK ABOUT and TINKER.

    Thanks, as always, Julius for a fun puzzle and to Turbolegs for the nice blog.

  5. Thanks for the blog , very enjoyable puzzle with lots of neat clues . very rare that I spot a theme but Karla gave it away , so specific and rare.
    I can’t actually see SPY , wrong grid , but CONTROL is in TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY , plus Karla from MOSCOW CENTRE. GEORGE SMILEY and the Circus is where he worked.

  6. Thanks Roz – you reminded me that I meant to mention the Le Carre theme that even I noticed. I intended praise Julius for creating a themed puzzle without obscure answers. (Interestingly all the new words were in the clues).

  7. Julius is one of my favorite setters and he certainly didn’t let me down with this gem. What a refreshing change after a few of the puzzles we had earlier this week. Thank you Julius and thank you Turbolegs.

  8. Wondered what TIARA had to do with Rugby Union’s ‘triple crown’ (currently held by Ireland). It’s the Pope‘s, to go with the Archbishop at 1d and the nun at 2d.

  9. I still regularly listen to the classic All Right Now by Free. The lead singer (also sang with Bad Company) was Paul Rogers who later sang with Queen after the death of Freddy Mercury at least for a while until Adam Lambert took up that role.

  10. Smashing puzzle, top to bottom and nice to be reminded of the theme – and of Free. I’m another who parsed EVENING as KVa. I thought there were some inspired anagram spots in here – ‘sensitive tenant’ for INATTENTIVENESS and ‘ultra-reinforced’ for FUNERAL DIRECTOR are absolutely top drawer. Amongst the rest, there wasn’t a duff clue so I struggle to assemble a list of ticks. Well done Julius. Only one thing raised an eyebrow and I suspect it’s a question of almost being too close to the word when cluing but using ‘elabORATE’ in the wordplay for ORATE didn’t feel quite right. And I did spend some wasted moments wondering how the rest of the wordplay was instructing me to cut a reversal of BALE!

    Thanks Julius and Turbolegs

  12. What more could you ask for on your birthday than a Julius puzzle with a favourite writer’s creation emerging as you complete the grid? Another one, perhaps?! It was great fun, as ever, but over all too quickly!
    Lots of Smileys today!
    Cheers Julius and Turbolegs.

  14. Thanks Julius and Turbolegs

    I think it’s also fair to say that George Smiley was depicted as an OLD STAGER.

  15. Thanks for the blog, dear Turbolegs, and thanks to those who’ve left a comment.
    Happy birthday Diane!
    I confess to having read Le Carre a bit too much for a balanced diet and I’m also guilty of the occasional binge watch of the BBC series – in fact, I watched Smiley’s People again for the umpteenth time last week as a bit of election refuge.
    Best wishes to all, Rob/Julius

  16. Another splendid crossword from Julius with a theme that even I could spot

    Many thanks to him and Turbolegs

  17. Basically, exactly what PostMark said -except that I simply registered it as interesting that ORATE is contained in elabORATE, when there is no connection between the derivations of the two: elaborare, Latin ‘to take pains over’, from Latin laborare, ‘to toil’ and orate from Latin orare, ‘to speak’. (Ornate comes from Latin ornare, ‘to embellish or adORN’.)

    Many thanks, as always, to Julius and turbolegs – and a happy birthday to Diane!

  18. Thanks, Rob!
    Can there be such a thing as too much Le Carre? You could spread things out with a bit of Mick Herron!

  20. Enjoyed this a lot

    Favourite was LARK ABOUT.

    And while Karla made me think of Le Carre I was too busy solving to notice that it was part of a theme.

    Thanks Julius and Turbolegs

  21. The theme escaped me, despite a very recent coincidental chat about respective virtues of Smiley v Lamb.. Great puzzle n blog…
    Thanks Julius n Turbolegs

  22. Much more enjoyable than some of the others we’ve had recently. I dropped a clanger and had Central (“Key”) rather than Control in 15a.

    Lots of ticks. Particularly liked Play About

    Thank you for the blog.

  23. Happy Birthday Diane @12 , you get the Solstice most years. I have been up before sunrise so a long day for me .

  24. Frankie@8 no country holds the triple crown at the moment , it is annual and not retained .
    I have two lovely Irish boys amongst my students and they go on about the rugby all the time, I have had my revenge in the last 9 months.

  25. Thanks Julius for an excellent crossword. I didn’t think to look for a theme (thanks Roz) but this was fun nonetheless. I liked MONKFISH (I actually do), TAILOR, SMILEY, INATTENTIVENESS, and AUDEN. I failed with RATEABLE. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog. And Happy birthday Diane.

  28. [Thanks, Roz, yes, indeed. Last year, I celebrated with a winter solstice for the novelty and found I missed the light.
    And thanks Tony, for the cherry on top!]

  30. Late to the party (slow) but this was brilliant. Thanks for the explanation and of course the theme how could I have missed it!

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