Financial Times 17,818 by AARDVARK

by

AARDVARK kicks off the week…

Sorry for the lateness of the blog, I’ve had a bit to sort out today after having my phone nicked in Barcelona a couple of days ago.

A good solid and fun puzzle. We are, sadly, a “K” short of a pangram.

 

Thanks AARDVARK!

ACROSS
1. Dawn follows Alan back after ordering quite alcoholic drink (7,7)
TEQUILA SUNRISE

SUNRISE (dawn) follows ((AL)< (Alan, <back) after (QUITE)* (*ordering))

10. Where one might see jumpers and headwear (5)
ASCOT

Cryptic definition

11. Crook picked instrument on vehicle, seen by detective (4-5)
CARD-SHARP

HARP (picked instrument) on (CAR (vehicle) seen by DS (detective))

12. Every one of those people drive in London? (3,4)
THE MALL

THEM ALL (every one of those people)

13. Brief pages inside issue (7)
APPRISE

PP (pages) inside ARISE (issue)

14. Philosophical school in countryside is mysterious (5)
DEISM

[countrysi]DE IS M[ysterious]

16. Prime aspens regularly break (9)
ELEVENSES

ELEVEN (prime) + [a]S[p]E[n]S (regularly)

19. Spicy food, remarkably orange, unfinished by kid (5,4)
ROGAN JOSH

(ORANG[e] (unfinished))* (*remarkably) by JOSH (kid)

20. Earlier part of Hamlet maybe rigorous (5)
EXACT

EX (earlier) + ACT (part of Hamlet maybe)

22. Out to lunch, Roger fancied rocket – he was conversant with that (7)
GAGARIN

GAGA (out to lunch) + R (Roger) + IN (fancied)

25. Sort of cycle magazine? (7)
MONTHLY

Double (cryptic) definition

27. Had Tiger figured right selection of driver? (5,4)
THIRD GEAR

(HAD TIGER)* (*figured) + R (right)

28. Rubbish, for example, tipped alongside cheap ornaments (3,2)
GET AT

(EG)< (for example, <tipped) alongside TAT (cheap ornaments)

29. Jazzman light-headed, taking breather, eats unfilled pastry (5,9)
DIZZY GILLESPIE

DIZZY (light headed) taking GILL (breather) + E[at]S (unfilled) + PIE (pastry)

DOWN
2. Abstaining from key activity of a lumberjack (9)
ESCHEWING

ESC (key) + HEWING (activity of lumberjack)

3. Radical mid-section of hull on craft drawn up (5)
ULTRA

[h]UL[l] (mid-section of) on (ART)< (craft, <drawn up)

4. 1980s film excited Rachel in private room (5,4)
LOCAL HERO

(RACHEL)* (*excited) in LOO (private room)

5. Country song’s intro sprightly, uplifting (5)
SYRIA

S[ong] (intro) + (AIRY)< (sprightly, <uplifting)

6. Bridge playing opens with relative losing unspecified amount (9)
NOSEPIECE

(OPENS)* (*playing) with [n]IECE (relative, losing N (unspecified amount))

7. TV panel game overseen by current artist from Middle East (5)
IRAQI

QI (TV panel game) overseen by (I (current) + RA (artist))

8. English stamp without head – Victoria? (7)
EMPRESS

E (English) + [i]MPRESS (stamp, without head)

9. Was in bed around afternoon without drink (6)
BATTED

BED around (A (afternoon) + TT (without drink))

15. One who attends castle perhaps part of the week (3,6)
MAN FRIDAY

MAN (castle perhaps) + FRIDAY (part of the week)

17. Short-lived recording involved real Beyond The Fringe? (9)
EPHEMERAL

EP (recording) + ((REAL)* (*involved) beyond HEM (the fringe))

18. Bath district, with island replacing old type of junction (9)
SPAGHETTI

SPA (bath) + GHETTO (district, with I (island) replacing O (old))

19. Fixed nautical gear on the stormy delta (7)
RIGHTED

RIG (nautical gear) on (THE)* (*stormy) + D (delta)

21. Japanese road user to use horn around unknown area (6)
TOYOTA

TOOT (use horn) around Y (unknown) + A (area)

23. Showy character’s grand pizza, in middle, keeping aflame (5)
GLITZ

(G (grand) + [pi]Z[za] (in middle)) keeping LIT (aflame)

24. Some operative analyses north-facing spots (5)
NAEVI

([operat]IVE AN[alyses] (some))< (<north-facing)

26. Group of students, bored by evening void, spiced drink (5)
NEGUS

NUS (group of students) bored by E[venin]G (void)

19 comments on “Financial Times 17,818 by AARDVARK”

  1. Greatly enjoyed this well clued puzzle although I needed help with NAEVI.

    Thanks Aardvark and Teacow.

  2. Sorry about your robbery in Barcelona; it is
    a high risk city. Most impressed that you gave us a great blog after your unfortunate experience.

  3. Sorry to hear about your phone, Teacow. Hope it didn’t ruin your trip.
    I was holding out for a pangram too but noted the lack of ‘K’.
    My failure today was the cosmonaut (before my time) but perhaps should have known it. I tussled with quite a few parsings but got there in the end. My favourite was the good old SPAGHETTI [junction]. Gettable for overseas solvers, I thought. Half my family are 021-ers so that was easy for me! Thanks Aardvark and Teacow.

  4. As mentioned in previous blogs/comments, the lipogram appears to be an Aardvark specialty–perhaps a solving aid in future puzzles, although I guess we do not know which letter is “missing” until the grid is completed.

    Could someone elucidate the usage of “in” meaning “fancied” (e.g., in a phrase)?

  5. Cineraria@4: ODE 2010 p 881 gives us “fashionable: pastels and light colours are in this year” as an informal meaning for in as an adjective. The definition as “fashionable” can also be found in Chambers and Collins. That is near enough for me.

  6. Thanks for the blog, hope you get your phone sorted .
    Good puzzle with a lot of clever, neat clues. NAEVI pretty obscure but the wordplay very fair.
    GAGARIN perhaps the most famous person in the world for a while but a long time ago .

    The fancied/in colour this summer is black , which is the new black .

  7. Thanks Aardvark and Teacow . Great crossword and I felt much the chewiest of all three today

    Was a bit flummoxed by ascot; it has a few jump meets but much more famous for flat and I thought one wears an ascot around one’s neck not head.

  8. On the near pangram, as usual the rarest letters are all there, but they do not seem to be arranged in any particular pattern this time. The missing letter is one in the next group down for rarity.

    [Roz@6: If black is in this year (even numbered), ODE 2010 must have been referring to an odd-numbered year.]

    Thanks Aardvark and Teacow.

  9. Matthew@7: I think the reference is to the strange objects that the female spectators wear on their heads on Ladies’ Day.

  11. Coincidentally, the FT’s Polymath one week ago asked for “COSMONAUTS” with reference to Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov. How many would remember John Glenn in comparison?

    Always interesting how one person’s general knowledge is far from general knowledge… but it creates half the fun in crosswordland 🙂

  12. Commiserations on your Barcelona experience; I had my wallet nicked there a few years ago; fortunately I still had my phone so I was able to stop my credit cards straight away.
    We too were looking for a pangram and hoping a K would appear in the SW corner, among our last few in. An enjoyable solve, nevertheless.
    Thanks, Aardvark and Teacow.

  13. Thanks Aardvark and Teacow for a fun puzzle and blog. Isn’t (or maybe wasn’t) Irak an alternative spelling of Iraq?

  14. Stevec: Latest editions of Chambers, Collins and ODE only have Iraq and Iraqi. The two volume SOED 2007 p 1430 has Iraki but marked as obsolete. My understanding is that the standard French spelling is Irak. Of course, the wordplay in 7dn forces the spelling IRAQI for the answer.

  15. Really struggled with the last Aardvark puzzle, but made it through this one unscathed. Could someone please educate me on NUS being a group of students? Thanks in advance!

  17. With Beyond the Fringe at 17d and the HEWING at 2d (although I’m a hack and hew man myself) I was looking for either a mining or a Peter Cook theme. At least the TEQUILA SUNRISE didn’t make me DIZZY.

    Thanks Aardvark for the nice puzzle, and Teacow for the excellent blog under trying circumstances. (I lost my phone a week ago and had to go through the security and replacement process as well, so I know how you feel.)

  18. Liked this for some light evening entertainment.. didn’t notice the near panagram.. Cineria@4 maybe something like “Fancy a trip to the seaside… or an Ice-cream… or a swifty in the Dog n Parrot.. Yes!! I’m in for that” ? I’d also use “down” in the same way.. “A pint?.. put me down for that..!”
    Thanks Aardvark n Teacow (you’re living through my worst nightmare.. courage (as they say over here)

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