Financial Times 17,850 by STEERPIKE

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Another solid puzzle from Steerpike . . .

. . . and a pangram to boot.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 WARMONGER
Bellicose sort of Roman grew agitated (9)
Anagram of (agitated) ROMAN GREW
6 MIFF
Steerpike’s taken aback by fine fellow’s anger (4)
I’M (Steerpike’s) reversed (taken aback) + F (fine) + F (fellow)
8 TIPPLERS
Line crossed by those leaving gratuities in boozers (8)
L (line) inside (crossed by) TIPPERS (those leaving gratuities)
9 VENUES
Places Earl in custody of beautiful woman (6)
E (earl) inside (in custody of) VENUS (beautiful woman), with a capitalization misdirection
10 ZEALOT
Pizzeria essentially has a good deal for fanatic (6)
Middle letters of (essentially) [PIZ]ZE[RIA] + A LOT (a good deal)
11 ASSEMBLY
Skilfully conceals confusion about convention (8)
ABLY (skilfully) around (conceals) MESS (confusion) reversed (about)
12 ADHERE
Mad heretic clutches stick (6)
Hidden in (clutches) [M]AD HERE[TIC]
15 STIFLING
Sultry soprano regularly avoided staid affair (8)
S (soprano) + alternate letters of (regularly avoided) [S]T[A]I[D] + FLING (affair)
16 ESCARGOT
Ogre’s cat made mincemeat of French delicacy (8)
Anagram of (made mincemeat of) OGRE’S CAT
19 GAUCHE
Unsophisticated cowboy ignoring old flame’s last letter (6)
GAUCH[O] (cowboy) minus (ignoring) O (old) + last letter [of] [FLAM]E
21 TEXTBOOK
Exemplary knight concludes message with startling cry (8)
TEXT (message) + BOO (startling cry) + K (knight)
22 FJORDS
Judge checks places for crossing narrow inlets (6)
J (judge) inside (checks) FORDS (places for crossing)
24 QUIRES
Old landowners initially overlooked piles of paper (6)
[S]QUIRES (old landowners) minus first letter (initially overlooked)
25 ORIGINAL
Innovative, independent spirit displayed in test (8)
{I (independent) + GIN (spirit)} inside (displayed in) ORAL (test)
26 LEWD
Suggestive of Old Welsh upon reflection (4)
Hidden in (of) [OL]D WEL[SH] reversed (upon reflection)
27 DEFERENCE
Courtesy of French queen held in stockade (9)
DE (of [in] French) + {ER (queen) inside (held in) FENCE (stockade)}
DOWN
1 WHINE
Drink, it’s said, leads to unpleasant-sounding complaint (5)
Homophone of (it’s said) WINE (drink)
2 REPULSE
Great revolutionary rings Liberal before English revolt (7)
SUPER (great) inverted (revolutionary) around (rings) L (Liberal) + E (English)
3 OVERT
Public deprivation laid bare (5)
[P]OVERT[Y] (deprivation) minus outside letters (laid bare)
4 GASBAGS
Spooner’s fishy jokes? They go on and on! (7)
Spoonerism of BASS GAGS (fishy jokes)
5 RAVISHING
Stunning piece of jewellry incorporates dancing Shiva (9)
RING (piece of jewell[e]ry) around (incorporates) anagram of (dancing) SHIVA. A minor typo in the clue.
6 MINIMAL
Tiniest creatures discovered south of Michigan (7)
MI (Michigan) + [A]NIMAL[S] (creatures) minus outside letters (“discovered”)
7 FREE LUNCH
Cheerful drunk receives noon meal on the house (4,5)
Anagram of (drunk) CHEERFUL around (receives) N (noon)
13 DISREPUTE
Debate about the origins of Ruth Ellis’s infamy (9)
DISPUTE (debate) around (about) {the first letters of (the origins of) R[UTH] + E[LLIS]}
14 ENGROSSED
In finale, vulgar European gets engaged (9)
{GROSS (vulgar) + E (European)} inside (in) END (finale)
17 ATTIRED
Turned out broadcast entertains models (7)
AIRED (broadcast) around (entertains) {T + T} (models)
18 TAKE OFF
Mock the Wright brothers’ initial achievement? (4,3)
Double/cryptic definition
20 UTOPIAN
Universal issue almost overwhelms an idealist (7)
U (universal) + TOPI[C] (issue) minus last letter (almost) + AN
22 FRIAR
Oddly farcical end of elder brother (5)
Odd letters of (oddly) F[A]R[C]I[C]A[L] + last letter of (end of) [ELDE]R
23 DRAKE
Pirate is Devon’s foremost libertine (5)
First letter of (foremost [of]) D[EVON] + RAKE (libertine), referring presumably to Francis Drake

17 comments on “Financial Times 17,850 by STEERPIKE”

  1. I tried for a while to convince myself that ANGERWORM was a word. Would such be a bellicose type? Hmmm …

    This was all quite enjoyable with nothing too obscure, thanks Steerpike. If I had to nominate a quibble, it would be the absence of an inclusion indicator in the clue for LEWD.

    Thanks for a nice early blog, Cineraria, while our British friends are all in the land of Nod.

  2. Yes, thanks indeed, Cineraria, for the early showing. I started this still mentally in Geoff’s time zone and completed it a few hours later in my own, after a reviving nap post-flight.
    It was all gettable, enjoyable and very well put together, such that the pangram wasn’t needed to finish but appreciated nevertheless.
    My favourite was GASBAGS.
    Thanks to Steerpike and Cineraria.

  3. QUIRE was the clue that consumed the most time for me. I had forgotten the word and it took me for ever to see squire.

    I had ticks for FJORDS, ADHERE, and ATTIRED.

    I was not sure about the inclusion indicator for LEWD either, but I am happy to accept Cineraria’s explanation. In the absence of a homophone indicator, I thought GAS BAGS had an excess S. (I am sure Diane will have a thought about this). Minor things, not an issue.

    I agree with the “solid” and “enjoyable” assessments from our blogger and GDU. A great blog too.

    Thanks Steerpike and Cineraria

  4. LEWD was my LOI, and the construction of the clue is at least a little unconventional, or perhaps could be parsed as falling somewhere within the &lit/semi-&lit class of clues.

  5. Liked GAUCHE, GASBAGS, RAVISHING and ATTIRED.

    LEWD
    Seen ‘of’ as an inclusion indicator. No issues.
    Cineraria@4
    I can’t understand why it is &lit/semi &lit.

    Nice puzzle and great blog!
    Thanks Steerpike and Cineraria.

  6. I’m OK with ‘of’ as a hidden indicator; a tad brutal but fair. I just wished I’d spotted it. I don’t see why the clue is &lit though and might be misunderstanding Cineraria’s point @4. And, like Martyn, I wish that I had remembered QUIRES!

    Those two apart, everything else solved neatly and reasonably swiftly. Slight eyebrow raise for revolt = REPULSE. GAUCHE mr favourite clue and a tick for the fun surface in FREE LUNCH.

    Thanks Steerpike and Cineraria

  8. LEWD was my loi too and took me ages.
    I also do not understand the &lit/ semi &lit comment.
    Some excellent clues; QUIRES was not a problem.

    Thanks to Steerpike and Cineraria.

  9. 26A actually caused me to consult some online dictionaries; something that I rarely do.

    “Lewd” returned the following: Preoccupied with sex and sexual desire; lustful. Obscene.

    “Suggestive” returned the following: Tending to suggest; evocative. Stimulating further thought. Conveying a hint or suggestion.

    Now I like to be as “lewd” as next as the next woman but I cannot see how it means “suggestive”. Although if some man wants to “suggest” that we be “lewd”, I would consider it!

    Thanks to Steerpike and Cineraria

  10. Martyn@3 re 4dn GASBAGS: Spoonerisms are usually related to sound, so no homophone indicator is necessary. The example given in SOED 2007 p 2969 is “fighting liars from lighting fires“.

  11. LEWD
    ‘Suggestive’ in this sense works, I guess:
    Suggestive remarks or looks cause people to think about sex, often in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable.
    …another former employee who claims Thomas made suggestive remarks to her.
    –Collins

  13. I wondered if Cineraria was thinking of Raquel Welsh as suggestive, but she wasn’t spelled like that. GAUCHE was my favourite.

  14. I was thinking that the clue for LEWD had a self-contained brevity akin to &lit clues, but that notion does not really play out, I guess.

  15. Thanks for the blog , enjoyable puzzle with a good set of neat clues .
    MrPostmark@6 , revolting=repulsive so in the sense of (to) revolt is fine.

  16. As Roz says, an enjoyable puzzle with a good set of neat clues. Once we got ZEALOT and QUIRES we were in pangram-spotting mode which helped us get TEXTBOOK and FJORDS. Lots to like, including ESCARGOT and RAVISHING.
    Thanks, Steerpike and Cineraria.

  17. Great fun for me. Didn’t know quires but.. Always something to learn! Thanks to Steerpike and Cineraria.

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