Financial Times 17,883 by SOLOMON

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A fun puzzle from SOLOMON!

FF:9 DD:8

Blogging from my phone so apologies in advance if there are errors.

ACROSS
1 FOCUSED
Put together outside lock, with edges cut and fixed (7)

FUSED ( put together ) outside OC ( lOCk, edges cut )
5 HAIRCUT
The shortening of many fine pieces orchestrated by Barber (7)

cryptic def
9 FACE CREAM
Moisturiser one put on fellow with carbon paper (4,5)

F ( fellow ) ACE ( one ) C ( carbon ) REAM ( paper )
10 INDEX
List of popular cards read out (5)

IN ( popular ) DEX ( sounds like DECKS, cards )
11 HEAVEN
Chicken crosses road to get to the other side (6)

HEN ( chicken ) around AVE ( road )
12 PICTURES
Midge is following one who was in Scotland for the views (8)

PICT ( one who was in scotland ) URE'S ( midge is, I found out he is a scottish singer )
14 HOOVERING
Former FBI chief, at home, beginning to grey and gathering dust (9)

HOOVER ( former fbi chief ) IN ( at home ) G ( Grey, beginning of )
15 CYCLE
Make tea, eat, then get on your bike (5)

reverse clue; if you CYCLE eat, you get tea ( last letter to the front )
17 MOPED
Vehicle of speed regularly taken out straddled by mod (5)

PE ( sPeEd, regularly taken out ) in MOD
19 YARDSTICK
Measure enclosed space alongside lodge (9)

YARD ( enclosed space ) STICK ( lodge )
21 UMBRELLA
Cover large area with scattered bits of lumber (8)

[ LUMBER ]* L ( large ) A ( area )
23 DEFORM
Twist definition or meaning, originally (6)

DEF ( definition ) OR M ( Meaning, first letter )
26 GLENS
Passages of Burns? (5)

cryptic def?
27 BRILLIANT
Great swimmer Ian Thorpe’s first (9)

BRILL ( swimmer ) IAN T ( Thorpe, first letter )
28 RESERVE
Book about the origin of tennis? (7)

RE ( about ) SERVE ( origin of tennis )
29 ODDBALL
Unusual — not even Hitler had one (7)

ODD ( not even ) BALL ( hitler had one, wwii song mocking hitler )
DOWN
1 FIFTH
20% of sta , if that (5)

hidden in "..stafF IF THat"
2 COCK A HOOP
In high spirits, lift one teddy bear up (4-1- 4)

COCK ( lift ) A { reverse of POOH ( teddy bear ) }
3 SECRETE
Hide in the region of Ierapetra? (7)

cryptic def; lepatera is in SE ( south east ) CRETE ( island in greece )
4 DOES
Take drugs and see such beautiful things in the forest (4)

double def
5 HUMDINGERS
Buzz preceding campanologists? They’re very impressive (10)

HUM ( buzz ) DINGERS ( campanologists )
6 IDIOTIC
Stupid jerk following Solomon would riot naked (7)

I'D ( solomon would ) IO ( rIOt, naked i.e. without end characters ) TIC ( jerk )
7 CIDER
‘This is the press’s doing,’ cried maniac (5)

[ CRIED ]*
8 TEXTSPEAK
Time replaces article during State Summit for Linguistic Evolution (9)

TEXaS ( state, with T – time replacing A – article ) PEAK ( summit )
13 DISYLLABLE
Silly criminal stops waving blade, leading to arrest? Or freedom? (10)

[ SILLY ]* in [ BLADE ]*
14 HAMBURGER
Beef and pork with egg on eaten by exhausted boxer (9)

HAM ( pork ) [ URGE ( egg on ) in BR ( BoxeR, without inner letters ) ]
16 CHIPOLATA
Piece cut o and wound alot — a bit of pink string? (9)

CHIP ( piece cut off ) [ A LOT ]* A
18 DRESSER
One putting clothes on furniture (7)

double def
20 SPELLED
E–n–c–h–a–n–t–e–d (7)

cryptic def
22 BLESS
Luke’s beginning, dominated by Elizabeth’s praise (5)

L ( Luke, first letter ) in BESS ( elizabeth )
24 METAL
Say, Iron Maiden, and others (5)

M ( maiden ) ET AL ( others )
25 BIRO
He made a useful point, with spirit, following a change of heart (4)

BRIO ( spirit, with middle characters interchanged , change of heart )

18 comments on “Financial Times 17,883 by SOLOMON”

  1. HAIRCUT
    Was looking for something more but couldn’t find it.
    GLENS
    Valleys are passages of/for streams/burns (could be rivers). Nice surface.
    DOES
    Take drugs=DO E’S. I think this part is a wordplay rather than a def.
    SPELLED
    A def and a cryptic def. Right?

    Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs.

  4. Solomon is fast becoming one of my favourite FT setters. Loads of humour and imagination.

    Several layers to GLENS in my view; yes, passages through which burns flow. Burns being Scottish streams hinted at by Burns as Scottish indicator. And glens also tend to be routes by which one travels through the Highlands. And Burns wrote passages about glens. Lovely clue. HEAVEN is superb and I’d agree with FrankieG’s list of BIRO, MOPED and METAL. I’d add to that list PICTURES, CYCLE, UMBRELLA, BRILLIANT, FIFTH, CIDER and CHIPOLATA for the def.

    Turbolegs, there appears to be a typo in the reproduced clue for FIFTH which has ‘sta’ rather than ‘staff’.

    Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs

  6. Burn
    Chambers
    A very fast ride, etc on a motorcycle…
    Considering the e following from PM@4, Burns has one more layer?
    And glens also tend to be routes by which one travels through the Highlands.

  7. Been waiting for the blog as just could not figure out cycle even though I’d put it in.

    So obvious once you pointed it out!!

    Why I love the blog.

  10. Siegfried @9
    When you ring the bell it is ding ding.

    Enjoyed this smart puzzle and blog.

    Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs.

  11. Late to this as I was cheering on a compatriot in a WTA event.
    I’m full of praise for this puzzle/setter and echo Postmark’s first paragraph @4.
    So many ticks but my favourite, unoriginally, has to be HEAVEN.
    Thanks, Solomon. Hope it’s not too long before your next offering. And cheers to Turbolegs.

  12. I agree with Diane@11 and PM@4. The more I do Solomon the more I like him as a setter

    As noted above, that had nice variety and many clues with great surfaces. My favourites were FACE CREAM, HEAVEN, RESERVE, METAL, ODDBALL.

    Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs

  13. Thanks Solomon for an excellent crossword. This was the perfect level of challenge for me and I didn’t find a ‘bad’ clue in the bunch. HEAVEN earned a ‘double tick’ from me; other favourites included YARDSTICK, DEFORM, TEXTSPEAK, HAMBURGER, and BIRO. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.

  15. Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs

    Tonyc@14 re repetition of an answer: True, but such coincidences should be expected to occur from time to time with a large team of setters working independently. In this case, the clues are quite different, and I am happy with that.

  16. Excellent crossword.

    Annoyingly held up a bit on 6D though.
    Couldn’t figure out the Solomon bit.
    I almost always miss it when they put their names in the clue dammit

  17. A bit chewy in places but all gettable (just about – GLENS was a guess) We liked CIDER (very neat) and ODDBALL. The latter gave us an earworm of Colonel Bogey (to which the words of the ditty can be sung).
    Thanks, Solomon and Turbolegs.

  18. I really loved this. It was fun, surprising at times but all very clever and enjoyable. One of the most fun puzzles I did for a long time that I could actually do! Thank you

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