Financial Times 17,938 by NEO

January 2, 2025 at 7:37 am by loonapick

A fun start to my 2025 blogging experience.

This was a fine puzzle, with a smattering of general knowledge to keep it interesting. Finding the two multi-word long answers was the key as that gace lots of crossers. JACK AND THE BEANSTALK was very obvious, TWISTIN' THE NIGHT AWAY not so.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Thanks, Neo.

ACROSS
1	SKIMPY	Revealing book from Kipling — notice covers? (6)
		SPY ("notice") covers KIM ("book" by Rudyard "Kipling")
4	SUPERB	Smashing high Balkan fences (6)
		SERB ("Balkan") fences UP ("high")
8	INSPIRE	Where bells may be ringing to raise spirits? (7)
		"Bells may be ringing" IN SPIRE
9	ACHAEAN	Argives initially invading pain an old Greek (7)
		A(rgives) [initially] invading ACHE ("pain") + AN The Aechaens were an ancient Greek tribe.
11/13 down	TWISTIN’ THE NIGHT AWAY	We — tiny — wish that giant could be hit (7,3,5,4)
		(we tiny wish that giant) [anag:could be] A 1962 hit for Sam Cooke (reached No 6 in the UK charts)*
12	PASS	Fail to answer question but get through (4)
		Double definition
13	NAOMI	Sent back for me, a northern woman (5)
		[sent back] <=(IMO (in my opinion, so "for me") + A + N (northern))
14	PLEBEIAN	Bleep in a broadcast — is that vulgar? (8)
		(bleep in a) [anag:broadcast*]
16	EGOMANIA	Is it amour-propre say linked with leaderless EU state? (8)
		e.g. (for example, so "say") linked with [leaderless] (r)OMANIA ("EU state")
18	CLINK	Conservative connection in prison (5)
		C (Conservative) + LINK ("connection")
20	STAR	Tons crammed into short dress: body of some size? (4)
		T (tons) crammed into [short] SAR(i) ("dress")
21/ 7	JACK AND THE BEANSTALK	Heads converse with sailor, also penning article for giant tale (4,3,3,9)
		BEANS ("heads") + TALK ("converse") with JACK ("sailor") AND ("also") penning THE ("article")
23	TWO-TIME	Cheat in TT? (3-4)
		"TT" is T (time) twice so TWO TIMEs
24	WILLOWY	Slender and graceful — crafty and mean inside (7)
		WILY ("crafty") with LOW ("mean") inside
25	YELLOW	Colour likely to run? (6)
		Double definition, the second relating to a coward.
26	STEELY	Was musical Dan so coldly determined? (6)
		Refers to the American rock band STEELY Dan, formed in 1971.
DOWN
1	SINEW	Stray sheep we hear shows muscle (5)
		SIN ("stray") + homophone/pun/aural wordplay [we hear] of EWE ("sheep")
2	IMPASTO	Done in one second — paint liberally applied (7)
		PAST ("done") in I (one) + MO ("second")
3	PERDITION	A speech not about everlasting punishment (9)
		PER ("a") + DI(c)TION ("speech", not C (about))
5	UNCLE	Pawnbroker in America: I concede defeat (5)
		Double definition, the second referring to the American phrase "cry uncle" which means to accept defeat.
6	EXAMPLE	Lover that was large becomes model (7)
		EX ("lover tha was") + AMPLE ("large")
7		See 21 across

10	STOPWATCH	Might this notify when to finish guard duty? (9)
		Cryptic definition
13		See 11 Across

15	EUCHARIST	Such a rite involved in Christian sacrament (9)
		(such a rite) [anag:involved*]
17	MARITAL	Crowd backed one short story about union (7)
		<=RAM ("crowd", backed) + I (one) + [short] TAL(e) ("story")
19	INDULGE	Get on the sauce, eluding drunk (7)
		(eluding) [anag:drunk*]
21	JUMBO	Massive job mujahedeen must keep up (5)
		Hidden backwards in [must keep up] "jOB MUJahedeen"
22	HOWDY	Welcome the way dairy’s cleaned out (5)
		HOW ("the way") + D(air)Y [cleaned out]

21 comments on “Financial Times 17,938 by NEO”

KVa

#1 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 09:01

T T N AWAY, NAOMI, SINEW and PERDITION were my favourite ones.

Thanks Neo and loonapick.
occasional

#2 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 10:01

Neat stuff. I really liked the giant pairing, especially the TWISTIN’ one. Unlike you loonapick I actually found the other one really tough!

HNY all.
Shanne

#3 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 10:13

I’m with loonapick on writing in JACK AND THE BEANSTALK, but having to work through the anagram fodder and some crossers to get TWISTIN’ THE NIGHT AWAY.

I needed the blog to parse NAOMI, and ACHAEAN was a jorum.

Thank you to loonapick and Neo.
PostMark

#4 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 10:27

I’m another for whom JACK etc was easier than TWISTIN’ and I needed the blog for both NAOMI and the American phrase in UNCLE. Another late to fall was IMPASTO which looked like an anagram of I S and PAINT. STOPWATCH is very cute, EUCHARIST a lovely CAD, EGOMANIA is a neat construction and I liked the surface of PLEBEIAN. Slightly less taken with TWO TIME which even the blog translates as TWO TIMEs.

Thanks Neo and loonapick
crypticsue

#5 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 11:01

Apart from the unknown Greek, the rest of the crossword was nice and friendly

Thank you and Happy New Year to Neo and loonapick
Fiona

#6 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 12:31

Enjoyed this and like others got the “Jack” long one early on which was a great help. Also needed the blog to parse NAOMI.

Liked: PERDITION, ACHAEAN, EGOMANIA, SINEW, HOWDY, MARITAL

Thanks Neo and loonapick
Mandrake

#7 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 12:58

Sorry to be a pedant, but sinew (1d) is not strictly muscle; it joins muscle to bone.
Hovis

#8 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 13:24

Mandrake @7. Although sinew isn’t muscle as in part of the body, sinew can mean muscle in the sense of strength.
Pelham Barton

#9 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 13:26

1dn: Collins 2023 p 1853 gives sinew 2 b a literary word for muscle. I am quite clear in my mind that, when words are used differently inside and outside specialist areas, setters are entitled to use either meaning.
Diane

#10 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 13:30

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK, my FOI, was a great help, so much so that the right half of the grid felll quickly – not my usual experience with Neo!
The remaining half, however, required more head-scratching. UNCLE was the only option that fit but I was unfamiliar with the phrase and I probably never would have thought of IMO for NAOMI, also entered from the crossers. Seems I’m in good company on these two.
STEELY, TWO-TIME and ACHAEAN (thanks to The Odyssey) were my favourites.
Thanks to Neo and Loonapick for a great blog.
Petert

#11 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 14:53

Having lighted on KIM in 1 across, I spent too much time trying to justify AKIMBO. Fortunately the Sam Cooke song featured in our New Year’s Eve quiz, so both the giant clues turned out to gentle for me (though not necessarily in my opinion 🙂
Tony Santucci

#12 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 15:20

Thanks Neo for a well-crafted crossword. I revealed IMPASTO and needed the blog to parse NAOMI and PERDITION but all else was smooth sailing. My favourites were INSPIRE, EGOMANIA, SINEW, and EXAMPLE. Thanks loonapick for the blog.
Martyn

#13 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 15:21

Sounds like we experienced this in a similar manner

I found lots to like about this puzzle with great surfaces and concise clues throughout. I broke into puzzle in NE corner and solved anti-clockwise, finding the NW corner the most difficult. I have a long list of likes: SUPERB, EXAMPLE, CLINK, PLEBEIAN, HOWDY, EUCHARIST, WILLOWY, INSPIRE

I also did not know either meaning of UNCLE, and was unsure whether I parsed NAOMI correctly until the blog

Thanks Neo and loonapick
Autistic Trier

#14 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 17:36

I was a bit worried when I saw this one was by Neo, I’ve found it very hard to tune in to previous puzzles by this setter but I enjoyed this even though I couldn’t get much of the left hand side.

I really liked Skimpy, Achaean and Willowy. I would never have got TTNA.
Anil Shrivastava

#15 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 18:46

I enjoyed this one. TWISTIN never came to me and I was looking for some giant reference thinking the long ones were giant related. But got everything else and happy with that given NEO challenges me. I was also thinking we where awfully close to a pang ram and kept looking for a Z, etc.
mrpenney

#16 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 18:49

I wasn’t sure which meaning of UNCLE was an Americanism, since our setter put the indicator in the middle, and seeing as I’m an American who knows them both. I’m honestly surprised that it’s the “cry uncle” one. What do British kids say to admit defeat in a wrestling (or more accurately rassling) contest?
Neo

#17 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 22:27

Well Mr P it was intended as a DD, as blogged. There’s not really an ‘Americanism’ indicator there. See whatcha mean tho.

Thanks all, thanks loona.

Neo.
Neo

#18 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 22:32

By the way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_QdADiOyUw&ab_channel=GentleGiant
JayZed

#19 - Thu 2nd Jan 25, 22:49

mrpenney @16: in my day, and in my part of the country, it was “mercy”.
allan_c

#20 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 09:48

Another for whom JACK … was a write-in but TWISTIN’ … needed a lot of head-scratching and crossers. I wasn’t oblivious to the twist back in the 60s but the only number I could have recalled was Let’s Twist Again. But I got everything in the end, albeit with some entries unparsed or only partly so.
I liked PASS, PLEBEIAN and IMPASTO among others.
Thanks, Neo and loonapick.
Pelham Barton

#21 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 12:34

Further to JayZed, I always said “yes” as the answer to my opponent’s question “do you submit?” It was invariably that way round, but I did not always have the sense to say “yes” the first time the question was asked.

Comments are closed.