Financial Times 13,816 by Gozo

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I always look forward to Gozo crosswords as he seems to be right on my wavelength.  Unfortunately, this morning I seem poorly tuned-in as there are still a couple of solutions that I can’t fully explain, so any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Gozo usually themes the solutions in his grids, and this week all the across solutions are names of plants.  I had heard of all of them, and I am certainly not a keen gardener, so a well chosen theme I think.

Any help completing the parsing for 5 across and 11 down please? Thanks to Tom Johnson for explaining these.

My internet connection has been intermittent today, so my apologies if I don’t get to update the blog immediately.

Hold mouse over clue number to see clue.

Across
1 LAVENDER END (destroy) inside Rod LAVER (tennis champion)
5 ACACIA A CA (California, state) and CIA (‘company’ in Italian).
9 GARDENIA DRAINIAGE*
10 SORREL Double definition, plant and colour of horse
12 OXEYE OX (neat) EYE (viewer)
13 MONKSHOOD MONK‘S (Trappist monk is) HOOD (criminal)
14 CROCUS OCCURS* (anagram=all over the place) – famously blooms in spring
16 BRACKEN BR (Britain AC (account) and KEN Dodd (British entertainer)
19 ANEMONE NAME* and ONE (single)
21 BO TREE OT (Old Testament – books of The Bible) inside BEER*
23 MARES-TAIL MATERIALS*
25 CACTI Cut (first letter of) and ACT I (act 1, start of play)
26 HENBIT (THE BIN)*
27 BIRDS-EYE Type of speedwell – also type of primrose and Clarence Birdseye pioneer of frozen foods
28 MYRTLE reversed inside barrEL TRY Mulching
29 WISTERIA WIST (to know) and the River AIRE reversed (about)
Down
1 LEGION Double definition
2 VERTEBRAE VERT (green) English BRAE (hillside)
3 NIECE EIN (one in German) reversed and CarefreE (outside letter of)
4 ENIGMAS GAMINES*
6 CROISSANT I (1 Roman numeral) inside CROSS (angered) and ANT (worker) – definition is ‘roll’
7 CARGO carried on board a ship, and petrol makes your car go
8 ALLUDING DULL (uninspiring) reversed inside GAIN* – definition is ‘referring to’
11 SNOB Crispin was a shoemaker, a snob is a shoemaker and ‘snob’ is an obsolete word for blackleg
15 CROSSBILL A crossbill is a type of finch, a bill brought by the defendent against the plaintiff in a Court of Chancery
17 KEEP CLEAR KEEP (castle) CLEAR (to jump over fences or hurdles without hitting them)
18 PARMA HAM PAR (the norm) MADAM (precocious girl) with D swapped for H – notes of the musical scale, D English notation and H in German
20 EXAM EX (former partner) and AM (morning)
21 BELLINI (IN LIBEL)* – Vincenzo Bellini Italian composer
22 CINEMA comiC IN EMAil
24 R AND R RAND (South African coin) and R (short for Rand) – definition is ‘relaxation’, US military slang
25 CADET AD (advertisement, notice) inside TEC (flic=policeman, detective) reversed

*anagram

6 comments on “Financial Times 13,816 by Gozo”

  1. Thanks for the blog. Re 11D, I had snob. St Crispin, I think, is the patron saint of shoemakers and one meaning of snob is a cobbler. Where blackleg fits in, I know not.

  3. Thanks to PeeDee for his favourable review once again.
    Just to clarify the two uncertainties:

    Cia. is the abbreviation in Italian for “Company”. Chambers gives this entry immediately after CIA.

    Knob is incorrect — the solution is SNOB, and if you look up Chambers’ definitions all will become clear.

    Tom Johnson
    Gozo

  4. Great fun. Enjoyed the theme. SNOB quite often appears in crosswords but I didn’t know the blackleg connection so have filed that away for future use. Thanks to Gozo and PeeDee.

  5. Thanks to PeeDee and to Gozo for an enjoyably themed puzzle.

    In 25ac, I read ‘start of play’ as being ACT I.

  6. Thanks very much to Tom for visiting the site and putting me right, it is all there in Chambers now I look again, I just failed to spot it first time. A new pair of reading glasses may be in order. Thanks also to Eileen for ‘ACT I’, this is not the first time I have missed this device and had to be reminded. Not my best day’s blogging I fear.

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