Financial Times 13,946 by Aardvark

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I enjoyed this one, lots of variety and sound clues.  Unfortunately there is one clue that I can’t explain, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Can anyone explain 23 dn?

Hold the mouse pointer over any clue number to read the clue.

Across
1 LAVER BREAD aLAn (ignoring the peripheral letters) VERB (part of speech) READ (to study) – traditional Welsh dish made from seaweed
6 AGOG A (academy) GOnG (medal) missing N (knight, chess)
9 GRAND UNION GRAN (relative) DUN (horse) and NO I (number 1, favourite) reversed
10 PICA PI (character in Marathon, Greek letter) CA (calcium) – a typographical measure
12 GREENSLEEVES definition and cryptic definition
15 LEYLANDII (LADY IN)* in LEI (garland) – the Leyland Cypress
17 ERNIE oNe (content=inner part of) in (to plunge into) ERIE (lake) – Ernie Wise, the late straight man of the Morecambe and Wise comedy show.
18 YOUNG YOU (second person) Nurse Gwen (starting letters of) – definition is ‘babies’
19 SHED A TEAR DATE (partner) in SHEAR (fleece)
20 RENFREWSHIRE Anagram of R (runs) FERRIES and WHEN
24 GIRD GRID (network) with middle letters swapping places
25 STAY-AT-HOME TAY (river, flower=something that flows) inside (obstructing) HOSTA* by ME (this person) – definition is ‘indoor’.
26 TREK part of snooKER Table reversed (over)
27 PRINCELING Nipped (initial letter of) in PRICE (to cost) LING (a fish)
Down
1 LUGE LUGgagE (several holdalls, perhaps) with GAG (joke) removed – definition is ‘winter sport’
2 VEAL LEAVe* (most o the letters) anagram=nouvelle – definition is ‘cuisine’
3 RIDER HAGGARD RIDER (appended clause) and HAGGARD (wasted) – Victorian novelist and writer of adventure stories.
4 RANGE RANG (gave a buzz) following procedurE (end letter of) – definition is ‘oven’
5 A DOGS LIFE ADO (bother) (IF LEG’S)* anagram=troublesome
7 GRIEVENCES (IN ACRES VEG)* munch=anagram – a grouse is a grievence
8 GOATSBEARD GOA (place in India) BEST* (developed=anagram) on ARD (road) – one of several wild flowers of that name
11 RENE MAGRITTE oRlEaNs (regularly=every other letter) GAME (play) reversed (promoted, lifted up) wRITTEn (unconfined=no limits) – French surrealist painter
13 PLAYWRIGHT WARY* in PLIGHT (difficulty)
14 TYBURN TREE BURNT (scorched) in TYRE (car accessory) and E (earth, electrics abbreviation) – not actually a tree but a former gallows in central London, named because of its method of construction
16 DISHWATER HIS* (anagram=working) W (week) in TRADE* (building=anagram)
21 HAYDN HAD (forced) contains (pens) Y (variable, common maths symbol) then refraiN (ultimately=last letter of)
22  LOCI  LO (see) CI (101, Roman Numerals) – definition is ‘locations’, too similar to loci for my taste
23 BERG The best I can come up with is diver being a misprint for driver, giving Nico Roseberg (F1 racing driver) with rose=surfaced removed – definition is ‘ice mass’. Can anyone help me out?

*anagram

12 comments on “Financial Times 13,946 by Aardvark”

  1. Thanks PeeDee
    Regarding 23dn, I had this as GREB[e] (diver) reversed (surfaced {came up}) and assumed that something to indicate ‘e’ had been omitted after ‘missing’.

    However, ‘surfacing’ would be a better reversal indicator, and the clue would still make sense, so I’m not sure if I’m right.

  2. I too thought 23d was something to do with a reversal of a GREB(E) but like Gaufrid assumed the clue was missing something.

    Very enjoyable corssword. Thanks to Aardvark and PeeDee

  3. I understand that Dan BERG is a noted wreck diver.

    Now, missing ICE (ice) in ICEBERG (mass), BERG (diver) would surface (appear)!

  4. I like the GERBE theory. I did think of grebe, but for some reason failed to associate grebe with diver. I still can’t think of any obvious misprint or omission that would both supply the missing e and preserve the surface reading.

  5. Thanks Pee Dee and Aardvark.

    Quite enjoyable. I too thought 23D was GREB[e] reversed and a missing something after “missing” or that we had to figure out what it was that was “missing”. Also, I was held up (my last one in) by 14D TYBURN TREE where TYRE was partially in and partially out, but certainly not “circling” BURNT E. And unless it’s a spare (perhaps even not), I don’t think a tyre is a car accessory.

  6. Hi PeeDee
    If it is a single word omission then I think that “earth’s” would probably do the trick; or what about ‘missing the end of large ice mass’.

  7. I can imagine one word being overlooked, but a whole phrase going missing would me more likely to be spotted by the setter/editor. I like the Earth’s ice mass idea, very clever.

  8. Thank you PeeDee and Aardvark.

    I agree with scchua’s point about the car accessory.
    In a modern road vehicle, a tyre is hardly a non-essential.

    In 12ac I read “green’s leaves” with ‘noticed’ = ‘remarked upon’ as a homophone indicator. However I do prefer your interpretation!

  9. Enjoyable puzzle, thanks PeeDee and Aardvark. BTW, I think TYBURN-TREE is fine as BURNT in TYRE with the other E (earth) at the end.

  12. my reading of 23D

    definition = mass = berg

    grebe (diver) backwards = eberg

    ice is drug slang for a methamphetamine = ecstasy = e for short

    (e)berg with missing ice = berg

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