Financial Times N° 14,091 by Falcon

by

After a rocky start with 1A, this was plain sailing.

Across
1. Ungenerous type embarrassed current collector (10)
CHEAPSKATE I am not at all sure about this; my best shot is a straight charade of CHEAP (’embarrased’, as in “he made me feel cheap”) + SKATE (the manta ray, which is related tor the skates, is a filter feeder – ‘current collector’). I hope there is something a little less tenuous. Any ideas?
7. Refuse to have king included in embargo (4)
BRAN An envelope (‘included in’) of R (Rex, ‘king’) in BAN (’embargo’)
9. Obstacle met by small horse (4)
SNAG A charade of S (‘small’) + NAG (‘horse’).
10. They blow and craft roll heading for shelter (5,5)
TRADE WINDS A charade of TRADE (‘craft’) + WIND (‘roll’) + S (‘heading for Shelter’).
11. Gentleman’s gentleman needed before a dance (6)
VALETA A charade of VALET (‘gentleman’s gentleman’) + ‘a’.
12. Stirrer, silver – flipping list includes it (8)
AGITATOR An envelope (‘includes’) of ‘it’ in AG (chemical symbol, ‘silver’) + ATOR, a reversal (‘flipping’) of ROTA (‘list’).
13. Wooden box in coach that’s set off (3,5)
TEA CHEST A charade of TEACH (‘coach’) + EST, an anagram (‘off’) of ‘set’.
15. Band–call? (4)
RING Double definition.
17. Cheese buffet always contains? (4)
FETA A hidden answer (‘contains’) in ‘bufFET Always’.
19. Shy young Italian brought back inside (8)
RETICENT An envelope (‘inside’) of TI, a reversal (‘brought back’) of IT (‘Italian’), in RECENT (‘young’).
22. FT, alas, upset fine female in opera (8)
FALSTAFF A charade of FALSTA, an anagram (‘upset’) of ‘FT, alas’) + F (‘fine’) + F (‘female’). Falstaff is an opera by Verdi (or Vaughan Williams; his is calles “Sir John in Love”, but Falstaff is ‘in opera’).
23. Girl taken on by a posh couple? (2,4)
AU PAIR A charade of ‘a’ + U (‘posh’) + PAIR (‘couple’).
25. Explorer, perhaps Scott – his first step needs expertise (10)
SPACECRAFT A charade of S (‘Scott – his first’) + PACE (‘step’) + CRAFT (‘expertise’). Explorer is the unbrella name of a whole series of US space launches.
26. Block Surrey’s foremost spinner (4)
STOP A charade of S (‘Surrey’s foremost’) + TOP (‘spinner’).
27. Terry bagging a duck (4)
TEAL An envelope (‘bagging’) of ‘a’ in TEL (‘Terry’).
28. Its pies are ordered (10)
PATISSERIE An anagram (‘ordered’) of ‘its pies are’, with a very neat &lit definition.
Down
2. Poisonous plant pointed to in note penned by Irish poet, unfinished (7)
HENBANE An envelope (‘penned by’) of NB (nota bene, ‘note’) in HEANE[y] (‘Irish poet, unfinished’; Seamus Heaney, new to me). Henbane is one of the nightshades.
3. Male leaving wringer in corner (5)
ANGLE A subtraction; [m]ANGLE (‘wringer’) less the M (‘male leaving’).
4. Desecrated statue I’d located (8)
SITUATED An anagram (‘desecrated’) of ‘statue I’d’.
5. Raging at fame, or fat cats in reality (2,1,6,2,4)
AS A MATTER OF FACT An anagram (‘raging’) of ‘at fame or fat cats’.
6. Something that causes vomiting? Call me up (6)
EMETIC A reversal (‘up’, in a down clue) of CITE (‘call’) + ‘me’.
7. Knick-knacks, oddly barbaric, on top of counter (4-1-4)
BRIC-A-BRAC BRICABRA, an anagram (‘oddly’; for once the word does not indicate taking alternate letters) of ‘barbaric’ + C (‘top of Counter’).
8. Continuing in the same way too, after a short time (3,2,2)
AND SO ON A charade of AND (‘too’) + SOON (‘after a short time’).
14. Traditional type in charge, a leader of leftwingers (9)
CLASSICAL A charade of CLASS (‘type’) + IC (‘in charge’) + ‘a’ + L (‘leader of Leftwingers’).
16. Transported, at last, in a 25 (8)
ATLANTIS An anagram (‘transported’) of ‘at last in’. Atlantis was one of the space shuttles.
18. Former partner, large enough for a model (7)
EXAMPLE A charade of EX (‘former partner’) + AMPLE (‘large enough’).
20. Capital, flourishing Robinia (7)
NAIROBI An anagram (‘flourishing’) of ‘Robinia’. Robinia is the genus of locust trees.
21. Very angry about parking seen as reckless (6)
MADCAP A charade of MAD (‘very angry’) + CA (circa, ‘about’) + P (‘parking’).
24. Spread beyond end of lane (5)
PASTE A charade of PAST (‘beyond’) + E (‘end of lanE‘).

3 comments on “Financial Times N° 14,091 by Falcon”

  1. Well – we thought that you had come up with a good explanation for 1a but with a bit of googling we found that SKATE is a ‘current collector’ on an electric railway train that collects its current from a third rail – Collins.

  3. I was amused by the reference to Scott of the Antarctic in the explorer/spacecraft clue, because he was of course Robert FALCON Scott. Then I discovered that Falcon is, in fact, Allan Scott — so presumably this is where he takes his pen-name from? If so, everything seems to come together in 25a.

    Thanks to PeterO and Falcon, a very enjoyable solve.

Comments are closed.