Financial Times 14,206 by Cinephile

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Interesting and varied puzzle from Cinephile – a good level of general knowledge required to solve as usual.  Thank you Cinephile.

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

Across
1 MOHAWK MO (doctor) HAWK (bird)
4 ZAGREB ZA (extremes) with GREBe (bird, tailless)
8 EMULATE EMU (bird) LATE (desceased)
9 JAYWALK JAY (bird) W (with) ALKali (some of)
11 SANDGROUSE spoonerism of “grand souse”
12 RENT bRENT (brent goose) missing B
13 HENNA HEN (bird) AN (article) returned
14 LARKSPUR LARKS (birds) PUR (sound like a cat) – a plant, found in a flower bed
16 LAWRENCE WREN (bird) in LACE (string)
18 TRAIL T (model) RAIL (bird)
20 STEM double definition – ‘check flow of’ and ‘stalk’. I had STAY here for a while which also fits (sort of) and held me up for a while
21 PIGEONHOLE PIGEON (bird) HOLE (awkward situation)
23 ROOKIES ROOK (bird) IE (that is) and S (pole)
24 PASTERN PA’S (father’s) TERN (bird) – part of a horse’s foot
25 ERNEST ERNE (bird) ST (street)
26 JERSEY double definition
Down
1 MAMBA MA and MBA are examples of masters degrees
2 HALIDON part of marsHAL I DON’t – the battle of Halidon Hill in 1333
3 WATERMAIN A TERM (limit) in WAIN (a wagon) – a supplier (of water) for teetotallers. For me ‘wagon’ sits uneasily between the definition and the subsidiary part.
5 AWAKE A K (king, monarch) in AWE (reverence).  Thanks to Wanderer.  Originally I had R (Rex) in AWE to give AWARE, which is almost as good, but I think AWAKE is a better match for ‘eyes open’.
6 REWARDS WAR (strife) in REDS (leftwingers)
7 BILINGUAL I with (A GUN)* turned=anagram in BILL (bird’s mouth)
10 GULLS EGGS LSE (London School of Economics) with GG (horse) in SLUG (slimy creature) reversed – future birds
13 HEARTSOME (HORSE TEAM)*
15 RATIONALE RATION (regulate) ALE (beer) – definition is ‘why’
17 RAMEKIN MEKong (Asian river, half of) in RAIN (water)
19 ACHATES CHAT (a bird, talk and ‘bird talk’) in SEA (water) rising – “good faithful Achates”, a character from the Aeneid now meaning any faithful friend
21 PRESS double definition
22 LORRY R (river) in LORY (a bird)

*anagram

9 comments on “Financial Times 14,206 by Cinephile”

  1. Thanks for the blog – an entertaining and rather challenging puzzle. I must say I disagree with you about 3d though – the “which” indicates clearly that the “wagon” from the definition is also being alluded to for the wordplay, making for a very elegantly constructed clue, probably my favourite.

  3. My monarch in 5d was A K (King) rather than A R (Rex), giving me AWAKE rather than AWARE. Both seem permissible for ‘with one’s eyes open’.

    I read 3d as Thomas99 did, and thought it a great clue.

    Having only recently completed Gozo’s marvellous FT Christmas alphabetical special, I know many more bird’s names than I did a couple of weeks ago.

    Thanks Cinephile and PeeDee.

  4. I had not thought of AWAKE. It seems to be a more literal meaning of “eyes open” then AWARE which is more metephorical. I’ll go with AWAKE instead. We will see tomorrow which Cinephile had in mind.

    Just for the record I don’t suggest that 3dn is an invalid clue, just that its is not to my personal taste when the line between the definition and constructions gets blurred but falls short of an &lit.

  5. Not often that the Rev’s themes become as readily apparent as today’s (1a was a bit of a giveaway I thought). Still, the theme was deftly handled – just a pity that we couldn’t see a “full house” of across clues (could’ve had AT IT for 20a, with RETAKEN at 17d, but that still leaves 26a).

    As long as we’re conducting a consumer focus group on 3d, then count me as a buyer.

    Thanks PeeDee!

  6. Thanks PeeDee and Cinephile for an enjoyable puzzle.
    Re 12a Payment that’s torn B from B (4)
    I had the answer, but couldn’t parse it, as I compliantly took both capital Bs to mean (the names of) birds, exactly as the instruction said! Though using a lower case b might not have worked understandably?

  7. re 5D I went for aware. I wonder whether Cinephile was aware of the two possibilites when formulating the clue. Probably not, as he could have used either ‘king’ for K or ‘rex’for R to avoid any ambiguity.

    Like Scchua I have a quibble about 12A. As the first ‘B’ stands for the letter bee, ‘B’ does not have same meaning throughout as per the preamble.

    Thanks, PeeDee

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