Financial Times 14,981 – Crux

(A RICH TORY CASTE)*    [* = subject to reform]

Probably an &lit.  That said, the inclusion of ‘Tory’ makes that the clue is not ‘neutral’ anymore.  Some may object to that.  Also, I am not sure whether the second part of the clue contributes to the definition or that it’s just an anagram indicator that fits in well.

CRA (reversal (‘rotating’) of ARC (part of circle ‘line’) + FT (daily)

My POI (penultimate one in). Having C?A?T I was tempted to go for CHART, wrongfooted as I was by ‘char’ = daily and ‘art’ = skill.  But I couldn’t make it work.

O (old) + B (British) + (CASTLES)*    [* = rebuilt]

LUCK (fortune) + NOW (currently)

An ANAGRAM is what you need to make ‘coats’ out of ‘Tosca’ (i.e. the solution to 5d)

Double / Cryptic definition

RIGHT (correct) + BANK (finance house)

For those who are confused by ‘right’ = ‘north’, read this:  Rive Droite.

Cryptic definition

Or a straightforward definition, depending on how you read ‘course’.

SEPA (reversal (‘return’) of APES (copies)) around I (one)

[sp]O[rt] + {VERDURE (greens) minus R (right)}

Cryptic definition

This was my LOI (last one in).  A wardroom is the officers’ mess on a warship.  Hence the allusion to ‘navy’.  The ‘rum’ bit was clear.

BY (near) + (THE LAST)*    [* = resort]

(IN + O (love) + OR)*    [* = just confused]

Surely, the word ‘just’ is padding?  Strictly speaking it’s not even necessary for the surface.

If one takes away the S at the start (‘not initially’), one gets ‘elf-management’. Santa’s surely good at that, isn’t he?

More about it here:   Christmas Elf  .

HEAD (leading) + COUNT (member of 1ac, i.e. of the aristocracy)

ACT ON (continue performing)

Part of the London Borough of Ealing.  By the way, there are nine more places in the UK called Acton!

IRON (press) + WORK’S (labour’s)

TO + SCA[les] (half of 9d, i.e half of ‘scales’)

Tosca is an opera by Giacomo Puccini in which the heroine, Floria Tosca, is a celebrated singer. She fell in love with the painter Mario Cavaradossi and the rest is history. I mean, it’s an opera and they’re all gonna die.

CIA (secret agents) + BATTAS (homophone (‘reportedly’) of BATTERS (strikes))

A ‘seaman’ could be an Able Seaman (abbreviation: AB).  If he’s more competent he’s an ‘abler’ seaman.  That’s what Crux wants to tell us.

Hidden solution (‘some’):   [sa]Y ASH MAK[es]

A veil worn by some Muslim women concealing all of the face except the eyes.

Pisces are ‘fish’, you can have scales on a fish.

The sign Scales, of course, means something else:  Libra, the Balance.

PIPE (churchwarden) + (MADE [vica]R)*    [* = somehow]

Apart from a clergyman, a churchwarden can also be a long-stemmed clay pipe.

GROUND (earth) + HOG (pig)

A + S (second) + PERSION (homophone (‘we hear’) of PERSIAN (Omar Khayyam, for one)

(SOME BAA)*    [* = strangely]

(OLD MAN)*    [* = crazy]

I only underlined ‘nut’ as I am not sure whether an almond is really hard to crack.

WEASEL (small fierce mammal) minus its first letter (W)

N (name) preceded by ELLE (she, in French)

ROOM (space) coming after V (victory)