Financial Times 14,454 by Mudd

Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of October 26, 2013

A fairly easy puzzle this time, I thought. My top clues are 9A (SHOWROOM), 10A (ANKARA) and, best of all, 29A (ANCESTRY). 22D (HOMELY) is also rather good although my sense is that ‘homely’ means plain more than ugly.

ACROSS
1 Game change coming around at one (8)
PATIENCE – AT (at) + I (one) together in PENCE (change)
5 A short over (6)
ACROSS – A (a) + CROSS (short)
9 Contrary Othello put on performance in sales area (8)
SHOWROOM – SHOW (performance) + MOOR (Othello) backwards
10 Capital city, a rank sort of Anatolian capital (6)
ANKARA – anagram of A RANK + A[natolian]
12 Talk about nonsense artist! (5)
BOSCH – homophone (“bosh”)
13 Murder inmate and lie in pieces (9)
ELIMINATE – anagram of INMATE LIE
14 Raise first of boys out in the country (6)
SERBIA – anagram of RAISE B[oys]
16 Different plugging tea in place of buns (7)
CHELSEA – ELSE (different) in CHA (tea)
19 Fuss right behind old money for the country (7)
ECUADOR – ECU (old money) + ADO (fuss) + R (right). ECU or European Currency Unit was the precursor of the Euro.
21 Club Tropicana’s fourth, say (6)
PUTTER – [tro]P[icana] + UTTER (say)
23 With vibrating sound, bell perhaps is an excellent thing (9)
HUMDINGER – HUM (vibrating sound) + DINGER (bell perhaps)
25 I’m into books – vacant character is a simple type (5)
BIMBO – IM (I’m) in BB (books) + O (vacant character)
26 A few ticks, microscopic (6)
MINUTE – double definition
27 Indonesian policy to infiltrate headquarters (8)
BALINESE – LINE (policy) in BASE (headquarters)
28 Priest carrying in plate (6)
LAMINA – IN (in) in LAMA (priest)
29 Ascent possibly on line to become descent? (8)
ANCESTRY – anagram of ASCENT + RY (line)

DOWN
1 Overlook success getting close (4,2)
PASS BY – PASS (success) + BY (close)
2 25’s items beginning to tempt French painter (9)
TROUSSEAU – T[empt] + ROUSSEAU (French painter). “25’s items” refers to 25A (BRIDE).
3 Planet’s core, hot to the very bottom (5)
EARTH – HEART (core) with H (hot) moved to the end
4 Endless stuff around cavity showing disease (7)
CHOLERA – HOLE (cavity) in CRA[p] (endless stuff)
6 Happy to keep at home – on this one’s abroad? (9)
CONTINENT – IN (at home) in CONTENT (happy)
7 Japanese city huge – there’s another name for it (5)
OSAKA – OS (huge, i.e. out size) + AKA (there’s another name for it)
8 Sulphur given to fast bowler, one requiring a supply of oxygen? (8)
SPACEMAN – S (sulphur) + PACE MAN (fast bowler). One might quibble that a spaceman needs a supply of air rather than oxygen.
11 More than a trace of quartz in copper metal (4)
ZINC – hidden word
15 Serious lot of money on sport (9)
BADMINTON – BAD (serious) + MINT (lot of money) + ON (on)
17 Most sexy outfit in the rest of Spain, cut short (9)
STEAMIEST – TEAM (outfit) in SIEST[a] (the rest of Spain, cut short)
18 Sauce turned into lake, hospital admitted (8)
BECHAMEL – H (hospital) in BECAME (turned into) + L (lake)
20 Syncopated piece with a scale (4)
RAGA – RAG (syncopated piece) + A (a). So ‘a scale’ is the definition? I thought a raga was a musical pattern on which improvisations were made. But maybe that is also a scale.
21 Apply to see daubing of painter (7)
PERTAIN – anagram of PAINTER
22 Ugly setter with good skin? (6)
HOMELY – ME (setter) in HOLY (good)
24 Note that may be read either way (5)
MINIM – palindrome
25 British travel to see The Woman In White, perhaps? (5)
BRIDE – B (British) + RIDE (travel)