Financial Times 14,895 by ARTEXLEN

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We had a couple of quibbles (which we shall probably find are down to us missing the point rather than any deficiency in the crossword) but overall we enjoyed this.

completed grid
Across
1 COVERED WAGON
Chap embarrassed by prankster aboard pioneer’s vehicle (7,5)

COVE (chap) RED (embarrassed) WAG (prankster) ON (aboard) = COVERED WAGON, the vehicle used by American pioneers.
10 TREACLE
Foodstuff’s temperature affected cereal (7)

An anagram (affected) of T (for temperature) and CEREAL
11 ALABAMA
Article by the French president showing no love for state (7)

A (indefinite article in English) LA (“the” in French) BAMA (US president Obama minus the initial O (showing no love, or zero)), gives ALABAMA, as state of the USA.
12 ARIEL
Spirit of play that is evident in a physical sport (5)

IE (for “that is”) in A RL (abbreviation of Rugby League). Ariel is the spirit who appears in The Tempest.
13 DERELICT
Daughter found shelters left by one down-and-out (8)

D for daughter ERECT (found – we thought this was stretching the definition of erect) sheltering L for left and I as a representation for the number one = DERELICT, a person without a home, job, or property.
15 ANGLOPHOBE
Touring Bologna, he admits quietly he wouldn’t want to be here (10)

An anagram (touring) of BOLOGNA plus HE plus P (for quietly, as in the musical instruction). An Anglophobe wouldn’t want to be in England, the home of the FT.
16 IGOR
Lab assistant regularly sampled king cobra (4)

IGOR is  is a stock character assistant to many types of Gothic villains, such as Count Dracula or DrFrankenstein, familiar from many horror movies and horror movie parodies, but never appeared in the actual novels. IGOR is made up of every second letter (regularly sampled) of “KING COBRA”
18 PART
Leave something for an actor to take on (4)

A double definition. To part is to leave, and a part is something an actor takes on.
20 SWORDCRAFT
Leader of divers propels back boat showing skill with arm (10)

SWOR (“rows” or propels, backwards) D (first letter, or leader, of divers) CRAFT (for boat) makes SWORDCRAFT, skill with an arm, or weapon.
22 IN FLIGHT
Where you’d find step provided for passage (2-6)

We’re not confident about the technical terms, but we think this could be described as a double definition. One would find a step in a flight of stairs, and in flight food or entertainment is something provided for a passage by air.
24 RATIO
Mathematician’s term outsiders avoided in speech (5)

ORATION (speech) avoiding the first and last letters (outsiders) gives RATIO, a mathematical term.
26 REEL OFF
Quickly run through king, escape back round old wharf finally (4,3)

R for king EELF (flee, or escape, backwards) around  O for old and F the final letter of wharf (wharf finally), gives REEL OFF.
27 CUISINE
Prompt to devour one’s home cooking (7)

CUE (prompt) devouring (with the insertion of) IS IN (one’s home, or at home), gives CUISINE
28 HESITATINGLY
With apparent reluctance, boozy late night is last in February (12)

An anagram (boozy or confused) of LATE NIGHT IS and Y (last letter in February)
Down
2 OPENING
Turn around square in reverse to get in parking space (7)

Go=”turn” around “nine” ( the square of 3) both reversed and including P for “parking
3 ESCALLOP
Seafood ring eaten by upcoming model (8)

Call = “ring” surrounded by Pose (reversed) to mean upcoming model.  Apparently an alternative for “scallop” which Collins defines as “any of various marine bivalves of the family Pectinidae, having a fluted fan-shaped shell” One of us fell into the trap of putting in escargot without checking but realised his mistake when stuck on 12 across.
4 EDEN
Trio after father of Frederick North, former PM (4)

Ede is the trio of letters following the “Fr” (Father) in “Frederick.  Followed by N for North.  Robert Anthony Eden was the British Prime Minister from 1955-57.
5 WEAVERBIRD
A part of speech written in bizarre flyer (10)

A verb = “A part of speech” written inside  Weird= bizarre.  Weaverbirds are so called because of their nest weaving abilities and apparently include the English sparrow.
6 GRAVE
Heavy accent (5)

Again, what we should describe as a double definition – Grave used to mean heavy or serious, as in a wound or subject matter.  Grave is also the accent in French and other languages that descends to the right.
7 NEARING
On the brink of getting paid to promote centre (7)

Earning (getting paid) with the central letter “n” promoted to first position in the word.  eg a person on the brink of attaining their goal may also be said to be nearing their goal.
8 STEAK AU POIVRE
Soup I rave about covering wooden dish (5,2,6)

An anagram of “soup I rave” surrounding TEAK for wooden.
9 MASTERSTROKES
Well-timed acts do this to make great sketches (13)

Again, not sure of the terminology, but we think this is a cryptic definition of some sort. Perhaps we are missing something here, but we cannot think of another word that fits. The answer sort of fits the clue but again it seems a bit tenuous to us. For “strokes” we’d have seen an allusion to swimmers or oarsmen as more apposite.
14 CHEW THE FAT
About to cut crime after acquiring ace gossip (4,3,3)

C for “about” plus HEW = “cut” plus THEFT = “crime”  with the addition of A for “ace.
17 SCORPION
Arachnid’s house with new bottom (8)

Artlexen appears to be using Scorpio as a synonym for “house”  with the addition of n for “new”.  Not completely sure about the accuracy of this as references checked so far refer to Scorpio as the natural ruler of the Eighth House of the zodiac (which is commonly referred to as the “House of Death and Inheritance”) rather than the house itself.
19 REFRESH
Update information about novel (7)

RE (about) plus FRESH (novel) = REFRESH (or F5)
21 ANTHILL
Fully welcoming thin jagged structure containing galleries (7)

 ALL (fully) with an anagram (jagged) of THIN inserted (welcoming) makes ANTHILL
23 ICONS
Prisoner inside is to make representations (5)

IS with CON (prisoner) inside it.
25 SCAT
Mass caterer’s ingredient to go off quickly (4)

SCAT, a verb usually used in the imperative mood, is hidden in (an angredient of) Mass caterer’s.
*anagram

7 comments on “Financial Times 14,895 by ARTEXLEN”

  1. Thank you David & Linda. I share your uncertainty about 9ac but someone else is bound to come up with the answer! As to 13ac, Chambers gives the definition of “establish” for both “found” and “erect”. I was grateful for your explanation of “Igor”, not being a fan of horror movies.

    Thanks, too, to Artexlen (love the name by the way!).

  2. Thanks David and Linda
    The definition in 9dn is ‘well-timed acts’. For the wordplay, an artist would have to MASTER STROKES ‘to make great sketches’.

  3. Thanks, both.
    Perhaps trying to explain everything is making us excessively literal-minded, as our normal approach is much sloppier, relying on intuition (which was what temporarily led one of us off the straight and narrow on 3 down) rather than analysing everything to the nth degree , but we’d both see “erect” as covering the process of construction and “found” as the performance of the act that precedes that process (think foundation stone).
    Similarly with strokes and sketches – we couldn’t see why sketches were singled out, rather than drawings or paintings. If it is an attempt to mislead by making people think of comic sketches, then so be it, but there is a risk of impreciseness, as with using house as a synonym for sign in 17 down.
    We loved Artexlen as well. We’ve now found that the same chap uses the pseudonym eXternal elsewhere. Our hopes that he was a painter and decorator have been pebbledashed.

  4. Thanks, David and Linda.

    Re the use of “house’ for Scorpio in 17d, this is an example of an error that seems to crop up from time to time in cryptics through a lack of understanding of the difference between a house and a sign in astrology. Chambers defines a house as ‘one of the twelve divisions of the heavens in astrology’ and, without further knowledge, one might incorrectly assume that these divisions equate to the 12 zodiac signs. The ODE has a preferable definition of a house as ‘a twelfth division of the celestial sphere….’ which allows for a different division than by sign. In fact, each of the 12 houses is ruled by a sign but they are different divisions with different meanings and characteristics.

    I have pointed this out before, including to at least one crossword editor, but the misunderstanding obviously remains to some extent.

  5. Perhaps the most memorable IGOR is the lab assistant played by Marty Feldman in the 1974 Mel Brooks film Young Frankenstein.

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