Financial Times 16,512 by REDSHANK

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An enjoyable Redshank puzzle.

This was a nice puzzle to blog, with just enough challenging clues to keep me interested, but nothing too difficult to parse.

I liked 24 and 25 across, and 7 and 16 down, but thought some of the definitions were a bit loose (BITER = FLY? and BONDS = AGENTS?), but they were not distracting.

Thanks, Redshank.

ACROSS
1 STOPCOCK Tap old computer in store (8)
 

O (old) + PC (personal "computer") in STOCK ("store")
5 ENGULF English bug upset Bury (6)
 

Eng. (English) + <=FLU ("bug", upset)
10 DETRAIN Run into delay? Get off at Crewe maybe (7)
 

R (run) into DETAIN ("delay")

Crewe is a major junction on the West Coast Main Line.
11 ORBITER Men perhaps fly spacecraft, say (7)
 

OR (other ranks, so "men") + BITER ("fly")

"Fly" is a vague definition.
12 UMAMI Taste monosodium a milk contains (5)
 

Hidden in [contains] "monosodiUM A MIlk"
13 RARE EARTH Table item army groups found beside Globe (4,5)
 

(RA (Royal Artillery) + RE (Royal Engineers)) ("army groups") found beside EARTH ("Globe")

The Table referred to in the definition is the Periodic Table
14 MALTESE CROSS Symbol of old order making islanders angry (7,5)
 

MALTESE ("islanders") + CROSS ("angry")

The Maltese Cross was originally associated with the Order of St John (The Knights Hospitalier), but is also associated with more modern orders.
18 PREMIUM BONDS Ernie selects these elite agents (7,5)
 

PREMIUM ("elite") + BONDS ("agents")

I'm not sure BONDS = AGENTS, as there was only one James Bond, although several different people have portrayed him on screen.
21 PERPLEXED Did floor for each place old journo added (9)
 

PER ("for each") + Pl. (place) + EX ("old") with ED (editor, so "journo") added
23 FAUNA Local animals often seen accompanying Flora (5)
 

"Flora and fauna" are commonly put together as a phrase to describe the general organisms found in a specific locale.
24 EMPEROR Caesar backed theatre in his city (7)
 

[backed] <=(REP ("theatre") in ROME ("his city"))
25 NOISILY Top player unwise to sacrifice length with racket (7)
 

No 1 ("top player") + SIL(l)Y ("unwise" to sacrifice L (length))
26 YESMEN Toadies primarily serve in ME state (3-3)
 

[primarily] S(erve) in YEMEN ("ME State")
27 HEIGHTEN Boost horse, 18, losing energy (8)
 

H (horse) + EIGHTE(e)N losing E (energy)
DOWN
1 SODIUM Metal, very thick, contains uranium (6)
 

SO ("very") + DIM ("thick") contains U (uranium)
2 OUTLAW Make illegal Open University Disney retrospective (6)
 

OU (Open University) + <=WALT (Disney) [retrospective]
3 CHARIVARI Din confused arch rival briefly, I gathered (9)
 

*(arch riva) [anag:confused] (where RIVA is RIVA(l) briefly) gathered I
4 CONCRETE MIXERS Building helps to deceive island extroverts (8,6)
 

CON ("to deceive") + CRETE ("island") + MIXERS ("extroverts")
6 NOBLE Dope snubs bishop and peer (5)
 

NO(b)BLE ("dope") snubs B (bishop)
7 ULTERIOR Son quits province with one other missing article hidden (8)
 

S (son) quits UL(s)TER ("province") with I (one) + O(the)R missing THE ("article")
8 FURTHEST Extremely distant man’s entering races with coat on (8)
 

HE'S ("man's") entering TT (Tourist Trophy, so "races") with FUR ("coat") on
9 CORRESPONDENCE Post agreement (14)
 

Double definition
15 CODIFYING Firm condition stops desperate arranger’s job? (9)
 

Co. (company, so "firm") + IF ("condition") stops DYING ("desperate")
16 APOPLEXY Drink variable amounts to keep old man fit (8)
 

ALE ("drink") + X + Y ("variable amounts", in maths) to keep POP ("old man")
17 DECRYPTS Departments suppress occasionally corny cracks (8)
 

DEPTS (departments) suppress [occasionally] C(o)R(n)Y
19 JURIST Lawyer deserved to defend Irish revolutionary (6)
 

JUST ("deserved") to defend <=Ir. (Irish, revolutionary)
20 BANYAN Fruit almost blankets crown of young fig tree (6)
 

BANAN(a) ("fruit", almost) blankets [crown of] Y(oung)

22 LARGE Big successful escapees are at it (5)
 

If you escape from prison, you are "at LARGE"

13 comments on “Financial Times 16,512 by REDSHANK”

  2. Thanks for the blog, loonapick.

    This was a nice puzzle to solve, too. My favourites were 24ac EMPEROR, 4dn CEMENT MIXERS and 7dn ULTERIOR.

    14ac reminded me of silly primary school jokes: ‘How do you make a Venetian blind?’ [Poke his eyes out]; ‘How do you make a Maltese cross?’ [Stick pins in him].

    Thank you, Redshank – I enjoyed it.

  4. We found this extremely hard managing only half a dozen answers till reading the blog……and then amazed that humans could do this! Well done all of you who seemed to breeze through it but I hope we can reduce the severity after yesterday and, even tougher, today.

  5. We found this extremely hard managing only half a dozen answers till we read the blog. I hope we can reduce the severity after yesterday and, even tougher, today.

  6. Thanks Redshank and Loonapick for a very clear blog.

    i thought that this was an excellent crossword and was the pick of the day for me.

  8. A steady and mostly satisfying solve.  LOI was 20dn, where we took a while to figure out the fruit – and then had to check in Chambers that a BANYAN is indeed a type of fig tree (we just knew it as a tree).

    We were OK with ‘biter’ for ‘fly’ – with ‘perhaps’ indicating a definition by example – but we share the reservation about ‘bonds’.  And we thought 23ac was hardly cryptic.

    Lots to like, though, including SODIUM and RARE EARTH (well, one of us is a chemist!)

    Thanks, Redshank and Loonapick.

  9. Thanks Redshank & loonapick.

    If Bond is an agent then, at least in crosswords, Bonds are agents.

  11. After Julius yesterday and Redshank today I was beginning to think that I lost the skill to penetrate cryptic clues; fortunately I had Puck and Nutmeg to reassure me. Thanks Loonapick for the blog.

  12. Found this a little beastly at times and it took several sittings to finish. Those I couldn’t parse, I relied on guesswork based on letters already in or else I could only solve in halves. Once MIXERS was in, PREMIUM quickly followed but, as Allan said, this one seemed barely cryptic. Didn’t really like FAUNA either as thought it too obvious. That said, I really liked CONCRETE MIXERS, UMAMI and APOPLEXY. BANYAN is familiar since they grow where I live but CHARIVARI – so obvious in retrospect – was my LOI. Thanks, Redshank, for a stern but rewarding challenge and Loonapick for guiding the way.

  13. Thanks Redshank and loonapick

    A good challenge that kept one on one’s toes throughout that I was able to get finished in a couple of sessions late last night.  Also thought that 23a was one of the weaker clues along with the second part of 18a, but certainly made up for in spades elsewhere in the puzzle.

    BANYAN as a part of the fig tree family was the only new learning.

    Finished at the bottom with the clever HEIGHTEN, JURIST and APOPLEXY (which I used a word finder to complete the crossword and then get to bed).

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