Financial Times 16,552 by GURNEY

by

A satisfying Tuesday puzzle with some head-scratching parses and a couple of smiles,

Done and dusted in two-and-a-half passes but none the less enjoyable for that. Thanks to Gurney.

image of grid
ACROSS
1 SOMERSAULT In complete reversal season broadcast twice (10)
 

Double homophone: of 'summer' and 'salt', both meaning 'season'.
7 EASE Seeing no resistance, remove facility (4)
 

ErASE ('remove') without 'R[esistance]'.
9 BEAR Endure churlish person (4)
 

Double definition.
10 INSTRUCTOR Around November, moving our strict teacher (10)
 

Anagram ('moving') of OUR STRICT around N[ovember], radio code.
11 ANTHEM Song from Batman: The Movie (6)
 

Neat inclusion in 'batmAN THE Movie'.
12 OILCLOTH Too chill, put out protective material (8)
 

Anagram ('put out') of TOO CHILL.
13 MARTINET Stickler investing money, English, in trading centre (8)
 

MAR.T ('trading centre') includes TIN & E[nglish].
15 TART Cutting pastry (4)
 

Double def.
17 DROP Cease to employ doctor at surgery (4)
 

D[octo]R + OP[eration] ('surgery').
19 MARY ROSE Warship of yore with arms supply (4,4)
 

Anagram ('supplied' by the letters of) YORE with ARMS, 'yore' doing justified double duty here. Last in, but only because I mis-read the def-word as 'worship' until the death. Eye-test time.
22 FORENOON Morning for one to return, willing (8)
 

FOR + ONE, reversed, + ON ('willing').
23 SITTER Model – easy catch? (6)
 

Double def::one who 'sits' for artist & what we used at school to call a 'dolly'.
25 DIGRESSIVE Rambling criticism needing rewrite – revises (10)
 

DIG ('criticism') + anagram ('needing rewrite') of 'revises'. Tricksy parse.
26 ANTI Brilliant idea to trap opponent (4)
 

Hidden ('trapped' in) 'brilliANT Idea'.
27 GRIT Good reputation involving toughness initially? (4)
 

1st letters of 1st 4 words, with (almost) whole-clue def.
28 SWEETHEART Exotic theatres we love (10)
 

Anagram ('exotic') of THEATRES WE.
DOWN
2 OCEANIA Wellington’s here–- in a canoe I converted (7)
 

Wellington N.Z., obvs. Anagram ('converted') of A CANOE I. Shortest 5-syllable word?
3 EARTH There’s something lacking after daughter leaves our home (5)
 

dEARTH ('something lacking') without D[aughter].
4 SWIMMING Dance music, written about 2001, in baths? (8)
 

SWI.NG around MMI, w def by example, hence q-mark.
5 UNSPORTSMANLIKE Playing, a sulk’s prominent? (15)
 

Anagram ('playing') of last 3 words, with somewhat clunky whole-clue cryptic definition.
6 THRILL 60 minutes in where the money is kept: that’s exciting (6)
 

H{ou]R in TILL.
7 ESCALATOR Lost a race unfortunately – that can get you down (9)
 

Anagram ('unfortunately') of LOST A RACE w cryptic def.
8 SCOOTER Glaswegian maybe with hesitation making case for old motorcycle (7)
 

SC.OT ('Glaswegian maybe') + ER ('hesitation') contain ('make a case for') O[ld].
14 TOP SECRET Jumper perhaps, dry, referring to time not to be mentioned (3-6)
 

TOP ('jumper maybe') + SEC (of wine &c, 'dry') + RE + T[ime].
16 PROSPECT Outlook favouring minority group quietly admitted (8)
 

PRO ('favouring') + S.ECT ('minority group') include P[iano].
18 ROOMIER More spacious heath raised? That is right (7)
 

MOOR ('heath'), reversed, + I.E. + R[ight].
20 SHELTER Absolute protection for military officer in refuge (7)
 

SHE.ER ('absolute') surrounds ('protects') L[ieutenan]T.
21 ROASTS Severely criticises meat dishes (6)
 

Double definition.
24 TRACE Sketch a little (5)
 

And again.

17 comments on “Financial Times 16,552 by GURNEY”

  1. Looking at my jot pad, there seems to be quite a few anagrams today.

    I thought 11a was the best clue I’ve seen for ANTHEM all day.

    Got stuck a couple of times and cheated on SOMERSAULT (lovely clue – wish I’d worked it out) and FORENOON (didn’t know that was even a word).

    Thanks to Gurney and Grant.

  2. Thanks to Gurney and Grant for an enjoyable puzzle and blog.

    My favourites were SOMERSAULT, DIGRESSIVE, OCEANIA, UNSPORTSMANLIKE and MARY ROSE (I always like that ‘supply’ device- slight typo in the blog, Grant) and it has a lovely surface.

    I had ‘in’ as part of the definition in 4dn.

  3. Like Hovis I really enjoyed SOMERSAULT and FORENOON, and approved of 5dn more than GB did (how Gurney must have celebrated to find that anagram!). Great Tuesday entertainment, thanks to all concerned.

  4. To Eileen @2:
    Yes, yr probably right about ‘in baths’.
    But ‘supplied’ is less a typo & more an attempt to make the blog look like English. You’ll see I used the same device with ‘trap’/‘trapped’ in 26.
    Stet the rest of your post: a very pleasant Tuesday puzzle.

  5. I see what you mean, Grant, but ‘supply’, as an anagram indicator, is not a verb but a fanciful adverb. 😉

  6. Agree with much of the above and would add that along with tackling that monster anagram, I really enjoyed the double definitions of which there were a number. 25ac took a while as I didn’t know which end was up! Finally, like Hovis, I cheated on 1ac as I grew impatient. A pity because it was certainly worth the effort.
    Many thanks both to Grant and Gurney.

  8. I always get thrills doing the FT crossies.Your blog gives further insights on various aspects of parsing and definition. Very educative. Keep it up !

  9. To Eileen @5:
    Ooh, d’you know, I’d not thought of ‘supply’ that way. I’d have spelt is ‘supplely’, which Chambers gives first with ‘supply’ as a (non-searchable) alternative. Another arrow in the quiver. Thanks!

  11. To Diane B @10 & Eileen:
    They certainly are. If anyone were to say ‘supply different’ to me, I’d assume it was illiterate for ‘subtly’. We live and – occasionally – learn. Curiously happy about this thread.

  12. Hi again Grant – and Diane @10

    Recently, Picaroon, in the Guardian, clued SATIRISES with ‘Takes off bloomers after a day’ and Julie in Australia commented how lovely it is when setters chop up words  to get you to see them in a whole new way. I agreed: there are a number of words that I now always ‘mispronounce’, in my head – but now, as then, I can’t think of any more examples!

    Grant, I liked your ‘another arrow in the quiver’ – we’re always needing those!

  13. Many thanks, Grant, for the excellent blog and many thanks also to all those who commented.

    ‘Supply’ in the sense used in the cryptic reading of the MARY ROSE clue has a entry in Collins dict separate to the entry giving the other meanings of ‘supply’.     The dict is available free on-line.    The surface reading aimed to suggest initially the other meaning.

     

  14. Eileen@12, here’s one: DISASTER, which is generally clued in regard to a princess’s flower. I’m my head, whenever I see that word, hear “Di’s aster.”

  15. Eileen @5 Thanks for translating “supply;” I solved MARY ROSE thinking supply was a noun. (It didn’t hurt that I had seen an unforgettable exhibit on the Mary Rose years ago at the National Geographic in DC so it’s one of the few British “battleships of yore” that I know.)
    Thanks Gurney for a challenging crossword. I thought SOMERSAULT was brilliant. Thanks Grant for the write-up.

  16. Thanks Gurney and Grant

    Really enjoyable puzzle with a good number of very good double definitions and that fantastic SOMERSAULT.
    Finished with the tricky DIGRESSIVE, the unusual FORENOON and EASE (where I had an unparsable EASY for a start).

  17. Thanks, Gurney and Grant!   Got to this one later in the week, after the challenges the last few days.   Tricky surfaces and good anagrams.   I also cheated (with Chambers Word Wizard – is that cheating?) for SOMERSAULT, DIGRESSIVE and PROSPECT; did all the shorter answers first and saved UNSPORTSMANLIKE for LOI, which snapped into obvious view then!  Agree SOMERSAULT was best clue.

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