An intriguing challenge from an uncommon Friday setter. Thanks Goliath, for the treat!
FF: 9 DD: 9

ACROSS | ||
1, 5 | SPIRIT OF THE AGE | He composed with a gift to inspire 12 (6,2,3,3) |
[ HE A GIFT TO]* in SPIRE (inspire split); see 12a | ||
9 | APPLIQUE | Decoration for intelligence bureau finally infiltrating computer firm (8) |
[ IQ (intelligence) U (bureaU, finally) ] in APPLE (computer firm) | ||
10 | AMUSED | Entertained by Bill hugging Clio? (6) |
AD (bill) containing MUSE (clio, an example of, alluded to by the ‘?’) | ||
12 | ZEITGEIST | Current climate and size? Get it wrong (9) |
[ SIZE GET IT ]* | ||
13 | ERROR | Something wrong in repidity? (5) |
cryptic def; referring to the misspelt RAPIDITY / See Dansar@3 in comments below |
||
14, 21 | POSTCODE | Subject to contract in motion, extremely desirable address essential (8) |
[ POSTCO (STC – Subject To Contract in POO (motion) ] DE ( DesirablE, extremely) | ||
16 | REAR END | Bum clue for Romeo . . . . (4,3) |
reverse clue; REAR END = R = Romeo | ||
19 | ASCITES | . . . . in America, covering quote that’s fluid (7) |
ASS (american word for bum – from 16a) covering CITE (quote) | ||
21 | See 14 | |
24 | ATONE | Make up together after midnight? (5) |
double clue; AT ONE (together) AT ONE (after midnight, 1am) | ||
25 | GREAT DANE | This could be Andersen’s dog (5,4) |
cryptic def; reference to hans christian andersen, perhaps | ||
27 | OUTLAW | You start off by reversing Disney ban (6) |
yOU (without starting letter) TLAW (reverse of WALT, disney) | ||
28 | BRANDISH | Flaunt cereal bowl? (8) |
BRAN (cereal) DISH (bowl) | ||
29, 30 | BUCKET AND SPADE | But packed sand castle ultimately built with them (6,3,5) |
[ BUT PACKED SAND E (castlE, ultimately) ]* – semi &lit? | ||
DOWN | ||
1 | STANZA | Tarzan’s not right to swing these lines (6) |
[ TArZAN’S (no R – right) ]* | ||
2 | IMPAIR | Spoil Goliath’s brace or devilish appearance (6) |
double clue; I’M (goliath’s) PAIR (brace) or IMP-AIR (devilish appearance) | ||
3, 15 | ICING ON THE CAKE | Stuffing a chicken I get no extra benefit (5,2,3,4) |
[ A CHICKEN I GET NO ]* | ||
4 | OCULIST | Regularly touch up lean person who looks you in the eye (7) |
OCU [ tOuCh Up, regularly] LIST (lean) | ||
6, 26 | HAMMER AND TONGS | Implements with energy (6,3,5) |
double def | ||
7 | ASSORTED | Various publicity about silly tosser (8) |
AD (publicity) around [ TOSSER ]* | ||
8 | ELDORADO | Fictitious location of one battlefield or a dozen (8) |
hidden in “..battlefiELD OR A DOzen” | ||
11, 20 | STAR SIGN | Scorpion or crab’s untimely end from stingrays, perhaps? (4,4) |
[ STINGRAyS (without Y, last letter of untinelY) ]* | ||
15 | See 3 | |
17 | CATACOMB | Tiger may be one with teeth, guarding a burial place (8) |
[ CAT (tiger) COMB (one with teeth) ] containing A | ||
18 | ACROSTIC | And next – Clue text – Right here? – Oh dear! – Stand out – To shout – I think – Clue stinks! (8) |
self-referenced; starting letters of “And next – Clue text – Right here? – Oh dear! – Stand out – To shout – I think – Clue stinks!”; not sure what to mark as the definition | ||
20 | See 11 | |
21 | CHEVRON | From Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan gets a military decoration (7) |
hidden in “..gorbaCHEV RONald..” | ||
22 | MARINA | Boats here welcoming Beethoven’s Ninth is a musical problem (6) |
N (beethoveN’s ninth character) in MARIA (musical problem, wiki here) | ||
23 | TECHIE | Electronic whizz breaking the ice (6) |
[ THE ICE ]* | ||
26 | See 6 | |
What a good puzzle, with unusual or original cluing everywhere I looked. Thanks to Goliath and Turbolegs — it may have been harder to blog than to solve, I suspect. I really liked 22D, the cross-reference at 16/19A and the pairs at 6/26 and 29/30. I needed the blog to parse postcode. In 13A (repidity), I also read it as E being an abbreviation for error. I don’t know if a dictionary confirms it, but in America E=error on ballpark scoreboards.
Thanks fir parsing ASCITES-I failed to factor in the elipsis
As for ACROSTIC should get a prize for weirdestclue.
Thanks Goliath and Turbo
Thanks to Tubolegs and Goliath
13a is a Goliath “decapitation” clue (t)error, (t)repidity
Thanks for parsing ASCITES-I failed to factor in the elipsis
As for ACROSTIC should get a prize for weirdestclue.
Thanks Goliath and Turbo
Goliath up to all his tricks today – hugely enjoyable. Far too many ticks to list.
Many thanks to Goliath for all the fun and to Turbolegs for the blog.
What a wonderful puzzle to get stuck into on a Friday afternoon. Too much to enjoy here to enumerate all the favourites from the variety of the clues and witty pairings to the inventive, often cheeky, wordplay. Thanks, Goliath, it was well worth the trouble and for Turboleg’s much appreciated efforts.
Dansar’s explanation for 13ac is welcome.
I loved the acrostic, marred only slightly by the fact that the last 2 lines don’t rhyme but that’s my trade & I’m overly picky about these things.
Many lovely devices including the splitting of “in spire” and the American bottom thing, although the ASCITES took some flushing out (yuck).
Great entertainment. Thanks to both.
I knew there was something more to 13a than just ‘e’ being a ‘wrong’ letter but couldn’t work it out. The explanations given by ub @1 and Dansar @3 both sound plausible to me, but I couldn’t find E for ERROR in a couple of (admittedly not American English) dictionaries I looked at, so Dansar’s “decapitation” clue idea is most likely what was meant.
Yes, ACROSTIC was very clever but my favourite bit was the ‘musical problem’ in MARINA.
Thanks to Goliath and Turbolegs
I’m sure Dansar’s right about ERROR: as s/he says, it’s one of Goliath’s trademarks.
I meant to say that I loved the musical problem, too.
Witty puzzle with great cluing. ACROSTIC, CHEVRON and MARINA all favorites!
Smashing crossword! But Turbolegs what’s the meaning of FF: 9 DD: 9 ?
Thanks Goliath for what turned out to be my favorite puzzle of the week. Reasons include the great surface in 21a to yield the hidden CHEVRON, ATONE, OUTLAW, and the witty ACROSTIC. Thanks Turbolegs for parsing — I could not figure out POSTCODE on my own.
This kept us on our toes right to our LOI which was TECHIE. So much to like we can’t really pick a favourite but we liked the necessary use of ellipses between 16 and 19, as well as using 12 as the definition for 1/5. But we needed Dansar’s comment to see the parsing of ERROR.
Thanks, Goliath and Turbolegs – and Dansar too.
Thanks Goliath and Turbolegs
Cracking puzzle that took a couple od sessions to get the grid filled and then some to understand how the wordplay worked. Didn’t pick up on the insertion into SPIRE trick with 1,5a and didn’t see the [T] removal from ‘rapidity’ at 12a.
Loved the diversity of the clue structures in the puzzle which kept me on my toes for the entire solve. ASCITES was the only new term, which was the last in after getting the very clever ACROSTIC clue.
Thanks all, for stopping by. Great to see a good FT challenge get the interest it deserves.
Dansar@3, Thanks for the help with 13a.
Barbj@11 – Ref your query, see https://www.fifteensquared.net/2014/08/08/financial-times-14695-by-goliath/. Sheer coincidence that I started this with a puzzle from the same setter, almost exactly 6 years ago.
Regards,
TL
Thanks Turbolegs