Financial Times 16,566 by ALBERICH

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The ever-reliable Alberich is today's FT setter.

This was typical Alberich fare – a range of devices, some clever diversions, smooth surfaces and very few superfluous words.

I particularly enjoyed the clues for MISTRIAL ("faulty hearing"), NARRATE, CASSOWARY, PURGE (for its simplicity) and (my favourite) STREETCAR.

There was one clue that I wasn't so sure about, however. In the clue for BITTERN, I don't think BITING and EATING are the same thing.

Other than that, flawless as always, so thanks, Alberich.

ACROSS
1 CAMERA Approached soldiers to find shooter? (6)
 

CAME ("approached") + RA (Royal Artillery, so "soldiers")
4 PARSEC Advances rapidly westward, covering a great distance (6)
 

Hidden backwards [westward, covering] in "advanCES RAPidly"
8 NARRATE A vote halved after returning officer finally conducted recount (7)
 

A (vo)TE [halved] after [returning] <=((office)R RAN ("conducted"))
9 WITNESS Observe Italian wearing wide cape (7)
 

It. (Italian) wearing W (wide) + NESS ("cape")
11 CHAMBERTIN Room temperature fashionable for red wine (10)
 

CHAMBER ("room") + T (temperature) + IN ("fashionable")
12 TOOT Either way, it’s a blast (4)
 

Reads the same either way
13 PEACH Advocate loses recipe for dish (5)
 

P(r)EACH ("advocate" loses R (recipe))
14 MISTRIAL Faulty hearing from one being stuck in violent wind (8)
 

I (one) being stuck in MISTRAL ("violent wind")
16 CONSOMME Against a few eating starter of minestrone soup (8)
 

CON ("against") + SOME ("a few") eating [starter of] M(inestrone)
18 ROPEY Bad translation of timeless poetry (5)
 

*(poery) [anag:translation of] where POERY is [timeless] POE(t)RY
20 GALA Knight had ignored festive occasion (4)
 

GALA (had) ("knight", HAD ignored)
21 PREFERENCE Bent copper is given written recommendation (10)
 

P (penny, so "copper") is given REFERENCE ("written recommendation")
23 BITTERN A bird ate another bird (7)
 

BIT ("ate") + TERN (another "bird")

Are "bit and "ate" synonymous?
24 ECUADOR Doctor cured a leader of Oceanian country (7)
 

*(cured a o) [anag:doctor] where O is [leader of] O(ceanian)
25 YONDER Dry one out over there (6)
 

*(dry one) [anag:out]
26 FRIEZE Sounds like thoroughly cool artwork (6)
 

Homophone of [sounds like] FREEZE ("thoroughly cool")
DOWN
1 CLASH Pound is put in money jar (5)
 

L ("pound", as in LSD) is put in CASH ("money")
2 MARIMBA Mother’s on edge – boy’s beginning a musical instrument (7)
 

MA ("mother") 's on RIM ("edge") + B(oy's) [beginning] + A
3 ROTHERHAM Drive to secure second hospital for northern town (9)
 

RAM ("drive") to secure OTHER ("second") H (hospital)
5 ALIEN Edges away from prominent foreigner (5)
 

[edges away from] (s)ALIEN(t)
6 SENATOR Politician’s new in constituency, as an alternative (7)
 

N (new) in SEAT ("constituency") + OR ("as an alternative")
7 CASSOWARY Bird misrepresented as crow, say (9)
 

*(as crow say) [anag:misrepresented]
10 STAMPEDED Rushed to impress with reckless deed (9)
 

STAMP ("to impress") with *(deed) [anag:reckless]
13 PROFANITY Shame about Romania supporter’s swearing (9)
 

PITY ("shame") about RO (international car registration abbreviation or internet domain of "Romania") + FAN ("supporter")
15 STREETCAR Desire for one small plane? Right, turn up! (9)
 

S (small) + TREE ("plane?") + <=(R (right) + ACT ("turn")) [up]

Refers to A Streetcar Named Desire, the Tennessee Williams play.
17 SPARTAN Severe criminal charges mounting over nationalist uprising (7)
 

<=RAPS ("criminal charges", mounting) over <=NAT (nationalist, uprising)
19 PREDATE Come before search for quarry (7)
 

Double definition
21 PURGE Scour first of pans with egg on (5)
 

[first of] P(ans) with URGE ("egg on")
22 CHORE Hotel in centre offers routine job (5)
 

H (hotel) in CORE ("centre")

18 comments on “Financial Times 16,566 by ALBERICH”

  2. Thanks for the blog, loonapick.

    I’m with you on your favourites, with the addition of 11ac CHAMBERTIN (for the surface) and 2dn MARIMBA (also for the surface, reminding me of my feelings when my son, aged about seven, began learning the violin: fortunately, it didn’t last long.)

    I see what you mean about bit / ate – but it didn’t bother me.

    Many thanks, as ever, for the puzzle, Alberich – doing double duty today, with Klingsor in the Indy: I feel very lucky.

  3. I wondered about bit/ate too, so looked it up in Chambers. Sure enough, the second definition of EAT is to bite, chew or swallow!

  5. Me, too, re BIT/ATE. Checked The Bible like cruciverbophile but still find it hard to find a like-for-like, ‘eat/bite into’ being the closest I could find. Still oddly my favourite clue. I just like the word and the bird.

    CHAMBERTIN was v nice: I spent ages trying to make ‘Tintoretto’ mean anything but a painter.

    8 had that wily misdirection which we all love, 3 election references slily & smoothly seducing us away the (finally) obvious def).

    Lovely stuff. Thanks to both.

  6. STREETCAR was the standout for me today, along with the fearsome CASSOWARY, MISTRIAL and ROPEY.
    Didn’t know PARSEC though. TOOT and GALA have both made a recent appearance. I don’t think ‘bit’ and ‘ate’ are synonymous either – after all, ‘bit’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘swallowed’! Still, it works for me. There’s another bird in there too!
    All good fun. Thanks to Alberich and Loonapick.

  7. That was good fun. Seeing 21a reminded me from long ago when a colleague wrote a reference for a particularly troublesome student wanting to do an MSc elsewhere. She apparently wrote “Whatever the difficulties of your course, this student will be equal to them”.

    Just off for a bite to eat 🙂

  8. “Very few superfluous words” in the preamble sounds like damnation with faint praise. I couldn’t find any surplus words. Which words were you thinking of, Loonapick?

    “Desire for one” is a great def for STREETCAR, but the surface isn’t quite as polished and meaningful overall as some.

  10. Tony Colman – you know, Reading back over the clues, you’re right! I don’t think the clue for MISTRIAL needs “being”, but it’s not exactly superfluous, so I’ll withdraw that comment.

  11. Having worked through the Indy’s offering from Alberich’s alter ego (Klingsor) this morning we found this fairly straightforward: the only real problem was PARSEC which we couldn’t parse as we failed to spot it was a reverse hidden.

    We liked CHAMBERTIN (for its apt surface) and CASSOWARY (for reminding us of this rhyme atributed to Samuel Wilberforce) but favourite was STREETCAR – brilliant!

    Thanks, Alberich and Loonapick.

  12. Thanks to loonapick and Alberich

    Excellent

    “Bit” and “ate” are interchangeable in the “depleted” or “corroded” senses as suggested by Grant @5.

    That clue does contain the one superfluous word though – “a”.

  13. Thanks, Alberich and Loonapick. Loved STREETCAR (with “plane” for a tree) and MISTRIAL. CHAMBERTIN was new to me, and that area hung me up when I tried “Rotterdam” for 3D, until PEACH came.

  14. Thanks Alberich and loonapick

    Typically excellent fare from this setter with both the wine and the northern city to be added to the ever increasing fount of knowledge (assuming that it does stay in there!)

    Had to get down to ECUADOR to get a start and slowly worked through the puzzle across three sessions during the day.  Wasn’t able to unravel the wordplay of NARRATE after entering by definition alone.  Grinned at STREETCAR which was clearly the best of the day from a very good crop.

    Met my first CASSOWARY up in the Daintree rain forest last year – was lucky enough to get within a few metres of it and was amazed that it looked more like a latter day dinosaur with feathers than a bird which included menacing looking claws on its feet.

    Finished in the SW corner with SPARTAN and BITTERN the last couple in.

  15. Bruce @ 14,
    I was similarly fortunate to spot one in the Daintree. We were the last to leave a wonderful park with indigenous flora and fauna when, as we were leaving, the huge and colourful bird was stepping across the road and melted into the forest. A case of blink and you miss it. We’d heard cautionary tales about the creature so kept a respectful distance but it was the stinging tree that scared me most!

  16. Bit late but I would like to congratulate the setter on these very clever clues. As well as ‘faulty hearing’ I thought shooter, recount and bent were all delightfully misleading. Thanks to Alberich and Loonapick – I needed help parsing STREETCAR.

  17. Hi Diane … we were lucky this one was feeding just beside the walking track that we were on and stayed with us for about 10-15 minutes before we moved on !  Gorgeous creature.

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