Financial Times 16,500 by DOGBERRY

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A typical Dogberry puzzle this morning in the FT

On the whole this was an enjoyable solve, with some nice clues, especially those for KNOWLEDGE, WIND CHILL FACTOR and NUDISM. His sense of humour was evident in clues such as IMPEDED.

I do have a couple of minor quibbles/queries though – I may be missing something but KE for King Edward in 9dn? And there were a few clues where superfluous words crept in (e.g. "with" in both 13ac and 14ac), but as I said, an enjoyable solve, nonetheless.

Thanks, Dogberry

ACROSS
1 NEMATODE Junction blocked by return of pet worm (8)
 

NODE (junction) blocked by [return of] <=TAME ("pet")
5 TWITCH Go bird-watching with Macbeth’s sixth Weird Sister (6)
 

(macbe)T(h) ['s sixth] + WITCH ("weird sister")
10 DUCAL Aristocratic youth holding copper back? (5)
 

<=LAD ("youth" holding Cu (copper, on the periodic table)) [back]
11 SPINNAKER 27, perhaps, concealing a monarch’s sail (9)
 

SPINNER ("27, perhaps" (the answer to 27 ac is "spider") concealing A K (king, so "monarch")
12 SHOCK JOCK Provocateur on air has Scot pursuing hair (5,4)
 

JOCK (pejorative term for a "Scot") pursuing SHOCK ("hair")
13 CONCH Dupe companion with shell (5)
 

CON ("dupe") + CH ("Companion" of Honour)
14 CHANGE Money returned with revision (6)
 

Double definition
15 THICKET Offensive yokel in coarse growth (7)
 

TET (Offensive) with HICK ("yokel") in

The Tet Offensive was a co-ordinated attack by the North Vietnamese on scores of South Vietnamese in 1968.
18 IMPEDED Dogberry’s made water, keeping Dogberry’s capital obstructed (7)
 

I'M ("Dogberry's") + PEED ("made water") keeping D(ogberry) ['s capital]
20 SALLOW Not deep, not hot, not dark (6)
 

S(h)ALLOW ("not deep") [not H (hot)]
22 TOTEM Encountered books about fetish (5)
 

<=(MET ("encountered") + OT (Old Testament, so "books")) [about]
24 STREAMLET Trickle of papers left breaking order to change nothing (9)
 

REAM ("papers") + L (left) breaking STET ("order to change nothing", in proofreading)
25 PERCOLATE Filter through to shattered core in piece of armour (9)
 

*(core) [anag:shattered] in PLATE ("piece of armour")
26 TIDAL Boy having sex standing up, going in and out? (5)
 

<=(LAD ("boy") having IT ("sex")) [standing up]
27 SPIDER Ducks again turning to invertebrate? (6)
 

<=REDIPS ("ducks again" turning)
28 STURGEON Spur to follow good person’s fish (8)
 

URGE ON ("spur") to follow St. (saint, so "good person")
DOWN
1 NUDISM Disappointing D minus gets serious dressing down (6)
 

*(d minus) [anag:disappointing]
2 MICROCHIP Circuit in which big road takes small reptile with it (9)
 

M1 ("big road") takes CROC ("small reptile") + HIP ("with it")
3 TILL KINGDOM COME Volume about compere supporting evil monarch’s party forever (4,7,4)
 

TOME ("volume") about MC (Master of Ceremonies, so "compere") supporting ILL ("evil") KING ("monarch") + DO ("party")
4 DISPOSE Arrange for long bribes to be held up (7)
 

DIE ("long") holding <=SOPS ("bribes") [up]
6 WIND CHILL FACTOR Quixote’s foe’s child replacing male and female player – it makes you shiver! (4,5,6)
 

WIND(m>CH)ILL ("Quixote's foe", with CH (child) replacing M (male))+ F (female) + ACTOR ("player")
7 TOKEN Puff gets new symbol (5)
 

TOKE ("puff") gets N (new)
8 HIROHITO Popular song about topless writer’s hot love for emperor (8)
 

HIT ("popular song") about [topless] (b)IRO ("writer") + H (Hot) + O ("love" in tennis), so H(IRO-H)IT-O
9 PICKET Ancient Briton carrying King Edward to stake (6)
 

PICT ("Ancient Briton") carrying KE (King Edward)

I haven't come across KE as an abbreviation for King Edward, which would surely be ER (Edward Rex). The other alternative is that K is King and E is simply Edward, but again, E is not an abbreviation for Edward, except in ER.
16 KNOWLEDGE Certainty of replacing new keg with old (9)
 

*[new keg old] [anag:replacing]
17 MISTYPES Commits secretarial error with indistinct Classical foot (8)
 

MISTY ("indistinct") + PES (Latin for "foot", so "Classical foot")
19 DISMAY Speak ill of ex-PM and cause distress (6)
 

DIS ("speak ill of") + (Theresa) MAY ("ex-PM")
20 SURFEIT Have fun in the sea, bind over and overdo it (7)
 

SURF ("have fun in the sea") + <=TIE ("bind", over)
21 STALIN Dictator’s blemish left hidden (6)
 

STAIN ("blemish") with L (left) hidden
23 TARSI Is traitor lifting bones? (5)
 

<=(IS RAT ("traitor")) [lifting]

21 comments on “Financial Times 16,500 by DOGBERRY”

  1. Agree with your intro, loonapick. I had a cross against 9d. Was also not mad keen on “disappointing” as an anagram indicator in 1d or the “yoda speak” in 15a. That said, the puzzle as a whole was great fun. Thanks all.

  3. Great puzzle and detailed accurate blog (as we have come to expect)

    Chambers dictionary of crossword abbreviations gives E as a possibility for Edward.

  6. Not easy, I thought, and so was delighted to finish. A lot of wit (26ac TIDAL, for instance, as well as 18ac IMPEDED) and smooth surfaces. I think it’s the first Dogberry I’ve come across, and I look forward to the next tone. Thanks for the thorough blog, loonapick, and a thoroughly good solve, Dogberry.

  7. Thanks for the blog, loonapick.

    It’s been far too long since the last Dogberry [and almost a year since the last Shed in the Guardian] so a very welcome return.

    My favourites were TWITCH, SALLOW, NUDISM, MICROCHIP and WIND CHILL FACTOR.

    Many thanks, Dogberry – come back soon!

  8. My first Dogberry and a cheeky one to boot. Thanks for a stiff workout with some enjoyable repetitions including 10ac/26ac and 9d/15ac. My favourite was WIND CHILL FACTOR which then made light work of the NE corner. Drew a blank at 27ac. Thanks to Loonapick for clarifying those I couldn’t parse.

  9. Thanks to Dogberry and loonapick. Great fun. I have always enjoyed the Shed puzzles in the Guardian and this one was no exception.  I had the same question abut KE and especially enjoyed WIND CHILL FACTOR.

  10. Thanks Dogberry, that was fun. Great surfaces overall, especially TIDAL. I ticked SPIDER, STURGEON, NUDISM, and MICROCHIP as favorites. Thanks Loonapick for parsing, particularly DISPOSE and STREAMLET which I got by definition alone.

  11. If you live in Birmingham then KE for King Edward is a well used abbreviation. It is the local term for the principal city school – founded by Edward VI, King Edward’s School.

  12. Thanks loonapick and Dogberry.
    What a plesant surprise! Splendidly elegant. Thoroughly enjoyed this, and no complaints.

  13. Thanks to both for an enjoyable excursion and explanations.
    I also looked sideways at the KE use. But I had more Trouble with the way 18a was written. DOGBERRY’S implied either I or MY. Running the first two words together gave me an IVE, so quite where the M came from confused me. In the end I decided it couldn’t be anything but IM.

  15. johninterred @5 – I just laughed at the clue which, although smutty (nothing wrong with that), I thought was very clever. One can be too picky…

  16. I have to admit 26ac doesn’t really work. It would be fine as a down clue, but not an across. Thanks to all.

  17. Dogberry @16 26ac worked fine for me — I just tilted my head a bit and it made perfect sense.

  18. No blogger for me today — was it that bad? Incidentally I played Dogberry at school — Robert Fox MBE, a BBC correspondent of Falklands fame was also in the play

  19. Thanks Dogberry and loonapick

    It’s a long time since I have done a puzzle by this setter – and looking it up it was early in 2019.  Found this one a good challenge with some interesting constructions and some humorous components in it.  Did enjoy unravelling 3d after seeing what the answer was from definition and crossers.  Thought that the other long one at 6d was also very cleverly put together.

    Started off with TWITCH (after having to check that a ‘weird sister’ was a WITCH and finished in the NW corner with MICROCHIP, NEMATODE and CHANGE were the last few in.

  20. Brucew@aus @19: the witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth are referred ro as ‘weird sisters’. That was the point. If you haven’t read the play or seen it, I strongly advise you to do so.

    While I’m here, is ‘Jock’ really a ‘pejorative’ ‘term for a Scotsman? I have in my time (which is to say 61 years) known at least two male Scots who were perfectly happy to be addressed as ‘Jock’.

     

  21. Dogberry@20

    Thanks for dropping in.  It is always good to get feedback from the setter.

    On the issue of “Jock”, I am Scottish and do find it mildly offensive, in the way that some Irishmen don’t like being called Paddy.  Some people don’t mind, but some people do.  I would take objection to being called Jock, as I have a name and it isn’t Jock (or even John).  I did however have an uncle Jock.  In crosswords, I think it’s fair game as it’s in the dictionary, but there is a new “snowflake” generation out there, who may disagree with me.

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