Financial Times 12,510 by Cincinnus
Posted by Pete Maclean on July 26th, 2007
Another elegant puzzle from Cincinnus that I found a bit more difficult than most of his.
Across
1. TERMINALLY - TALLY about ERMIN[e]
7. SURE - S[nake] + URE, the Ure being a river in Yorkshire
9. SPUD - S + PUD, Murphy’s being a kind of potato
10. DAVENPORT - anagram of PAST VENDOR
11. ORANGE - O[utside] + RANGE
12. RIESLING - [f]RIES + LING
13. COSTELLO - COS + TELL + O
15. G MEN - GEN about M
17. PEAK - homophone
19. LIGHTERS - double definition. Spills may not be well known today. They are very thin strips of wood used like tapers, to light things. I remember my father using spills to light his cigarettes from the fire in our hearth when I was a young lad.
22. REDSTART - D in RESTART
23. INHUME - IN + HUME. I guessed this easily even though I do not recall seeing the word before. I figured if there is an “exhume” then there must be an “inhume”.
25. ATMOSPHERE - anagram of MOPER HATES
26. DROP - DR + OP
27. TALK - hidden word
28. LOTUS EATER - anagram of US TOLERATE
Down
2. ESPARTO - anagram of PEARS + TO
3. MID ON - NOD + IM reversed
4. NED KELLY - D[u]KE in NELLY. I found this a tough one!
5. LIVERPOOL STREET - anagram of LOVELIEST PORTER. An easy clue for those who are familiar with London stations; perhaps a hard one for those who are not. But another lovely anagram.
6. YONDER - anagram of RODNEY
7. SPOTLIGHT - (I am not sure that I fully understand this one)
8. RETINUE - E + UNITER reversed
14. TAKE STOCK - double definition, one slightly cryptic
16. UGLINESS - anagram of SINGLE US
18. ELECTRA - ELECT + RA
20. RUMPOLE - RUM + POLE
21. CARPEL - CARP + E[qua]L
24. HYDRA - hidden word