Financial Times 13,946 by Aardvark

I enjoyed this one, lots of variety and sound clues. Unfortunately there is one clue that I can’t explain, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Can anyone explain 23 dn?

Hold the mouse pointer over any clue number to read the clue.

Across
1	LAVER BREAD	aLAn (ignoring the peripheral letters) VERB (part of speech) READ (to study) – traditional Welsh dish made from seaweed
6	AGOG	A (academy) GOnG (medal) missing N (knight, chess)
9	GRAND UNION	GRAN (relative) DUN (horse) and NO I (number 1, favourite) reversed
10	PICA	PI (character in Marathon, Greek letter) CA (calcium) – a typographical measure
12	GREENSLEEVES	definition and cryptic definition
15	LEYLANDII	(LADY IN)* in LEI (garland) – the Leyland Cypress
17	ERNIE	oNe (content=inner part of) in (to plunge into) ERIE (lake) – Ernie Wise, the late straight man of the Morecambe and Wise comedy show.
18	YOUNG	YOU (second person) Nurse Gwen (starting letters of) – definition is ‘babies’
19	SHED A TEAR	DATE (partner) in SHEAR (fleece)
20	RENFREWSHIRE	Anagram of R (runs) FERRIES and WHEN
24	GIRD	GRID (network) with middle letters swapping places
25	STAY-AT-HOME	TAY (river, flower=something that flows) inside (obstructing) HOSTA* by ME (this person) – definition is ‘indoor’.
26	TREK	part of snooKER Table reversed (over)
27	PRINCELING	Nipped (initial letter of) in PRICE (to cost) LING (a fish)
Down
1	LUGE	LUGgagE (several holdalls, perhaps) with GAG (joke) removed – definition is ‘winter sport’
2	VEAL	LEAVe* (most o the letters) anagram=nouvelle – definition is ‘cuisine’
3	RIDER HAGGARD	RIDER (appended clause) and HAGGARD (wasted) – Victorian novelist and writer of adventure stories.
4	RANGE	RANG (gave a buzz) following procedurE (end letter of) – definition is ‘oven’
5	A DOGS LIFE	ADO (bother) (IF LEG’S)* anagram=troublesome
7	GRIEVENCES	(IN ACRES VEG)* munch=anagram – a grouse is a grievence
8	GOATSBEARD	GOA (place in India) BEST* (developed=anagram) on ARD (road) – one of several wild flowers of that name
11	RENE MAGRITTE	oRlEaNs (regularly=every other letter) GAME (play) reversed (promoted, lifted up) wRITTEn (unconfined=no limits) – French surrealist painter
13	PLAYWRIGHT	WARY* in PLIGHT (difficulty)
14	TYBURN TREE	BURNT (scorched) in TYRE (car accessory) and E (earth, electrics abbreviation) – not actually a tree but a former gallows in central London, named because of its method of construction
16	DISHWATER	HIS* (anagram=working) W (week) in TRADE* (building=anagram)
21	HAYDN	HAD (forced) contains (pens) Y (variable, common maths symbol) then refraiN (ultimately=last letter of)
22	LOCI	LO (see) CI (101, Roman Numerals) – definition is ‘locations’, too similar to loci for my taste
23	BERG	The best I can come up with is diver being a misprint for driver, giving Nico Roseberg (F1 racing driver) with rose=surfaced removed – definition is ‘ice mass’. Can anyone help me out?

*anagram

12 comments on “Financial Times 13,946 by Aardvark”

Gaufrid

#1 - Wed 7th Mar 12, 12:38

Thanks PeeDee
Regarding 23dn, I had this as GREB[e] (diver) reversed (surfaced {came up}) and assumed that something to indicate ‘e’ had been omitted after ‘missing’.

However, ‘surfacing’ would be a better reversal indicator, and the clue would still make sense, so I’m not sure if I’m right.

crypticsue

#2 - Wed 7th Mar 12, 12:40

I too thought 23d was something to do with a reversal of a GREB(E) but like Gaufrid assumed the clue was missing something.

Very enjoyable corssword. Thanks to Aardvark and PeeDee

Rishi

#3 - Wed 7th Mar 12, 13:02

I understand that Dan BERG is a noted wreck diver.

Now, missing ICE (ice) in ICEBERG (mass), BERG (diver) would surface (appear)!

PeeDee

#4 - Wed 7th Mar 12, 15:49

I like the GERBE theory. I did think of grebe, but for some reason failed to associate grebe with diver. I still can’t think of any obvious misprint or omission that would both supply the missing e and preserve the surface reading.

scchua

#5 - Wed 7th Mar 12, 15:54

Thanks Pee Dee and Aardvark.

Quite enjoyable. I too thought 23D was GREB[e] reversed and a missing something after “missing” or that we had to figure out what it was that was “missing”. Also, I was held up (my last one in) by 14D TYBURN TREE where TYRE was partially in and partially out, but certainly not “circling” BURNT E. And unless it’s a spare (perhaps even not), I don’t think a tyre is a car accessory.

Gaufrid

#6 - Wed 7th Mar 12, 16:01

Hi PeeDee
If it is a single word omission then I think that “earth’s” would probably do the trick; or what about ‘missing the end of large ice mass’.

PeeDee

#7 - Wed 7th Mar 12, 16:09

I can imagine one word being overlooked, but a whole phrase going missing would me more likely to be spotted by the setter/editor. I like the Earth’s ice mass idea, very clever.