Financial Times 18,233 by SLORMGORM

SLORMGORM kicks off the week…

A good, solid, and enjoyable puzzle, with some lovely surfaces.

Thanks SLORMGORM!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS

1. Redesign of niche car will be more risky (8)

CHANCIER

(NICHE CAR)* (*redesign of)

5. Difficult at university to be skint (4,2)

HARD UP

HARD (difficult) + UP (at university)

10. Large person making dough is a trainee (7)

LEARNER

L (large) + EARNER (person making dough)

11. Contract and a game in which there is one? (7)

ABRIDGE

A + BRIDGE (a game in which there is one (contract))

12. Corrupt heavyweight probed by minister for sport (9)

BADMINTON

(BAD (corrupt) + TON (heavyweight)) probed by MIN (minister)

13. Walk better having lost a little weight (5)

AMBLE

[g]AMBLE[r] (better, having lost GR (a little weight, gram or grain))

15. Reason leading soprano will become tenor in the future? (5)

TENSE

SENSE (reason, S[oprano] (leading) will become T (tenor))

16. When elite sailor finds hazardous material (8)

ASBESTOS

AS (when) + BEST (elite) + OS (sailor)

19. What fan might do at premiere? Be in a daze! (3,5)

SEE STARS

Double (cryptic) definition

20. Some drab, undulating wilderness in South Africa (5)

BUNDU

[dra]B UNDU[lating] (some)

21. Music producer essentially raised backing pitch (5)

SITAR

([ra]IS[ed] (essentially))< (<backing) + TAR (pitch)

23. Damned gin gone off ? That’s extremely annoying! (9)

MADDENING

(DAMNED GIN)* (*gone off)

25. Old and anxious, but not very demanding (7)

ONEROUS

O (old) and NER[v]OUS (anxious, but not V (very))

27. Person taking pawn with a knight is evil (7)

UNCLEAN

UNCLE (person taking pawn) with A + N (knight)

28. Revolutionary lawyer getting sack is a shame (3,3)

TOO BAD

(DA (lawyer) getting BOOT (sack))< (<revolutionary)

29. Venomous type sadly isn’t gay, queen admitted (8)

STINGRAY

(ISNT GAY)* (*sadly), R (queen) admitted

DOWN

1. Celeb at parties hides one avoiding relations (8)

CELIBATE

(CELEB AT)* (*parties) hides I (one)

2. A group at work blokes and model neglect (11)

ABANDONMENT

A + BAND (group) at ON (work) + MEN (blokes) and T (model)

3. Tory party and Truss regularly ignored judges (9)

CONSIDERS

CON (Tory) + SIDE (party) + [t]R[u]S[s] (regularly ignored)

4. Having missed header, feel bad for winger (5)

EGRET

[r]EGRET (feel bad for, having missed header)

6. Section found in gondola or taller vessel (5)

AORTA

[gondo]A OR TA[ller] (section found in)

7. Old man is uninspiring when lacking energy (3)

DAD

D[e]AD (uninspiring, when lacking E (energy))

8. Report of armistice you heard on the radio (5)

PIECE

"peace" = PIECE (armistice, "you heard on the radio")

9. Is it possible outlaw returned one’s dope? (8)

CANNABIS

CAN (is it possible) + (BAN)< (outlaw, <returned) + IS (one's)

14. It’s a job Nigerien with OBE messed up (11)

BIOENGINEER

(NIGERIEN with OBE)* (*messed up)

16. A liberal member first to be scaremongering (8)

ALARMIST

A + L (liberal) + ARM (member) + IST (first)

17. Cloth merchant in case bound to get banged up (9)

SUBDEACON

(CASE BOUND)* (*to get banged up)

18. Buy drug around about noon in old French region (8)

BURGUNDY

(BUY DRUG)* (*around) about N (noon)

21. Film sequel primarily shown with Scream (5)

SHOOT

S[equel] (primarily) shown with HOOT (scream)

22. Wind up eating flipping joint with ordinary wine (5)

RIOJA

(AIR)< (wind, <up) eating (J (joint) with O (ordinary))< (<flipping)

24. Spot in which you and bishop will see Suspicion (5)

DOUBT

DOT (spot) in which (U (you) and B (bishop))

26. I like nothing (3)

EGO

EG (like) + O (nothing)

13 comments on “Financial Times 18,233 by SLORMGORM”

KVa

#1 - Mon 8th Dec 25, 13:01

ABRIDGE
Though we have come across the A+BRIDGE WP before, the play on ‘contract’ was good.
EGO
Simple and elegant.

ABANDONMENT
A minor point: ‘at work’=ON
TENSE
I thought…
Soprano=S, the leading/the first S in SENSE is replaced with T.

Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow.

grantinfreo

#2 - Mon 8th Dec 25, 13:03

Liked the cloth merchant, and the misspelled (or are there three esses?) Nigerien was cute. Gentlish stroll, ta S and T.

grantinfreo

#3 - Mon 8th Dec 25, 13:13

KVa @1, yes I guess so, but you have to reach for it, as in, eg,
It’s the day shift that’s currently on.
…………………………………………….. at work.

Pelham Barton

#4 - Mon 8th Dec 25, 13:28

Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow

14dn: When solving, I thought this was wrong, but the usual dictionaries all have Nigerien as relating to the country Niger, as distinct from Nigerian, which relates to Nigeria.

Hector

#5 - Mon 8th Dec 25, 14:10

I have a vague recollection of Araucaria nominating “I say nothing”, a clue to EGO by a young Enigmatist (this was quite a long time ago), as one of his all-time favourites.
Agree with KVa#1 about TENSE. Chambers has S as an abbreviation of soprano.
Thanks to S&T.

mrpenney

#6 - Mon 8th Dec 25, 14:10

PB @4: …because the colonialists spoke French in Niger and English in Nigeria, natch. (Is a woman from Niger a Nigerienne?)

Martyn

#7 - Mon 8th Dec 25, 14:52

There was a lot of solving first, and parsing later

Liked DOUBT, AORTA, and SEE STARS

Failed to parse AMBLE

Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow

Pelham Barton

#8 - Mon 8th Dec 25, 15:49

mrpenney@6: No feminine endings in the English dictionaries, but Larousse 1996 p 692 has
nigérian, ane adj. et n. Du Nigeria.
nigérien, enne adj. et n. Du Niger.

Huntsman

#9 - Mon 8th Dec 25, 16:37

Gentle but very enjoyable & with excellent surfaces. Have often used BUNDU to describe where my golf ball finishes without really knowing what it was but I do now.
Thanks both

Big Al

#10 - Mon 8th Dec 25, 16:41

We had to check that Nigerien was correct, but otherwise no problems and we can’t really add anything to Teacow’s verdict.
Thanks, Slormgorm and Teacow.

grantinfreo

#11 - Mon 8th Dec 25, 19:52

Oh right, forgot about Kneezhair, no spelling error then …