Financial Times 18,450 by MONK

Thanks to Monk for the fun this morning.

A most enjoyable puzzle from Monk. I found this mostly straightforward, with a few head scratchers (8 down took a while to parse – what a clue!), but overall completely fair. A forgiving grid structure also helped keep things moving along nicely. Some wonderful anagrams and surfaces.

The perimeter words all contain a double C, but I haven’t worked out whether there is more to it than that – anyone have more time to spot a pattern perhaps?

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS

1. Critical CERN act resolved — this’ll go round the globe (9,6)

ANTARCTIC CIRCLE

(CRITICAL CERN ACT)* (*resolved)

9. Stop extremely loathsome set from the east (3,2)

LET UP

L[oathsom]E (extremely) + PUT< (set, <from the east)

10. Second mouth organ found on witty guy who deals illegally? (4-5)

CARD-SHARP

S (second) + HARP (mouth organ) found on CARD (witty guy)

11. Game for abandoning cold blue cheese (7)

CROQUET

(C (cold) + ROQUE[for]T (blue cheese)), FOR abandoning

12. Jot piece for US poet (7)

WHITMAN

WHIT (jot) + MAN (piece, as in chess)

13. Mobile home agent working as a solicitor (2,3,4)

ON THE GAME

(HOME AGENT)* (*mobile)

15. Harbour almost brings in European haul (5)

HEAVE

HAVE[n] (harbour, almost) brings in E (European)

17. Excessive work held back primate (5)

POTTO

(OTT (excessive, over the top) + OP (work))< (<held back)

19. Projectile is following line into sea (9)

BALLISTIC

(IS following L (line)) into BALTIC (sea)

21. Serial killer’s second, false, nationality (7)

ISRAELI

(SERIAL [k]I[ller] (second))* (*false)

23. Marx brother takes in Silver City (7)

CHICAGO

CHICO (Marx brother) takes in AG (silver)

24. Delivered welcome change where sacrifices maybe made (4,5)

HIGH ALTAR

(“HI” (welcome) + “ALTER” (change)) (“delivered”)

25. Giant artist missing an island (5)

TITAN

TIT[i]AN (artist, missing an I (island))

26. New unopened iPod with plastic micro CD (10,5)

DIPLOMATIC CORPS

([i]POD with PLASTIC MICRO)* (*new)

CD = ‘Corps Diplomatique’ from the French

DOWN

1. Fully expert English PhD, claims local fake (3-12)

ALL-ACCOMPLISHED

(E (English) PHD CLAIMS LOCAL)* (*fake)

2. Retaliation from Italian stronghold in shelled state (3,3,3)

TIT FOR TAT

(IT (Italian) + FORT (stronghold)) in [s]TAT[e] (shelled)

3. Breach of trust at last entering clean sport after exchange (7)

RUPTURE

[trus]T (at last) entering PURE (clean) + RU (sport, Rugby Union) after exchange

The exchange being to switch the positions of PURE (clean) and RU (sport) so that RU comes first

4. Unspoken diplomacy surrounding India (5)

TACIT

TACT (diplomacy) surrounding I (India, NATO alphabet)

5. Clear the ground around wide part of vehicle (9)

CARTWHEEL

(CLEAR THE)* (*ground) around W (wide)

6. Having no time at all, dump Rod’s port (7)

IPSWICH

[t]IP (dump) + SWI[t]CH (rod), having no T (time) at all

7. Break Dave’s sidekick before Mike (5)

CHASM

CHAS (Dave’s sidekick) before M (Mike, NATO alphabet)

Chas ‘n’ Dave were an English musical duo

8. Former US prison service voided a Conservative peer’s charge sheets? (7,8)

EXPENSE ACCOUNTS

EX (former) + PEN (US prison, penitentiary) + S[ervic]E (voided) + A + C (Conservative) + COUNT’S (peer’s)

14. Plant in Beirut, capital, regularly damaged (9)

AUBRIETIA

(BEIRUT [c]A[p]I[t]A[l] (regularly))* (*damaged)

16. I draw Romeo, nailed by a dry performer (9)

ATTRACTOR

R (Romeo, NATO alphabet) nailed by (A + TT (dry, teetotal) + ACTOR (performer))

18. Old wild ass pulled up herb (7)

OREGANO

O (old) + ONAGER< (wild ass, <pulled up)

20. Foolish mother leaves in a manner of speaking (7)

IDIOTIC

IDIO[ma]TIC (in a manner of speaking, MA (mother) leaves)

22. Dress suggestively revealing half of girdle? (3,2)

RIG UP

GIR[dle]< (half of, <up)

A cryptic reverse clue

23. Run into something with teeth — one little dog (5)

CORGI

R (run) into COG (something with teeth) + I (one)

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