Crossword Roundup: Cruise Ships, Seatbelts, Astroturf, and a Puzzle on the Cake

In the sample clues below, the links direct you to explanations from our series for beginners. The name of the smuggler is often linked to an interview with him, in case you want to know these people better.

If you slice as I do, we have a rare quadruple definition in this Financial Times index…

16a Film of metallic element covering huge vessel (7)

… for TITANIC. Since we know Gaff loves birthdays, is this a themed puzzle? Yes: The heading reminds us that we've known Jack and Rose for 25 years and you can find them, along with various disastrous words, hidden in the filled-in grid.

Speaking of anniversaries, we also had a rare "clue that treats the answer as if it were itself a clue" in Boatman's Reverse Clue…

9a One Hundred at Clue 4 (4 ,5)

… for FIVE SCORE. I say "inverse" because "the core of Five" could also work as the cryptic part of a clue for "four" if you do the opposite of what we were talking about last week and think about Roman numerals. The anniversary aspect is revealed when we realize that this is Boatman's 100th puzzle, so it's a good opportunity to reflect on the conversation we had after his 50th. Hopefully we'll see another book.

And for topical crossword puzzles, how nice to see that Julius, whom we met here in 2018, has established the first of the Financial Times monthly "news riddles":

Wanted to avoid weighing down the puzzle of UK politics, but with Sunak SNAFU seatbelt and Zahawi tax story , it was too tempting.

Here it is.

The seemingly salty language of Wiglaf in the Independent…

14a Bastard rats on old turf in government PR tactic (12) [pun: anagram of ('bastard') RATS + abbrev. for 'old' + synonym of 'sod' + IN ('in') + abbrev. for 'government'][ASTR+O+TURF+IN+G][definition: PR tactic]

… with a subscript for ASTROTURFING. The current Astroturf takes its name from where it was first used, the Houston Astrodome, which got its own name due to its proximity to the NASA base of fame "we have a problem". But who came up with the idea of ​​using it to describe something that looks basic but isn't?

They say it's the senator Lloyd Bentsen, who in 1985 suspected that the "mountain of cards and letters" he received that were very enthusiastic about insurance company profits were, in fact, sent by these insurance companies: "A guy from Texas can tell the difference between grassroots football and Astroturf."

Sometimes you wonder if the supposed inventor of a phrase deserves a 'be...