Financial Times 14,980 by Mudd

by
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 11, 2015.
My clue of the week has to be 16d, “Raw fish”, (BLEAK) in spite of its use of a rather obscure meaning of the word (the name of a small freshwater fish).  I also especially like 27d (BALI).

Across
1 HOBART
Pub in torrid island capital (6)

BAR (pub) in HOT (torrid)
4 SOMALIAN
Arrest prophet, revolutionary African (8)

NAIL (arrest) + AMOS (prophet) all backwards
9 TOO BAD
Daughter has a shoe the wrong way round – never mind (3,3)

D (daughter) + A (a) + BOOT (shoe) all backwards
10 TESTATOR
One with a will to try a hill (8)

TEST (try) + A (a) + TOR (hill)
12 MEAN
Average is tight (4)

Double definition
13 TAMPA
Tinker reported in US city (5)

Homophone (“tamper”)
14 EMMA
Covers torn off, tool returned book (4)

[h]AMME[r] (tool with covers torn off) backwards
17 INCOMPARABLE
Story on wages not entirely without equal (12)

INCOM[e] (wages not entirely) + FABLE (story)
20 ECCLESIASTES
Book is about a retro group east of Greater Manchester town (12)

ECCLES (Greater Manchester town) + A (a) in IS (is) backwards + SET (group) backwards
23 QUID
Small amount of dough, something to chew on (4)

Double definition
24 FLAIR
Bent, right around left (5)

L (left) in FAIR (right)
25 PUMA
First glimpse of pussy, I’m not sure a cougar (4)

P[ussy] + UM (I’m not sure) + A (a).  Thanks to Sil for enlightening me on the UM part of this wordplay — see comments below.
28 AMERICAN
US army came in, not my bombs! (8)

Anagram of AR[my] CAME IN
29 TAICHI
Coda and note, both short, in slow movements (3,3)

TAI[l] (coda…short) + CHI[t] (note…short)
30 HARMLESS
Safe house’s opening, short of members? (8)

H[ouse] + ARMLESS (short of members)
31 DINNER
Starter of duck with private meal (6)

D[uck] + INNER (private)
Down
1 HATEMAIL
Hamlet, I suspect, receives a communication sealed with venom? (4,4)

A (a) in anagram of HAMLET I
2 BROMANCE
Country separating couple, not wanting a loving relationship between men (8)

OMAN (country) in BR[a]CE (couple not wanting a)
3 ROAN
Horse galloped around ring (4)

O (ring) in RAN (galloped)
5 ONE-UPMANSHIP
Narrowly ahead, staff on boat successfully outwitting opponents (3-9)

ONE UP (narrowly ahead) + MAN (staff) + SHIP (boat)
6 ACTS
Top statistics for book (4)

[f]ACTS (top statistics).  Is this right?  Some people would strongly object thzt statistics are not facts!
7 INTIME
Eventually, I’m here? (2,4)

I am unsure how the wordplay is supposed to work here.  “I’m here” could simply indicate that IM appears in the answer.  But that makes for an incomplete clue, albeit a rather cute one.  It could also work as a double definition but, if it is that, then I see no reason for the question mark.
8 NORWAY
Country never welcoming Russians, primarily (6)

R[ussians] in NO WAY (never)
11 PARALLEL BARS
Swimmers grabbing everyone fit to climb gymnastic equipment (8,4)

ALL (everyone) + ABLE (fit) backwards in PARS (swimmers)
15 SMACK
Blow – or heroin? (5)

Double definition
16 BLEAK
Raw fish (5)

Double definition.  But for the obscurity of the little freshwater fish called a bleak this is a stand-out clue!
18 ETRUSCAN
Centaurs translated old language (8)

Anagram of CENTAURS
19 ESPALIER
Garden frame, where rotten pear lies (8)

Anagram of PEAR LIES
21 SQUASH
Force juice from fruit (6)

Double definition
22 LINEAR
Going straight, one having lost head admitted to fraud (6)

[o]NE in LIAR (fraud)
26 VIAL
Small glass container, nasty by the sound of it (4)

Homophone (“vile”)
27 BALI
Island into cruciverbalism (4)

Hidden word
*anagram

8 comments on “Financial Times 14,980 by Mudd”

  2. 7d: yes, that’s it, Pete.
    I’M is to be found in TIME – literally (without the apostrophe, of course).

  3. Another great puzzle from Mudd. With two of the five letter clues with only two crossers – Bleak and Flair – the last ones in.

    I parsed 7dn in exactly the same way and actually thought it first rate.

    25ac was worthy of Mudd’s alter-ego.

    So highly enjoyable and thanks again to Mudd and thanks also to Pete for the blog.

  4. Not too many missing 1a,5d,
    6d -as you say statistics are not facts and how does book =acts ? Something to do with booking turns in a working mens club?
    7d,22d,24a and 26a -didn’t know the musical term meant end

  5. Thanks Mudd and Pete

    Typically enjoyable puzzle from Mudd which I only did yesterday in a couple of short stints. Ended up in the centre with three of the sparsely crossed 5-letter clues – SMACK, BLEAK and TAMPA the final ones in.

    Liked the clever IN TIME and smiled at the Guardianesque Paul PUMA.

    Nice to see HOBART make an appearance as an island capital … a gorgeous place where an English person would feel right at home with many classically preserved sandstone buildings and old stone bridges.

    Bamberger, the Acts of the Apostles (abbreviated as ACTS) is the fifth book of the New Testament

  8. Ah, yes, ‘bromance’ is I believe a word of recent coinage and one that I do not much like. Perhaps no print dictionaries include it yet but an online dictionary gives it the meaning of “a close but non-sexual relationship between two men.”

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