Financial Times 15,334 by PETO

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A typical Peto puzzle.

In my experience, Peto puzzles have smooth surfaces, occasionally unusual definitions, and a plethora of containement-style clues.

This puzzle ticks all three boxes, although a couple of the surfaces aren’t quite up to his standard.

There is no theme or NINA as far as I can see.

Thanks, Peto.

Across
1 PENMAN Frank initially ignored by fellow writer (6)
  (o)PEN + MAN
4 MANDARIN New drama in nationalist’s first language (8)
  *(drama in) + N(ationalist)
9 SINGLE Determined to make a record (6)
  Double definition?

I can’t find “single” = “determined” in Chambers.

“Single-minded” means “determined”
10 CONTRACT Rex entering meeting with shrink (8)
  R “entering” CONTACT
12 TREASURE Value highly abused tsar and rue embracing the end of empire (8)
  *(tsar rue) “embracing” (empir)E
13 VIGOUR Dash from Atlantic port to ancient city (6)
  VIGO + UR

Vigo is a port in north-west Spain (Galicia) and Ur was an ancient Sumerian city.
15 VAST Considerable tax cut by Socialist leader (4)
  VAT “cut by” S
16 CLEAR UP Get better crack (5,2)
  Double definition

“Get better” as in, say a rash, and “crack” as in “crack a problem” (not entirely convinced by second definition…)
20 CONTAIN Not unfortunately within murderer to hold back (7)
  *(not) “within” CAIN
21 SOLO Knight leaves without delay to tour Luxembourg unaccompanied (4)
  SOO(n) “to tour” L (“Luxembourg”)

N is “knight” in chesss notation.
25 ROUBLE Money problems not tackled at the start (6)
  (t)ROUBLE
26 ARROGATE Assign to a northern town needing no introduction (8)
  (h)ARROGATE
28 AMERICAN Articles featuring crime spree by someone from Maine (8)
  A and AN “featuring” *(crime)
29 SPOILT Turned round in shed (6)
  O in SPLIT
30 HAY FEVER Laugh right after unknown girl grabs fellow in play (3,5)
  HA (“laugh”) + Y (“unknown”) + EVE (“girl”) + R (“right”)

Hay Fever is a Noel Coward play.
31 PLENTY Work steadily at keeping hospital department in full supply (6)
  PLY “keeping” E.N.T. (Ear, Nose and Throat, a “hospital department”)
Down
1 POSITIVE Indicating the presence of a certain substance in concrete (8)
  Double definition
2 NONSENSE Soon dismissing Amy’s original opinion of tripe (8)
  (a)NON + SENSE
3 AT LAST Finally discovered in a reference book on Thailand (2,4)
  ATLAS + T
5 AVON Afraid at first to get very close to river (4)
  A(fraid) + V(ery) + ON (“close to”)
6 DETRITUS Waste of time to stop in need of rest when climbing 28 (8)
  T “to stop” <=TIRED + U.S. (see 28 ac)
7 REASON Argue against supporting soldiers for instance (6)
  ON “(against”) “supporting” R.E. + AS (“for instance”)
8 NATURE Kind of Brown to come around with last of boxes from safe (6)
  <=TAN + (s)URE
11 PRELATE Go on about the return of the French clergyman (7)
  PRATE “about” <=LE
14 CALIBRE Be concerned over politician’s character (7)
  CARE “over” LIB.
17 GOAL LINE A kind of technology used to protect everyone on island (4,4)
  GONE (“used”) “to protect” ALL I (“everyone on island”)

Goal-line technology is a recent innovation in football, used to tell whether the ball crossed the goal line or not.
18 NOTATION Books covered with a Native American tribe’s system of signs (8)
  O.T. (“books”) “covered with” NATION

NATION can be used for any group of people sharing a culture or language (eg Celtic nation(s)), but Chambers picks put the Native Americans specifically.
19 MODESTLY Above all maintaining editor’s sent up in an unpretentious way (8)
  MOSTLY “maintaining” <=ED
22 BREATH About to be introduced to city life (6)
  RE “to be introduced to” BATH
23 SURELY Add 1/2 of 12 to 1/4 of 19 with confidence (6)
  Relates to parts of the answers to 12 ac and 19dn, so…

…(trea)SURE + (modest)LY
24 COMPEL Force pump oddly sent back to company by the Spanish (6)
  CO + <=PuMp + EL
27 CAME A tailless animal drew near (4)
  CAME(l)

*anagram

14 comments on “Financial Times 15,334 by PETO”

  1. We liked this. Perhaps the FT crosswords attract relatively few comments because they are so well compiled and edited, meaning that there’s little to debate.

  2. Interesting that there were no clues longer than eight letters, but this certainly didn’t make things any easier. A real challenge which took me a long time to finally complete, although with one error – ‘clean’ for CLEAR UP. Held up in the SE corner in particular. The deceptively simple looking SPOILT and BREATH were my favourites.

    Overall, lots to like about this one.

    Thanks to Peto and loonapick.

  3. I for one not in sync with the clueing on this one.. though got it through crossing.. nation for Native Americans, Def of Nature (kind of) and removal indicator for S from Sure is rather iffy.. Goal line also a bit inelegant but ok.. and single def as determined ha ha ha.. but Arrogate and few other clues make up for it i suppose 🙂

  5. Kevin@4

    According to Chambers, definition 1 of ON is: touching, supported by, attached to, covering, or enclosing.

    Therefore, for example, to lean on something is the same as leaning against it.

    Same source, definition 4 of ON is: very near to or along the side of something.

    Therefore, for example, a hut on the shore is close to the shore.

  7. Simon S

    Nope, odds on and odds against are actually opposites, with odds less than evens or 1/1 being odds on, and those above evens being odds against.

    For example, odds of 1/4 are odds on (ie the chances are on (in favour of) something happening.

    Odds of 4/1 on the other hand are odds against (the likelihood is against something happening).

  8. Hi loonapick

    I was thinking along the lines of odds of ’10/1 on’ being against/not in favour of the better.

  10. @Michael #9
    Really? I left my computer chair and took out my 1998 edition of the BRB from my bookshelf (Ouch!). Surprisingly, even that lists ‘determined’ for ‘single’.
    Who has come across ‘single’ used in the sense of ‘determined’?
    I am wondering if a crossword clue-writer shouldn’t have popular usage in mind. Is a mere entry in a dictionary sufficient for usage?
    ***
    If the write-up on FT crossword attracts less Comments it’s because it is a specialist (economics, business, trade, commerce) paper and might have lesser readership, with even lesser percentage of crossword solvers.
    The crossword is available for free on the Net but few people would take the trouble of printing it out and solving.

  12. In reply to Rishi. Few people would take the the trouble of printing it out and solving? Really? What do you base this on? My day starts with my printing out the crossword and solving it with my husband. I’m Swiss. Maybe the only Swiss to do this then. Wow! Many thanks to all bloggers and setters for making my day.

  13. I really didn’t like this crossword. I printed it off thinking it would be a fun solve on a Sunday. How wrong I was!
    Almost every clue relies upon very uncommon synonyms or obscure general knowledge such as ‘Hay Fever’ being the name of a play.
    This was not set to entertain solvers.

  14. Hi Peto and loonapick

    Completed this one on it’s two year anniversary … and found it pretty difficult that needed multiple sessions across a couple of days to get it out and even then missed PENMAN (having PENPAL instead).

    A number of new terms, including VIGO, ARROGATE and the town of HARROGATE to help get it.  Didn’t see the full parsing of REASON until coming here with the tricky definitions of AS and ON. The double definition for CLEAR UP was also tough to work through.

    Finished with SINGLE (where I had to search through the on-line Collins dictionary to find the ‘determined’ definition of it), CALIBRE (took ages to get LIB instead of MP into the thinking), ARROGATE (didn’t know either this word or the town) and GOAL-LINE (a stretch of the definition for mine).

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