Financial Times 15,724 – Phssthpok

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I’m writing this blog in a hurry as a last-minute stand in, so please excuse any errors and omissions. Phssthpok is a fairly rare setter on the FT schedule, typically doing only about three puzzles a year, so I’m not very familiar with his style. There are some good clues here, including a couple of nice &lits, but I also have a few nitpicks. Anyway, thanks to him for the puzzle.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. FORELIMB Arm mob with rifle after rioting (8)
(MOB RIFLE)*
6. FISCAL Tax free investments started by southern California (6)
F[ree] I[nvestments] + S CAL – the definition uses “tax” as an adjective, as in “tax year = fiscal year”
9. ACROSS A short clue, this one (6)
I think the idea is that A is an abbrevation (“short”) of Across, and “this one” is an across cue
10. CONTEMPT Scorn one who is against court (8)
CON (one against) + TEMPT
11. BYTE Champ picked up some bits (4)
Homophone of “bite”, and a byte is (usually) eight bits
12. EPISTOLARY Is almost all poetry garbled like Dracula or The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 3/4? (10)
Anagram of IS AL[L] POETRY – I was going to complain that Adrian Mole isn’t an epistolary novel (though Dracula is), but at least according to some sources the term can more apply more generally a novel told in various kinds of documents, e.g. a diary
14. BEHAVING What policeman says inside lets you become obedient (8)
The stereotypical policeman’s remark is “let’s BE HAVING you” (as in the old Christmas cracker joke – Where do policemen live? Letsby Avenue!)
16. NUTS Bananas are a type of edible fruit (4)
Double definition. The “are” sits uncomfortably here: I think the clue might be better as “Bananas: a type of edible fruit”
18. SUFI Supposing America brought back mysticism (4)
Reverse of IF US
19. ACCOLADE Commendation for fighter pilot capturing area in Arctic (8)
A[rea] in COLD (Arctic), in ACE
21. MEANS TESTS How to allocate men’s state benefits conclusively? (5,5)
Anagram of MENS STATE [benefit]S, &lit
22. HERO Woman’s love? (4)
HER + O, and another &lit
24. MATA HARI Receding hair, a hat, a muffler: disguise for spy (4,4)
HIdden in reverse of haIR A HAT A Muffler
26. AMAZON On following a sinuous, unending river (6)
A MAZ[Y] (like a maze, sinuous) + ON
27. STRESS Rub in shampoo first on hair (6)
S[hampoo] + TRESS
28. EDENTATE In paradise, sugar merchant is toothless (8)
EDEN + TATE (Henry Tate, as in Tate & Lyle, who also gave his name to the Tate Gallery)
Down
2. ORCZY Writer with title for monster with axes (5)
ORC + ZY, axes (plural of axis) in coordinate geometry: XY is more common for this trick, and I don’t think ZY works as well. Baroness [Emma] Orczy, creator of the Scarlet Pimpernel, is the titled writer
3. EXONERATION Discharge nitric oxide back into river on schedule (11)
Reverse of NO in EXE + RATION (schedule?)
4. IN SPECIE No time for audit that is not using cash (2,6)
INSPECT (audit) less T + I.E. – it refers to “the distribution of an asset in its present form, rather than selling it and distributing the cash proceeds”
5. BUCKINGHAMSHIRE Bucks fashion for Kashmiri debauching after aid stolen (15)
Anagram of KASHMIRI DEBAUCHING less AID
6. FINITE Limited punishment for stealing fortified wine (6)
IT (Italian Vermouth) in FINE (punishment) – “for” is needed for the surface but rather spoils the cryptic reading
7. SUE Assume odd characters withdrew petition (3)
If you remove (withdraw) the odd characters of AsSuMe you’re left with SUE
8. ASPIRATED Sucked up and praised at performance (9)
(PRAISED AT)*
13. LONELY HEART He seeks romance in a short suit (6,5)
I suppose a single or “lonely” heart would be a “short suit”
15. EXUBERANT Sparkling beer and tuna cross in blender (9)
(BEER TUNA X)*
17. ICE-SKATE Bladed boot kills Catherine (3-5)
ICES (kills, as in e.g. US gangster slang) + KATE
20. STRAYS Holy man shafts homeless people (6)
ST (saint) + RAYS (shafts of light)
23. ROOST Deposit of sulphur in ground (5)
S in ROOT
25. ATE Scoffed at European capital (3)
AT + E[uropean]

6 comments on “Financial Times 15,724 – Phssthpok”

  2. Thanks to both, especially Andrew for the excellent blog at short notice.

    I would never have got 4d in a month of Sundays.

  4. I parsed 9a as aid@3. You beat me to the Letsby Avenue joke, Andrew. I wasn’t sure about ROOST meaning ‘deposit’ and can’t find any instance of this meaning. Liked BEHAVING when the penny finally dropped, my LOI.

  5. Thanks PHSSTHPOK & Andrew.
    A short clue might be a single X, a cross. And one cross is IX, or 9. So the clue for 9 across is 9 across!
    In 3 down I think that RATION (schedule) is a verb.

  6. Thanks Phssthpok and Andrew

    Was able to complete this in a single sitting late on Tuesday night but did need electronic help to get the last couple in – BEHAVING (then still needed to come here to find out about the policeman reference to it) and IN SPECIE (required a word finder to get the phrase – and then quite some time after to work out the cryptic wordplay).

    Was a strange second instance of an EPISTOLARY novel that was used – surprised that he wasn’t able to find one with a shorter name, let alone one that may have questions as to whether it was a genuine example of the genre.

    I parsed ACROSS the same way as aid@3 and hovis@4 but can see the logic in the blogged version and at a very long stretch the very inventive one by smith @5.

    Thought that the clue for BUCKINGHAMSHIRE was very clever and it held me up for much longer than it should have as well – guess not naturally knowing about the abbreviated version of it, made it that much harder for a non-UK solver. The other one I liked was ORCZY.

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