Financial Times 17,017 by Mudd

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Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 12, 2022

My first-in was 12 (BAKU) and I finished with 24 (FOREHEAD).  There was one word I do not recall meeting before in 8 (TENUTO) and my favourites are 1dn (HARDBACK), 4 (OPPONENT) and 10 (STATE-RUN).  Thank you, Mudd.

ACROSS
1 HASTEN
Traps I see to the left, hurry along! (6)
NETS (traps) + AH (I see) all backwards (to the left)
4 OPPONENT
Shut up about working alongside work rival (8)
OP (work) + ON (working) in (about) PENT (shut up)
9 RAIDER
Cavalryman catching a Viking, perhaps? (6)
A (a) in (catching) RIDER (cavalryman)
10 STATE-RUN
Public unrest at reforms (5-3)
Anagram (reforms) of UNREST AT
12 BAKU
Capital in Nuuk abandoned after retreating (4)
Reverse (after retreating) hidden word (in)
13 EASY DOES IT
Seaside toy breaking, be careful (4,4,2)
Anagram (breaking) of SEASIDE TOY
15 CANTANKEROUS
Ill-tempered old American on ship behind vessel (12)
CAN (vessel) + TANKER (ship) + O (old) + US (American)
18 FRANKINCENSE
Open and wind up biblical present (12)
FRANK (open) + INCENSE (wind up)
21 HEADMASTER
Cook has red meat for principal (10)
Anagram (cook) of HAS RED MEAT
22 OMAN
Sultanate, where lady not given crown (4)
[w]OMAN (lady not given crown)
24 FOREHEAD
US president accommodating English male, a bit of a mug (8)
E (English) + HE (male) + A (a) together in FORD (US president). At first I did not understand how “bit of a mug” could clue FOREHEAD but then found that there are mugs of a type called forehead mugs.  That however does not explain ‘a bit of” and now, thanks to commenters, I realize that ‘mug’ is intended here is the sense of ‘face’ (as in “an ugly mug”).
25 BOTTLE
Steel container (6)
Double definition
26 IRON DUKE
Wellington ruined, OK for recycling? (4,4)
Anagram (for recycling) of RUINED OK
27 SPIRIT
Carry off liquor (6)
Double definition
DOWN
1 HARDBACK
Tough getting sponsor for book (8)
HARD (tough) + BACK (sponsor)
2 STINKING
Foul relatives in pain (8)
KIN (relatives) in (in) STING (pain)
3 EVEN
One isn’t this flat (4)
Double definition
5 POTTY TRAINED
Absurd trade in pants going appropriately (5-7)
POTTY (absurd) + anagram (pants) of TRADE IN
6 OUT TO LUNCH
Cuckoo dining away from nest? (3,2,5)
Double definition
7 EGRESS
Leaving ship, bird going first, shortly (6)
EGRE[t] (bird…shortly) + SS (ship)
8 TENUTO
Figure out confusing musical expression (6)
TEN (figure) + anagram (confusing) of OUT. A tenuto is a musical note that is to be held for or beyond its normal time
11 BASKING SHARK
Great swimmer succeeded leader in party on ship (7,5)
S (succeeded) + KING (leader) together in (in) BASH (party) + ARK (ship)
14 HARRUMPHED
Having arrived in sulk, he had snorted (10)
ARR (arrived) in HUMP (sulk) + HED (he had). ‘Hump’ can mean a fit of melancholy.
16 ANIMATOR
Artist last seen in Bucharest in Romania, surprisingly (8)
[Buchares]T in (seen in) anagram (surprisingly) of ROMANIA
17 TEENIEST
Most insignificant even, opener for India in cricket match (8)
EEN (even, in its poetic form) + I[ndia] together in TEST (cricket match)
19 SHUFTI
Look: his novel includes university paper (6)
U (university) + FT (paper) together in anagram (novel) of HIS
20 HAIRDO
Bob, say, sees river in Idaho meandering (6)
R (river) in anagram (meandering) of IDAHO
23 SOAP
Bar in TV show? (4)
Double definition. This clue is not original but it’s always a good one.

13 comments on “Financial Times 17,017 by Mudd”

  1. Thanks Pete

    I interpreted “bit of a mug” in FOREHEAD as meaning part of a face (face meaning “mug”.

    I admire your seeing E’EN for “even”. Tell me, where does “s” for succeeded come from? I cannot find that in any dictionary. Is it just a part of the crossword language?

    Favourites included HEADMASTER, SPIRIT and EVEN.

    It is always good to learn, but Mudd went a bit overboard with the remote words this week – including SHUFTI, mug, BASKINGSHARK, TENUTO and HUMP.

    Nevertheless, thanks to Mudd for putting it all together, and thanks to Pete for explaining it

  2. Thanks for the blog, agree with Martyn@1 for “mug”, ugly mug used to be a common phrase.
    s for succeeded is quite common but is not in Chambers 93, I think it might be used in family trees, maybe royalty ??
    TENUTO was new to me as well but was fairly clued. SHUFTI I did know and I really liked the clue.

  3. I enjoyed this overall. I did think ‘shufti’, ‘mug’ and ‘hump’ would perhaps prove tricky for solvers Stateside though I don’t think ‘basking shark’ is particularly obscure. Nevertheless, HARRUMPHED was my favourite as ‘hump’ was a frequent expression in our household (sulking rather than melancholy)!
    Thanks to Mudd and Pete.

  5. For me, Collins’ online dictionary confirmed ‘s’ as an abbreviation for ‘succeeded’ (along with see, semi-, shilling, singular and son). I do not know in what context this abbreviation is used though. Maybe as Roz suggests in royalty.

  6. Thanks Pelham and Pete, my Chambers is a bit old but it does have s=strangeness , I am still waiting for some setter to use this.
    Perhaps family trees for nobility as well where a title is passed on but the rules can be complicated.

  7. “Mug” for face is fine on this side of the Atlantic. “Shufti” and “hump” for “sulk” were new to me. My word search app was helpful.
    Does “bottle” = “steel” in the sense that one may steel oneself for a difficult situation with a stiff drink?

  8. Edk @7 bottle is reasonably recent in the meaning of courage or nerve.
    The gymnast showed a lo of bottle to complete the exercise after a bad fall.
    Someone with a lot of bottle has nerves of steel.
    To get the hump is to be in a mood and sulk.

  10. Thanks Mudd and Pete
    Entertaining solve, as normal, from this setter. Have seen SHUFTI before in puzzles but not in common usage. HUMP, in this sense, was new though. Not being a musician, TENUTO was also a new term but comfortably derived from the word play.
    Guessed BASKING SHARK early on but resisted it until I could put the complicated charade all together after getting the first K. Thought that FOREHEAD was quite good when the facial ‘mug’ penny dropped.
    Finished in the SE corner with three of his double definitions in BOTTLE, SPIRIT and SOAP.

  11. “Bottle” is given under “Courage” in my 1986 edition of Jonathan Green’s The Slang Thesaurus. It is a figurative use of the rhyming slang “bottle and glass” for the buttocks. Chambers 2014 gives “solidity of character” as a definition of bottom, which all fits together. You can also find the rhyming slang explanation of bottle in Chambers 2014, under aris (itself rhyming slang Aristotle for bottle), which carries the anatomical meaning.

  12. Thanks all,

    A couple of follow up comments

    Diane@3 – I think whether BASKING SHARK is obscure or not depends on where you grew up / live. For someone north of the 50th northern parallel, I imagine basking sharks are well known. But not for those of us who lived our lives in more temperate climates.

    Thanks for the discussion on “s” for succeed. My Chambers is merely 2008, which explains my ignorance Thank you to Pelham Barton @4 and Roz@2 for the steer. Similar to Roz@2, I also imagined s in something like Debrett’s, but it is interesting that no-one so far has actually seen s used in this way.

    Finally, I asked a professional musician friend about TENUTO, and I am happy to report it is an expression he uses quite often. Very different to the blank expressions I got when I mentioned Mannheim Rocket to my musician friends, after it appeared in one of my very first Mudd crosswords a couple of years back.

    But, these are all minor details. I was glad to see every contributor shared my enjoyment of this crossword. Thanks again to both Mudd for the crossword and Pete for the blog

  13. Martyn@13,
    In fact, basking sharks are common in temperate waters, even spotted in British waters. I remember them largely because they are relatively harmless. And naturally, I was among those youngsters terrorised by “Jaws’ (definitely not harmless)!
    Oceana.org has more information.

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