Financial Times 17,275 by PETO

PETO provides the entertainment this Monday…

A great puzzle, but as is often the case with PETO, I found some of the parsing a little tricky. In fact, 1a eludes me – I trust one of the fine readers of this blog can shed some light.

Edit – Hovis@1 has suggested a parsing for the first part of 1a which I have now included below.

Thanks PETO!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS

1. Madden left-leaning party before the last pamphlet (8)

DISTRACT

(SID[e] (party, before last))< (<left-leaning) + TRACT (pamphlet)

Thanks to Hovis@1 for suggesting the parsing for the first part of this.

5. Seat of the Oracle displayed in Philadelphia (6)

DELPHI

[phila]DELPHI[ia] (displayed in)

9. Incessant pious platitudes about working on street (8)

CONSTANT

CANT (pious platitudes) about (ON (working) on ST (street))

10. Managed to get out of continuity when produced quickly (3,3)

RAN OFF

RAN (managed) + OFF (to get out of continuity)

11. That’s stopping wobbly ladder becoming more likely to cause death (8)

DEADLIER

IE (that’s) stopping (LADDER)* (*wobbly)

12. More appealing to skirt the west end of Thasos by boat (6)

CUTTER

CUTER (more appealing) to skirt T[hasos] (the west end of)

14. Dabbler in art of French island race taken in by Italian poet (10)

DILETTANTE

(ILE (French island) + TT (race)) taken in by DANTE (Italian poet)

18. Offered for discussion in letter received by surprised noble (2,3,5)

ON THE TABLE

THETA (letter) received by (NOBLE)* (*surprised)

22. Speak hesitantly of bird mostly seen on river (6)

FALTER

TER[n] (bird, mostly) seen on FAL (river)

23. Girl coming from working people around the Newcastle area (8)

PENELOPE

(PEOPLE)* (*working) around NE (the Newcastle area, North East)

24. Hospital embracing amateur medicine man (6)

SHAMAN

SAN (hospital) embracing HAM (amateur)

25. Old shopkeeper and city worker joining the French Resistance (8)

CHANDLER

C (city) + HAND (worker) joining LE (the, French) + R (resistance)

26. A dog for me (6)

SETTER

Double definition

27. Retain perverse cook (8)

PRESERVE

(PERVERSE)* (*cook)

DOWN

1. Poem dismissing old rebel of the 60s perhaps (6)

DECADE

[o]DE (poem, dismissing O (old)) + CADE (rebel, Jack Cade’s rebellion)

2. Unhappy implicating cool British sailor of fiction (6)

SINBAD

SAD (unhappy) implicating (IN (cool) + B (British))

3. Foolish talk powerless to disconcert (6)

RATTLE

[p]RATTLE (foolish talk, P (power)-less)

4. Study by Galen vigorously maintaining it’s present at birth (10)

CONGENITAL

CON (study) by ((GALEN)* (*vigorously) maintaining IT)

6. Withdraw clergyman right away after first showings of extremist violent attacks (8)

EVACUATE

CU[r]ATE (clergyman, R (right) away) after (E[xtremist] V[iolent] A[ttacks] (first of))

7. Secretly planning, last of all, to share pocket money with a hint of gratitude (8)

PLOTTING

([al]L (last of) to share POT (pocket)) + TIN (money) with G[ratitude] (hint of)

8. Henry oddly neglected to go with popular type of grass (8)

INFORMER

[h]E[n]R[y] (oddly neglected) to go with (IN (popular) + FORM (type))

13. Be 50/50 over Welsh number becoming a standard setter (10)

BELLWETHER

BE + L L (50 50) + over W (Welsh) + ETHER (number)

15. Embarrasses female after trick ends (8)

CONFUSES

(F (female) after CON (trick)) + ENDS (uses)

16. Loyal supporter of Soviet leader not concerned with western guile (8)

STALWART

STAL[in] (Soviet leader, not IN (concerned)) with W (western) + ART (guile)

17. Representative of English stage involved in romantic engagement (8)

DELEGATE

(E (English) + LEG (stage)) involved in DATE (romantic engagement)

19. Crucial index oddly dismissed by Scotland’s top economist (6)

KEYNES

KEY (crucial) + [i]N[d]E[x] (oddly dismissed) by S[cotland] (top)

John Maynard Keynes

20. More acceptable in prison (6)

COOLER

Double definition

21. Drew regularly on Native American law (6)

DECREE

D[r]E[w] (regularly) on CREE (Native American)

9 comments on “Financial Times 17,275 by PETO”

Hovis

#1 - Mon 12th Dec 22, 08:15

I rattled through this one. My parsing for 1a was SIDe< + TRACT, with SIDE = ‘party’, left-leaning for reversal and ‘before the end’ for removal of last letter. Wasn’t entirely convinced but seems to work.

Geoff Down Under

#2 - Mon 12th Dec 22, 08:36

There were plenty of what I’d describe as loose synonyms in this that elicited groans. They’re probably all legit, but …

C for city? Hmmm. I was tripped up by another English river. And TT for a race (although I’ve a vague recollection of this in a previous puzzle). Never heard of Jack Cade. So Newcastle’s in the NE? Must try to remember.

I’m at a loss for 1a too. Hovis’s explanation looks right, but again it’s not the best of clues, methinks.

Hovis

#3 - Mon 12th Dec 22, 08:41

I had a bit of a Hmmm also over C for city but had a quick shrug and moved on. TT (Tourist Trophy) for ‘race’ is a crossword staple so well worth committing to memory.

Peter

#4 - Mon 12th Dec 22, 09:24

C for City – I agree it’s a stretch unless it’s a reference to Man U and Man C…

I cannot add anything to “SID” in 1A but maybe Hovis is correct in his explanation.

Like Geoff I have never heard of of Jack Cade although, as I was born in Gateshead (across the river from Newcastle), NE was easy for me.

Widdersbel

#5 - Mon 12th Dec 22, 14:12

Well, I came here hoping for enlightenment on 1a… think I can be persuaded by Hovis’s take on it. Cade sounds vaguely familiar but I struggled there too.

Otherwise, not too many difficulties and much to enjoy along the way. Thanks, Peto, and thanks for the blog, Teacow.

Teacow

#6 - Mon 12th Dec 22, 16:11

Thanks Hovis@1 – I have included your suggested parsing for 1a. I got a bit caught up trying to think of shoemakers called Sid…

Tony Santucci

#7 - Mon 12th Dec 22, 17:00

Thanks Peto. I got all the solutions correct but I failed to fully parse DISTRICT, FALTER, DECADE, and STALWART. In DILETTANTE I remembered TT could mean race but I assumed it was short for time trial and not Tourist Trophy. I liked many of the clues including ON THE TABLE, PENELOPE, EVACUATE, INFORMER, and BELLWETHER. Thanks Teacow for the blog.

allan_c

#8 - Mon 12th Dec 22, 21:49

We couldn’t parse 1ac satisfactorily, but otherwise no problems apart from C for city being a bit iffy. We thought FALTER was great once we realised ‘river’ was the nam e of one, not the R at the end.
Tony@7: As it happens the Tourist Tropy races are time trials.
Thanks, Peto and Teacow.

GreginSyd

#9 - Tue 13th Dec 22, 00:22

I don’t think I’ve ever seen TT clued as race. It’s always races isn’t it?

Comments are closed.