Financial Times 17,513 by PETO

by

PETO kicks off this week…

Massive apologies for the lateness of this blog. It was my birthday weekend so I had a rather late night (thanks Rachael!), and I’ve been in meetings at work until now.

There were a few phrases and an author I’d not come across before, so this took me a while. All good fun though.

 

Thanks PETO

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Not the same after start of business trouble (6)
BOTHER

OTHER (not the same) after B[usiness] (start of)

4. Piece of info largely introduced to frighten Capone (8)
SCARFACE

FAC[t] (piece of info, largely) introduced to SCARE (frighten)

10. Case for a cymbal say (9)
CHARACTER

“cymbal” (“say” – symbol)

Chambers Thesaurus has “case” down as a colloquialism for “eccentric” under “character”

11. Good to include a note on opening of conventional flap (5)
PANIC

PI (good, pious) to include (A + N (note)) on C[onventional] (opening of)

12. Retracted part of last cat book (4)
ACTS

({la]ST CA[t] (part of))< (<retracted)

13. Letter about fellow consumed by absurd drivel is matchless (10)
UNRIVALLED

(NU)< (letter, <about) + (AL (fellow), consumed by (DRIVEL)* (*absurd))

15. Hasty scoundrel regretful right away (7)
CURSORY

CUR (scoundrel) + SOR[r]Y (regretful, R (right) away)

16. Become equal partners originally going after alternative venue (4,2)
EVEN UP

P[artners] (originally) after (VENUE)* (*alternative)

19. Frequently repeated slogan of American conservationists taken in by Mr Agnew at first (6)
MANTRA

(A (American) + NT (conservationists, National Trust)) taken in by (MR + A[gnew] (at first))

21. Grant found in bed with English novelist (7)
COLETTE

LET (grant) found in COT (bed) with E (English)

Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette

23. Deny the opportunity to debate normal pot use around France (2-8)
NO PLATFORM

(NORMAL POT)* (*use) around F (France)

25. Actually existing somewhere in Canada? Not half (4)
REAL

[mont]REAL (somewhere in Canada, not half)

27. Outrageous when not in use against soldiers (5)
OUTRE

OUT (not in use) against RE (soldiers)

28. Answer accepted by outstanding star of dance (5,4)
BOSSA NOVA

A (answer) accepted by (BOSS (outstanding) + NOVA (star))

29. Scandinavians finding sermon oddly in French (8)
NORSEMEN

(SERMON)* (*oddly) + EN (in, French)

30. Assert without proof of everyone say taking Ecstasy (6)
ALLEGE

ALL (everyone) + EG (say) taking E (Ecstasy)

DOWN
1. Before getting an opportunity perhaps (2,6)
BY CHANCE

BY (before) getting CHANCE (an opportunity)

2. Volunteers seizing reckless traitor in a restaurant (9)
TRATTORIA

TA (volunteers, Territorial Army) seizing (TRAITOR)* (*reckless)

3. Somewhat nominal exemption sent up with style (4)
ELAN

([nomi]NAL E[xemption] (somewhat))< (<sent up)

5. The most essential part unfinished on delicate architectural feature (7)
CORNICE

COR[e] (most essential part, unfinished) on NICE (delicate)

6. Study reportedly featuring fossil fuel lobby’s ends again and again (10)
REPEATEDLY

“read” (study, “reportedly” – REED) featuring PEAT (fossil fuel) + L[obb]Y (ends)

7. Set aside article on the beginnings of nationalisation under Labour (5)
ANNUL

AN (article) on N[ationalisation] U[nder] L[abour] (beginnings of)

8. Concede after initially failing to crack cipher (6)
ENCODE

([c]ONCEDE (initially failing))* (*crack)

9. Mean to make money outside of Germany to support son (6)
STINGY

(TIN (money) + G[erman]Y (outside of)) to support S (son)

14. Assemble to protect a right withdrawn in dispute (10)
CONTRAVENE

CONVENE (assemble) to protect (A + RT (right))< (<withdrawn)

17. In an excited state Rod describes most of them as slightly mad (2,3,4)
UP THE POLE

(UP (in an excited state) + POLE (rod)) describes THE[m] (some of)

18. Austrian nationalist’s story is revealing (8)
TELLTALE

TELL (Austrian nationalist, William Tell) + TALE (story)

20. An improbable account holding up heartless Alf as kindly (7)
AFFABLE

FABLE (an improbable account) holding up A[l]F (heartless)

21. Bob’s short and extremely slimy (6)
CURTSY

CURT (short) and S[lim]Y (extremely)

22. Borrowed from John’s oddly neglected single by the sound of it (2,4)
ON LOAN

[j]O[h]N (oddly neglected) + “lone” (single, “by the sound of it”)

24. Safe for fellow hiding in Togo’s capital? Just the opposite (5)
PETER

T[ogo] (capital) hiding in PEER (fellow)

26. Key entirely made of brass (4)
GAL;L

G (key) + ALL (entirely)

29 comments on “Financial Times 17,513 by PETO”

  2. Can someone please explain 24D PETER = SAFE for me. This is the second time I’ve seen it recently, and last time I forgot to ask. Thank you.

  3. A good set of clear and precise clues.
    Eric@2 PETER = SAFE in the sense of a strongbox, a Peterman is a safe cracker.
    It is probably from criminal’s slang but nobody seems to know quite why.
    Setters love it so worth remembering.

  4. I was surprised to see William Tell described as an Austrian nationalist. I thought he was (according to legend) a Swiss hero fighting against the Austrians.

  5. Thanks, Peto, and thanks and happy birthday, Teacow. Needed the blog today – I failed to parse two clues here, for the same reason in both cases: 10a and 6d both require you to think of a synonym of a homophone, which was beyond me. All straightforward fun apart from that.

    Eric Eric @2 – to add to what Roz said, ignore anyone who says it’s rhyming slang, there’s no evidence for this.

  7. PEAT is not really a fossil fuel unless you leave it long enough, it does have similar emissions as the other fossil fuels.

  9. Thank you Roz@3. It’s a new one on me. Googling ‘Peterman’ turns out to be a little bit interesting. And indeterminate. Now all I have to do is remember it . . .

  11. I’m pleased to report that I finally remembered two of the three British pairs of initials — RE & NT — but still have some work to do with TA. And I’ve never heard of UP THE POLE to mean mad. I found it somewhere , where it said “mainly British. Synonyms that I thought were dodgy, or perhaps I was just unaware of: tin/money, dispute/contravene, boss/outstanding. Hadn’t heard of Colette. Didn’t think much of the clue for MATCHLESS.

    Thanks for the blog, Teacow.

  14. Blimey. The theories thar Peter means safe are myriad and some are bonkers. The informed opinion seems to confirm the view that it is not rhyming slang. I knew only peterman as a safe cracker and that should be enough.

    Quite a straightforward puzzle with some neat clues . So many thanks Peto and happy birthday Teacow. Impeccable blog. My youngest grandson was six on Friday but no late nights.

  15. Andrew @4 – totally agree – I think any Swiss person would be very unhappy with this clue. It’s like describing Owain Glyndwr as an English nationalist…

  17. All done and dusted without help, although we weren’t all that happy with a few clues: ‘by’ for ‘before’ seemed a bit vague in 1dn, and in 23ac ‘Deny …’ is surely a verb whereas NO PLATFORM is some sort of noun – unless it’s the hyphen that turns it into a verb. We also agree with Andrew and AGN about William Tell, and we’d usually spell 21dn as ‘curtsey’ but we see that Chambers has both spellings. Otoh we liked CORNICE, MANTRA and BOSSA NOVA.
    Thanks, Peto and Teacow.

  18. allan_c @17. Although I had some misgivings about some of the word usages I didn’t have any for ‘by’ = ‘before’. If you have to something by 9 o’clock, for example.

  20. Thanks Peto for a satisfying crossword with BOTHER, BOSSA NOVA, ENCODE, CURTSY, and GALL among my favourites. I couldn’t parse CHARACTER. Thanks Teacow for the blog and Happy Birthday.

  21. A mix of nice clues and a few obscure ones – all as noted so I will not repeat.

    What are we supposed to do with a clue such as half of somewhere in Canada? Go through all the eight-letter Canadian place names and try different combinations of halving them? Or solve the clue from the crossers and parse afterwards?

    Thanks to Peto and Teacow

  25. Tony @22 – thanks for the reply. It is a relief to know I am not the only one who sometimes / often solves the definition first and parses second

    I know this is a late entry into the blog, but I would be interested to hear from others, too, please

  26. Martyn when I was a beginner and often stuck, I would treat a cryptic as a quick crossword, the definition is nearly always the first or last word(s). You can get a surprising number just from this and you then get some letters in the grid to help. You need to get started in order to get started.
    Now when I do Azed I solve nearly every clue from wordplay , crossword skills evolve with practice.

  27. Martyn after a quick scan . Across 1 , 4 , 13 , 19 , 25 , 28 , 30. Down 3 , 6 , 9 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 24 .
    Try it next time we have a really hard setter.

  29. Yes, Tony and Martyn, with the FT I often get the answer before parsing it, and sometimes, as with “Peter,” never do work out why it’s the answer….that’s how, in desperation, I came across this great website.

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