Financial Times 17,571 by MUDD

by

A relatively straightforward challenge from MUDD.

FF: 7 DD: 6

ACROSS
1 PICKLE
Relish predicament (6)

double def
4 DRILL BIT
Exercise had negative effect for spinner on machine (5,3)

DRILL ( exercise ) BIT ( had negative effect )
9 GARISH
Loud, somewhat vulgar is he? (6)

hidden in "..vulGAR IS He"
10 ABOVE ALL
First and foremost, omnipotent? (5,3)

cryptic def
12 LATRINES
Place to go wild isn’t real (8)

[ ISN'T REAL ]*
13 STODGE
It’s hard to get down from the Gods, less hard moving (6)

[ ThE GODS ( without H – hard ) ]*
15 SAVE
Free bar (4)

double def
16 LEOTARD
Sign behind cut in gymnast’s garment (7)

LEO ( sign ) TARDy ( behind, without last letter )
20 DEVILRY
Malice in tedious mischief (7)

EVIL ( malice ) in DRY ( tedious )
21 TREE
Life form partial to Sartre, existentialist (4)

hidden in "..sarTRE Existentialist"
25 ANNUAL
Record broken by university yearly (6)

U ( university ) in ANNAL ( record )
26 DISCOVER
Find saucer finished (8)

DISC ( saucer ) OVER ( finished )
28 PRACTISE
Rule in force, go through (8)

ACT ( rule ) in PRISE ( force )
29 SEETHE
Diocese on the boil (6)

SEE ( diocese ) THE
30 WATERLOO
Decisive battle later rectified in court (8)

[ LATER ]* in WOO ( court )
31 AMUSED
A sea around America, diverted (6)

A [ MED ( sea ) around US ( america ) ]
DOWN
1 PUGILIST
Boxer dog, one on heel (8)

PUG ( dog ) I ( one ) LIST ( heel )
2 CURATIVE
Wound I have dabbed with rag briefly, healing (8)

[ CUT ( wound ) I'VE ( i have ) ] containing RAg ( briefly )
3 LOSE IT
So tile, when loose, hit the roof (4,2)

[ SO TILE ]*
5 RUBY
Precious little thing, girl initially expelled from school (4)

RUgBY ( school, without G – Girl, first letter )
6 LAVATORY
Can: a vessel guzzled by parrot (8)

[ A VAT ( vessel ) ] in LORY ( parrot )
7 BRANDY
Spirit, variety unknown (6)

BRAND ( variety ) Y ( unknown )
8 TELLER
Banker, person telling stories? (6)

not so cryptic def? if my answer is correct, then the "telling" in the clue is rather unfortunate.

11 GENESIS
Book group (7)

double def? the second refers to the music band with phil collins as the front man

14 STARLIT
Dark substance in hole illuminated at night (7)

TAR ( dark substance) in SLIT ( hope )
17 MEGASTAR
Madonna originally great as extraordinary icon (8)

M ( Madonna, first letter ) [ GREAT AS ]*
18 GRAVITAS
Shift a half of girder, vast weight (8)

[ A GIRder ( half of ) VAST ]*
19 BEFRIEND
Help turn around day with minimum of ease (8)

BEND ( turn ) around [ FRI ( day ) E ( minimum of Ease ) ]
22 PAWPAW
Two hands required for fruit (6)

PAW ( hand ) , twice

23 INFANT
Child that’s female held by granny in it (6)

[ F ( female ) in NAN ( granny ) ] in IT
24 SCREAM
Ultimate in yells, the best shriek! (6)

S ( yellS, last letter ) CREAM ( best )
27 OSLO
Case of Seoul in old, old capital (4)

SL ( SeouL, end characters of ) in [ O ( old ) O ( old ) ]

13 comments on “Financial Times 17,571 by MUDD”

  1. I hadn’t heard of a lory, despite them being from Australia apparently. And it took me a while to work out why Rugby is a school.

    An enjoyable experience, thanks Mudd & Turbolegs.

  2. Same as GDU and I agree with Turbolegs on TELLER

    I always enjoy a Mudd puzzle and this was no exception. While I love his signature double definitions, favourites today were MEGASTAR and ABOVE ALL for their great surfaces.

    Thanks Mudd and Turbolegs.

  3. I enjoyed this and agree about TELLER which was not up to MUDD’s usual standard. Alternatives as a clue could be: Sneaky bank clerk or bank clerk is a raconteur?

    Thank you to Mudd for a fun puzzle and to Turbolegs for his clear blog

  4. Re 12A: “place to go”. “Place” is singular; “latrines” is plural.

    Thanks, Turbolegs, and I hate to point this out but the “slit” in 14d is “hole” not “hope”. Easy to do, I’ve done it so many times myself.

    I agree with you about 8D: that answer is almost in the clue.

    GDU – Rugby is famous (or infamous) for turning football (the real game with a round ball) into a game played by men with funny shaped balls!

  5. Thanks Mudd and Turbolegs

    12ac (LATRINES): I wondered about the apparent clash between singular and plural, but I think you can say that the part of a camp (etc) where the latrines are forms the place where you go.

  6. Puzzle of two halves. The top half went in really quickly and I was feeling pretty good but the bottom half took ages and I had to reveal a couple of squares to get the last two.

    Favourites: LAVATORY (for the LORY which I had heard of), LEOTARD (for once I remembered that a sign could mean a zodiac sign), ANNUAL, BEFRIEND, OSLO

    Thanks Mudd and Turbolegs

  8. A fairly gentle solve but we thought it a bit much to have both LATRINES and LAVATORY in the same crossword – and we also thought 8dn a bit weak.
    Pleasant enough, though; thanks, Mudd and Turbolegs.

  9. 8d TELLER surprised me, because its weakness was so easily fixable. I too queried the singular/plural mismatch in 12a LATRINES, but ultimately came to the same explanation as Pelham Barton @ 5.

    With Latrines and LAVATORY, I’m surprised Mudd didn’t continue the theme with his clueing of 30a WATERLOO.

    Thanks Mudd and Turbolegs for the fun.

  10. 8d was so poor I didn’t put it in and dnf. I thought it could not be the answer and was looking for a river which fitted.
    Missed several in top right corner because of my blunder.

    Will I ever improve

    Hmmmmm

  11. Fun puzzle and I thought LATRINES and LAVATORY were particularly good.

    One Q, is it not a convention to add question marks to words where we are looking for examples rather than synonyms – ?

    So school? For RUGBY and group? for GENESIS

  12. Arnold@11: No, a question mark is not required, and indeed would be inappropriate, for the purpose you have suggested. Of course, there may be a question mark for a different reason. The use of a question mark with regard to examples is for definition by example, so “Rugby?” could clue SCHOOL or “Genesis?” could clue GROUP. Definition by example can also be indicated by wordin such as “perhaps” or “for one”.

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