Financial Times 17,689 by PEDROCK

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PEDROCK kicks off the week…

A fairly gentle, and pangramatic, start to the week. I managed to make things a little difficult for myself by bunging in "TO" rather than "AT" in 3d. Not quite sure about 17d, it feels like it's a straight clue, but perhaps I'm missing something. All jolly good fun nonetheless.

Thanks PEDROCK!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Permit father’s game (8)
PASSPORT

PAS (father's) + SPORT (game)

5. Ostentatious display page penned by hack (6)
SPLASH

P (page) penned by SLASH (hack)

10. Idiot wept tears about Romeo (5)
TWERP

(WEPT)* (*tears) about R (Romeo)

11. River parasites, fellow found one in blue (9)
POLICEMAN

PO (river) + LICE (parasites) + MAN (fellow)

12. Fish go in wooden things one makes (9)
CARPENTER

CARP (fish) + ENTER (go in)

13. Milk producer’s steering apparatus did not start (5)
UDDER

[r]UDDER (steering apparatus, did not start)

14. Lecturer with antelope or reptile (6)
LIZARD

L (lecturer) with IZARD (antelope)

15. Auditor reportedly has piece used in Chinese game (7)
CHEQUER

"checker" = CHEQUER (auditor, "reportedly")

18. Young child tells fibs about understatement (7)
LITOTES

TOT (young child), LIES (tells fibs) about

20. Most reliable moveable feasts (6)
SAFEST

(FEASTS)* (*moveable)

22. Friend not finishing rock (5)
QUAKE

QUAKE[r] (friend)

24. Board where, say, there are cups and saucers (9)
TABLEWARE

TABLE (board) + "where" = WARE ("say")

25. Magazine’s content tending to go off (9)
EXPLOSIVE

Double definition

26. Cargo vessel went from reservoir to river (5)
LAKER

LAKE (reservoir) + R (river)

27. Deal with jury’s conclusion in agreement (6)
TREATY

TREAT (deal with) + [jur]Y (conclusion)

28. Most restless but not starting to be most catty (8)
ITCHIEST

[b]ITCHIEST (most catty, not starting)

DOWN
1. Sudden revolutionary outbreak set above southern Switzerland (6)
PUTSCH

PUT (set) above S (southern) + CH (Switzerland)

2. Reaps fresh new plant (9)
SPEARMINT

(REAPS)* (*fresh) + MINT (new)

3. Just beaten by top path I stepped off (6,2,3,4)
PIPPED AT THE POST

(TOP PATH I STEPPED)* (*off)

4. Supposed to have place in plant (7)
REPUTED

PUT (place) in REED (plant)

6. Moorland photograph included loch showing perfect fitness (7,2,6)
PICTURE OF HEALTH

PICTURE OF HEATH (moorland photograph) included L (loch)

7. With members ready for battle (5)
ARMED

Double definition

8. Amateur Harry on manoeuvres accepted zilch (8)
HONORARY

(HARRY ON)* (*manoeuvres) accepted O (zilch)

9. In tabernacle, rich priest emerges (6)
CLERIC

[taberna]CLE RIC[h] (in)

16. Each slunk over when set free (9)
UNSHACKLE

(EACH SLUNK)* (*over)

17. Strongly expressive in a manner of speaking (8)
ELOQUENT

Cryptic definition?

19. Stands out? On the contrary occupies place in protest (4,2)
SITS IN

SITS IN being the opposite of "stands out"

20. Patient under obligation (7)
SUBJECT

Double definition

21. Feel sorry about address without energy (6)
REGRET

RE (about) + GR[e]ET (address, without E (energy))

23. Legislator getting in the drink had quite enough (5)
AMPLE

MP (legislator) getting in ALE (drink)

10 comments on “Financial Times 17,689 by PEDROCK”

  1. ELOQUENT
    Same here Teacow! The whole clue looks like a CD (just about).
    EXPLOSIVE
    Aren’t both defs kinda related to each other?
    COTD: P O HEALTH
    Thanks Pedrock and Teacow!

  2. I confidently entered SHAKE(r) for 22ac so couldn’t solve 17d. I feel I might have realised my mistake if 17d had been a better clue.
    Thanks Pedrock and Teacow.

  3. I ended up revealing the initial E of ELOQUENT and was then able to solve LOI QUAKE for which I had been trying to justify both SHALE and SHAKE. I agree the former is a slightly odd clue. And I agree with KVa re EXPLOSIVE; we just have the nounal and adjectival forms of the word. Also slightly strange, given I solve in numerical order, to encounter two ‘plant’s and two PUTs within the first four down clues. And ‘went for’ seems a strange link between def and WP in LAKER. Finally, I’d have preferred to have seen ‘some energy’ or similar in REGRET; ‘without energy’ suggests no E to me rather than just removing one of the two.

    Quibbles over, I did enjoy PICTURE OF HEA(L)TH.

    Thanks Pedrock and Teacow.

  4. A pleasant afternoon solve for us. A couple of quibbles, though: we thought 15ac was ambiguous in that it could be CHECKER or CHEQUER and it wasn’t till we got 16dn that we were sure of the correct answer, and we noticed the repetition of ‘put’ and ‘plant’. Otoh we saw 17dn as just about a double definition – (1) being enthusiastic abiut one’s subject and (2) speaking smoothly without hesitation. And we spotted that we were heading nfor a pangram.
    Yhanks, Pedrock and Teacow.

  6. Fun puzzle—thanks Pedrock. Coming from the left side of the pond
    “Pipped at the Post” was a new phrase for me, but I guessed it from a few crosses. Izard and Litotes were also new words for me, but again figured them out without needing any reveals. Very enjoyable solve!

  7. Dnf

    Fairly flew of the top half but had To instead of At in three down, so missed lizard and also Eloquent and therefore Quake (which I thought may have been Shake)

    Problem really stemmed from 17 down which I don’t think is a very good clue.

    Never occurred to me, the L equals Lecturer. Hate that type of abbreviation.

    Hmmm.

Comments are closed.