Financial Times 17,737 MUDD

by

A slightly trickier MUDD this Friday but the usual fun nonetheless! 🙂

FF: 9 DD: 8

1 MATCHSTICK
Striker gets criticism after game (10)

MATCH ( game ) STICK ( criticism )
6 PLUG
Block advertisement (4)

double def
10 CAPON
Chicken working beyond limit (5)

ON ( working ) after CAP ( limit )

11 COPYRIGHT
Writer’s agreement got pricy, unfortunately: hard to invest in it (9)

[ GOT PRICY ]* containing H ( hard )
12 TRUE BLUE
Loyal Tory, adult on right (4,4)

TRUE ( right ) BLUE ( adult )
13 PUT UP
Make room for construct (3,2)

double def
15 LOWLAND
Tail of tropical bird also plain (7)

L ( tropicaL, last letter ) OWL ( bird ) AND ( also )
17 STILTON
Try feeding boy cheese (7)

TILT ( try? ) in SON ( boy )
19 OARSMEN
Eight perhaps, when a sermon broadcast (7)

[ A SERMON ]*
21 WINKING
Bag man, being flirtatious? (7)

WIN ( bag ) KING ( man )
22 EATEN
By the sound of it, college tucked away (5)

sounds like ETON ( college )
24 SLIPSHOD
Loose paper in shoes (8)

SLIP ( paper ) SHOD ( in shoes )
27 HERBALIST
Doctor tribal, he’s natural healer (9)

[ TRIBAL HES ]*
28 ATOLL
Key in a ring? (5)

A TOLL ( ring )
29 REEL
Reportedly physical dance (4)

sounds like REAL ( ~physical )
30 FREE SPIRIT
Maverick landlord’s generous offer? (4,6)

cryptic def
1 MACE
Magician’s principal wizard in club (4)

M ( Magician, first letter ) ACE ( wizard )
2 TOP-DRAWER
Brilliant sketching champion? (3-6)

cryptic def; drawer here being someone who sketches

3 HINGE
Rest welcomed by British in general (5)

hidden in "..britisH IN GEneral"
4 TICKLED
Happy second was first (7)

TICK ( second ) LED ( was first )
5 CYPRESS
Wood certainly marginally superior to iron (7)

CY ( CertainlY, end letters ) PRESS ( iron )
7 LIGHT
Easy stairs, top not reached (5)

fLIGHT ( stairs, without first letter )
8 GET-UP-AND-GO
Ambition to vacate seat? (3-2-3-2)

cryptic def
9 ERUPTION
Infection resulting in rash, not pure I gathered (8)

[ NOT PURE I ]*
14 ALTOGETHER
Generally good number with higher voice (10)

ALTO ( higher voice ) G ( good ) ETHER ( number, as in something that numbs )
16 ARMENIAN
People in tune over new nationality (8)

[ MEN ( people ) in ARIA ( tune ) ] N ( new )
18 TRICOLOUR
Flag in court I half rolled out (9)

[ COURT I ROLled ( half of ) ]*
20 NASTIER
More ghastly retsina drunk (7)

[ RETSINA ]*
21 WHISTLE
Appear cheerful when crossing street (7)

WHILE ( when ) containing ST ( street )
23 THREE
Figure runs into you (5)

R ( run ) in THEE ( you )
25 SHARP
Promptly out of tune… (5)

double def
26 FLAT
…similarly even! (4)

cryptic def; refers to 25d, out of tune

9 comments on “Financial Times 17,737 MUDD”

  1. Mudd’s in great form today with this grid, showing great economy and lateral thinking; the sign of a FREE SPIRIT you might say!
    PLUG and SHARP (nicely combined with FLAT) were characteristic of this setter. Favourites included, HINGE (rest)TICK(second)LED and WIN(bag)KING for using less obvious components or definitions, as well as NASTIER, ATOLL and SLIPSHOD.
    Just thought the surface for HERBALIST a tad awkward but this was great fun overall and light on its feet.
    Thanks to Mudd and Turbolegs.

  3. Liked TICKLED and FLAT.

    STILTON
    Parsed it like Turbolegs and Diane did.
    This will be my last tilt at it

  4. Enjoyed this one. I thought it was pretty easy with the exception of the southeast corner which provided a bit of a challenge. Thanks Mudd!

  5. I struggled to parse ARMENIAN for the most ridiculous of reasons – ‘People in tune over new …’ I took as People = MEN in (insertion) tune = AIR over(reversal) new = N which gave me RMENIAN so I wondered what Mudd had done with the other A! What a twit!

    I enjoyed this a lot – as others have remarked, very succinct and the usually imaginative flashes of left field thinking. WHISTLE, HERBALIST and LOWLAND were particularly good. And, as Jay observes, there were a clutch of easy ones too which gave plenty of purchase for dealing with the more obscure.

    Thanks Mudd and Turbolegs

  6. This was a great relief after a few days of tough puzzles. I was on Mudd’s wavelength from start to finish, progressing at a steady pace and thoroughly enjoying it.

    Along with Diane@1, I appreciated Mudd’s economy, and it was the wordier clues that took the most time. Similar to Postmark@5, I also wondered where the A went in ARMENIAN, but eventually saw ARIA and parsed it.

    No real obscurities and plenty of ticks. I will name NASTIER, TICKLED and THREE as my favourites.

    Thanks Mudd and Turbolegs

  7. Nice easy flow, no convoluted clues, liked the constructs for “Matchstick” and “Altogether”. Enjoyed it.
    Thank you to Mudd and Turbolegs.

  8. A nice relatively gentle stroll after yesterdays’s almost impenetrable offering. THanks, Mudd and Turbolegs.

  9. Very enjoyable.

    More like this please, especially after some of this week’s tortured offerings.

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