Financial Times 17,742 PETO

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Peto is today's FT compiler.

I haven't been able to fully parse this puzzle as I can't explain the cryptic element of BLACK BOTTOM (14dn).

That aside, most of the puzzle was fine, with a little smattering of general knowledge (tilapia, Smollett, e.g.) required.

I'm not convinced that "vagrant" and "wayward" are synonymous (2dn) and I think there were a few extra words in some of the clues that could have been edited (examples include "from" in 1ac, "into" in 23dn and "about" in 17ac).

Thanks, Peto.

ACROSS
1 SPEEDY
Went inside extremely skinny from fast (6)

PEED ("went") inside [extremely] S(kinn)Y
4 SINISTER
Ominous for clergyman having hint of self-doubt for months (8)

(m)INISTER having [hint of] S(elf-doubt) for (i.e. instead of) M (months) would be S-INISTER
10 OUTRAGE
Shockingly eccentric importing a gum primarily to make incense (7)

OUTRE ("shockingly eccentric") importing A + G(un) [primarily]
11 TILAPIA
Fish tails cut short surprisingly good with bit of asparagus (7)

*(tail) [anag:surprisingly] where TAIL is TAIL(s) [cut short] + PI ("good") with [bit of] A(sparagus)
12 LEAR
Acquire knowledge of knight abandoning old king (4)

N (knight, in chess notation) abandoning LEAR(n) ("acquire knowledge")
13 DETESTABLE
Abhorrent of French firm stocking them regularly (10)

DE ("of" in "French") + STABLE ("firm") stocking T(h)E(m) [regularly]
16 TRAVEL
Go and party in the centre of Portland (6)

RAVE ("party") in [the centre of] (por)TL(and)
17 HEARSAY
Receive information about report being gossip (7)

HEAR ("receive information") + SAY ("report")
20 HANDS-ON
Involving active participation of delegates (5-2)

HANDS ON without the hyphen means "delegates"
21 RECKON
‘Consider judge to be … (6)

Double definition, although both definitions are roughly the same.
24 ON THE ALERT
… watchful and tolerant,’ he garbled (2,3,5)

*(tolerant he) [anag:garbled]
25 TORE
They say Hill’s ripped (4)

Homophone [they say] of TOR ("hill")

There has recentky been a lot of debate on Fifteensquared about the use of the word "homophone" with some commenters preferring to use "pun" or the awful suggestion "aural wordplay", but if a clue says things like "they say", that clearly indicates, in my opinion, that the setter intends the clue to be a homophone.

27 SHOOT UP
A couple of Shetland sheep gobbling unlimited food grow very quickly (5,2)

[a couple of] SH(etland) + TUP ("sheep") gobbling [unlimited] (f)OO(d)
29 BLASTED
Severely criticised latest gripping plot? Just the opposite (7)

The opposite of LAST ("latest") gripping BED ("plot") would be BED gripping LAST so B-LAST-ED
30 DEFERRED
Put off by government agent on reflection and made a mistake (8)

<=FED ("government agent", on reflection) + ERRED ("made a mistake")
31 FORMER
Past experience at first welcomed by kind Republican (6)

E(xperience) [at first] welcomed by FORM ("kind") + R (Republican)
DOWN
1 SMOLLETT
Explains about honour sent up by Turkey’s top writer (8)

<=(TELLS ("explains") about OM (Order of Merit, so "honour"), sent up) by T(urkey) ['s top]

Tobias Smollett was an 18th century Scottish novelist and surgeon.

2 EXTRAVAGANT
Wasteful and unusually wayward right away (11)

EXTRA ("unusually") + VAG(r)ANT ("wayward", with R (ight) away)

Not convinced that "wayward" and "vagrant" are synonymous.
3 DRAB
Found in tundra blackened and cheerless (4)

[found in] "tunDRA Blackened"
5 IN THE RED
Amazingly neither daughter’s owing money (2,3,3)

*(neither) [anag:amazingly] + D (daughter)
6 ILL-STARRED
Lacking kindness was leading performer doomed? (3-7)

ILL ("lacking kindness") + STARRED ("was leading performer")
7 TOP
Excellent toy (3)

Doubel definition
8 REARED
Brought up by grass implicating soldiers from the south (6)

REED ("grass") implicating <=RA (Royal Artillery, so "soldiers", from the south, i.e. upwards)
9 DETER
Discourage opening of tank to feed animals (5)

[opening of] T(ank) to feed DEER ("animals")
14 BLACK BOTTOM
Harmful influence of dance (5,6)

Sorry, can't parse this to my satisfaction, but BLACK BOTTOM was an American dance popular in the 1920s.
15 DEAD LETTER
Something unimportant in deed later modified to include earliest of titles (4,6)

*(deed later) [anag:modified] to include [earliest of] T(itles)
18 COLLAPSE
Cave in wooded area furnished with everything set up (8)

COPSE ("wooded area") furnished with <=ALL ("everything", set up)
19 ENGENDER
Frenchman in retreat over information on source of dairy produce (8)

<=RENE ("Frenchman", in retreat) over GEN ("information") on [source of] D(airy)
22 ROUSED
Made angry by duke after noisy squabbles reportedly (6)

D (duke) after homophone/pun/aural wordplay [reportedly] of ROWS ("noisy squabbles")
23 PROBE
Thorough inquiry into priest getting award (5)

Pr. (priest) getting OBE (Order of the British Empire, so "award")
26 FARO
Contributing to minor affray in return game (4)

Hidden backwards in [contributing to… in return] "minOR AFfray"
28 OFF
Turned away (3)

Double definition, the first meaning "addled"

17 comments on “Financial Times 17,742 PETO”

  1. A few beyond the bounds of my knowledge — FARO, TILAPIA, SMOLLETT, BLACK BOTTOM (which escapes me too, Loonapick). A couple of definitions I thought were a bit, shall we say, economical — “something unimportant” for DEAD LETTER, “lacking kindness” for “ill”.

    This was very enjoyable, and definitely more so than Brockwell’s in the Guardian, or so I thought.

  2. I think BLACK BOTTOM is simply BLACK (harmful) + BOTTOM (influence – see Collins dictionary and maybe others too, of course).

  3. Crikey. Diagacht is right – the 14th def in Collins and the last of the three words in the def. ‘His views have weight and bottom’ being the example. NHO in that context and it’s not in any of the other dictionaries I consult – I can’t even find the word ‘influence’ in the OED entry. Linked with a century-old American dance, that qualifies as somewhat obscure for me.

    SHOOT UP made me smile. Thanks Peto and loonapick

  4. Enjoyed this with the SE being last to fall.

    Liked TILAPIA, DETESTABLE, DEFERRED, COLLAPSE

    Thanks Peto and loonapick

  5. Thanks Peto and loonapick

    14dn: Further to Diagacht@2, Collins 2023 also gives black 9 a as “wicked or harmful”, with the example a black lie. I am not sure whether this meaning of “black” is one that should be encouraged.

  6. Despite the best efforts of Diagacht I am not convinced by 14 dn and I reckon 21 ac is pretty feeble but otherwise enjoyable and about the right degree of difficulty

  7. I could not quite understand the wordplay in BLACK BOTTOM either, although I knew of the dance from A Star Is Born.
    What is the controversy about “homophone”? I have missed that discussion entirely.

  8. Cineraria@7
    TORE
    In the comments section of Guardian blogs, often you will find some discussion
    on clues of this type (I don’t come across such discussions generally in the Indy
    and FT comments). On each occasion, there are always some who disagree with
    the setter because they pronounce the word(s) in question differently.

    To make it sound less controversial a couple of bloggers use the phrase ‘aural
    wordplay’, but that hasn’t made any difference. Some suggested ‘pun’ as an
    alternative to ‘homophone’ so that you don’t have to argue on the exact equivalence
    of the intended words/phrases. It doesn’t matter how you describe it, there is
    always some discussion.

    I think this is what loonapick refers to in the blog.

    I find these discussions enlightening (tho I believe that exact equivalence isn’t essential)
    as I get to learn a lot about how words are pronounced by different people.

  9. Thanks for the blog, good set of neat clues.
    BOTTOM is familiar to viewers of Yes Minister , along with sound it is the highest compliment.
    TORE I think “Some say” would be even better as there are many accents, the new Guardian Quick Cryptic is using “soundalike” to explain this type of clue.

  10. All I can do is agree with what is already here. loonapick’s opening commentary says everything I intended to write, and I agree with Postmark@3’s commentary on BLACK BOTTOM. I needed the blog to work out SINISTER’s parsing, and I do not recall bottom from Yes Minister, so thanks for the reminder Roz@9.

    I also agree with GDU@1 and others that, despite several flaws, this was an enjoyable puzzle with several clues that make me smile.

    Thanks Peto and loonapick

  11. Oh, I see. For homophones, I just pretend that I am an Oxford don with the plummiest RP accent imaginable. So, “sore” rhymes perfectly with “saw.” To me, that amounts another “cryptic” level in those clues.

  12. Thanks Peto, there was much I liked including SINISTER, LEAR, DETESTABLE, TRAVEL, SHOOT UP, ILL-STARRED, DETER, and COLLAPSE. I failed with SMOLLETT and BLACK BOTTOM. Thanks loonapick for the blog.

  13. While I completed, I didn’t much enjoy. Too much general knowledge with Smollett, Faro etc. Also never heard of black bottom as a dance and thought clue was poorly drafted

  14. As the person who coined the term “aural wordplay” I would be curious to know why loonapick (in his blog of 25a TORE) considers it to be awful.

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