Financial Times 17,764 by PETO

by

PETO kicks off the week…

Good solid puzzle with some lovely surfaces. Very enjoyable.

Thanks PETO!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Make use of marginally defensive stratagem (6)
DEPLOY

D[efensiv]E (marginally) + PLOY (stratagem)

4. Champion’s lawyer reflective about ballot boxes (8)
ADVOCATE

((DA)< (lawyer, <reflective)) + (CA (about), VOTE (ballot) boxes)

9. Develop part allotted with parking for rector (5)
SHAPE

SHARE (part allotted) with P (parking) for R (rector)

10. Humiliation of worthless fellows overwhelmed by fate essentially (9)
ABASEMENT

(BASE (worthless) + MEN (fellows)) overwhelmed by [f]AT[e] (essentially)

11. Ambassador on crack after working against time when very busy (2,3,2)
ON THE GO

(HE (ambassador) on GO (crack)) after (ON (working) against T (time))

12. Answer surprisingly mature for a dilettante (7)
AMATEUR

A (answer) + (MATURE)* (*surprisingly)

13. Steal bit of organic kale (4)
NICK

[orga]NIC K[ale] (bit of)

14. Writer finding temporary accommodation after impropriety initially feeling regret (8)
PENITENT

PEN (writer) finding (TENT (temporary accommodation) after I[mpropriety] (initially))

17. Intentionally overhear revolutionary leader describing intended sabotage targets at first (6,2)
LISTEN IN

LENIN (revolutionary leader) describing I[ntended] S[abotage] T[argets] (at first)

19. Interested in left-leaning books on Northern Ireland (4)
INTO

(OT (books) on NI (Northern Ireland))< (<left leaning)

22. Barge into contemptuous fellow first off (7)
LIGHTER

[b]LIGHTER (contemptuous fellow, first off)

24. Revealed resistance by successful fighter pilot to go faster (7)
OUTRACE

OUT (revealed) + R (resistance) by ACE (successful fighter pilot)

25. Influenced by greed in my career travelling around Norway (9)
MERCENARY

(MY CAREER)* (*travelling) round N (Norway)

26. Fool with princess inside? A little briefly (5)
IDIOT

DI (princess) inside IOT[a] (a little, briefly)

27. Surreptitious glances eventually finding lieutenant in drink extremely happy (8)
STEALTHY

[glance]S (eventually) finding (LT (lieutenant) in (TEA (drink) + H[app]Y (extremely)))

28. Compensate for fellow not good facing judge (6)
REDEEM

RE[g] (fellow, not G (good)) facing DEEM (judge)

DOWN
1. Criticise noble concession (8)
DISCOUNT

DIS (criticise) + COUNT (noble)

2. Adapted for use in a clip art design employing captions primarily (9)
PRACTICAL

(A CLIP ART)* (*design) employing C[aptions] (primarily)

3. Start with hesitation by Kent’s number one (6)
OPENER

OPEN (start) with ER (hesitation)

5. Miranda to cry out over hint of iffy theatrical device (8,5)
DRAMATIC IRONY

(MIRANDA TO CRY)* (*out) over I[ffy] (hint of)

6. Hold forth about poet’s regularly dismissed work (7)
OPERATE

ORATE (hold forth) about P[o]E[t] (regularly dismissed)

7. Singer-songwriter with ukulele damaged partially retired (5)
ADELE

([ukul]ELE DA[maged] (partially))< (<retired)

8. Continuous anger undermining English conservationists (6)
ENTIRE

IRE (anger) undermining (E (English) + NT (conservationists))

10. Excellent American open about record breaking (5,8)
ABOVE REPROACH

A (American) + BROACH (open), (OVER (about) + EP (record)) breaking

15. Diffident Argentine politician elevated after red wine (9)
TENTATIVE

(EVITA)< (Argentine politician, <elevated) after TENT (red wine)

16. Not speaking about portent of evil with Thailand’s left-wing campaign group (8)
MOMENTUM

MUM (not speaking) about (OMEN (portent of evil) with T (Thailand))

18. Dandy admitting sex appeal of poet (7)
SITWELL

SWELL (dandy) admitting IT (sex appeal)

20. Measures fruit by the sound of it (6)
PLUMBS

"plums" = PLUMBS (fruit, "by the sound of it")

21. Audiences ultimately getting poor stuff from band (6)
STRIPE

[audience]S (ultimately) getting TRIPE (poor stuff)

23. Guerilla leader and I capsized crossing river in deep ravine (5)
GORGE

G[uerilla] (leader) and ((EGO)< (I, <capsized) crossing R (river))

13 comments on “Financial Times 17,764 by PETO”

  1. Found the top half easier than the bottom half and was held up a while having LISTEN TO instead of LISTEN IN – which obviously I couldn’t parse.

    Lots to like including: ABASEMENT, AMATEUR, STEALTHY, PLUMBS, IDIOT, MOMENTUM

    Thanks Pete and Teacow

  2. Thanks Peto and Teacow

    3dn: I am sure that the definition is meant to be “Kent’s number one”, but it needs a question mark or other indicator of a definition by example. Mentioning Kent helps to point out the cricket reference, and it would still be a definition by example without it, as number two in the batting order is also an opener.

    [10ac: The answer here reminds me of the unfortunate line in Stainer’s Crucifixion, where the Tenor has to sing “Here in abasement”. It is practically impossible to sing this so that it definitely sounds like three words not four.]

  3. Recently started doing the FT x-words as well after finishing the Guardian. Well, finishing them as much as I can, on some days when the going is tough.
    Was put off by the UI a bit initially, being more used to the Guardian website interface obviously. But the content itself is impeccable and downright enjoyable.

    This one from PETO was splendid. Didn’t know this usage of ‘lighter’ (22a) but was fairly clued and got it once most of the crossers were in. LOI were 9a and 3d which fell in almost simultaneously.

    Thanks, setter & Teacow!

  4. LOi 3d OPENER – disappointed “Kent’s number one” wasn’t Lois Lane, and it was just the obligatory cricket clue.
    [A riddle for 28a REDEEM: What do Doctor Dolittle(1967), Rumpole Of The Bailey(1975,1978-92), and Sir Elton John(1947–) have in common?]
    Thanks P⁊T

  5. I generally enjoyed this but missed Opener and Shape. Neither impossible and probably gave up a bit too easily.

    Why is Iot “a”?

    Thanks

  6. Don’t understand your query Moly. Is it perhaps a misunderstanding of the parsing for IDIOT with DI(ana) inside IOTA (a little) minus the A (briefly)? Apologies if I have misunderstood you.

  7. Thanks Peto for a well-crafted crossword. My top picks were ADVOCATE, ON THE GO, LISTEN IN, OPERATE, and GORGE. NHO LIGHTER being ‘barge’ but it couldn’t be anything else. I didn’t have the patience to parse ABOVE REPROACH so thanks Teacow for the blog.

  9. HG @8 Tent is a red spanish wine and often crops up in cryptic crosswords so worth remembering. Spanish for ‘red wine’ is ‘vino tinto’ (rather than vino rojo which you may expect) and ‘tent’ comes from ‘tinto’, or so I’m told.

  13. Didn’t get round to commenting yesterday although we solved the puzzle quite quickly and without help. We did wonder, without checking, if ABOVE REPROACH is American usage; we’re more familiar with ‘beyond reproach’.
    And a minor point, we think ‘DI’ for ‘princess’ is getting a bit dated these days; but then, one finds things such as ‘GR’ for ‘king’ (George, the most recent being our present king’s grandfather) so we suppose it’s OK – in Crosswordland anyway.
    Belated thanks to Peto and Teacow.

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