Financial Times 17,831 by PETO

by

PETO kicks off the week…

A fun puzzle, on my birthday!

 

Thanks PETO!

ACROSS
1. Astounded by Bottom obtaining heroin after work (10)
GOBSMACKED

(BED (bottom) obtaining SMACK (heroin)) after GO (work)

7. Policeman gets engaged (4)
BUSY

Double definition

9. Heard the last part of story (4)
TALE

“tail” = TALE (last part of, “heard”)

10. Well planned however by solicitor (7-3)
THOUGHT-OUT

THOUGH (however) by TOUT (solicitor)

11. Take notice of fellow turning to cross street (6)
LISTEN

(NEIL)< (fellow, <turning) to cross ST (street)

12. Has charge of a diagram of explanation largely as a reminder (8)
KEEPSAKE

KEEPS (has charge of) + A + KE[y] (diagram of explanation, largely)

13. Silent protest ultimately about backing current change of direction (8)
TACITURN

[protes]T (ultimately) + (CA)< (about, <backing) + I (current) + TURN (change of direction)

15. Removes waste food son ignored (4)
LOPS

[s]LOPS (waste food, S (son) ignored)

17. Talk about opening of Asian heroic narrative (4)
SAGA

(GAS)< (talk, <about) + A[sian] (opening of)

19. It’s been left out of Omani leader’s important assignment (8)
OMISSION

O[mani] (leader) + MISSION (assignment)

22. End of holidays cancelled (5,3)
LEAVE OFF

LEAVE (holidays) + OFF (cancelled)

23. Extremely distressing to find soldier in overturned vehicle (6)
TRAGIC

GI (soldier) in (CART)< (vehicle, <overturned)

25. Endowed institution’s underlying principle (10)
FOUNDATION

Double definition

26. Death of rocker’s adversary brought about over nothing (4)
DOOM

(MOD)< (rocker’s adversary, <brought about) over O (nothing)

27. Give up first of conspirators beadle oddly dismissed (4)
CEDE

C[onspirators] (first of) + [b]E[a]D[l]E (oddly dismissed)

28. Evident before Hungary’s earliest abstract poet becomes too much (4-3-3)
OVER-THE-TOP

OVERT (evident) before H[ungary] (earliest) + (POET)* (*abstract)

DOWN
2. An instrument of God essentially right to stop murderer finding American (7)
OCARINA

[g]O[d] (essentially) + (R (right) to stop CAIN (murderer)) finding A (American)

3. Had a whiff of fish (5)
SMELT

Double definition

4. Failing to work properly when temporarily promoted (6,2)
ACTING UP

ACTING (temporarily) + UP (promoted)

5. When workers stop stealing and give voice to uprising (8-3,4)
KNOCKING-OFF TIME

KNOCKING-OFF (stealing) and (EMIT)< (give voice to, <uprising)

6. Relative position of doctor admitting, for example, taking drugs (6)
DEGREE

DR (doctor) admitting EG (for example) taking E E (drugs)

7. Mood-altering drug producing liveliness in City players finally (4,5)
BATH SALTS

SALT (liveliness) in (BATH (city) + [player]S (finally))

8. Hurts the feelings of contrary king over being arrogant (5-2)
STUCK-UP

(CUTS)< (hurts the feelings of, <contrary) + K (king) + UP (over)

14. Going before inane cad roughly around five (2,7)
IN ADVANCE

(INANE CAD)* (*roughly) around V (five)

16. Unmistakable as policeman fools about at court (8)
DISTINCT

DI (policeman) + (NITS)< (fools, <about) at CT (court)

18. Amazing Hebrew prophet briefly flipped overwhelmed by dread (7)
AWESOME

(MOSE[s] (Hebrew prophet, briefly)< (<flipped) overwhelmed by AWE (dread)

20. Gold coin surprisingly found by Oklahoma’s principal river (7)
ORINOCO

OR (gold) + (COIN)* (*surprisingly) found by O[klahoma] (principal)

21. Company with a French name set up earlier in European principality (6)
MONACO

CO (company) with (A + NOM (French name))< (<set up) earlier

24. Confuse with charge after commencement (5)
ADDLE

[s]ADDLE (charge, after commencement)

16 comments on “Financial Times 17,831 by PETO”

  1. Parsed 4d ACTING UP as a DD – the two meanings of act up: play up/misbehave, and ‘perform the duties of a more senior office or position, esp. temporarily.’
    LOi 7d BATH SALTS – nho it as a “Mood-altering drug” nor its UK name “Monkey dust“, which Wikipedia redirects. Thanks P&T

  2. Bath salts are drugs?! I like a good soak as much as the next person but I doubt good old Radox produces that particular high! Another substance to add to the long list used here.
    I liked BUSY best. I saw ACTING UP as Frankie dud. It was moderately challenging and I did need to crib from the blog to see a few answers.
    Thanks to Peto and Happy Birthday Teacow!

  3. DNF as I did not get LEAVE OFF. I was trying to find an answer that meant “cancelled”. Entered BATH SALTS without conviction – salt = liveliness still eludes me. Good Monday puzzle – a holiday here in USA. Thanks Peto and Teacow.

  4. Nice averagely difficult challenge.
    Managed to complete it without aids, although wasn’t familiar with SALT=liveliness. Note the clue said “Mood-altering”, not “Mind-altering” so I think that’s valid (not that I would know- our bath is too small for me).
    Parsed ACTING UP the same as Teacow.
    Thanks PETO and happy birthday Teacow!

  5. Salt in Chambers: Piquancy or liveliness. OED expands somewhat with: That which gives liveliness, freshness, or piquancy to a person’s character, life, etc. Often in salt of youth, from Shakespeare 1579

  6. Enjoyable and not too taxing (if that’s not a tautology). We thought describing 7dn as a mind-altering drug was a bit 28ac, though.
    Thanks, Peto and Teacow – and many happy returns, Teacow.

  8. Thanks Peto and Teacow

    28ac: I am not sure whether the word “earliest” adds to the surface. It is not necessary for the cryptic reading, as Hungary is a valid indication for H as the international vehicle registration code.

    4dn: I took the second indication for ACTING UP as a phrase, in the same way as Frankie@1 and Diane@2. That meaning (for act up) is given explicitly in ODE 2010 (p 16), but I could not find it in either Chambers 2016 or Collins 2023. I think it can be regarded as a specific context for the natural meaning of the phrase built up from its component words, which leads me to conclude that there is no real difference between the two interpretations of the clue.

    7dn: For the definition here, I was happy to think that a drug could be a relaxant. I was unaware of the use indicated by Frankie, which I could not find in any of the dictionaries mentioned earlier.

  9. I think some have not absorbed what FrankieG@1 said about bath salts. They are indeed an illegal
    drug as described in the Wikipedia article not the innocent article enjoyed by one’s grandmother.

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  11. FrankieG, I wonder what would happen if you put PABS in your bath water? Would you absorb it through your skin? I might have to switch from taking showers.

    Happy birthday Teacow. I hope your celebration is AWESOME without being OVER THE TOP.

  13. I’ve never ever heard of a policeman being referred to as a ‘busy’. Liveliness = salt is unknown to me too, and I wasn’t aware that Bath Salts are mood altering drugs. I also wasn’t aware that a degree is a relative position, I thought it was a line of direction rather than a position.
    But hey-ho, what do I know, I’m only a university educated native English speaker of sixty years…
    So after these three clues I lost my temper and threw this in the bin.

  14. TC @ 13

    Busy as a reference to policeman dates to early C20 (OED)

    Salt = “That which gives life, freshness, or pungency to to a person’s character, life etc” dates to 1579, and one would tend to use bath salts to relax you and improve your mood

    To what degree were you unaware of its meaning being relative?

    For “a university educated native English speaker of sixty years” you seem to be remarkably short-tempered!

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