Financial Times 17,903 by PETO

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PETO provides this morning's puzzle…

A gentle but very enjoyable start to the week. I got slightly held up by entering SALTPETRE for 13d.

Thanks PETO!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. President finding extremists in England exhausted (6)
BUSHED

BUSH (president) finding E[nglan]D (extremists)

4. Avoid getting key cut (6)
ESCHEW

ESC (key) + HEW (cut)

8. Information on fellow not specific (7)
GENERIC

GEN (information) on ERIC (fellow)

9. Stuff described by Ms West as ornamental knotted thread (7)
MACRAME

CRAM (stuff) described by MAE (Ms West)

11. Woeful failure of musical to captivate audiences at the outset (10)
CALAMITOUS

(MUSICAL TO)* (*failure of) captivate A[udiences] (at the outset)

12. Minister to become widely discussed on X right away (4)
TEND

T[r]END (become widely discussed on X, R (right) away)

13. Letter from novelist about gripping opening of Germinal (5)
SIGMA

(AMIS)< (novelist, <about) gripping G[erminal] (opening of)

14. Use of tax to protect oddly neglected deer (8)
EXERCISE

EXCISE (tax) to protect [d]E[e]R (oddly neglected)

16. Ignorant of reason for O’Sullivan not playing around end of April (8)
CLUELESS

CUELESS (reason for (Ronnie) O'Sullivan not playing) around [Apri]L (end of)

18. Complete crackpot needing no introduction (5)
UTTER

[n]UTTER (crackpot, needing no introduction)

20. Notice some of stop signs facing the wrong way (4)
SPOT

([s]TOP S[igns] (some of))< (<facing the wrong way)

21. Delightful Democrat likely to attract votes in ballot (10)
DELECTABLE

D (Democrat) + ELECTABLE (likely to attract votes in ballot)

23. Hits Sainsbury’s first with industrial action (7)
STRIKES

S[ainsbury] (first) with STRIKE (industrial action)

24. South American girl crossing very open grassland (7)
SAVANNA

(S (south) + A (American) + ANNA (girl)) crossing V (very)

25. Oppose Iceland stopping support (6)
RESIST

IS (Iceland) stopping REST (support)

26. In all likelihood that’s a boot (6)
WELLIE

WELL (in all likelihood) + IE (that's)

DOWN
1. Plot to nab Republican near Alaska’s capital city (5)
BREDA

BED (plot) to nab R (republican) near A[laska] (capital)

2. Affair with a female outlaw finally ending (7)
SHEBANG

SHE (female) + BAN (outlaw) + [endin]G (finally)

3. Murder of Austrian leader included in revised timeline (9)
ELIMINATE

A[ustrian] (leader) included in (TIMELINE)* (*revised)

5. Speaks about chateau’s central supports (5)
STAYS

SAYS (speaks) about [cha]T[eau] (central)

6. Mostly rustic housing before time of Galileo for instance (7)
HERETIC

HIC[k] (rustic, mostly) housing (ERE (before) + T (time))

7. More astute to frame old island philanderer (9)
WOMANISER

WISER (more astute) to frame (O (old) + MAN (island))

10. Swimmer from Germany finished with spirit reportedly (5,4)
DOVER SOLE

D (Germany) + OVER (finished) + "soul" = SOLE (spirit, "reportedly")

13. Test Pearl devised for component of gunpowder (9)
SALTPETER

(TEST PEARL)* (*devised)

15. Utter devastation of aunt and niece (9)
ENUNCIATE

(AUNT and NIECE)* (*devastation of)

17. Items in diary showing guards absent at first (7)
ENTRIES

[s]ENTRIES (guards, absent at first)

19. Labour right about trouble embracing alternative vote (7)
TRAVAIL

((RT)< (right, <about) + AIL (trouble)) embracing AV (alternative vote)

21. The most worthless part remains (5)
DREGS

Double definition

22. Take a brief look ignoring German weapon (5)
LANCE

[g]LANCE (take a brief look, ignoring G (German))

10 comments on “Financial Times 17,903 by PETO”

  1. SALTPETER is a US spelling so should really have been flagged as such, particularly as the wordplay doesn’t help: perhaps “component of American explosive” (I think using “gunpowder” makes it too much of a giveaway).

  2. Faves: CLUELESS, BREDA and ENUNCIATE.

    CALAMITOUS
    Does the cryptic grammar work okay (doesn’t it require ‘captivates’ for the cryptic reading though
    ‘captivate’ fits the surface reading?)?

    Thanks Peto and Teacow!

  3. I don’t mind American words but unindicated American spellings are a definite no-no as far as I’m concerned. I felt that ‘to’ was doing double duty in 11a.

  4. We agree with Andrew and Hovis about unindicated American spellings. And we thought 23ac rather poor as ‘industrial action’ could just as well be the definition.
    Otherwise a satisfying solve. We had the same favourites as KVa.
    Thanks, Peto and Teacow.

  5. Another one who initially entered Saltpetre.

    I also didn’t like “near” In 1d, which I thought was unnecessary and confusing. I never think of “near” as being “next to”, maybe that’s just me.

    But otherwise very enjoyable and plain sailing

  6. KVa @2: I agree with you ref CALAMITOUS. Anagramming, as we are instructed, leaves us with C LAMITOUS captivate audiences at the outset. As Hovis has pointed out, the ‘to’ is needed for the container to be grammatically correct and yet it has already been incorporated in the anagram. Tricky things, these containers (😉)

  7. A gentle start to the week indeed. Yes, I enjoyed it also.

    I do not believe I have ever had to write saltpetre or SALTPETER. Blissfully unaware that I was using a US variant, I was lucky enough to spell the word the way the setter wanted. I could not parse CLUELESS, having no idea what or who O’Sullivan is. Now I know his full name, I have read up about him – a brilliant snooker player who wishes he was a F1 driver according to Wiki. FWIW, I agree with the general view on 11a.

    I liked many clues, and have a random list of favourites: SHEBANG, EXERCISE, ENUNCIATE, DELECTABLE.

    Thanks Peto and Teacow

  8. Even though I am writing from the SALTPETER side of the pond I initially assumed that the fill would have RE. However, 25a was my next fill and that quickly corrected my thinking. My favorite was CLUELESS. I am not a big fan of using names for fellow or girl, but the fills were easy enough that it didn’t cause much of an issue. Thanks Peto and Teacow!

  9. Moly@5 and others who entered SALTPETRE at 13d: Why not enter SALTPET, and then try E or R for the first letter of 25a before writing in the last two letters?

    Moly also complains that “near” is confusing in 1d BREDA. Isn’t the job of setters to confuse as well as amuse? And near is useful if not absolutely necessary in order to place the A.

    KVa@2 and PM@6, if “to” is doing double duty in 11a CALAMITOUS, I don’t see why that is a problem. I have never seen a cogent explanation for the complaint – other than that some writer along time ago said that it’s a no-no, and no one has challenged the assertion. I guess I’m a heretic on this point.

    Thanks Peto for the delectable diversion. I especially liked 16a, which was both clueless and not.

    And thanks Teacow for explaining each of the entries (the whole shebang).

  10. Cellomaniac@9 Double duty. The explanation as to why this is generally wrong is that the wording of the clue has to perform two functions. A well-constructed clue needs to be grammatically correct for both the surface reading and the cryptic reading. In the case of 11A here, the surface reading is fine, as “to” forms part of the verbal construction. The cryptic reading, however, requires “to” to form part of the anagram fodder, so that the wordplay takes the form of “Anagram of X captivate Y”. Even if “captivate” were to be interpreted as an imperative, this would produce a very distorted way of instucting the solver to insert Y in X.

    Producing clues which satisfy the requirement of being grammatically correct for both surface and wordplay is no easy task. I suspect, in this case, the error was due to an oversight on the setter’s part.

    Double duty is OK in circumstances where the clue as a whole provides the definition, as no distortion of the grammar is required for the clue to work.

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