Financial Times 17,909 by ARTEXLEN

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ARTEXLEN kicks off the week…

A gentle and enjoyable puzzle for a Monday morning.

Thanks ARTEXLEN!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Computer article with flyer (5)
MACAW

MAC (computer) + A (article) + W (with)

4. Reportedly uninterested following rodents around side of ship (9)
STARBOARD

"bored" = BOARD (uninterested, "reportedly") following (RATS)< (rodents, <around)

9. Esteemed message in broadcast (7)
ADMIRED

DM (message) in AIRED (broadcast)

10. Shave fleece of rebellious sheep, perhaps (7)
GRAZERS

GRAZE (shave) + R[ebelliou]S (fleece of)

11. Worker I see learned revolutionary way (13)
ANTICLOCKWISE

ANT (worker) + I + CLOCK (see) + WISE (learned)

14. Curse go-cart now and then ending in bush (4)
OATH

[g]O [c]A[r]T (now and then) + [bus]H (ending in)

15. One pint drunk with mate that’s anxious (9)
IMPATIENT

I (one) + (PINT with MATE)* (*drunk)

18. Internet users consuming electronic quips (3-6)
ONE-LINERS

ONLINERS (internet users) consuming E (electronic)

19. Name of German man ignored in cushioned seat (4)
OTTO

OTTO[man] (cushioned seat, MAN ignored)

21. Bop and twerk? It couldn’t get any worse (3,4,6)
HIT ROCK BOTTOM

HIT (bop) and ROCK BOTTOM (twerk?)

24. Artist requiring help in conflict with a great master (7)
RAPHAEL

RA (artist) requiring (HELP with A)* (*in conflict)

26. Parisian’s in with French revolutionary wanting Pierre’s clothes (7)
ENROBES

EN (in, Parisian) with ROBES[pierre] (French revolutionary, wanting PIERRE)

27. Revelations gentleman really likes to hear (9)
SURPRISES

"sir prizes" = SURPRISES (gentleman really likes, "to hear")

28. Fear about being restricted by patriarch (5)
DREAD

RE (about) being restricted by DAD (patriarch)

DOWN
1. Base piece goes around base (4)
MEAN

E (base, it's a maths thing), MAN (piece) goes around

2. Pigeonhole character in remark (11)
COMPARTMENT

PART (character) in COMMENT (remark)

3. Cordiality month after hostility (6)
WARMTH

MTH (month) after WAR (hostility)

4. Sexy show Channel 4’s invested in (9)
SEDUCTIVE

SEE (show), (DUCT (channel) + IV (4)) invested in

5. A good crowd not up for hassle (5)
AGGRO

A + G (good) + GRO[up] (crowd, not UP)

6. Gap dentist regularly covers (8)
BLANKETS

BLANK (gap) + [d]E[n]T[i]S[t] (regularly)

7. Advanced exercise class for climber (3)
APE

A (advanced) + PE (exercise class)

8. Analysis of detectives department (10)
DISSECTION

DIS (detectives) + SECTION (department)

12. Priceless lie best man and I concocted (11)
INESTIMABLE

(LIE BEST MAN and I)* (*concocted)

13. Garments of kit worn by husband with game coming up (4,6)
POLO SHIRTS

(STRIP (kit) worn by (H (husband) with SOLO (game)))< (<coming up)

16. People easily persuaded to linger feeding cat (9)
PUSHOVERS

HOVER (linger) feeding PUSS (cat)

17. Monster’s child strangling Greek character (8)
MINOTAUR

MINOR (child) strangling TAU (Greek character)

20. Cork unfinished wine saved for later (6)
STORED

STO[p] (cork, unfinished) + RED (wine)

22. With initial lowering, craft puts down (5)
KILLS

SKILL (craft, with S (initial) lowering)

23. Second-hand American edition (4)
USED

US (American) + ED (edition)

25. Standard box missing top (3)
PAR

[s]PAR (box, missing top)

9 comments on “Financial Times 17,909 by ARTEXLEN”

  1. I’m not sure that “gentle” is how I would describe this puzzle, because I am a bit battered and bruised.
    But…what a fight!
    The setter throws a lot of punches at us solvers here, from all directions.
    This, for me, is top-class compiling.

    I have no idea what a “DM” is [9 across]; or why SEE = SHOW (4 down); and the maths base E in 1(down) is beyond my ken.
    So, it’s pretty remarkable, that this rates as one of the best puzzles I’ve completed in ages.

    HIT ROCK BOTTOM (21 across)……it doesn’t get any better!

    cheers, Arte & Teacow

  2. Gentle, but not a write-in. We liked ANTICLOCKWISE and ENROBES. We couldn’t parse POLO SHIRTS, though, and in 9ac how is DM ‘message’? Chambers only has DM = Deutschmark or diabetes mellitus, with dm = decimeter.
    Thanks, Artexlen and Teacow.

  3. Thanks Artexlen and Teacow

    9ac: Collins 2023 p 583 has DM = direct message.

    4dn: ODE 2010 has the following
    p 1610 see escort or conduct (someone) to a specified place: don’t bother seeing me out;
    p 1650 show conduct or lead: show them in please.
    I think those two examples are similar enough in meaning.

  4. Thanks to Artexlen and Teacow. Enjoyed this and the blog was a winner.

    Although I am no mathematician I think base e is a mathematical constant and the base of the natural logarithm approximately equal to 2.72. That is the extent of my knowledge in this.
    D mail is a digital message, presumably the precursor to email?

  5. I also did not find this gentle – I believe it was the comparatively large number of unusual abbreviations that did it with the occasional new word thrown in. Still not sure what twerk is all about

    No favourites today.

    Thanks Artelexen and Teacow

  7. As a very old man, “to twerk” , is to rock your bottom, provocatively, from side-to-side, a la Rod Stewart, in the 70s, when he, and I, were younger men.
    My thanks to PelhamB@3, and SM@4, for the backstories on my confusions.
    I agree with allan-c@2………11(ac), for a charade with beautiful disguise, is superb [ ANTICLOCKWISE ].

    The more I look back on this puzzle, the better it gets.
    Ian B

  8. To clear up the things that others are questioning:
    DM = direct message: sending a message via a social-media app to a single person one is connected with (as opposed to posting the message for the world to see).
    Twerking: a dance involving shaking one’s behind. Exemplified by Miley Cyrus in her controversial video for the song “Wrecking Ball.”

    Clearly, between those two things, our setter today is down with the kids.

    e, never capitalized in its use in this sense, is Euler’s constant, the “base” of the natural logarithm–it’s a transcendental number approximately equal to 2.718281828459045 (a very easy string of digits to remember). It’s part of the remarkable fact that e^(iπ) = -1, combining as it does two transcendental numbers and an imaginary one to get a plain ol’ integer. It also has the remarkable feature that:
    ∫ e^x dx = e^x + C,
    …which is what makes natural logarithms natural.

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