Financial Times 17,958 by Mudd

Puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 25, 2025

A fine professional puzzle as usual from Mudd with no obscurities and a good variety of clues. My first-in was 12 (STYX) and last was 7 (OAR). And it was a quick solve. My favourites are 1d (SET ASIDE), 4 (ASTEROID), 15 (REASONALBE), 17 (FLORIDA) and 31 (PARROT).

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1	SUPPLY	Quantity provided with some workability? (6)
		Double definition
4	ASTEROID	Massive rock star with ode I composed (8)
		Anagram (composed) of STAR ODE I
10	TASTING	I appreciate that smart trial at vineyard, say? (7)
		TA (I appreciate that) + STING (smart)
11	EGO TRIP	Journey of narcissist, for example, incitement of riot by president, initially (3,4)
		EG (for example) + anagram (incitement of) RIOT + P[resident]
12	STYX	Infernal river, backwater did you say? (4)
		Homophone (did you say?) of “sticks”
13	STAGNATION	Antagonist’s surprising lack of activity (10)
		Anagram (surprising) of ANTAGONIST
16	DRIVER	Something in golf bag, one for the road? (6)
		Double definition
17	FLORIDA	State getting rid of Al, suspiciously (7)
		Anagram (suspiciously) of RID OF AL
20	PLASTIC	Fake wine in company (7)
		ASTI (wine) in (in) PLC (company)
21	HOAXER	A hex or an illusion for con artist (6)
		Anagram (an illusion) of A HEX OR
24	NOW AND THEN	Sometimes present linked with past? (3,3,4)
		NOW (present) + AND (linked with) + THEN (past)
25	SIGN	Constellation during evening I see, looking to the west (4)
		Reverse (looking to the west) hidden word (during)
27	GOODBYE	I’m going to have bargain discussed? (7)
		Homophone (discussed) of “good buy” (have bargain)
29	LASAGNE	Bow found in street for pasta dish (7)
		SAG (bow) in LANE (street)
30	TRAVERSE	Cross at server breaking down (8)
		Anagram (breaking down) of AT SERVER
31	PARROT	Avian raptor that’s cuckoo! (6)
		Anagram (that’s cuckoo) of RAPTOR
DOWN
1	SET ASIDE	Ignored, crossword writer expressed frustration, audibly? (3,5)
		Homophone (audibly) of “setter” (crossword writer) “sighed” (expressed frustration)
2	PUSSY WILLOW	Boy that’s hurting with cat stuck up tree! (5,6)
		PUSSY (car) + WILL (boy) + OW (that’s hurting). I originally parsed this as PUSSY (cat) + ILL (hurting) in WOW (boy, as in “Oh boy!”) but I was concerned that there was no insertion indicator and now it is clear that I got it wrong. Thank you, Pelham.
3	LOIN	Piece of meat, one in lengthy cut (4)
		I (one) in (In) LON[g] (lengthy cut)
5	SVENGALI	Son leaving a mess, charming chap! (8)
		S (son) + anagram (a mess) of LEAVING
6	ECO-WARRIOR	Ground or aircrew apprehending old environmental activist (3-7)
		O (old) in anagram (ground) of OR AIRCREW
7	OAR	Blade decapitates fly (3)
		[s]OAR (decapitates fly)
8	DOPING	Administering drug, animal jabbed by something sharp (6)
		PIN (something sharp) in (jabbed by) DOG (animal)
9	AGATE	Rock bagged by WAG, a teenager (5)
		Hidden word (bagged by)
14	INDEX FINGER	Digit redefining shifts divided by ten (5,6)
		X (ten) in (divided by) anagram (shifts) of REDEFINING
15	REASONABLE	Just wild bears, alone (10)
		Anagram (wild) of BEARS ALONE
18	DISTRESS	Extreme torment: remove locks? (8)
		DIS-TRESS (remove locks)
19	TRANSEPT	Priest ultimately managed month in part of church (8)
		[pries]T + RAN (managed) + SEPT (month)
22	KNIGHT	King, dark chesspiece (6)
		K (king) + NIGHT (dark)
23	WELLY	Fit heel on sturdy boot (5)
		WELL (fit) + [sturd]Y
26	ASIA	Continent in Africa is actually going the wrong way! (4)
		Reverse (going the wrong way) hidden word (in)
28	OVA	Eggs missing head of star (3)
		[n]OVA (missing head of star)

9 comments on “Financial Times 17,958 by Mudd”

Thanks Mudd and Pete

2dn: I had this as PUSSY + WILL (boy) + OW (that’s hurting).

1ac: There was some discussion of the adverb meaning of supply (with the stress on the first syllable) when Mudd used it as an anagram indicator in FT 17,944
https://www.fifteensquared.net/2025/01/09/financial-times-17944-by-mudd/#comments

17ac: Somehow I managed to take the second letter of “Al” as a capital I instead of a lower case L, but still got the right answer without noticing that the anagram would not work with that reading.

Thanks Mudd. I found this to be a quick solve, maybe due to the seemingly large number of anagrams. My favourites included GOODBYE, SVENGALI, DOPING, KNIGHT, and WELLY. I had no parsing questions — the wordplay was not ‘muddy’ at all. Thanks Pete for the blog.

I agree with Tony. I decided it is a good thing I like anagrams, because there were plenty of them.

I have different favourites to Tony and Pete. I had ticks against STAGNATION, TRAVERSE & PARROT (I thought they were the best anagrams with nice surfaces), the very cleverly hidden ASIA and WELLY was cute. Between the three of us we have just about covered the entire puzzle.

Thanks Mudd and Pete

Crosswords need a serif font, or at least one where Aluminium is distinguishable from Artificial Intelligence, Lambs from iambs, Laugh Out Loud from Last One in…
Liked 31a PARROT: three birdy words to clue the birdie. It deserved its pLing!

[FrankieG @5: Ill llama, I’ll stop now.]

The surface of 11a EGO TRIP is brilliant, even if we’re getting tired of the subject matter.

I also liked the shoe repair at 23d WELLY, and the aural wordplay for Mudd’s lonely complaint at 1d SET ASIDE.

Thanks Mudd and Pete (sounds like a wet peat bog) for the fun.

A fairly quick solve with plenty to enjoy. No problem with 17ac as I re-format the clues for printing and change the font to Verdana where upper case i, lower case l and numeral 1 are all distinguishable.
Thanks, Mudd and Pete.

Thanks for the blog, I will not add to the list of Martyn@4 . EGO TRIP could perhaps have made use of EGOT , the poorer cousin of NUKE .
FLORIDA refers to AL Gore , the state cost him the presidency through the “hanging chads” saga.
I do wish that computers would use a proper capital I .

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