Financial Times 18,005 by MUDD

by

A breezy challenge from MUDD this Friday.

FF:8 DD:7

ACROSS
1 OFF THE GROUND
Started airborne? (3,3,6)

double def
8 ASPIRIN
Poisoner, iridium, in drug (7)

ASP ( poisoner ) IR ( iridium ) IN
9 MIAOWED
‘I am broke, due some money’ — as Tom communicated? (7)

[ I AM ]* OWED ( due some money )
11 EYEBALL
Watch where I weep audibly? (7)

sounds like I BAWL ( weep )
12 TRICEPS
Piddly sinew originally attached to minute muscle (7)

[ PS ( starting letters of "Piddly Sinew.." ) ] after TRICE ( minute )
13 HASTE
A taste of piranha’s terrific speed (5)

hidden in "..piranHA'S TErrific.."
14 BELLY FLOP
Dive with collapse of corporation? (5,4)

BELLY ( corporation ) FLOP ( collapse )
16 MAELSTROM
State of confusion perplexing mere mortals, Religious Education having been dropped (9)

[ MEre MORTALS ( without RE – Religious Education ) ]*
19 DISCO
Type of music in Maryland is country (5)

hidden in "..marylanD IS COuntry"
21 SWEDISH
European sardine’s back in stargazy pie, for example? (7)

E ( sardinE, end letter ) in [ SW DISH ( stargazy pie, for example; dish from cornwall – South West england ) ]
23 WESTERN
Picture the FT put on back (7)

WE ( the ft ) STERN ( back )
24 CUT DOWN
Fell in canal, sad (3,4)

CUT ( canal ) DOWN ( sad )
25 TREACLE
Something sticky, lac produced inside plant with sap (7)

[ LAC ]* in TREE ( plant with sap )
26 PRETTY-PRETTY
Rather refreshing initially being welcomed by minor, ever so sweet (6-6)

PRETTY ( rather ) [ R ( Refreshing, first letter ) in PETTY ( minor ) ]
DOWN
1 OPPRESS
Work on smooth bully (7)

OP ( work ) PRESS ( smooth )
2 FORSAKE
Dump designs or fakes (7)

[ OR FAKES ]*
3 HANDLEBAR
Worker abler to work, one of those on a bike (9)

HAND ( worker ) [ ABLER ]*
4 GAMUT
Sweep in the morning filling stomach (5)

AM ( morning ) in GUT ( stomach )
5 OPACITY
Dullness of a topic, surprisingly unknown (7)

[ A TOPIC ]* Y ( unknown )
6 NEW DEAL
Suggestion of lead for Roosevelt’s programme? (3,4)

reverse clue; NEW DEAL = [ DEAL ]* = LEAD
7 FACE THE MUSIC
Look at notes and swallow the pill (4,3,5)

cryptic def
10 DISAPPOINTED
Saddened, handed P45? (12)

cryptic def; read DIS APPOINTED ( dismissal at work, the P45 is a form used for this purpose )
15 LIMEWATER
Melt a wire that’s bent in alkaline solution (9)

[ MELT A WIRE ]*
17 EVENTER
Horse always fed ten nuts (7)

[ TEN ]* in EVER ( always )
18 SPIN OUT
Extend nozzle that’s squeezed in (4,3)

IN in SPOUT ( nozzle )
19 DESSERT
Sweet sugar initially buried in sand (7)

S ( Sugar, first letter ) in DESERT ( sand )
20 SKETCHY
Rough score written in blue (7)

ETCH ( score ) in SKY ( blue )
22 HONEY
Sweet thing I found in outskirts of Hungary (5)

ONE ( I ) in HY ( HungarY, outside characters )

15 comments on “Financial Times 18,005 by MUDD”

  1. Stargazy pie? Good grief. I haven’t finished yet but came here to try to explain SWEDISH. And “swallow the pill” was a new one to me for “face the music”.

    Back to it …

  2. Took some effort (read ‘Googling’) to parse SWEDISH.
    BELLY FLOP: Is it a CAD? The ‘collapse of corporation’ bit should be read together to
    arrive at BELLY FLOP, I think.
    Liked MIAOWED and SPIN OUT.

    Thanks Mudd and Turbolegs.

  3. Apart from SWEDISH this was not one of Mudd’s trickier puzzles – I wanted it to keep me occupied on a Tube journey from Amersham to Kings Cross and I was finished by Finchley Road. I did love MIAOWED

  4. Apart from SWEDISH, which I could not parse, this was one of Mudds less demanding puzzles. I wanted it to entertain me on a Tube journey from Amersham to Kings Cross and I was finished by Finchley Road. I did love MIAOWED however…….

  5. I liked everything about this one from Mudd, albeit I stupidly went gungadin with “take the money”, 7(d), before the crossers put me right.
    I couldn’t rationalise SWEDISH, ( 21ac), which was also my bad, it’s a Rick Stein favourite, i.e, Cornish, obviously, so SW. It may be delicious, but I don’t think I could face all those fish heads staring up at me accusingly.

    SPIN OUT + BELLY FLOP are the stars for me, in a very starry puzzle.
    Top stuff, Mr M & Turbolegs

  6. 26A baffles me even after it has been explained. It is not an expression with which I am familiar. I’m pretty sure that I have never heard this expression before.

  7. I too have never heard the expression Pretty Pretty, though it was obviously the answer from the clue.

    Parsing of Swedish baffled me, so thank you for helping there.

  8. Thanks Mudd and Turbolegs

    12ac: Chambers and Collins both have the spelling stargazey pie, but ODE 2010 p 1739 has stargazy pie “a kind of fish pie traditionally made in Cornwall, with the heads of the fish appearing through the crust”. I seem to remember someone a while back complaining about “Kent” being used to clue SE, and saying something to the effect that we never see Cornwall used to indicate SW. OK, this is indirect, but nevertheless …

    26ac: Collins 2023 p 1583 has pretty-pretty adj informal excessively or ostentatiously pretty.

  9. I’m still new to the FT puzzles (having expanded beyond the Guardian only this past November), so I still have a small sample size. But it seems like John Halpern’s puzzles as Mudd are consistently a notch easier than his outings as Paul. Is that accurate?

    I’m another who had never encountered PRETTY-PRETTY or the stargazy pie. And like Ian @5, I hope I never do encounter the latter; I generally don’t want to be served any fish with its head still attached. I know this rules out many fine creations, but there you have it.

  10. A pleasant diversion over a tea/coffee break. Nothing we didn’t know, although it took a little thought to get SWEDISH. Stargaz(e)y pie, btw, is made with pilchards, which are related to sardines (and known a sardines in parts of Europe) which makes the clue quite apt.
    Thanks, Mudd and Turbolegs.

  11. mrpenney @9 thanks for prodding my failing memory.
    “My pretty-pretty” rang a distant bell….it’s in the film Barbarella. Ah….when I was young! Jane Fonda. I will say no more.

  12. Thanks Mudd. This was difficult in spots & I revealed DISAPPOINTED, not knowing what a P45 was. I couldn’t fully parse SWEDISH but the crossers made it the only choice. I liked MAELSTROM, DISCO, DESSERT, SKETCHY, and HONEY. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.

  13. What GDU@1 and TS@12 said. Also, I am afraid Cornwall is anything but SW from where I live.

    Mudd is always enjoyable.

    Thanks Mudd and Turbolegs

  15. Thanks for the blog , good set of neat clues , I know the Cornwall pie very well .
    PRETTY-PRETTY I thought of dresses being pretty ( a good thing ) but not P-P ( an insult ) , the same for baby clothes .

    MrPenney@9 I think I have done every Paul puzzle ever set and Mudd for nearly five years .
    You are right about the level of difficulty but the style is very different as well , Mudd being far more traditional and avoiding endless dreary themes .

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