Financial Times 18,051 by MUDD

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MUDD kicks off the week…

A gentle and fun puzzle. I can't get the parsing of 20d though… over to you guys.

Thanks MUDD!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Twin with a fair way to go? Nonsense! (6,5)
DOUBLE DUTCH

DOUBLE (twin) with DUTCH (a fair way to go)

7. Fake swimmer (3)
COD

Double definition

9. Old leading actor wooing a bleeding heart (5)
GABLE

[wooin]G A BLE[eding] (heart)

10. Tail of fish in saucer, weird marine creature (3,6)
SEA URCHIN

([fis]H IN SAUCER)* (*weird)

11. Clumsy vacant type leaning awkwardly (9)
INELEGANT

(T[yp]E LEANING)* (*awkwardly)

12. A little amphora, or tallish vessel (5)
AORTA

[amphor]A OR TA[llish] (a little)

13. Where aircraft found, edge secured by nut (7)
HELIPAD

LIP (edge) secured by HEAD (nut)

15. Attack detailed record that’s reversed (4)
RAID

(DIAR[y])< (record, detailed, <that's reversed)

18. Meat rolled over stuffed with second potato (4)
MASH

(HAM)< (meat, <rolled over) stuffed with S (second)

20. 0.1cm insect has bitten a giant (7)
MAMMOTH

(A MM (0.1cm)), MOTH (insect) has bitten

23. Spike Milligan’s last reject (5)
SPURN

SPUR (spike) + [milliga]N (last)

24. Cutting cord, untie twists (9)
REDUCTION

(CORD UNTIE)* (*twists)

26. In peril, likely to get very cold bath? (2,4,3)
ON THIN ICE

Double (cryptic) definition

27. European test discussed? (5)
CZECH

"check" = CZECH (test, "discussed")

28. Test score in sport (3)
TRY

Double definition

29. I worked for spinster (5,6)
FIRST PERSON

(FOR SPINSTER)* (*worked)

DOWN
1. The Battle of Barking? (8)
DOGFIGHT

Cryptic definition

2. Blanket — will that stop you getting wet? (8)
UMBRELLA

Double definition

3. European city for example in fiction (5)
LIEGE

EG (for example) in LIE (fiction)

4. Is vehicle stuck in middle of puddle for scrap? (7)
DISCARD

(IS + CAR (vehicle)) stuck in [pu]DD[le] (middle of)

5. Sample includes old device used in kitchen (7)
TOASTER

TASTER (sample) includes O (old)

6. Where Rosemary may be in her element (9)
HERBARIUM

HER + BARIUM (element)

7. Stick that man used to pierce heart (6)
COHERE

HE (that man) used to pierce CORE (heart)

8. Psychological defence mechanism nailed after treatment (6)
DENIAL

(NAILED)* (*after treatment)

14. Straightforward argument for claimant (9)
PLAINTIFF

PLAIN (straightforward) + TIFF (argument)

16. Angularity, square in head (8)
BONINESS

NINE (square) in BOSS (head)

17. Cheers, as feature shown twice (4-4)
CHIN-CHIN

CHIN (feature) shown twice

19. Dog that can fly (7)
HARRIER

Double definition

20. Location of East and South Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, etc (7)
MIDWEST

I'm not sure how this parses.

21. Take out corset that needs mending (6)
ESCORT

(CORSET)* (*that needs mending)

22. Month where street closed off, with good reason (6)
JUSTLY

JULY (month) where ST (street) closed off

25. Store money that’s for the auditor? (5)
CACHE

"cash" = CACHE (money, "for the auditor")

21 comments on “Financial Times 18,051 by MUDD”

  1. Gentler than usual for Mudd I thought. Just right for a Monday,

    Liked: HELIPAD, MAMMOTH, SPURN, DISCARD, JUSTLY, BONINESS

    Thanks Mudd and Teacow (me neither re 20d)

  2. MIDWEST
    MID WEST=ES
    Location of East and South=Location of E S
    Def: Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, etc

  5. Thank you setter and Teacow – a nice gentle start to Monday. Liked CHIN-CHIN and HERBARIUM

  6. Seen taster around o, as well as plain tiff, quite recently, but pleased to look up and learn which states Midwest officially includes. What happened to the Harrier Jump-jet, superseded by a drone? Nice succinct bunch of clues, thanks Mudd and thanks Teacow for the blog.

  7. I’d forgotten that in the UK cod=fake. I don’t think it’s used here. All else understood and enjoyed.

  8. A fun grid which had me smiling from start to finish. Amusing surfaces such as 1a and 22d, MAMMOTH, HARRIER and FIRST PERSON among others earned ticks.
    Thanks to Teacow for the blog, especially for parsing BONINESS which I arrived at after first toying with BOXINESS but wasn’t sure how. Also thanks to KVa for MIDWEST which seemed like a straight definition – a nice trick.
    Cheers Mudd.

  10. grantinfreo@8
    MAMMOTH
    You can parse it in two ways:
    A MM -MOTH has bitten (WP seems fine)
    Def: a giant (Ideally, the clue should indicate that the giant under question is extinct)
    If you accept this def, then it works.
    Or
    MM MOTH has bitten A
    Def: giant (adjective)

  11. KVa, MM on its own is just the name of a quantity, whereas 0.1cm = the quantity 1mm, ie = a MM.

  12. I get it but I have seen MM being clued like this before.
    If your parse is the intended one then the def is ‘a giant’. OK in a way.

  13. Clear sailing for others, but muddy waters for me.
    Very pleased to complete, because the setter is one that I enjoy to tackle, though “gentle” would not be my word of choice!
    Surprised at the MAMMOTH debate, (20ac), surely just simply [millimetre, MM] / [moth], / containing A, = “giant”, adjective.
    However, given my struggle with some other definitions, I’m probably askew.
    MIDWEST, I got, but with no blooming idea: I get it now, thanks to KVa. I’m not beating myself up about it.
    Another good Mudd, combining the easy-peasy, with the tricky-dicky.
    Thanks, to M, TC, and posters.

  14. Nice easy start to the week which we rattled through in a couple of passes. It did take a few moments, though, for the pennies to drop in 1ac and 20dn. Favourite was HERBARIUM.
    Thanks, Mudd and Teacow.

  15. One academic question:
    Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, etc : Is this grammatically correct?
    or should it be Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, etc?

  16. grantinfreo @11. Personally, I think KVa ( E.N.Boll&) has the better parsing for MAMMOTH. The solution seems to better fit ‘giant’ rather than ‘a giant’. Looking in Chambers, for ‘mm’ it gives ‘millimetre(s)’, so ‘millimetre’ (singular) seems to be ok. Either way works, so it’s just a preference.

  17. On the gentle side for sure, but a long list of ticked clues is clear evidence I enjoyed it, they being SPURN, HELIPAD, FIRST PERSON (brilliant clue), ON THIN ICE, UMBRELLA (clever), and GABLE (nice surface, cleverly camouflaged). We were just missing the trademark double definitions

    I also had the same parsing of MAMMOTH as KVa

    Thanks Mudd and Teacow

  19. Very fun. Not easy for me though. Glad to have done it. Liked FIRST PERSON. Thank you all.

  20. Enjoyed this one! New to cryptics, so I’m glad I solved it. Thanks for the easier one MUDD.

    However, as someone new to this, could someone explain why Y can be dropped from DIARY to get DIAR, which is reversed into RAID?

    For me, “detailed record” = DIARY, then we use “that’s reversed” to get YRAID. Not sure how we lose the Y.

  21. LearningAsWeGo @20 DIARY is the record, detailed tells you to tail it, remove the Y, and that’s reversed is reversing DAIR to get RAID.

    I did this yesterday and enjoyed it. Thanks to Mudd and Teacow.

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