Financial Times 17,031 by PETO

A brisk solve this morning, with just a few tortuous constructs that needed a bit of pencil-chewing

Nothing too strenuous. Just right for a Tuesday, with one rather nice &lit. Thanks, Peto.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1	BRIGHT	Born just as clever (6)
		B[orn] + RIGHT (‘just’).
4	CHEAPENS	Degrades revolutionary when in prison? Just the opposite (8)
		CHE (Guevara, revolutionary) + AS (‘when’) contain PEN (‘prison’), i.e., ‘just the opposite’ of the sense of ‘PEN contains CHE AS’ in the 1st part of the clue.
10	CODEINE	Fish oil’s essence obtained by Gene not originally as an analgesic (7)
		COD (‘fish’) + I (centre, ‘essence’ of ‘oIl’) in gENE without 1st letter.
11	NEPTUNE	Roman god’s sister admitting weird pet hate finally (7)
		NUN (‘sister’) contains anagram (‘weird’) of PET then last of ‘hatE’.
12	LAST	What Dr Manette needed to survive (4)
		Double definition &lit. Ref ‘Tale of Two Cities’ wherein the prisoner Manette needs the tools of his cobbling hobby (including his ‘last’) to help him ‘survive’ (to ‘last’). Very succinct.
13	CONSTRAINT	Against aim to block street by force (10)
		CON (‘against’) + TRAIN (of a weapon, to ‘aim’) in ST[reet].
16	SPRITE	Fairy prince putting on a spectacle for the audience (6)
		PR[ince] in S.ITE (homophone of ‘sight’, a ‘spectacle’).
17	ALL TOLD	Gore counted around fifty in total (3,4)
		AL (‘Gore’, U.S. politician) + TOLD contain L (Roman 50).
20	COUNSEL	Advice from uncle so ridiculous (7)
		Anagram (‘ridiculous’) of UNCLE SO.
21	TOCSIN	Tax return at home may be alarming (6)
		SCOT (old ‘tax’), reversed, + IN (‘at home’).
24	EASY STREET	Emended part of the essay on Republican support returning in an affluent state (4,6)
		Anagram of ‘T{he} ESSAY’ + R[epublican] + reversal of TEE (‘support’).
25	PORT	Left with soldiers in the middle of exercises (4)
		O[ther] R[anks] (‘soldiers’) in PE (‘excercises’).
27	CHALICE	Cup of tea left to cool (7)
		CHA (‘tea’) + L[eft] + ICE (to ‘cool’).
29	ELECTRA	Choice by Priam oddly ignored in play (7)
		ELECT (n., the chosen, the select few, the ‘choice’) + alternate letters of ‘pRiAm’.
30	NEEDLESS	Small tip of steel on goad is not necessary (8)
		NEEDLE (to ‘goad’) + S[mall] + 1st of ‘S{teel}.
31	BEADLE	Unfortunate debacle not initially caused by university official (6)
		Anagram (‘unfortunately’) of DEBAcLE without 1st of C{aused}.
DOWN
1	BACKLASH	Help with strike causing strong negative reaction (8)
		BACK (to ‘help’) + LASH (to ‘strike’).
2	INDUSTRIOUS	Hard-working Dutch American involved in our sit-in surprisingly (11)
		D[utch] + US in anagram (‘surprisingly’) of OUR SIT IN.
3	HAIL	Address husband trouble (4)
		H[usband] + AIL (to ‘trouble’).
5	HONESTLY	Devout around place of retreat in truth (8)
		HO.LY (‘devout’) contains NEST (‘place of retreat’).
6	APPARITION	A pair point out a ghost (10)
		Anagram (‘out’) of A PAIR POINT.
7	EMU	Fast mover running through desolate mudflats (3)
		Contained in ‘desolatE MUdflats’.
8	SHEATH	Covering last of speeches by former PM (6)
		Last of ‘speecheS’ + (Edward) HEATH.
9	DEPOT	Record breaking rave needing Tottenham’s foremost warehouse (5)
		EP (a ‘record’) in DO (a party, a ‘rave’) + 1st of T[ottenham].
14	ILL-ASSORTED	Realist and old society tease become incompatible (3-8)
		Anagram (‘tease’) of REALIST + OLD + S[ociety]..
15	STANDSTILL	Stop opening of trail after bears get sick (10)
		STANDS (‘bears’) + 1st of T{rail} + ILL (‘sick’).
18	PEERLESS	Unrivalled nobles overwhelming the French (8)
		PEER.S (‘nobles’) around LES (Fr. pl. ‘the’).
19	INITIATE	Cool object placed by crew say on bow of Iranian launch (8)
		IN (‘cool’) + IT (‘object’) + 1st of I{ranian} + ATE (homophone of eight, rowing ‘crew’)
22	DEACON	Clergyman’s answer? Finding company in haunt of vice (6)
		A[nswer] + CO[mpany] in DE.N (of e.g. iniquity, ‘vice’).
23	REBEL	Contributing to obscure beliefs of Jack Cade perhaps (5)
		Hidden in ‘obscuRE BELiefs’.
26	CEDE	Give up for a month around the start of Easter (4)
		Reversal of DEC[ember] + 1st of E{aster}.
28	AGE	Wise son leaving for a long time (3)
		sAGE (‘wise’) without S[on].

12 comments on “Financial Times 17,031 by PETO”

Pleasant way to pass the time, but some difficult parsing as pointed out, eg for CHEAPENS and INITIATE. I admit to taking the hint from 24a and bunging a few in from the def, including EASY STREET appropriately enough. Recognising ‘Dr Manette’ as a character from “A Tale of Two Cities” was as far as I could get, so 12a went in from ‘to survive’ and crossers.

I before E except after C? Wrong again, which held me up for CODEINE. I was pleased to remember TOCSIN, thanks to hearing it in a “Miss Marple” episode on the TV a few months ago.

Thanks to Peto and Grant

I’m not one for timing myself, but this was a very quick solve for me. That it was pretty much a write- in was probably due to me being on Peto’s wavelength today.
I liked 14, 17 and 24 best.
A swift, and as Wordplodder says, pleasant way to spend a coffee break.
Thanks to Peto and to Grant, especially for parsing INITIATE and LAST. This latter I got from the definition alone and even though a shoe’s ‘last’ occurred to me, I was grateful for the explanation. It’s a very long time since I read that book and I didn’t remember that character. Time for a re-read, perhaps.

Um Grant,
For 25a, I’m sure you mean OR in PT, rather than PE, on this occasion.

I liked Easy Street though I was tempted by East Surrey for a moment. My second meeting with Jack Cade in a puzzle this week

To Diane:
Obvs. Slip of the old brain. Happening too much these days.

And, Grant, your spelling of SUCCINT in 12a was a bit too succinct. 🙂
Thanks to both Peto for the fun puzzle and Grant for the answers I couldn’t parse.

Thanks for the blog, I shrugged at LAST but now I think it is really impressive after the explanation.

To Ed
Another brain-fade. P’raps I shd be signing off from this.

Roz. Surely you shrugged AT FIRST, but then ceased to shrug AT LAST?

Grant @8,
No, we’d miss your spirited commentary!

Grant@8: what Diane@10 said! You’re still much better at solving these than I am.

Thanks Pete and Grant (and don’t you dare stop !)
A welcome respite from the harder variety here as I fall further behind with the daily FT puzzles.
No real holdups apart from not putting the word play for EASY STREET together – but there was enough there with the jumbled ESSAY and the reversed TEE to know that it was certainly the correct answer. Was interesting to see the PEERLESS / NEEDLESS crossing in the SW corner.
That PEERLESS was my last one in after seeing the ill-fated ‘Jack Cade’ as the penultimate one.

Comments are closed.