Financial Times 17,281 by ARTEXLEN

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This week starts off with ARTLEXEN ARTEXLEN ….

I think this may be the first ARTLEXEN ARTEXLEN I’ve blogged, and I enjoyed it very much. After all the enjoyment of the world cup final (which was probably the most exciting world cup game I’ve seen), and then being pressed into post match drinking (by Sarah and Lindsay – damn them!) it was a hugely enjoyable solve. I have to thank Lindsay for 7d, which eluded me for some time,

 

Thanks ARTLEXEN ARTEXLEN!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Prickly, admitting that hurt in tender way (10)
TOUCHINGLY

TINGLY (prickly) admitting OUCH (that hurt)

6. Keen to drop second musical instrument (4)
HARP

[s]HARP (keen, to drop S (second))

9. Certain idiot with wine on uniform (7)
ASSURED

ASS (idiot) with (RED (wine) on U (uniform))

10. Attribute of daisies evenly covering bed (7)
ASCRIBE

[d]A[i]S[i]E[s] (evenly) covering CRIB (bed)

12. Type of voice to irritate that woman completely (10)
ALTOGETHER

ALTO (type of voice) + GET (to irritate) + HER (that woman)

13. Fuss from commercial operation’s leader (3)
ADO

AD (commercial) + O[peration] (leader)

15. Open container exhausted (6)
CANDID

CAN (container) + DID (exhausted)

16. Relations extremely bitter with the rest (8)
BROTHERS

B[itte]R (extremely) + OTHERS (the rest)

18. Bandit using comms device outside poorly (8)
PILLAGER

PAGER (comms device) outside) ILL (poorly)

20. Sad pet bamboozled experts (6)
ADEPTS

(SAD PET)* (*bamboozled)

23. Tree traversed by squirrel monkey (3)
ELM

[squirr]EL M[onkey] (traversed by)

24. Wearing headgear crossing middle of Peru between cities (10)
INTERURBAN

(IN TURBAN (wearing headgear)) crossing [p]ER[u] (middle of)

26. Away from outsiders, mentoring dodgy singer (7)
INTONER

([m]ENTORIN[g] (away from outsiders))* (*dodgy)

27. Stay away hearing chief with sulky expression (4,3)
KEEP OUT

“key pout” (chief with sulky expression, “hearing”)

28. Influential people losing heart in property (4)
GODS

GO[o]DS (property, losing heart)

29. In discussion, very detailed buffet disappointment? (4-2-4)
BLOW-BY-BLOW

BLOW (buffet) BY BLOW (disappointment)

DOWN
1. Picked up neckwear from Asian country (4)
THAI

“ttie” (neckwear, “picked up”)

2. Greek character aloft on storage cylinder initially nervy (7)
UPSILON

UP (aloft) on SILO (storage cylinder) + N[ervy] (initially)

3. Member entering house is welcomed by people’s agreement (13)
HARMONISATION

ARM entering HO (house) + (IS entering NATION (people))

4. Elbows close to crumbling in sculptures, say (6)
NUDGES

[crumblin]G (close to) in NUDES (sculptures, say)

5. Tough moulded layer encasing article (8)
LEATHERY

(LAYER)* (‘*moulded) encasing THE (article)

7. Totally exposed magic star — note upset (7)
AGITATE

[m]AGI[c] [s]TA[r] (totally exposed) + TE (note)

8. Gang involved in media bias (10)
PREPOSSESS

POSSE (gang) involved in PRESS (media)

11. Major vessel I move quickly in Troy with race at sea (7,6)
CAROTID ARTERY

(I + DART (move quickly)) in (TROY with RACE)* (*at sea)

14. Dashing prince playing with pugs (10)
SCUPPERING

(PRINCE with PUGS)* (*playing)

17. Exercise class starts to create tough test for muscle (8)
PECTORAL

PE (exercise class) + C[reate] T[ough] (starts to) + ORAL (test)

19. Kid wearing top that’s short (7)
LIMITED

MITE (kid) wearing LID (top)

21. Loud sound carrying wide of rising bird (7)
PEAFOWL

PEAL (load sound) carrying ((W (wide) + OF)< (<rising))

22. Coming up, fine craft week for European city (6)
KRAKOW

(OK (fine) + ARK (craft))< (<coming up) + W (week)

25. Be worried with waters rising (4)
STEW

(WETS (waters))< (<rising)

12 comments on “Financial Times 17,281 by ARTEXLEN”

  1. I love a good puzzle with no obscurities. This was very enjoyable with no sticky moments. I wasn’t aware that “adept” could be a noun.

  2. Thanks for the blog , a lot of neat and precise clues here . the longer answers in particular were put together very well . Geoff@1 you are an ADEPT when it comes to crossword puzzles.
    For AGITATE I just had upset as the definition , no need to turn TE round.
    UPSILON could have been a particle physics clue, a very important meson that may be linked to the dominance of matter over anti-matter.

  3. Roz@2… quite right on 7d… I’d left than in from a previous parsing of an erroneous answer, and have now fixed. Thanks.

  4. No real obscurities as noted by GDU @1 (an ADEPT indeed) although UPSILON wasn’t as familiar as it should have been. The other sense I hadn’t come across before was PREPOSSESS for ‘bias’, again something I should have known. I’d only come across the word as the adjectival form “prepossessing”, meaning making a good impression being attractive, though often used in the negative sense with the un- prefix.

    Anyway, this was a very prepossessing crossword and accompanying blog.

    Thanks to Artexlen (although you seem to have intermittently acquired a slightly different name, it’s still the same anagram!) and Teacow

  8. Thanks for a great puzzle, Artexlen, and thanks for the blog, Teacow. I think this might be the first Artexlen I’ve solved, and I too enjoyed it very much – as Roz says, lots of neat and precise clues. Very elegant. The parsing of 7d eluded me – it was my last in and I only got it from the crossing letters and definition. Seems obvious now. Doh!

  9. Yes, a nice puzzle and blog (especially with the self-inflicted handicap). Just one small thing: for 29a I had the parsing the other way round, with the first Blow being disappointment and the second being buffet. So a disappointment by buffet = a buffet disappointment (if you see what I mean.
    Thanks both.

  10. I am not sure whether this puzzle was hard, or whether I was just determined to make it a lot harder than it was. Fair clues, though. Thanks to Teacow and Artexlen.

  11. Thanks Artexlen for a fine set of clues with INTERURBAN, KEEP OUT, PECTORAL, and PEAFOWL being my top choices. Thanks Teacow for the blog.

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