Financial Times 17,347 by PHSSTHPOK

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Today's crossword comes from the unpronounceable Phssthpok.

This took me a bit longer than I think it should have. Obvious solutions like DEAD HEAT and DISALLOW just evaded my ageing brain for a while. The two long solutions, especially BOTTOMLESS PIT opened up some of the others that I was struggling to solve. I liked the &lit. NEURAL NET and SPARSE.

Thanks, Phssthpok

ACROSS
1 DISMAL
Sombre mood is maliciously suppressed (6)

Hidden in [suppressed] "mooD IS MALisciously"
4 ECLIPSES
In mirror, glimpse took in belts and blocks (8)

[in mirror] <=SEE ("glimpse") took in CLIPS ("belts")
9 APACE
Fast helicopter overlooks helipad symbol (5)

APAC(h)E (model of "helicopter") with H ("symbol" on "helipad") overlooked
10 BAMBOOZLE
In wood, azalea sheds answers to puzzle (9)

BAMBOO ("wood") + (a)Z(a)LE(a) [shedding A's (answers)]
11 HABITAT
Setting addiction gets a cruciverbalist at last (7)

HABIT ("addiction") gets A + (cruciverbalis)T [at last]
12 AT ISSUE
Fought over a handkerchief (2,5)

A + TISSUE (paper "handkerchief")
13 AJAX
A vote held: yes to German hero (4)

A + X ("vote") held JA ("yes to" a "German")
14 HOLSTEIN
The lions ravaged part of Germany (8)

*(the lions) [anag:ravaged]
17 DISALLOW
Forbid detective to get pasty (8)

DI (detective (inspector)) to get SALLOW ("pasty")
19 PUPA
Baby attains a stage of maturity (4)

PUP ("baby") attains A
22 LABOURS
Tries to give birth to political party with Socialist leader (7)

LABOUR ("political party") with S(ocialist) [leader]
24 APPEASE
Soothe gorilla perhaps eating vegetables (7)

APE ("gorilla, perhaps") eating PEAS ("vegetables")
25 PRINCIPLE
Lord’s hosting cricket tournament in theory (9)

PRINCE ("lord") 's holding IPL (Indian Premier League, a "cricket tournament")
26 RANGE
Nothing missing from fruit collection (5)

O (nothing) missing from (o)RANGE ("fruit")
27 SERENITY
Sentry that is working for peace (8)

*(sentry i.e) [working] where I.E. is "that is"
28 BEAT IT
Leave instructions for drummer? (4,2)

Double definition
DOWN
1 DEAD HEAT
Tie killed passion (4,4)

DEAD ("killed") + HEAT ("passion")
2 STARBOARD
Celebrity directors are right (9)

STAR ("celebrity") + BOARD ("directors")
3 AVERTS
Dodges state taxes after evacuation (6)

AVER ("state") + T(axe)S [after evacuation]
5 COMPASSIONATE
Tender for a Picasso and Monet collection (13)

*(a picasso monet) [anag:collection]

6 IDOLISE
I do tell untruths about sun worship (7)

I DO LIE ("I do tell untruths") about S (sun)

Not sure the DO is needed – it certainly makes the answer much more obvious.
7 SIZES
Big and small are examples when removed from Court (5)

AS ("when") removed from (as)SIZES ("court")
8 SKEWED
Crooked desk manufactured without partners (6)

*(desk) [anag:manufactured] without (i.e.outside) E + W (bridge "partners")
10 BOTTOMLESS PIT
Pi might be the solution to this eternal problem (10,3)

BOTTOMLESS PIT describes PI (PIT without its bottom letter)

15 NEURAL NET
You reportedly learnt processing with numerous examples initially! (6,3)

U ("you", reportedly) + *(learnt) [anag:processing] with N(umerous) E(xamples) [initially] &lit.

A neural net or neural network is a computer system that learns by trial and error.
16 BASEMENT
Evil soldiers start torturing in cellar (8)

BASE ("evil") + MEN ("soldiers") + [start] T(orturing)
18 SOUPCON
Trace stock taken by fraud (7)

SOUP ("stock") taken by CON ("fraud")
20 GLYPHS
Symbols are universal, and one is missing from hideous phones (6)

U (universal) + ONE missing from (u)GLY PH(one)S

The grammar of the clue doesn't work for me – U and ONE ARE missing, not IS missing
21 SPARSE
Spread out boxes on base of logs (6)

SPARS ("boxes") on e ("base of logs" i.e. logarithms, in mathematics)
23 BRIER
One gets smoked cheese recipe (5)

BRIE ("cheese") + R (recipe)

18 comments on “Financial Times 17,347 by PHSSTHPOK”

  1. Enjoyably chewy with 20d my LOI. My first thought, ALEPHS, was wrong and, in any case, wouldn’t parse but the second try did and, happily, was the mot juste though I take your point, Loona, re the grammar. Thanks also for explaining ‘see’ (in mirror) in 4a which eluded me.
    My favourites were 9a and 18d for the sneaky ‘c’.
    Cheers Phssthpok.

  2. My last in was BRIER, but still that southwest corner. Very chewy, but I suspect it’s not having internalised the new tricks of this setter (who I know from occasionally seeing him in the Guardian).

    Thank you loonapick and Phssthpok.

  3. Very enjoyable, thanks Phssthpok. My non-interest in sport prevented my parsing PRINCIPLE, and I’d never heard of “assizes”. Soup is often made from stock but are they the same thing?

    A Goldilocks level puzzle with no unreasonable obscurities and no specifically British knowledge required.

    And thank you for the blog, Loonapick.

  5. Yes, “chewy” enough for “Goldilocks”.
    NEURAL NET is excellent.
    As Diane @1 I thought of ALEPHS before GLYPHS for 20d. I liked the clue, despite any grammar niggle.
    My LOI: SOUPCON: Very “sneaky” with its misdirection – it must be about rustling – and the use of the soft C.
    I’m appalled to discover it’s “often spelled with a regular C since the 1990s“. Save the cedilla.
    Also liked BAMBOOZLE for the shedding As gimmick.
    Thanks Phssthpok. (That’s a name one should always copy and paste).

  7. Not as hard as Phssthpok’s (copied and pasted as per FrankieG @5’s advice) last crossword here a month ago and I was able to get this out though missed the cleverness of NEURAL NET which I didn’t bother to parse properly. I thought 18d had something to do with rustling as well and took a while to think of the correct part of speech for ‘boxes’ at 21d.

    Didn’t spot the grammar boo-boo, but favourite was my last in GLYPHS.

    Thanks to Phssthpok and loonapick

  9. Enjoyed this, with all the same likes as cited above, but I can’t quite see how ‘belts’ = ‘clips’ in 4ac.
    Thank you Pxxxxxxxk and loonapick.

  11. Sourdough @9&10 – I took them both as verbs, as in “he clips/belts the miscreant around the ears”.

  13. Hovis@6: I pasted SOUPCON from loonapick’s blog without the cedilla. How remiss of both us! 🙂
    Now I can paste SOUPÇON from your comment. Tada!

  14. Thanks Phssthpok and Loonapick

    18dn: The wordplay clearly gives us SOUP + CON (not ÇON). The definition gives us “soupçon”, which has to lose the cedilla when it is converted into capitals for the grid entry: otherwise it would clash with both the wordplay and the answer to 25ac.

  15. In French SOUPCON in capitals would be minus cedilla. The general rule is that all accents are left off capitals. But it’s not always followed. Particularly liked the bottomless pit. Enough to share it with my wife who chortled briefly.

  16. Thanks Phssthpok and Loonapick

    I got most of it but also put Alephs and weirdly ‘li oniz e’ for 6d. Where I tell ‘lie’ for untruth around some scientific name for sun I thought ‘on12’ or some such thing I concocted!

  17. Thanks Phssthpok. I was late getting to this but I wanted to express my great satisfaction with this well-crafted crossword. I failed with GLYPHS and couldn’t fully parse PRINCIPLE but all else made sense. My top choices were BOTTOMLESS PIT for the wordplay, BAMBOOZLE, AT ISSUE, AJAX, DEAD HEAT, and STARBOARD, the last two for the compactness of the clues. Thanks loonapick for the blog.

  18. Very helpful comments.

    It seems that 20d works by just removing the ‘is’. The ‘are’ is already in place.

    Thanks to Ph….and Loonapick.

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