Financial Times 17,763 by Mudd

June 22, 2024 at 12:01 am by Pete Maclean

Puzzle from the Weekend FT of June 15, 2024

I think Mudd was in good form with this puzzle although I am not convinced about 1d. My favourites are 18 (OTTOMAN) and 25 (FINISHED).

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
7	ANIMATOR	Throttled by cameraman, I’m a tormented film-maker (8)
		Hidden word (throttled by)
8	TECHNO	Time pattern’s ending in reflection of sound — dance music (6)
		T (time) + [patter]N in (in) ECHO (reflection of sound)
11	NINJA	Assassin, Jack boards Columbus’s ship (5)
		J (Jack) in (boards) NINA (Columbus’s ship)
12	KNIFE-EDGE	Dangerous situation if breaking joint, daughter say falling over (5-4)
		IF (if) in (breaking) KNEE (joint) + D (daughter) + EG (say) backwards (over)
13	FELLINI	Director hit the drink, inebriated initially (7)
		FELL IN (hit the drink) + I[nebriated]
14	LUMP SUM	Capital lost in economic decline, problem delivering large payment (4,3)
		[s]LUMP (capital lost in economic decline) + SUM (problem)
15	STRAIGHTFORWARD	Clear where patient might head, immediately? (15)
		STRAIGHT FOR WARD (where patient might head). I fail to see what “immediately?” serves for.
18	OTTOMAN	Ridiculous country seat (7)
		OTT (ridiculous, i.e. over the top) + OMAN (country)
20	CAPTCHA	What might stop spam? Better meat finally appearing before tea (7)
		CAP (better) + [mea]T + CHA (tea)
22	GLISSANDI	Lad sings badly with yours truly in musical passages (9)
		Anagram (badly) of LAD SINGS + I (yours truly)
23	BLURB	Band on book for promotional text (5)
		BLUR (band) + B (book)
24	NEEDLE	Irritation — is that on the record? (6)
		Double/cryptic definition
25	FINISHED	Fiendish cryptic with no more clues to solve? (8)
		Anagram (cryptic) of FIENDISH
DOWN
1	SAWN-OFF SHOTGUN	Ar? (4-3,7)
		AR[m] (presumably). For Americans this could be tricky because they call the arm in question a SAWED-OFF SHOTGUN.
2	SIGNAL	Motion sickness is giddiness, nausea and light- headedness, primarily (6)
		S[ickness] I[s] G[iddiness] N[ausea] A[nd] L[ight-headedness]
3	PAGANINI	Old player filling sandwiches with a minimum of gruyere (8)
		A (a) + G[ruyere] together in (filling) + PANINI (sandwiches)
4	FORK LIGHTNING	Tool cracking bolts (4,9)
		FORK (tool) + LIGHTNING (cracking)
5	REDEEM	Concerned with judge, pay money for freedom (6)
		RE (concerned with) + DEEM (judge)
6	RHODESIA	Old country having changed so I read, capital in Harare brought in (8)
		H[arare] in (brought in) anagram (changed) of SO I READ. Rhodesia was the colonial name for the country that is now called Zimbabwe having Harare as its capital.
9	OVER MY DEAD BODY	Never where dirt will go on Mudd, in passing? (4,2,4,4)
		Double/cryptic definition
10	MID-LIFE CRISIS	If I’d seismic shifts with case of languor, troubling experience for fifty-year-old? (3-4,6)
		Anagram (shifts) of IF ID SEISMIC L[angou]R
16	RETAINER	Advance fee in old sovereign, different rate earlier (8)
		Anagram (different) of RATE + IN (in) + ER (old sovereign)
17	REPUBLIC	Curiosity about auberge in France, say (8)
		PUB (auberge) in RELIC (curiosity)
19	MUSCLE	Beef or seafood, did you say? (6)
		Homophone (did you say?) of “mussel” (seafood)
21	CAUGHT	Cold, anything contracted? (6)
		C (cold) + AUGHT (anything)

19 comments on “Financial Times 17,763 by Mudd”

Pelham Barton

#1 - Fri 21st Jun 24, 23:20

Thanks Mudd and Pete

15ac: I think the “immediately” refers to the patient going straight to the ward, rather than calling somewhere else first.

1dn I think you have the idea right. In my view, any setter is allowed this sort of “novelty” clue at most once a year. There was an episode of the 1990s sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey where one of the characters was supposed to be completely stuck on the last clue of the Sunday Times crossword, which was “Gegs? (9,4)”. Of course, if he had really solved the rest of the puzzle, he would have had the letters S.R.M.L.D .G.S to help him.
KVa

#2 - Fri 21st Jun 24, 23:27

1d SAWN-O-S
AR
I thought AR was short for Assault Rifle but I found this info online:
The AR in “AR-15” rifle stands for ArmaLite rifle, after the company that developed it in. the 1950s. “AR” does NOT stand for “assault rifle” or “automatic rifle.”
Could AR in this sense still work as an additional explanation?

Thanks Mudd and Pete!
Diane

#3 - Fri 21st Jun 24, 23:39

4d was most apt on the day of solving this puzzle. Found it rather trickier than expected with 1d being the last entry and then, only thanks to the crossers. I did wonder if Mudd was asking the question ArmaLite Rifle, eg AR15? But no, because shotguns fire shells containing pellets/slugs where rifles shoot bullets. Coming here, I see the answer was much more obvious!
I remember enjoying the puzzle, anyway, even if I wasn’t quite on Mudd’s wavelength that day.
Thanks to Mudd and Pete.
Diane

#4 - Fri 21st Jun 24, 23:39

Ooh, KVa, I see we crossed.
KVa

#5 - Fri 21st Jun 24, 23:42

Good Diane. I have company.
The Ar(m) trick was used elsewhere recently. Just a coincidence.
Diane

#6 - Fri 21st Jun 24, 23:50

All good [h]ar(m)less fun!
Tony Santucci

#7 - Fri 21st Jun 24, 23:53

Thanks Mudd, I enjoyed this with my favourites being FELLINI, LUMP SUM, STRAIGHT FORWARD, OTTOMAN, BLURB, and OVER MY DEAD BODY. Thanks Pete for the blog.
Shanne

#8 - Sat 22nd Jun 24, 01:10

We did this on the tube travelling on Friday, so it’s all very recent in my memory. I thought arm for sawn-off shotgun – and I’ve seen it recently somewhere else.

Thank you to Mudd and Pete Maclean.
KVa

#9 - Sat 22nd Jun 24, 01:14

Criminal’s weapo? (4-3,7)
G-Imogen

A clarification: Ar(m) is the primary parse. Not contesting it at all. If there is another layer, then the clue becomes
appealing. Otherwise, it’s somewhat incomplete.
Martyn

#10 - Sat 22nd Jun 24, 02:20

For 1d, I was somewhere in between arm and AR-number. In the end I am not sure it matters.

I found this a bit difficult in places. Favourites were FELLINI and OVER MY DEAD BODY.

Thanks Mudd and Pete
Fiona

#11 - Sat 22nd Jun 24, 03:17

Good puzzle

Favourites were: RETAINER. OTTOMAN, REPUBLIC, CAUGHT, TECHNO

Thanks Mudd and Pete
Roz

#12 - Sat 22nd Jun 24, 05:38

Thanks for the blog , good puzzle with a neat set of clues, and a few crossword coincidences.
KVa@9 mentions one, motion=SIGNAL turned up later in the week.
FrankieG

#13 - Sat 22nd Jun 24, 06:32

11a NIÑJA – the only one of Columbus’s three ships that appears in crosswords — 23d ‘Warrior heading for Java inside Columbus’s ship (5)’ (Buccaneer)
“¡SANTA MARÍA, qué PINTA lleva la NIÑA!” — [For Diane, a belated 🎂]
Thanks M&P
Diane

#14 - Sat 22nd Jun 24, 09:22

[Cheers, Frankie!]
The Phantom Stranger

#15 - Sat 22nd Jun 24, 14:31

Got 1d immediately thanks to having seen this construct elsewhere recently…(KVa@9), otherwise am certain I would have struggled…
Everything else fell into place pretty quickly and it was a fun solve.
Thank you to Mudd and Pete
allan_c

#16 - Sat 22nd Jun 24, 16:55

1dn puzzled us for ages, thinking of Ar as the chemical symbol for the inert gas argon, but when we eventually had enough crossing letters the penny dropped – d’oh! For the rest it was a fairly steady solve, although our first thought for 12ac was ‘cliff-edge’, but we quickly saw KNIFE-EDGE as the correct answer. Favourite was GLISSANDI, but we also liked FELLINI.
Thanks, Mudd and Pete.
Cellomaniac

#17 - Sat 22nd Jun 24, 16:58

Re 10d, when I was a lad I thought 50 was old age, and men – it was a gender-specific condition – had their MID-LIFE CRISIS at age 40. And for Milton, mid-way through the journey was 35. How times change – I’m expecting my MLC when I turn 76 next Tuesday.

I especially liked the excellent surface and cryptic definition of 9d OVER MY DEAD BODY.

Thanks Mudd for the breezy entertainment, and Pete for the helpful blog, which I needed for 1d Ar?
Martyn

#18 - Sat 22nd Jun 24, 17:15

Does MLC at 76 mean you expect to live to 150, Cellomaniac@17?
Pelham Barton

#19 - Fri 28th Jun 24, 16:18

[In case anyone is interested, the “Gegs” episode of Drop the Dead Donkey which I mentioned in comment 1 was Series 2 Episode 7, first broadcast in November 1991.]

Comments are closed.