Financial Times 13,758 / Mudd

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One for the beginners today, with more double definitions than is usual for Mudd or most other setters. For me a very easy solve with nearly all of the answers being entered on the first reading of the clue.

I did toy briefly with NEVIS for 9dn but it is only an island that forms part of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean. However, this thought did bring me quickly to BEN and the final solution.

Across
1 CHERRY CHE R R (three revolutionary leaders) Y (unknown)
4 PRODIGAL PROD (prompt) I (one) GAL (girl)
10 SUPPOSE SUP (drink) POSE (model)
11 MANGLES M (a thousand) ANGLES (fishes)
12 MARK double def.
13 MIND-READER anagram (given translation) of D[anish] REMAINDER
15 RANSOM [Arthur] RANSOM[e] (author’s unfinished)
16 MACHETE anagram (new) of THE in MACE (royal staff)
20 MONOCLE L (left) in ECONOM[y] (cheap airline seating almost) reversed (knocked over)
21 GARRET hidden in ‘begGAR RETires’
24 UNDERSCORE double def. – 19 is under 20, a score.
26 NOVA AVON (flower {river}) reversed (given back)
28 FOOTAGE FOOT (pay) AGE (time)
29 TELLING double def.
30 WHISTLER double def.
31 BEAMER double def. – the second relating to cricket.
 
Down
1 CASHMERE CASH (bread {money}) MERE (only)
2 ESPERANTO anagram (crackers) of PERSON ATE
3 ROOM MOOR (uncultivated land) reversed (turned over)
5 REMEDIAL anagram (fashioned) of EMERALD I
6 DUNDERHEAD [be]D UNDER HEAD (there’s the pillow)
7 GELID DI (princess) LEG (on {cricket}) reversed (climbing)
8 LUSTRE LURE (draw) round ST (one with halo {saint})
9 BENIN BEN (mountain) IN
14 COLOURFAST anagram (out) of FAR CUT OSLO
17 TERRORISM ERROR (fault) IS (lies) in T[er]M
18 BLACK EYE KEY (crucial) in anagram (muddled) of CABLE
19 STRANGER STRANG[l]ER (killer zapping fifty)
22 GUFFAW U (posh) FF (very loud) in WAG (comedian) reversed (stand-up)
23 GRATE double def.
25 DHOTI HOT (boiling) in D[hel]I
27 SLOE homophone (talk about) of ‘slow’ (thick)
 

 

9 comments on “Financial Times 13,758 / Mudd”

  1. Many thanks Gaufrid & Mudd

    Another enjoyable solve from today’s Double Bill set by Mudd and the other fellow.

    I entered MONOCLE but didn’t understand the clue until now. Do people still wear monocles? I don’t recall ever having see one except in old movies – for example: Ginger Rogers in 42nd Street (1933).

  2. Many thanks for the blog. I,too, enjoyed both Paul and Mudd today.

    I found this a little bit trickier than you did but it came out in the end. I liked 24A and spent ages trying to find the connection between underscore and stranger before the penny eventually dropped.

  3. Thanks Gaufrid – I didn’t find this as much of a walkover as you obviously did: the bottom half took me a lot longer than the top, though as is often the case there’s no obvious reason for that when I look back.

    Bryan, I think Sir Patrick Moore is probably the only surviving monocle-wearer.

  5. In the end, I am a bit with Gaufrid when he mentions ‘double definitions’. Don’t know why, but Mudd seems to use them more than in his Paul and Punk puzzles. Not a good thing.

    That said, it wasn’t a walk-over for me [is it ever? :)].
    I think MONOCLE, UNDERSCORE, DUNDERHEAD, COLOUFAST and GUFFAW stood out – that’s five, not a bad underscore.

  6. Thanks for the blog, Gaufrid.

    Re the unusual number of double definitions: I’ve pointed out, in my [tomorrow’s] blog of last Saturday’s Guardian [Paul] puzzle, that this had no fewer than eight – quite extraordinary, I thought.

    I agree with Sil’s favourite clues. [And Patrick Moore is the only person I ever remember seeing with a monocle, let alone being the only surviving one.]

    Every good wish for your wedding day tomorrow, Mudd! 🙂

  7. Thanks Gaufrid.
    As you say,a fairly straightforward puzzle from Mudd.All good fun though,my favourite clue being 24 across.
    One other surviving monocle wearer is boxer Chris Eubank.
    Other famous wearers include Percy Topliss(The monocled mutineer),Radclyffe Hall,the tenor Richard Tauber
    and,in fiction,various P.G.Wodehouse characters and Wilkins Micawber(David Copperfield).
    Also from Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Patience” Reginald Bunthorne,the source of the pseudonym of the much missed crossword setter.

  8. Good to hear from again, Scarpia.
    And, Richard Tauber – he was my father’s heart delight!

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