Financial Times 14,831 by Mudd

by

Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 17, 2015

This struck me as a fairly typical Mudd with a few stand-out clues. Top among them are 1a (BANISTER), 27a (SPRING) and 3d (STAND-UP COMEDIAN).

ACROSS
1 Rail is in raillery! (8)
BANISTER – IS (is) in BANTER (raillery). ‘Raillery’ may be a slightly loose definition for BANTER but how could one resist?!
5 Onset of shingles, well-developed disease (6)
SCURVY – S[hingles] + CURVY (well-developed)
10 Lover of Dada framing black snake (5)
MAMBA – B (black) in MAMA (lover of Dada). I have seen this use of “lover of Dada” before and it is worth remembering.
11 Some happy Roman, I assume, lighting up for fun? (9)
PYROMANIA – hidden word
12 Bird ending in leaves was prepared to sweep them? (9)
SHELDRAKE – [leave]S + HELD RAKE (was prepared to sweep them)
13 Single English port, faultless (5)
IDEAL – I (single) + DEAL (English port)
14 Stroke of genius on voucher (6)
COUPON – COUP (stroke of genius) + ON (on)
15 Association is working after trouble reversed (7)
LIAISON – AIL (trouble) backwards + IS (is) + ON (working)
18 Nothing with emperor and American is difficult (7)
ONEROUS – O (nothing) + NERO (emperor) + US (American)
20 Very old, like some buns, it’s said (6)
VOICED – V (very) + O (old) + ICED (like some buns)
22 Swan with the skill to pen Macbeth, primarily (5)
AMBLE – M[acbeth] in ABLE (with the skill)
24 With channel back in, drain off hormone (9)
ADRENALIN – LANE (channel) backwards in anagram of DRAIN
25 Attractive young lady sent rubbish, including old clothes (3,6)
SEX KITTEN – EX KIT (old clothes) in anagram of SENT
26 Figure arresting good judge (5)
OPINE – PI (good, as in pious) in ONE (figure)
27 Well past February is it? (6)
SPRING – double definition
28 As may be a dres? (8)
BACKLESS – ‘dres’ is a “backless” dress

DOWN
1 Puzzle – problem gobbled up by worker (6)
BEMUSE – SUM (problem) backwards in BEE (worker)
2 Musical success for myself (6,3)
NUMBER ONE – double definition
3 Mean pun addict, so funny? (5-2,8)
STAND-UP COMEDIAN – anagram of MEAN PUN ADDICT SO. Should just qualify as an &Lit.
4 Account for ten new Alpine houses (7)
EXPLAIN – X (ten) in anagram of ALPINE
6 Search different location in bank finally, for security device (11,4)
COMBINATION LOCK – COMB (search) + anagram of LOCATION IN [ban]K
7 Wash lift containing clean floor (5)
RINSE – [clea]N in RISE (lift)
8 Young filly, perhaps, in argyle pants (8)
YEARLING – anagram of IN ARGYLE
9 Author with source of precious metal? (6)
ORWELL – OR WELL (source of precious metal?)
16 Diabolical torment under second bombardment (9)
SHELLFIRE – S (second) + HELLFIRE (diabolical torment)
17 Donkey feeding spies sticky food (8)
MOLASSES – ASS (donkey) in MOLES (spies)
19 Outside toilet, filthy place that’s insufficient (6)
SCANTY – CAN (toilet) in STY (filthy place)
20 Part over and above balcony (7)
VERANDA – hidden word
21 Though grey, lead absent (6)
UNLESS – [s]UNLESS (grey, lead absent)
23 Person assisted by a second canine (5)
BOXER – double definition

4 comments on “Financial Times 14,831 by Mudd”

  1. Thanks Mudd and Pete

    A very entertaining puzzle here from Mudd. Hadn’t seen the trick with ‘son of Dada’ before and it brought a laugh – but not as much as HELD RAKE to ‘prepare to sweep up the leaves’ did !! Thought that SHELLFIRE was also very clever.

    Think that you might have a logic error with 24a. I had it as LANE (channel) back in an anagram of DRAIN. Your parsing is one letter short.

    I also had grey to equal SUNLESS from a weather perspective at 21d – with it’s S removed.

    Enjoyed this a lot !

  2. Bruce, Thanks for those corrections. I read 24a wrongly but can’t imagine now what I was thinking of regarding 21d!

  3. Thanks as ever Pete. I think that in 26a Judge should be underlined as the definition, not figure which appears in your explanation as the “one”

Comments are closed.