Financial Times 14,842 by MUDD

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Unusual to see Mudd on Friday but a very welcome (if somewhat scary) setter nevertheless. I found his challenge today to be more approachable than some of his earlier ones. Clean cluing and neat surfaces meant a pleasurable solve this morning.

A more-than-usual number of anagrams gave me a leg-up right at the start. After that, it was reasonably smooth sailing. I was unaware of the second meaning of PALE and required Chambers for confirmation.

Thanks Mudd, for a genial workout !!

FF: 8 DD: 7

Across
1 PAWPAW
Fruit in two hands? (6)
hand = paw. Two hands = pawpaw. Papaya.
4 PASSOVER
Miss religious festival (8)
Charade of PASS OVER (miss)
9 CEREAL
Breakfast programme broadcast (6)
Sounds like SERIAL (programme, on TV)
10 VESPUCCI
Five ice-bound vessels turned round for explorer (8)
V (five) [ CUPS (vessels) in ICE, all reversed (turned aound) ]
12 ROAN
Lassoed by caballero, angry horse (4)
Hidden in “..caballeRO ANgry…”
13 DIFFERENCE
Change row (10)
Double def
15 NUTS AND BOLTS
Brass tacks, fasteners (4,3,5)
Double definition – with nuts, bolts both being types of fasteners as well as the phrasal usage in signifying the basic facts of a situation.
18 DEMONSTRABLE
Obvious where the gods wouldn’t dine? That’s about right (12)
Cryptic clue. The gods wouldn’t dine with the demons i.e. at the DEMONS TABLE. That’s about R (right)
21 FIRE ENGINE
Red vehicle superb, eclipsing fancy green one (4,6)
FINE (superb) containing anagram of GREEN I (one)
22 PALE
White stick (4)
double def
24 ELECTRIC
Energetic, as fans may be? (8)
Cryptic clue.
25 GEMINI
Gone heartless? Then there’s little sign (6)
GE (GonE heartless) MINI (little)
26 STEERAGE
See great waves in a ship’s most basic quarters (8)
Anagram of SEE GREAT
27 BREECH
Rear opening, by the sound of it (6)
Sounds like BREACH (opening)
Down
1 PECORINO
Porcine mince on old cheese (8)
Anagram of PORCINE on O (old)
2 WARRANTY
Contract rushed in with unappealing blemishes (8)
RAN (rushed) in WARTY (with unappealing blemishes)
3 ALAS
Endless low-fat food brought over – that’s regrettable (4)
Reverse of SALAd (low-fat food, endless)
5 AGE OF CONSENT
Beyond which relations allowed fees cannot go wrong (3,2,7)
Anagram of FEES CANNOT GO
6 SUPERSTORE
Retailer bows to pressure (10)
Anagram of TO PRESSURE
7 VACANT
Empty vessel in barrel (6)
CAN (vessel) in VAT (barrel)
8 RAISED
Philosopher finally getting original ideas, lifted (6)
R (philosopheR finally) anagram of IDEAS
11 MIND BOGGLING
Extraordinary circulation carrying blood primarily through hound (4-8)
MINGLING (circulation) carrying [ B (Blood, primarily) through DOG ]
14 PACESETTER
Brilliant crossword creator after power as temporary leader (10)
[ ACE (brilliant) SETTER (crossword creator) ] after P (power) – usually seen in sports, marathons being a good example. On rare occasions, the pacesetter has gone on to complete the race and make it to the podium too!! See this for example.
16 ABRASIVE
Overly aggressive air base about to claim victory (8)
Anagram of AIR BASE containing V (victory)
17 FEVERISH
Frenzied always in school (8)
EVER (always) in FISH (school)
19 AFTERS
Sequentially, P isn’t for Pudding! (6)
Cryptic clue – Sequentially P isn’t AFTER S , in the English Alphabet. I remember that I was stumped by a similar clue when I had just started blogging, so this is progress indeed ! 🙂
20 BREEZE
Simple thing – that’s refreshing (6)
Double def
23 DEAR
They say venison is pricey (4)
Sounds like Deer (pre-processed venison!!)
*anagram

10 comments on “Financial Times 14,842 by MUDD”

  1. Another fine puzzle from Mudd aka Paul. One problem for me is “white stick”. Can someone put pale in a sentence where it signifies “stick” please?

  3. @copmus

    A paling fence is made from pales, ie sticks.

    I think the usage “beyond the pale” (referring to the area around Dublin under English control in colonial times) may be coincidental – not sure.

    Excellent puzzle. I didn’t find it at all easy.

    Thanks to S&B.

  4. Thanks Turbolegs but for once I did not need any parsing explained, so thank you Mudd too for the enjoyable clear cluing. I too was unaware of the second meaning of PALE but Collins online did the job.

    It seems to me that Chambers online does not have all the meanings that the BRB does. Can anyone confirm that? There was a puzzle a little while ago where a second meaning of “drake” as a warship was needed – this was not given online but another poster confirmed it was in the dictionary.

  5. Fine puzzle indeed. I had to choose between CANE and PALE and plumped for the wrong one.
    Thanks Mudd and turbolegs

    @Urieka. Don’t know about online, but the handy Chambers Dictionary and Thesaurus App on my phone (doesn’t need to be online) had the meanings for both DRAKE and PALE.

  6. So fine and clear that I said to Mr CS ‘quite a lot of this crossword could be used to show someone how to solve cryptic clues’ Go on then, he said… so I did. I still don’t think I’ll ever convert him from number puzzles but time will tell.

    Thanks to Mudd and turbolegs.

  7. Thanks all for the comments. Regarding PALE, coming to think of it, “Impale” is a much more common word than “pale” itself (in this connotation) and I am sure the roots must be the same. So I really should have thought through it a wee bit longer.

    As always, good to know so many others had fun with this Mudd challenge.

    Cheers
    TL

    P.S: Its funny how I generally have trouble solving setters with only 4 characters in their name .. MUDD, GAFF, MONK, GOZO, CRUX (sometimes) !! Fourophobia shall be a word in the next OED update.

  8. Lovely puzzle throughout. I was intrigued at the idea of pawpaw being considered a tropical fruit tree, as I clearly remember having one on my Indiana farm. I had to look it up on the Google machine to find out there is another sort of pawpaw related to papaya! So, in addition to the new meaning for pale, it is a doubly-enhancing bit of the “learn something new” adage.
    Thank you Turbolegs and Mudd.

  9. I didn’t know that Mudd & Paul were the one and same setter. Thanks to copmus #1

    We could say that in his own words Mudd is an (p)ace setter (14D)

    Thanks also to turbolegs

  10. Thanks Mudd and Turbolegs

    The usual elegant clueing by this setter, no better exemplified than with the cleverly disguised anagrams of 5d and 6d.

    There were a higher number of double definitions than normal sprinkled throughout, including the three homophones (of which DEAR was the only one to give me a slight concern as to what of the two sounds was the answer).

    Agree with ernie about how Mudd could rightly describe himself.

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