Financial Times 18,491 by MOO

Mon September 28, 2026 at 1:44 am by Teacow

MOO kicks off the week…

A gentle start to the day, with some lovely surfaces.

Thanks MOO!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS

1. Strange individual (8)

PECULIAR

Double defnition

5. Cries when wife rings (6)

WHOOPS

W (wife) + HOOPS (rings)

8. Local providing current news (3)

INN

I (current) + N N (news)

9. Criminal resold guns? That’s unproven (10)

GROUNDLESS

(RESOLD GUNS)* (*criminal)

10. Express perhaps in language of the young? (4-4)

CHOO-CHOO

Cryptic definition

11. Get to know Kiwi’s euphemisms to an extent (4,2)

WISE UP

[ki]WIS EUP[hemisms] (to an extent)

12. Where you might end up, in doctor’s opinion (4)

TOMB

TO MB (in doctor’s opinion)

14. Deranged daughter is charged (10)

DISORDERED

D (daughter) + IS + ORDERED (charged)

17. Straightforward instruction limerick writer ignored? (2-8)

NO-NONSENSE

Double (cryptic) definition

20. Small people carrier (4)

PRAM

Cryptic definition

23. Judge embarrassed for the most part, no barrister returning (6)

RECKON

RE[d] (embarrassed, for the most part) + (NO + KC (barrister))< (<returning)

24. Teenager surprisingly making healthy drink (5,3)

GREEN TEA

(TEENAGER)* (*surprisingly)

25. Girlfriend giving you an E? (10)

SWEETHEART

Double (cryptic) definition (E being the heart of [sw]E[et])

26. Boxer having trouble shifting pounds (3)

ALI

AIL (trouble, shifting L (pounds))

27. Cambridge college servant seducing one? (6)

BEDDER

Double (cryptic) definition
Back in my days at Cambridge I had an excellent bedder called Bob – take that as you will

28. Medic eating bit of trout and other fish (8)

STURGEON

SURGEON (medic) eating T[rout] (bit of)

DOWN

1. Suspect crept in on US university (9)

PRINCETON

(CREPT IN)* (*suspect) + ON

2. Follow cheat with previous convictions (7)

CONFORM

CON (cheat) with FORM (previous convictions)

3. A posh girl lying about extremely costly gift (6)

LEGACY

(A GEL (posh girl))< (<lying about) + C[ostl]Y (extremely)

4. Bruised old pal’s ego? I express regret (9)

APOLOGISE

(O (old) + PALS EGO)* (*bruised)

5. Unfortunately his wife’s late (7)

WIDOWER

Cryptic definition

6. Errant peer loves to stay in bed too long (9)

OVERSLEEP

(PEER LOVES)* (*errant)

7. Grazing land by river (7)

PASTURE

PAST (by) + URE (river)

13. Stop boss getting dope (9)

BLOCKHEAD

BLOCK (stop) + HEAD (boss)

15. Dutiful former pupil given retainer (9)

OBSERVANT

OB (former pupil, Old Boy) given SERVANT (retainer)

16. Curses mother country (9)

DAMNATION

DAM (mother) + NATION (country)

18. Look after Ohio cleric going around diocese (7)

OVERSEE

O (Ohio) + (REV)< (cleric, <going around) + SEE (diocese)

19. Nurse American politician briefly, one in upper house (7)

SENATOR

SEN (nurse) + A (American) + TOR[y] (politician, briefly)

21. Desert people’s daily struggle to survive (3,4)

RAT RACE

Double (cryptic) definition

22. Me and my dog? (6)

SETTER

Double (cryptic) definition

17 comments on “Financial Times 18,491 by MOO”

Geoff Down Under

#1 - Mon 28th Sep 26, 03:32

A pleasant solve, with a few speed bumps. I didn’t know a gel was a posh girl. Neither does Collins dictionary, as far as I could find. I also was unaware a sen is a nurse or that Ohio could be just O. And unsurprisingly from this far away I was unable to solve BEDDER.
Martyn

#2 - Mon 28th Sep 26, 04:42

I had the same comments as Teacow and GDU (although I researched BEDDER and eventually solved it)

Among the many nice surfaces I ticked GROUNDLESS, DISORDERED, RECKON, SETTER, DAMNATION and WISE UP

1ac could have been any number of words, and needed a crosser or two to work out which one. I was also not sure TOMB works very well

Thanks Moo for a very pleasant puzzle (I love good surfaces) and thanks Teacow for the blog
grantinfreo

#3 - Mon 28th Sep 26, 10:13

Yep, very neat and succinct set of clues, with no real mysteries other than bedder which, given the amount of Brit telly I’ve seen over the decades, I’m surprised never to have met. Very enjoyable ntl, thanks Moo and Teacow (glad you enjoyed Bob!)
JB in HK

#4 - Mon 28th Sep 26, 11:24

8A – I had IN for current + N for news. (Not I +N + N.)

Same same, I guess. Or not?
Cogito

#5 - Mon 28th Sep 26, 11:32

@4 I don’t have N for news in my dictionary. Otherwise it would work.

1A seems a little unfortunate given that e.g. singular arguably fits better.
KenF

#6 - Mon 28th Sep 26, 11:41

Thanks Teacow and Moo,
Wisely abandoned without BEDDER. Could not think other than BEADLE. Admired SWEETHEART. How common is STURGEON now?
Layman

#7 - Mon 28th Sep 26, 12:00

No idea about BEDDER, like some others above; the rest is rather pleasant, esp. the cryptic definitions and SWEETHEART. Thanks Moo and Teacow
Perplexus

#8 - Mon 28th Sep 26, 15:21

Like Cogito@5 my first thought for 1A was singular, but the straightforward 1D quickly ruled that out. The rest was all good and as a Cambridge alumnus (many years ago) BEDDER was no problem. Thanks to Moo.
Pelham Barton

#9 - Mon 28th Sep 26, 16:19

Thanks Moo and Teacow

1ac: I left this until I had some checked letters. It is difficult to make double definitions unambiguous, especially when they are really just different meanings of the same root word.

3dn: I was surprised not to find the relevant meaning of gel in Collins 2023, but it is in the Concise Oxford 2011 p 591 and also in Chambers 2016 p 633, which defines gel² as “a facetious rendering of an upper-class pronunciation of girl“. It is pronounced with a hard G.

16dn: We discussed O for Ohio when Slormgorm used it in FT 18,289:
https://fifteensquared.net/2026/02/09/financial-times-18289-by-slormgorm/

19dn: Just for clarification, SEN is an abbreviation for State Enrolled Nurse (for example, Chambers 2016 p 1419).
Babbler

#10 - Mon 28th Sep 26, 17:00

I didn’t get BEDDER though I should have done. I didn’t go to Cambridge, but I know the word and didn’t realize it was supposed to be limited geographically. I was distracted by knowing that at Cambridge they have (or had) servants called gyps, but it soon became clear that wasn’t going to help with 27.
Roz

#11 - Mon 28th Sep 26, 18:39

Thanks for the blog , really good set of clues and suitable for everyone I think .
Perhaps the most famous BEDDER is Mrs Biggs from Porterhouse Blue .
The senior university has Scouts , mine was Mrs Bellingham and she always gave me great advice concerning boyfriends .
Martin

#12 - Mon 28th Sep 26, 20:45

I found this easy except for BEDDER for which I was reduced to guessing. So a DNF for me. Oxbridge strikes again.

Thanks Teacow
Cellomaniac

#13 - Mon 28th Sep 26, 21:34

Re 27a, I didn’t know BEDDER, but knew scout from Oxford’s Dorothy Sayers, so I googled “Cambridge equivalent of a scout”, and up came bedder. Incidentally, “scout” could also satisfy the second part of the clue, as illustrated by the Baden-Powell rule of courtship: “the boy scouts and the girl guides.”

Thanks M&T for the merry tussle.
Moly

#14 - Mon 28th Sep 26, 22:09

Bedder – NHO – terrible clue. Especially when you consider how many other words would have fitted in the space. Why pick a word that only a very small number of people have heard of?

Otherwise ok.
George Dawes

#15 - Mon 28th Sep 26, 23:30

I believe some colleges have gyps rather than bedders. Also knew from being there but I’m going to claim I’d heard of it through Porterhouse Blue …
Thanks for debate over news – I hadn’t actually appreciated how that worked; very good.
john

#16 - Tue 29th Sep 26, 15:46

I put in “ chop chop” for express but, I guess, that’ from an older crowd!
john

#17 - Tue 29th Sep 26, 15:47

I put in “ chop chop” for express but, I guess, that’s from an older crowd!

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17 comments on “Financial Times 18,491 by MOO”

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