A most enjoyable challenge from Monk today though I wasn’t too happy with the clue for 1d which seemed a little lazy. There are many words consisting of only the first seven letters of the alphabet that could be clued this way.
However, elsewhere there were some nicely concealed definitions (eg 4d) and it took me a minute or two to work out the wordplay in 21a. I particularly liked 13a though this clue may not have suited those unfamiliar with the works of Scott Joplin.
Across
1 FLAMBEAU F (following) LAM (attack) BEAU (lover)
5 RING UP [a]NGU[s] in RIP (farewell message)
10 CATMINT CAT (cool guy) MINT (lots of money)
11 RESCUER CU (copper) in E S E (several directions) in R R (runs)
12 DWARF D (diamonds) WAR[m] (angry after male’s done a bunk) F (female)
13 MAPLE LEAF dd
14 FAIT ACCOMPLI AC (bill) in *(FILM TOPICA[l])
18 FILTER COFFEE *(FLEET OFFICER)
21 BONE CHINA B ONE (vitamin – B1) CHINA (friend)
23 TURBO TURBO[t] (fish with no tail)
24 EL GRECO C (caught) ER (queen) in OGLE (stare) reversed
25 CAREFUL REF (judge) in CAUL (net)
26 KETONE hidden in ‘taKE TO NEcastle’
27 BROWBEAT W (wife) in OBE (medal) in BRAT (naughty boy)
Down
1 FACADE F A C A D E (sequence of musical notes)
2 ASTRAY AS[h]TRAY (where fag ends up missing Henry)
3 BRIEFCASE BRIE (cheese) F (fine) CASE (odd character)
4 AUTOMATIC PILOT AUTOMATIC (working alone) I in PLOT (secret plan)
6 ISSUE [t]ISSUE (paper with leader censored)
7 GIUSEPPE GI (soldier) USE (employ) PP (on behalf of) E (European)
8 PARAFFIN PARA (tough troop) NIFF (stink) reversed
9 TROPIC OF CANCER dd – Henry Miller’s novel
15 OVERTHROW dd
16 OFF-BREAK OFF (postponed) BREA[d] (money stopped) K (king)
17 ALL-NIGHT L[ondo]N in A LIGHT (a blaze)
19 TRIFLE dd
20 GOBLET GOB (spit) LET (interference with service – tennis)
22 CLEAN C (about) LEAN (list)
Such a shame the FT puzzles only attract a few responses after blogging. This was one of 5 puzzles I solved/attempted to solve this evening while flying home from Prague, and I found it supremely entertaining.
Although I’m sure I’ve solved MK’s puzzles before, this was perhaps the first time that I tried to “label” his style – and “damn good” is the phrase that seems to fit.
Just one or two chestnuts in here, but they were vital as entry points to the rest. The FILTER COFFEE / FLEET OFFICER anagram is marvellous.
Thanks Monk.
Gaufrid
1 down was a bit of a stinker until you interpreted the indicator – ‘show’ as (surely?) Facade, by William Walton. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s how I got it.
Thanks Gaufrid and Anax, especially for the label! Looks like the Nina FT-FT-FT-FT on the diagonal was OTT.
Monk
Monk
Thanks for visiting and for pointing out that which I had missed. I never think to look for a Nina in the FT as they are very few and far between.