A new setter, or a new pseudonym for an established setter who is new to the FT? I’m not sure, although there is something vaguely familiar about the style–reminiscent of both Armonie (the concision) and Rufus/Dante (the cd’s). Either way, welcome! If this is indeed a new setter, this is an impressive debut–very smooth and accomplished. Personal favourites were 8 down (an &lit.) and 23 across.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | TYPESET *(STEP YET) |
| 5 | SNIPPET SNIP (cut) PET (favourite) |
| 9 | ACTOR hidden in fACTORy |
| 10 | REINSTATE *(IT’S NEATER) |
| 11 | TANGERINE *(GENERATI[o]N) |
| 12 | REMIT dd |
| 13 | ROAST dd |
| 15 | ADDRESSEE cd |
| 18 | CHEERLESS d&cd; “hip” as in “hip hip hooray” |
| 19 | THEFT THE FT (this paper) A bit of a chestnut. |
| 21 | ENSUE ENSU[r]E |
| 23 | SKINNY-DIP cd |
| 25 | ECONOMIES E[ast] + *(SO INCOME) |
| 26 | BLEAT B (beginning to “blab”) + *(TALE) |
| 27 | TANGENT NAT[ionalist] reversed + GENT (guy) |
| 28 | LOBULAR *(OUR BALL) |
| Down | |
| 1 | TOASTER TO ASTER (flower) |
| 2 | POTENTATE [orviet]O TENT (wine) in PATE (head). Tent, a name for a deep red Spanish wine, was new to me. |
| 3 | SERVE dd |
| 4 | TERMINATE *(MARTINET) + E[nglish] |
| 5 | SUITE homophone of SWEET (delightful) |
| 6 | INSURGENT *(RUN-IN GETS) |
| 7 | PSALM [a]PS[e] [c]ALM[s] (“apse calms” with outside letters removed) |
| 8 | THEATRE THE + even letters of pArTeRrE |
| 14 | THREESOME *(HERO MEETS) |
| 16 | DISMISSAL IS S[tumped] in DISMAL (feeble) |
| 17 | SPEEDWELL SPEED (move quickly) WELL (in a satisfactory way). Veronica is the name of the genus of the speedwell plant. |
| 18 | CLEMENT dd |
| 20 | TIPSTER cd; referring to “laying” as a variety of horse betting |
| 22 | SCORN S[mall] CORN (crop) |
| 23 | SWIFT dd |
| 24 | NABOB NAB (arrest) O[ld] B[oy] |
Thanks for the blog. I got this out with a little bit of electronic help for 28a, 17d & 20d.
Most tipsters advise you what to back though with the likes of betfair you can indeed become bookmaker and lay a horse to lose. That said, if you back odds on -say 4/1 on , the on course bookies will shout “take 4 to 1” so that you are effectively laying the horse at 4/1.
Liked 19a
Really good. Look forward to more by this setter.
Very enjoyable, mostly not too taxing and quite a lot entered fairly swiftly, making it an light, refreshing, enjoyable solve, but one or two needed all the checking letters (18d, 23a, 2d). I hadn’t heard of tent wine (a.k.a. <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tinta"tinta) either, and being archaic, I guess I rarely will again.
Thanks to Gurney and Agentzero
Very accomplished debut. Esp liked the original and accessible approach to cluing familiar words. Favourites were PSALM and THREESOME.
A v impressive puzzle. There is an art (so I’m told 🙂 ) to writing easy clues which are also very good clues and Gurney has certainly mastered it. Mind you those of us who know Gurney in other incarnations will not be surprised to note the quality of this puzzle.
Hi Bannsider
Don’t leave us in suspense! Does Gurney set for other papers and if so under what name?
Thanks, Agentzero, for the blog, and all for their comments. Gurney has set in other publications using the pseudonym Raich.