Falcon’s poser for today was quite a breeze, to the point that I did feel a few clues were not cryptic at all. However, for tyros looking to cut their teeth into FT grids, this would be a gentle initiation.
I made steady progress attacking the Across clues first, and had plenty of crossrefs for the down clues later on which made an easy puzzle easier.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ANSWERED | Satisfied, read news out (8) |
| Anagram of READ NEWS | ||
| 6 | SLEUTH | Bloodhound in film (6) |
| cryptic clue, dd – Bloodhound is a reference to a detective (sleuth); Sleuth is the name of a 2007 thriller. | ||
| 9 | HARD UP | Difficult to get ahead, being short of money (4,2) |
| HARD (Difficult) UP (ahead) | ||
| 10 | VOLTAIRE | Satirist displaying anger after dance (8) |
| IRE (Anger) after VOLTA (dance, referrring to Lavolta, renaissance dance) | ||
| 11 | THAI | Asian sea bream husband caught (4) |
| TAI (sea bream) catching H (Husband) | ||
| 12 | RED HERRING | Misleading clue embarrassed Holmes, initially slipping up (3,7) |
| RED (embarassed) H (Holmes initially) ERRING (slipping up) | ||
| 14 | PEA GREEN | Permit to get inside enclosure is a specific colour (3 5) |
| AGREE (permit) inside PEN (enclosure) | ||
| 16 | LAIR | Hideaway left warm and dry (4) |
| L (left) AIR (meaning warm and dry, as in hanging clothes out) – Any improvement on this parsing? | ||
| 18 | KIWI | Flightless bird from West Indies seen on jetty, reportedly (4) |
| WI (West Indies) on KI (sounds like Quay, a jetty) | ||
| 19 | GUIDE DOG | Girl Scout, to do good, provides a help for one who’s blind (5,3) |
| GUIDE (Girl Scout) DO G (good) | ||
| 21 | LONGFELLOW | Poet, verbose member of a learned society (10) |
| LONG (verbose) FELLOW (member of a learned society) – referring to the american poet known for writing wordy poems. | ||
| 22 | DISC | Record some of Verdi’s compositions (4) |
| Hidden in verDIS Compositions | ||
| 24 | TIA MARIA | Drink, Italian, brought back by a girl (3,5) |
| TI (Italian, reversed) by A MARIA (a girl) | ||
| 26 | RAREST | Most uncommon seeing rats scurrying round about (6) |
| Anagram of RATS around RE (about) | ||
| 27 | FLORID | Using unusual words in US state, briefly (6) |
| FLORIDa (US state, briefly) | ||
| 28 | HISSY FIT | Is shy, after misbehaving with proper tantrum (5,3) |
| Anagram of IS SHY (misbehaving) FIT (proper) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | NEATH | Welsh town hospital after orderly (5) |
| H (Hospital) after NEAT (orderly) | ||
| 3 | WEDDING RING | Union band? (7,4) |
| (not so) Cryptic clue | ||
| 4 | REPORTER | One may get a story about hospital worker (8) |
| RE (about) PORTER (hospital worker) | ||
| 5 | DAVID AND GOLIATH | Biblical combatants who stood within a stone’s throw of each other? (5,3,7) |
| (not so) cryptic clue. | ||
| 6 | SALVER | Unctuous substance placed on right tray (6) |
| SALVE (unctuous substance) placed on R (right) | ||
| 7 | ERA | Age of English artist (3) |
| E (English) RA (artist) | ||
| 8 | TARANTINO | Film director, heading for town, relaxed on a train (9) |
| T (heading for town) anagram of ONATRAIN | ||
| 13 | ROLLER DERBY | Wave bowler hat in US skating race (6,5) |
| ROLLER (Wave) DERBY (bowler hat) | ||
| 15 | EDITORIAL | Leader one’s spoken about after tide turned (9) |
| [ORAL (spoken) about I (one)] after EDIT (tide turned) | ||
| 17 | FIGWORTS | Plants grow wild in spasms (8) |
| Anagram of GROW (wild – anagrind) in FITS (spasms) | ||
| 20 | SEE RED | Become furious in diocese over cardinal? (3,3) |
| SEE (diocese) RED (cardinal) | ||
| 23 | SUSHI | American brought over his cracked Japanese dish (5) |
| SU (american, reversed – brought over) SHI (anagram of his, cracked) – Its time to give this word a respectful burial. | ||
| 25 | MAR | Damage sign, knocking end off (3) |
| MARk(sign, with end off) | ||
Thanks for your blog, Turbolegs. Occasionally, Falcon comes up with
a real doddle – and this was one. It was good fun though.
I parsed LAIR @ 16ac as you did.
The 1972 film from the play SLEUTH may be better known to some.
I think the definition in 13dn is “skating race”. Dictionaries give ‘derby’
as the name for a bowler hat in North America.
Thanks, Turbolegs. Yes, it was a breeze: but a nice warm spring one. Thanks Falcon
A lovely straightforward ‘breeze’ indeed. It is a shame that more newcomers to the world of cryptics don’t try the FT as today would have been perfect for them.
Thanks to Turbolegs and Falcon.
The comment at 21a that Longfellow, the American poet, is “known for writing wordy poems” seems to be gratuitous.
Does any reader agree?
Really enjoyed this , and I hope Falcon keeps them coming ! Thanks Turbolegs.
Yes, thanks for the blog. I spotted your opening lines after a dismal outing with the Guardian today. I don’t often look at the FT so grateful for the steer today. Managed to finish this one off so some confidence restored and enthusiasm rekindled.
Although on the easier side for the FT I noted at least 3 answers which do not often appear in crosswords ie hissy fit, roller derby and figworts.
Thanks to Turbolegs and Falcon.
Thanks Falcon and Turbolegs
Continuing the backlog of FT puzzles … and agree that this was certainly an excellent challenge for the less experienced – and good fun for the more experienced while it lasted. I think 5d was one of the easiest 15 letter write-ins that I’ve seen.
Even so, there were a few new words – TAI, VOLTA (as the dance) and FIGWORTS.