Financial Times 15,793 by FALCON

by

Rather testing for a Tuesday, I thought…

And look no further than 1 across for a perfect crossword clue. Expert Falconry.

completed grid
Across
1 BALUSTRADE Coping with supporters a bad result upset? (10)
  Anagram (‘upset’) of A BAD RESULT. Beautiful cryptic definition.
6 WASP Insect beginning to wound snake (4)
  W (beginning of Wound) + ASP (‘snake’).
9 ISTHMUS Narrow strip of land is therefore blocked by leader of militia (7)
  IS + THUS (‘therefore’) includes (is ‘blocked by’) 1st letter (‘leader’) of Militia.
10 TACTILE New 2, pleasant to touch (7)
  Anagram (‘new’) of LATTICE, solution to 2 Down, infra.
12 VISITATION French filmmaker in sight making tour of inspection (10)
  Jacques TATI (‘French filmmaker’) in VISION (‘sight’).
13 TOT Perfect without a toddler? (3)
  ‘TO A T’, or ‘perfect’, without letter A.
15 THELMA Louise’s partner playing Hamlet (6)
  Anagram (‘playing’) of HAMLET, ref. film ‘Thelma and Loiuise’.
16 TELEGRAM Message spread caused upset (8)
  MARGE (margarine, a ‘spread’) + LET (’caused’), all reversed.
18 ABOVE ALL Notably, a black smock Romeo discarded (5,3)
  A + B[lack] +OVErALL (‘smock’), minus R[omeo].
20 ICONIC Very famous figure in charge (6)
  ICON (‘figure’) + I[n] C[harge].
23 HEW Cut down cast in the auditorium (3)
  Homophone (‘in the auditorium’) of HUE (‘cast’).
24 IN GOOD NICK Well cared for, serving time here? (2,4,4)
  Jocular definition. A prisoner might be well looked after in a good ‘nick’.
26 UPTIGHT Out of bed, drunk is nervy (7)
  UP (‘out of bed’) + TIGHT (‘drunk’).
27 CHICORY Stylish plant? Fact dismissed in plant (7)
  CHIC (‘stylish’) + factORY (‘fact’ subtracted from ‘factory’, a ‘plant’)
28 ECHO Code word used in speech – Oscar (4)
  Radio code for letter E. Inclusion in speECH Oscar.
29 CROWN GREEN Top Greek and English men heading off for a game of bowls? (5,5)
  CROWN (‘top’) + GR[eek] + E[nglish] + mEN (with ‘heading off’) for t’ only bowlin’ game in this neck o’ t’ woods.
Down
1 BAIT Lure one inside club (4)
  1 in BAT.
2 LATTICE Grating in top room secured by the Parisian (7)
  ATTIC (‘top room’) in LE (Parisian hence French ‘the’).
3 SUMMIT MEETING Conference on top of Snowdon, perhaps? (6,7)
  Whole clue cryptic.
4 RASCAL Artist’s short name for a villain (6)
  RA’S (“artist’s”) + CAL (call, ‘name’, shortened).
5 DETAILED Private eye probing exploit is thorough (8)
  TAIL (‘private eye’) in DEED (‘exploit’).
7 AVIATOR One flies from Scandinavia to Russia (7)
  Inclusion in ‘scandinAVIA TO Russia’.
8 PRETTY MUCH Extremely popular English artist on a great deal? More or less (6,4)
  PR (‘extremes’ of PopulaR) + William ETTY (English master portrayer of the naked bosom) + MUCH (‘a great deal’).
11 CONDESCENDING Seeing fit Conservative on the way down (13)
  CON + DESCENDING. Not the day’s most cryptic clue.
14 STEAKHOUSE Use The Oaks, flourishing restaurant (10)
  Anagram (‘flourishing’) of USE THE OAKS.
17 BLIGHTER Beggar born on barge (8)
  B[orn] + LIGHTER (‘barge’).
19 ON WATCH Where hands may be seen doing lookout duty (2,5)
  Double definition.
21 NICE ONE Very good French resort, on top of everything (4,3)
  NICE (‘French resort’) + ONE (‘everything’, in a Buddhist sort of a way).
22 MOSCOW Medical Officer on barge in capital (6)
  M[edical] O[fficer] above SCOW (another ‘barge’).
25 HYMN Song of praise suggested by that man on the radio (4)
  Homophone (‘suggested… on the radio’) of HIM (‘that man’).

*anagram

9 comments on “Financial Times 15,793 by FALCON”

  1. Yes, the BALUSTRADE def. was a thing of beauty. Some other good ones including TOT and IN GOOD NICK.

    Didn’t know of the game of CROWN GREEN bowls – unlike lawn bowls, I don’t think it’s played in this neck o’ t’ woods or even this hemisphere. TAIL didn’t immediately spring to mind for ‘private eye’ and I had to do a boat name trawl (made a welcome change from its alphabet cousin anyway) to get the two ‘barges’. Took ages to come up with Susan Sarandon, or was it Geena Davis?

    Six of one, but I parsed NICE ONE slightly differently as NICE (‘French resort’) + ON (‘on’) + E (‘top of everything’). A bit more humdrum than Buddhist philosophy I Grant you.

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  2. I didn’t find this tricky for a Tuesday at all, not quite read and write but nearly.  I agree about the perfection of  1a and with WordPlodder’s parsing of 21d

    Thanks to Falcon and Grant

  3. Found this quite easy, but TELEGRAM and CHICORY held me up a bit. Also, have not heard a Private Eye referred to as a ‘tail’, but seems reasonable given what they do. Parsed 21d as WordPlodder@1. Thought this was one of the best Falcon efforts. Thanks to S&B.

  4. I bow to the mood of the meeting on the parsing of 21d but it gives me an excuse to repeat a favourite old joke. The Dalai Lama walks into a burger bar and says, “Can you make me one with everything?”.

  5. Thanks S&B.

    Like Sue@2, I found this a very relaxed solve. I felt 6a was as elegant a clue as it was simple.

    Regards,

    TL

  6. Thanks to Falcon and GB. I much enjoyed this one. I did not parse the ONE in NICE ONE (so thanks for both explanations) and took a long time spotting TELEGRAM (my LOI). As a US solver both IN GOOD NICK and CROWN GARDEN were new to me but were gettable from the clues.

  7. Thanks Falcon and Grant
    Found this a typically straightforward Falcon puzzle which was mostly completed on a short train ride home last night.
    Was with the crowd with the NICE ONE parsing.
    Finished off with CROWN GREEN (made harder by initially writing GREEN as the first word) and then MOSCOW as the last one in.

  8. Thanks to Falcon and GB

    I very much enjoyed this crossword. Got a flying start with Balustrade (fantastic clue) and Wasp.

    Struggled to finish only because I put HEROIC for 20a

Comments are closed.