My first blog of 2019 is for a Falcon puzzle in today’s FT.
Happy New Year to all solvers, bloggers, commenters and lurkers.
Today’s puzzle was a straightforward effort from Falcon. Nothing contentious or difficult, with only PATERNOSTER causing me any pause as I had not come across the lift before.
Thanks, Falcon.
| Across | ||
| 1 | THROW A FIT | Express extreme anger with a female, Italian, after short fling (5,1,3) |
| W (with) + A F (female) + It. (Italian) after THRO(w) (short “fling”) | ||
| 6 | TOP UP | Refill tankard about finished (3,2) |
| <=POT (“tankard”, about) + UP (“finished”) | ||
| 9 | POPULAR | Well-liked university in London area (7) |
| U (university) in POPLAR (“London area”) | ||
| 10 | DAY TRIP | Outing may produce pay dirt (3,4) |
| *(pay dirt) | ||
| 11 | CRISP | Firm in time of difficulty is lacking power (5) |
| CRIS(is) (“time of difficulty” with IS lacking) + P (power) | ||
| 12 | HESITATED | The man told about one held back (9) |
| HE (“the man”) + STATED (“told”) about I (one) | ||
| 14 | RYE | What sounds like bent grass? (3) |
| Homophone [what sounds like] of WRY (“bent”) | ||
| 15 | PERFORMANCE | Particular action of knight, say, brought in of necessity (11) |
| MAN (“knight, say” in chess) brought in PERFORCE (“of necessity”) | ||
| 17 | PATERNOSTER | A seabird shown in advertisement in lift (11) |
| A TERN (“seabird”) shown in POSTER (“advertisement”) | ||
| 19 | SUM | The total, presumably? Only part (3) |
| Hidden in [only part] “preSUMably” | ||
| 20 | SOAP OPERA | Thus, a popular time for Coronation Street, for example (4,5) |
| SO (“thus”) + A POP (popular, as in “popular music”) + ERA (“time”) | ||
| 22 | AD-LIB | Off the cuff remark from a Liberal Democrat inside (2-3) |
| A LIB (liberal) with D (democrat) inside | ||
| 24 | EN SUITE | See unit converted, forming . . . . a unit! (2,5) |
| *(see unit) | ||
| 26 | DESPAIR | Lose heart, as pride injured (7) |
| *(as pride) | ||
| 27 | SATIN | Posed wearing silk (5) |
| SAT (“posed”) + IN (“wearing”) | ||
| 28 | REDBREAST | Robin arrested, stupidly pinching book (9) |
| *(arrested), pinching B (book) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TOPIC | Best chapter about current subject (5) |
| TOP (“best”) + C (chapter) about i (symbol for electrical “current” in physics) | ||
| 2 | REPRISE | Theatrical company to mount repeat performance (7) |
| REP (“theatrical company”) + RISE (“to mount”) | ||
| 3 | WALLPAPER | Background? Western tabloid includes everything! (9) |
| W (western) + PAPER (“tabloid”) includes ALL (“everything”) | ||
| 4 | FURTHERMORE | Outcry involving the Royal Marines, in addition (11) |
| FURORE (“outcry”) involving THE R.M. (Royal Marines) | ||
| 5 | TED | Boy, extremely drunk, was removed (3) |
| (was)TED (“extremely drunk” with “was” removed) | ||
| 6 | TRYST | Rendezvous with lover in Coventry Street (5) |
| Hidden in “covenTRY STreet” | ||
| 7 | PURITAN | Play on words impressing educated girl, a moralist (7) |
| PUN (“play on words”) impressing RITA (“educated girl”, as in Educating Rita, the Willy Russell play) | ||
| 8 | PIPE DREAM | Fanciful hope conveyed about a male (4,5) |
| PIPED (“conveyed”) + RE (“about”) + A M (male) | ||
| 13 | SHORT-HANDED | Style of writing supported by newspaper chief needing more staff (5-6) |
| SHORTHAND (“style of writing”) supported by ED (editor, so “newspaper chief”) | ||
| 14 | REPOSSESS | Presses so fervently to regain ownership (9) |
| *(presses so) | ||
| 16 | MERGANSER | Duck from Grasmere cooked around noon (9) |
| *(grasmere) around N (noon) | ||
| 18 | TRANSIT | Passage from North and South in characteristic setting (7) |
| N (north) + S (south) in TRAIT (“characteristic”) setting | ||
| 19 | SULTANA | Concubine some woman at Lusaka upset (7) |
| Hidden backwards [some… upset] in “womAN AT LUSaka” | ||
| 21 | ONION | Working on island on tear-jerker? (5) |
| ON (“working”) on I (island) + ON | ||
| 23 | BERET | Feel sure about sapper’s cap (5) |
| BET (“fell sure”) about R.E. (Royal Engineer, aka “sapper”) | ||
| 25 | ERR | Miscalculate, ending in mate with bishop (3) |
| [ending in] (mat)E with R.R. (right reverend, or “bishop”) | ||
*anagram
Falcon was, to me, the most improved setter of 2018 and this is another masterclass on how to write cryptics at the easier end of the scale. Lots of great surfaces, a few trickier parsings (e.g., CRISP) and I learnt a new meaning for PATERNOSTER. I was pleased to remember the duck at 16d.
Re blog for 14a. I agree that RYE sounds like RYE but I think WRY is more pertinent:)
Thanks to Falcon and loonapick.
Note to self – remember to put spaces around emoticons 🙂
Across 1: Threw a fit
Throw a fit
Thanks for spotting my obligatory typo, Hovis.
Alan Swale – I don’t know why that didn’t show up in my original blog, but now corrected.
Thanks to Falcon and loonapick. Enjoyable. I did not know PATERNOSTER as lift but it was easily parsed, but I had trouble with RYE-wry.
Paternoster meaning lift is common in the Times (especially in the jumbo) apart from it’s religious meaning, so a write-in for me. FOI 1d, LOI 11a. Thanks setter.
Thanks Falcon and loonapick
A ‘simples’ solve, but one never feels short changed with the puzzles of this setter. Even so, there were a couple of new learnings to be had – POPLAR (the London district) and PATERNOSTER (not the prayer) along with some neatly put together charades.
Finished with a couple of the long ones in SHORT-HANDED and PERFORMANCE.