Falcon always a pleasure, and this morning’s no exception. A couple of new words and some ‘No, really?’ head-scratchery in the bottom left
I spent far too long trying to make TUMBLE work for 19d, the crossing HARDIHOOD not being that obvious either. But all was fair and above board in the end, so hats off to the wily Falcon once more.
| Across | ||
| 1 | MANITOBA | The old lady rocking boat in lake (8) |
| MA (‘old lady’) + anagram (‘rocking’) of BOAT IN. | ||
| 5 | AMIDST | Surrounded by a thin fog crossing end of field (6) |
| A + end of ‘fielD’ in MIST. | ||
| 10 | DEMOB | Discharge brigade’s leader after protest march (5) |
| 1st letter of ‘Brigade’ after DEMO. ‘Demob[ilisation]’ now a rarity with the fading of WWII memories… | ||
| 11 | CONSTRAIN | Force Charlie aboard small coach (9) |
| C[harlie] + ON (‘aboard’) + S[mall] + TRAIN. | ||
| 12 | IRREGULAR | Not conforming to rules, one member of gang helping Sherlock? (9) |
| Double definition: an ‘irregular’ might be one of Holmes’ urchin gang, the ‘Baker Street Irregulars’. | ||
| 13 | THERM | Unit of heat weather map contains (5) |
| Hidden in ‘weaTHER Map’. | ||
| 14 | STRING | Train from South Herts town (6) |
| S[outh] + TRING (Hertfordshire town). ‘String’ of, e.g., racehorses. | ||
| 15 | WESTERN | Partners at table back film (7) |
| W[est] + E[ast] (bridge ‘partners’) + STERN (‘back’). | ||
| 18 | MR RIGHT | Runs after male, just the man she’d like to be with? (2,5) |
| M[ale] + R[uns] + RIGHT (‘just’). | ||
| 20 | BRUTUS | Very dry American’s wig (6) |
| BRUT (of Champagne, ‘v dry’) + U.S. A new word to me. | ||
| 22 | ODEON | Lyric poem about concert hall (5) |
| ODE + ON. | ||
| 24 | MARGARITA | Mixed drink – a small measure knocked back by educated girl? (9) |
| A + GRAM (‘small measure’), all reversed, + RITA (from the Willy Russell play & film ‘Educating Rita’). | ||
| 25 | HARDIHOOD | Daring outlaw produced by English author for the listener (9) |
| ‘Daring’ as noun. Homophone (‘for the listener’) of a putative “(Thomas) Hardy hood (‘outlaw’)” | ||
| 26 | DRIFT | Current doctor, frightfully fit (5) |
| DR + anag. of FIT. | ||
| 27 | EARTHY | Blue celestial body close to Mercury (6) |
| EARTH (‘celestial body’) + last of ‘mercurY’. | ||
| 28 | IN A SENSE | Sort of fashionable when seen differently (2,1,5) |
| IN (‘fashionable’) + AS (‘when’) + anagram (‘differently’) of SEEN. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MADRID | Foolish going on short journey in European capital (6) |
| MAD + RIDe (‘journey’, shortened). | ||
| 2 | NUMERATOR | Rare mount beaten over the line, fractionally? (9) |
| Anagram (‘beaten’) of RARE MOUNT, for the top half of a mathematical fraction, the bottom, under-the-line bit being the ‘denominator’, from (very long-term) memory. | ||
| 3 | TO BE GOING ON WITH | Nothing too big we fancy, for now (2,2,5,2,4) |
| Nice anagram (‘fancy’) of NOTHING TOO BIG WE. | ||
| 4 | BACKLOG | Finance account in arrears (7) |
| BACK (to ‘finance’) + LOG (‘account’, as in the narrative part of a ship’s ‘log’). | ||
| 6 | MUTATIS MUTANDIS | With necessary changes, I must admit aunts must be upset (7,8) |
| Anagram (‘must be upset’) of I MUST ADMIT AUNTS. | ||
| 7 | DRAKE | Sailor, one at home on the water (5) |
| Double def. Sir Francis, of course. | ||
| 8 | TENEMENT | Chaps in principle responsible for block of flats (8) |
| MEN in TENET. | ||
| 9 | IN A ROW | One after the other having an altercation (2,1,3) |
| Another DD. | ||
| 16 | ERUDITION | Learning game in issue (9) |
| R[ugby] U[nion] in EDITION. | ||
| 17 | SMOOTHIE | Drink some hot, I suspect (8) |
| Anagram (‘suspect’) of SOME HOT I. A hot smoothie doesn’t bear thinking about. | ||
| 19 | TOMBOY | Romp with old doctor in play (6) |
| O[ld] + MB (Medicinae Baccalaurius, ‘doctor’) in TOY (‘play’). A ‘romp’ is evidently a ‘tomboy’ (Chambers, n. #2). Go, girls. Again, new to me but clear from the wordplay. | ||
| 20 | BORODIN | Composer bowled over sculptor (7) |
| B[owled] + O[ver], both from cricket, + (Auguste) RODIN (French ‘sculptor’). | ||
| 21 | CASTLE | Keep left in station (6) |
| L[eft] in CASTE (‘station’ in life). | ||
| 23 | ERROR | Faux pas made by enfant terrible blowing top (5) |
| tERROR (without 1st or ‘blowing top’), a rebel or ‘enfant terrible’. | ||
*anagram
About the most difficult Falcon I can remember doing. A few new words or senses such as BRUTUS and TOMBOY and others such as MUTATIS MUTANDIS were barely remembered. After a real struggle I ended up missing out on DRAKE.
I liked the ‘Composer’ and the ‘over the line, fractionally’ def. Clue of the day though was HARDIHOOD, even if the last five letters were superfluous given how tough the clue was.
Thanks to Falcon for the challenge and to Grant
Similarly I hadn’t come across BRUTUS or TOMBOY (and fumbled with tumble for a while) in that context and hadn’t heard of Holmes’ IRREGULARS or the Latin phrase and googled this having got the anagram fodder. It was also a dnf as I didn’t come up with HARDIHOOD. Favourites were NUMERATOR for the lovely misdirection in the surface and clever definition and the simple but effective clue. Thanks to Falcon and GB.
…. clue for CASTLE!
Who knew Falcon had a tricky hat? Lots of moments where I finally realised how the wordplay worked. I must remember BRUTUS the wig just in case it ever comes up again
Thanks to Falcon and Grant
crypticsue @ 4
There was a Falcon puzzle one Monday last year that I flippantly remarked on the graun thread would be lightweight fare. Turned out to be the hardest of the GIFTs!
Thanks to Falcon and Grant. A challenge but very enjoyable. I’m another who had trouble with TOMBOY=romp and BRUTUS= wig and the phrase in 3d was new to me, but the cluing was clear.
Thanks to Grant and Falcon
A couple of unfamiliar terms here that made it quite tough in places, but a very nice crossword.
Thanks Falcon & Grant.
In 25 across the outlaw is Robin Hood of course.
Thanks Falcon and Grant
Late to this and agree that it was a tad up the Falcon difficulty scale than normal. The same three unknowns as acd@6, the Latin phrase at 6d and that definition of ‘romp’.
Enjoyable puzzle which I finished in the NE corner with BACKLOG as the last one in.