Solid fare from the Falcon this morning.
Not far off a write-in, a brisk December morning's romp of a puzzle. Thanks and a merry Christmas to Falcon and to posters and lurkers everywhere.
ACROSS | ||
1 | NOTEPAD |
Pay close attention to stuff in jotter (7)
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NOTE ('pay close attention') + PAD ('to stuff'). Actually, that 'TO' could be legitimately read in 3 ways, if you think about it. |
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5 | PICASSO |
Artist’s photographs must include American because of that (7)
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PIC.S ('photographs') include A[merican], then SO ('because of that'). |
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9 | LUPIN |
Short row involving winning flower (5)
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L.INe ('row'), shortened, includes UP ('winning'). |
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10 | VOLTE-FACE |
Turning round, left a cove in resort (5-4)
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Anagram ('re-sort') of LEFT A COVE. |
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11 | SMELL A RAT |
Suspect something’s amiss, with master criminal holding everyone back (5,1,3)
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Anagram ('criminal') of MASTER contains reversal of ALL. |
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12 | NIGHT |
Near end of flight in darkness (5)
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NIGH ('near') + last of 'flighT'. |
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13 | CRIME OF PASSION |
Film noir: mafiosos and prince involved (5,2,7)
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Anagram ('involved') of MAFIOSOS, PRINCE.. |
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18 | EXTENDED FAMILY |
Tribe nervously feed lynx I tamed (8,6)
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Anagram ('nervously') of LYNX I TAMED. |
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20 | LOCUS |
Spot insect shedding tail (5)
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LOCUSt. |
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22 | GLADIATOR |
Fierce debater’s happy I returned list (9)
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GLAD + I + reversal of ROTA. |
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24 | NURSEMAID |
Remind us, subtly, about a nanny (9)
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Anagram ('subtly') of REMIND US surrounds 'A'. |
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25 | LEAVE |
Take off most of foliage (5)
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LEAVEs. |
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26 | RELAYED |
Backing Ivy League university during revolutionary broadcast (7)
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Reversal of YALE in R.ED ('revolutionary'). |
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27 | RETREAT |
Withdraw in place of refuge (7)
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Double definition. |
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DOWN | ||
1 | NO LESS |
Number reduced, would you believe? (2,4)
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NO ('number') + LESS ('reduced'). |
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2 | TOP-SECRET |
Street cop redeployed? That could be classified (3-6)
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Anagram ('redeployed') of STREET COP. |
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3 | PENAL |
Extremely severe correspondent, disregarding second page (5)
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PEN-pAL ('correspondent') without 2nd P[age]. |
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4 | DOVER SOLE |
Fish? Only after daughter left (5,4)
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D[aughter] + OVER ('left') + SOLE ('only'). |
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5 | PILOT |
Guide, one in main story (5)
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1 in P.LOT |
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6 | CHEONGSAM |
G-man chose fancy dress (9)
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Anagram ('fancy') of G MAN CHOSE, for the oriental side-splitter. |
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7 | SLANG |
Colloquialisms in various languages (5)
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Hidden in 'variouS LANGuages'. |
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8 | OVERTONE |
Connotation may be obvious, one added (8)
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OVERT ('obvious') + ONE. |
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14 | MONASTERY |
Religious community, one briefly in control (9)
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M.ASTERY ('control') includes ONe, shortened. |
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15 | PUFF ADDER |
Snake tot’s seen inside steam engine (4,5)
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ADD (to 'tot') in PUFF.ER ('steam engine'). |
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16 | ILL AT EASE |
Dicky, a guy far from relaxed (3,2,4)
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ILL ('dicky') + A + TEASE (to 'guy'). |
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17 | RECLINER |
What’s on top of cruise ship’s comfy chair? (8)
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RE (about, concerning, 'on') + 1st of C{ruise} + LINER ('ship'). |
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19 | PRIEST |
Bother about religious instruction? It’s my job to! (6)
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P.EST (a 'bother') surrounds RI, &lit. |
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21 | CAROL |
Song about a character lacking energy (5)
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C[irca] ('about') + A + ROLe ('character') without E[nergy]. |
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22 | GRAND |
Superb piano (5)
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Double def. |
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23 | INLET |
Home leased in cove (5)
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IN ('home') + LET ('leased'). |
Thanks for the blog, neat and tidy clues here I liked ILL AT EASE, shades of Nixon, PENAL was very good and precise with the SECOND page.
( Minor typo, you forgot to feed the lynx for 18AC)
Enjoyed this outing from Falcon with PUFF ADDER being my favourite. The long anagrams were fun too.
Nothing too taxing but didn’t parse CAROL.
Thanks to Falcon for a gentle stroll and to Grant.
I thought PRIEST was a great clue and others such as RECLINER and PICASSO rewarded the effort in working out the parsing. The ‘Extremely severe’ sense of PENAL was new to me and I liked the reminder of the old “penpal” in this age of social media and email etc.
I’m not familiar with CRIME OF PASSION; sounds as if it may be worth a look.
Thanks to Falcon and Grant
A huge relief to have a straightforward puzzle after the serious challenges of recent issues.Some neat clues. Thanks to both for starting the holiday week in an orderly manner while chaos swirls around us.
Thanks Falcon for well-written clues that actually made some sense. Favourites inclued SMELL A RAT, EXTENDED FAMILY, and DOVER SOLE. Thanks Grant for the blog. Like Diane I had difficulty parsing CAROL.
‘Solid fare’ and ‘not far off a write-in’ – quite an achievement to get the perfect balance between those two. So chapeau to Falcon.
And thanks, too, to Grant.
Film noir = crime of passion
No!
Wasn’t impressed by cheongsam either.
Donna @ 7 Crime Of Passion is the title of a 1950s American film which both IMDB and wikipedia classify in the noir genre.
Most enjoyable. Next time I’m in Asia I must keep an eye out for a passing cheongsam. 13a was a little before my time.
Geoff,
You’ll be happy to learn that cheongsams are having a moment again in Hong Kong. They’d largely slipped out of use other than in hotel restaurants, summer school uniforms or worn by matrons at formal occasions. It seems Gen Z women are re-embracing their cultural heritage for IG- ready pics beside old temples and the like.
Thanks Falcon and Grant
First contract that I’ve had in a while that required work up until Christmas Eve in a program with a lot of work to do. So didn’t get to complete this in bits and bats until Wednesday and slipped checking it off until now. Found it a little harder than a write in, taking my average time to solve. Also missed the proper parsing of CAROL – had somewhat lazily assumed CAROLE was loosely defined as a ‘character’ then subtracted the E from that.
Not heard of the erotic film noir at 13, but did know of the CHEONGSAM from when my ex-wife used to wear one to formal events (not sure Diane, whether she would have reacted kindly to being called a ‘matron’ at the time 🙂 ).
Finished in the NE corner with PICASSO (slow on the uptake to work him out), OVERTONE and that CRIME OF PASSION as the last one in.