Financial Times 17,072 by FALCON

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Not hugely challenging, but a fair test with a very clever &lit.

A steady coffee-time romp with a couple of ‘ah-ha’ moments. Good stuff, thanks Falcon.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 SALT FLAT
Apartment assigned to sailor, sort of plain? (4,4)

The FLAT (‘apartment’) of a SALT (‘sailor’), perhaps
6 ASTUTE
Quick on the uptake, like famous pharaoh, leader of Egyptians (6)

AS (‘like’) King TUT + 1st of ‘Egyptians’.
9 RETURN
Elect to go back (6)

Double definition.
10 LUCKY DIP
Duly pick off game (5,3)

Anagram (‘off’) of DULY PICK.
11 TAXI
Cab charge beginning to irk (4)

TAX (‘charge’) + 1st of ‘Irk’.
12 STANDSTILL
Stop to pay for another photograph (10)

STAND (‘pay for another’, as in ‘I’ll stand you a pint’) + STILL (a ‘photograph’).
14 WHATS NEW
Question, perhaps asked when greeting wife, was then outrageous (5,3)

W[ife] + anagram (‘outrageous’) of WAS THEN.
16 LAST
Survive piece of strong criticism? Not bishop (4)

bLAST (‘piece of strong criticism’) without B[ishop].
18 STAR
Celebrity’s brief introduction (4)

STARt (‘introduction’), shortened.
19 NUISANCE
Pest is hidden by shade (8)

IS in NU.ANCE (‘shade’ of e.g. meaning).
21 HOPPING MAD
In a frightful rage, nail GM a day after dance (7,3)

HOP (‘dance’) + PIN (‘nail’) + A + GM + D[ay].
22 ALAS
American girl, short, I’m sorry to say (4)

A[merican] + shortened ‘LASs’.
24 BALMORAL
Skin cream said to come from a highland castle (8)

BALM (‘skin cream’) + ORAL (‘said’).
26 LOST IT
Off course, Italian gave way to violent anger (4,2)

LOST (‘off course’) + IT[alian].
27 COWBOY
Intimidate by circling round drover (6)

COW (to ‘intimidate’) + B.Y around ‘O’ (‘round’).
28 SHOWED UP
Appeared embarrassed (6,2)

Double definition.
DOWN
2 ARENA
In section of Harare, national stadium (5)

Included in ‘harARE NAtional’.
3 TOURIST TRAP
A trip tutors arranged brings one to a place that exploits visitors (7,4)

Anagram (‘arranged’) of A TRIP TUTORS.
4 LANDS END
Catch post in location near Penzance (5,3)

LAND (‘catch’) + SEND.
5 TILT AT WINDMILLS
Act quixotically seeing charge applied to children’s toys? (4,2,9)

TILT (to ‘charge’, as in a joust) + WINDMILLS (‘children’s toys’).
6 ARCADE
A dishonourable man splitting note in shopping precinct (6)

A + RE (SOL-FA ‘note’) are split by CAD (‘dishonourable man’).
7 TRY
Trial judge (3)

Double def. A bit close, perhaps.
8 TRIPLE SEC
Incorrectly spelt rice liqueur (6,3)

Anagram (‘incorrectly’) of SPELT RICE.
13 TALLAHASSEE
Incredible shows to watch across a city in Florida (11)

TALL (‘incredible’, as in ‘tall tales’) + HAS (‘shows’ as in e.g. ‘she has promise’) + SEE (‘to watch’) all around ‘A’.
15 HOT POTATO
Casserole at last in bistro? Controversial issue (3,6)

A casserole might be a ‘HOT POT’, then AT + last of ‘bistrO’.
17 VINDALOO
Curry and plonk old boy served up inside (8)

VIN.O (informal ‘plonk’) around O[ld] + LAD, reversed.
20 IN-TRAY
Where there may be some work to do? (2-4)

Not-so-cryptic definition…
23 ADIEU
Farewell to the Parisian about to depart (5)

But this was more slippery than it looked; it’s A.U (‘to the’ in French, i.e. to a Parisian) around DIE (‘to depart’) &lit, by gum.
25 MOB
Unruly bunch kept in Guantanamo Bay (3)

Hidden in ‘guantanaMO Bay’.

8 comments on “Financial Times 17,072 by FALCON”

  1. Done at a canter but enjoyably so. 10a, 24a, 4d, 8d and 23d were all neat but my favourite was 19a, NUISANCE.
    Thanks, Grant, for explaining the extra ‘o’ in 17d, VINDALOO where I only had ‘vin’.
    I could only think of ‘tall tales’ for the Floridian city but it seemed a stretch.
    Thanks to Falcon and Grant. .

  2. Thanks Falcon and Grant
    Not all that long to fill the grid but with plenty of interesting word constructions and nuances of definitions to keep it a fun solve. Started off with TOURIST TRAP and finished with the symmetric TALLAHASSEE, which I had to look up to spell properly and come here to finish parsing it properly.
    Particularly liked the word play of HOPPING MAD, VINDALOO and that TALLAHASSEE (when it was revealed). The clever ADIEU was very classy.

  3. Thanks for the blog , neat and clever clues with a lot of my favourites mentioned. I originally thought that ADIEU was very simple, I now see it was very devious.

  5. Thanks to Falcon and Grant
    23dn: The important thing is that this is a clever clue, the last six words forming both a valid secondary indication (usually called wordplay on this site) and information about the linguistic origin and nuance of meaning in the answer. On the less important issue of how to classify the clue, I would say the following: If Falcon had put a question mark on the end, it would be certain that the whole clue was meant to be a definition by example. Without the question mark, I think it is at least as reasonable to take the definition as being the single word “Farewell” for a word that was anglicised centuries ago.

  7. Thanks Falcon for the enjoyment. I liked VINDALOO (it’s refreshing not having toilet to indicate “loo”, especially in a clue about food), COWBOY, and LANDS END. Thanks Grant for the blog — I hadn’t heard of LUCKY DIP nor would I have ever seen the brilliance of ADIEU.

  8. The other refreshing bit about VINDALOO is that old boy did not give an OB for once.
    Thanks for the fun Falcon and the explanations – especially ADIEU – Grant.

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