Sorry for the delay, but the puzzle didn’t appear online until after my lunch break, so I have had to sneak a few minutes this afternoon to get the puzzle done.
Thankfully, this may have been the easiest puzzle I have solved this year. No obscure references, no difficult devices, a few chestnuts.
There wasn’t anything to pick fault with – it was just very simple. The spelling mistake that Andrew mentions in post 2 is not that glaring; (“omnivorous” is misspelled in 6ac), unless there’s another I didn’t notice, in which case it may be even less glaring?
Thanks, Falcon
| Across | ||
| 1 | REHEARSAL | Tries during proper practice session (9) |
| HEARS (“treis”) during REAL (“proper”) | ||
| 6 | COATI | One after fur points to omniverous animal (5) |
| I (“one”) after COAT (“fur”) | ||
| 9 | SHAMPOO | Drive off to get hold of a representative for a cleaning preparation (7) |
| SHOO (“drive off”) to get hold of A MP (“representative”) | ||
| 10 | PHANTOM | Husband in Christmas show, male ghost (7) |
| H(usband) in PANTO (“Christmas show”) + M(ale) | ||
| 11 | INTER | Bury playwright needing no introduction (5) |
| (Harold) (p)INTER (“playwright”) | ||
| 12 | LEFT-FIELD | Abandoned speciality, unconventional (4-5) |
| LEFT (“abandoned”) + FIELD (“specialty”) | ||
| 14 | ELY | See no odds for replay (3) |
| Remove the odd letters from (r)E(p)L(a)Y | ||
| 15 | GEORGE CROSS | Grocer goes off to collect second bravery award (6,5) |
| *(grocer goes) to collect S(econd) | ||
| 17 | TAM-O-SHANTER | Some tartan cloth finally used to make a cap (3-1-7) |
| *(some tartan H), where the H is the final letter of “cloth” | ||
| 19 | SAY | Last time out, for example (3) |
| S(t)AY (“last” with T(ime) out) | ||
| 20 | TEA GARDEN | Grade neat new restaurant (3,6) |
| *(grade neat) | ||
| 22 | AD LIB | Improvised, most of excuse involving daughter (2-3) |
| ALIB(i) (most of “excuse”) involving D(aughter) | ||
| 24 | COUPLET | Pair left in car heading for Truro (7) |
| L(eft) in COUPE (“car”) + T(ruro) | ||
| 26 | FANFARE | Price of ticket needed by supporter for elaborate ceremony (7) |
| FAN FARE would be the price of a ticket for a supporter | ||
| 27 | RHETT | Butler’s nasty threat following removal of article? (5) |
| *(thret) (“threat” with A (“article”) removed) | ||
| 28 | PETTY CASH | Money for minor expenses small- minded Conservative has blown (5,4) |
| PETTY (“small-minded”) + C(onservative) + *(has) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ROSTI | Swiss dish in bistro’s tip-top (5) |
| Hidden in “bistROS TIp-top” | ||
| 2 | HEALTHY | Flourishing and rich, having been given a fresh start (7) |
| H(w)EALTHY (“rich”, with a fresh start) | ||
| 3 | ASPARAGUS | Sweetheart turned up after a spring vegetable (9) |
| <=SUGAR (“sweetheart”, turned up) after A SPA (“spring”) | ||
| 4 | SNOW LEOPARD | Large cat paws one lord ferociously (4,7) |
| *(paws one lord) | ||
| 5 | LIP | Cheek and other facial feature (3) |
| Double definition | ||
| 6 | CHAFF | Light-hearted teasing from her, initially, in snack bar (5) |
| H(er) in CAFF (“snack bar”) | ||
| 7 | ART DECO | Style of design poorly rated by small company (3,4) |
| *(rated) + Co.(mpany) | ||
| 8 | IMMODESTY | Indecorum shown in memo I’d rewritten with pen (9) |
| *(memo id) + STY | ||
| 13 | FIGHTING FIT | Withstanding attack very well (8,3) |
| Double definition | ||
| 14 | ESTATE CAR | Vehicle’s condition described by retired people (6,3) |
| STATE (“condition”) described by <=RACE (retired “people”) | ||
| 16 | CERTAINTY | Sure-fire winner in TT race crashed, sadly, at the end (9) |
| *(in tt race) + (sadl)Y | ||
| 18 | MEASURE | Evaluate course of action (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 19 | SULTANA | Some consult an Asian sovereign’s wife (7) |
| Hidden in “conSULT AN Asian” | ||
| 21 | ALLOT | Apportion a rising levy (5) |
| A + <=TOLL (“levy”, rising) | ||
| 23 | BEECH | Busy person starts to chop hickory wood (5) |
| BEE (“busy person”) + C(hop) H(ickory) | ||
| 25 | TIP | Dump mine on the way up (3) |
| <=PIT (“mine”, on the way up) | ||
*anagram
I’ve copied below the comments from the placeholder post I put up earlier, which I am now going to delete.
1. Goujeers says:
March 22, 2018 at 11:35 am (Edit)
On previous showings I don’t expect it to be up before tomorrow
2. Andrew says:
March 22, 2018 at 1:12 pm (Edit)
It’s there now, with a glaring spelling mistake in one of the clues.
3. Brian says:
March 22, 2018 at 2:37 pm (Edit)
Not seeing the spelling mistake, myself. Has it been corrected? Or is the glare blinding me? Puzzle seemed easier than usual to American me, with fewer look-ups needed.
4. Loonapick says:
March 22, 2018 at 4:08 pm (Edit)
I’m working on the puzzle between meetings and phone calls. Seems really easy, so hopefully will get a blog up soon.
5. baerchen says:
March 22, 2018 at 4:27 pm (Edit)
@Brian, there’s a typo in 6a omiverous s/b omnivorous
I can only say the “omniverous” was glaring to me. I certainly agree that this was one of the easiest puzzles for a long time, even by Falcon’s usually gentle standards.
I thought 5d should perhaps have had an indication that “caff” is a slangy or “common” usage – I briefly wondered whether CHAFE might fit the definition until LEFT-FIELD put me right.
Yes, this was indeed easy but, at the same time, well-written [as Falcon’s puzzles usually are].
Let’s not forget that there is a (probably big) audience for this level of crosswords.
At a regular basis, beginning solvers do post a comment on this site – mostly at the Guardian thread.
They should really ‘discover’ setters like today’s [and the FT site anyway]. Ideal for novices!
Thanks loonapick & Falcon.
Yes. I am one of those ‘novices’ that SvdH refers to.
Apropos today’s FT offering, 22 should surely be ‘Improvise’ vs ‘Improvised’? Tense slippage seems to be an unfair obfuscation to me.
Thanks to all setters and bloggers who contribute to this fascinating website which has become a point of daily enjoyment in my retirement.
glbarnes, AD LIB can be used as a verb (‘improvise’, indeed) but more often as an adverb or an adjective (hence ‘improvised’).
Hope that helps.
Thanks to Falcon and loonapick. Easy but very enjoyable. I was busy preparing for a trip so did not get to this puzzle until today – and it did not last long enough on a long plane ride. I did not know ROSTI but the clue was sufficient. I’m relatively new to the FT puzzles but am having a lot of fun with them now that I’ve learned how to download them without glitches.
Thanks Falcon and loonapick
Just catching up after a hectic last week of a contract and thankfully a relatively straightforward puzzle to get done. ROSTI was my first in – discovered this word for this dish that my mum used to cook and called them ‘thingummyjigs’ when I was young.
Finished with the clever RHETT Butler down in the SW corner.