This may be the first time I have blogged a puzzle by Flimsy…
… but I can’t imagine that this is typical of his work.
Overall, this was not a terribly exciting experience. Most of the entries were fairly simple but bland. The only clue that earned a tick from me was 10 ac, but I didn’t like 2dn and 4dn, and had doubts over 6dn and 16ac. I don’t know why the setter felt the need to go for such an obscure definition at 20dn, as it was incongruous with the rest of the puzzle. And N for “new” appears twice, which I think is just lazy.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BULLETIN | Slug in newspaper (8) |
| BULLET (“slug”) + IN | ||
| 5 | BALLAD | Dance band oddly released sentimental song (6) |
| BALL (“dance”) + (b)A(n)D | ||
| 9 | ANGRIEST | Most irritated rook that is in distress (8) |
| R(ook) + I.E. (“that is”) in ANGST (“distress”) | ||
| 10 | ETHNIC | Worried the mostly pleasant folk (6) |
| *(the) + NIC(e) (mostly “pleasant”) | ||
| 12 | DATES | Sees fruit (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 13 | CONTAINED | Prisoner prepared with no right to be held (9) |
| CON (“prisoner”) + T(r)AINED (“prepared” with no R(ight)) | ||
| 14 | RIDERS | River fish rise regularly – those on a hunt? (6) |
| R(iver) + IDE (“fish”) + R(i)S(e) | ||
| 16 | PATTERN | Pound with new shape (7) |
| PATTER (“pound”) with N(ew)
Although my thesaurus lists “pound” among the synonyms for “patter”, I think the two words are significantly different. |
||
| 19 | ANGUISH | Gun has gone off one’s in pain (7) |
| *(gun has) with I (“one”) in. | ||
| 21 | REDACT | Prepare wine and serve (6) |
| RED (“wine”) + ACT (“serve”) | ||
| 23 | BEAUTIFUL | Pretty bad failure, but right to be brushed aside (9) |
| *(failue but) The R(ight) of “failure” has been brushed aside. | ||
| 25 | IMAGE | Picture I framed – good for daughter (5) |
| I + MA(d>G)E (“framed” with G(ood) for (in place of) D(aughter) | ||
| 26 | CASINO | A coin’s lost here? You bet! (6) |
| *(a coins) and &lit. | ||
| 27 | MESSAGES | Perhaps emails philosopher in confusion (8) |
| SAGE (“philosopher”) in MESS (“confusion”) | ||
| 28 | ESTEEM | Judge bumps into rear of garage when reversing (6) |
| <=(MEETS (“bumps into”) + (garag)E) when reversing | ||
| 29 | DEPENDED | Deputy stopped and rested (8) |
| DEP(uty) + ENDED (“stopped”) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BRANDY | Bishop with hot drink (6) |
| B(ishop) + RANDY (“hot”) | ||
| 2 | LIGHTNING | A bolt from the blue (9) |
| (not very) cryptic definition | ||
| 3 | EMITS | Throws out broken items (5) |
| *(items) | ||
| 4 | INSECTS | Insignificant people in parties (7) |
| IN + SECTS (“parties”)
Don’t think sect and party are synonymous – they’re both groups, but to me, the word “sect” is quite specific, whereas party is much less so. |
||
| 6 | ATTRACTED | A Teddy boy on outside of paper is drawn (9) |
| A + TED(dy boy) on outside of TRACT (“paper”) | ||
| 7 | LINEN | Cover the inside with new fabric (5) |
| LINE (“cover the inside”) with N(ew) | ||
| 8 | DECADENT | Corrupt head of Chemotherapy in unproductive hospital department (8) |
| C(hemotherapy) in DEAD (“unproductive”) + E.N.T. (“hospital department”) | ||
| 11 | SNIP | Piece of cake – second bite (4) |
| S(econd) + NIP (“bite”) | ||
| 15 | EXISTENCE | Exit scene, upset? That’s life (9) |
| *(exit scene) | ||
| 17 | EXCHANGED | Swapped old coins with old penny (9) |
| EX (“old”) + CHANGE (“coins”) + D (“old penny”) | ||
| 18 | BARBECUE | Naughty bear cub beginning to eat grilled meat (8) |
| *(bear cub) + E(at) | ||
| 20 | HEFT | What turns up with this paper? A number of sheets fastened together (4) |
| <EH (“what” turns up) + F.T. (“this paper”)
A very obscure definition, not in keeping with the rest of the puzzle? |
||
| 21 | RELIEVE | Release scoundrel I eventually imprisoned (7) |
| Hidden in “scoundREL I EVEntually” | ||
| 22 | CEASED | Cold became less severe and stopped (6) |
| C(old) + EASED (“became less severe”) | ||
| 24 | ASSET | Strength when fixed (5) |
| AS (“when”) + SET (“fixed”) | ||
| 25 | ISSUE | Child is small and used to be ignored on a regular basis (5) |
| IS + S(mall) + U(s)E(d) | ||
*anagram
Thank you, Loonapick. This is the first Flimsy puzzle for me, too, so I can’t vouch for its typicality. I agree your point about the looseness of several synonyms. My Chambers has the definition for 20D as heft(4). I rather liked that since the FT can be relied on not to bundle magazines and promotions etc. (except ‘How to spend it’), unlike papers more favourably chosen by most crossword solvers.
I seem to remember quite liking Flimsy in the past but put me down as another who found this a bit lacklustre. My thesaurus also gives ‘pound’ as a synonym for ‘patter’ (but not vice-versa) which seems odd to me.
Thanks to Flimsy and loonapick. I did opt for SNIP and PATTERN but without much confidence, for I had not come across the former in relation to a piece of cake and wanted “batter” rather than “patter.” I also ended up choosing HEFT (which I did parse) without understanding why. Curious.
The FT have been experimenting with the interactive format and I believe this is the first day the main puzzle has featured – that might explain the rather mild offering. Let’s hope it succeeds and saves some ink! I did send some feedback as requested and hope they can remove the need to do so much scrolling – unless I’m missing something!
@ACD 3 – ‘snip’ in Collins
7. informalsomething easily done; cinch (IOW a piece of cake).
Thanks Flimsy and loonapick
This setter hasn’t been seen since late last year. I have done a number of his puzzles which are generally straightforward and will often have an obscure answer in amongst the easier clues. This time it was ESTEEM to reference the formal term to ‘judge or deem’ and HEFT which I could only find in wictionary.com to mean ‘a bundle of sheets fastened together’.
There were quite a number of similar devices used:- 5-6 standard anagrams, 3 uses of ‘odd / regular’ letters and the repeat of N=’new’. Still it filled in my average solving time to get it completed – so I guess it has done it’s job !