Today’s FT puzzle is by Falcon.
I normally find Falcon’s puzzles to be fairly straightforward, with the occasional obscure word thrown in. In today’s puzzle, the obscure word was FANTOCCINI.
However, I did have issues with some of Falcon’s definitions this morning. I am always hesitant to say that the setter has made mistakes, because sometimes it is just that he/she is using a different dictionary, or sometimes it’s simply that I am barking up the worng tree, but I had problems with:
9ac – did Falcon intend “Parisian” to indicate that the whole clue be treated as French? (Thanks, Hovis, for clearing this one up for me, I could not see past “point” being E)
7d – see my comment below.
21dn – w for “indefinite”? (Again, thanks to Hovis)
If I am wrong, I am sure someone will help me out.
Thanks, Falcon.
| Across | ||
| 1 | RAGAMUFFIN | Warmer in river, once more, for urchin (10) |
| MUFF (“warmer”) in R (river) + AGAIN (“once more”) | ||
| 6 | ITCH | Long trench daughter overlooked (4) |
| (d)ITCH (“trench” with D (daughter) overlooked) | ||
| 9 | FORTUNE | Strong point involving a Parisian’s large amount of money (7) |
| FORT (“strong point”) involving UN (“a” in French, so “a Parisian”) | ||
| 10 | PIGTAIL | What may be plaited, as plait twisted round one girl’s head? (7) |
| *(plait) [anag:twisted] round I (one) + G(irl’s) [head] | ||
| 12 | FANTOCCINI | Marionettes of fiction can, dancing (10) |
| *(fiction can) [anag:dancing] | ||
| 13 | SET | Established group (3) |
| Double definition | ||
| 15 | AVENUE | Approach adult meeting place (6) |
| A (adult) + VENUE (“meeting place”) | ||
| 16 | NO MATTER | It’s unimportant, gossip old medium described (2,6) |
| NATTER (“gossip”) with O (old) + M (medium) described | ||
| 18 | MATCHBOX | Its contents must be made of light wood (8) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 20 | ADAGIO | Trouble about a US soldier being slow (6) |
| ADO (“trouble”) about A GI (“US soldier”) | ||
| 23 | NAP | Siesta in ocean apartment (3) |
| Hidden [in] “oceaN APartment” | ||
| 24 | OVER-THE-TOP | Evident male head becoming excessive (4-3-3) |
| OVERT (“evident”) + HE (“male”) + TOP (“head”) | ||
| 26 | LECTERN | Large centre unexpectedly supplies reading desk (7) |
| L (large) + *(centre) [anag:unexpectedly] | ||
| 27 | ARRANGE | Set out from Scottish island, say, going west (7) |
| ARRAN (“Scottish island”) + <=E.G. (“say”, going west, i.e to the left) | ||
| 28 | ALLY | Join forces, gathering right away (4) |
| (r)ALLY (“gathering” with R (right) away) | ||
| 29 | ARCHETYPAL | Classic art cheaply reproduced (10) |
| *(art cheaply) [anag:reproduced] | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | RAFT | Large number, 100, abandoning vessel (4) |
| C (100, in Roman numerals) abandoning (c)RAFT (“vessel”) | ||
| 2 | GARBAGE | Unwanted stuff bishop kept in lock-up (7) |
| B (bishop) kept in GARAGE (“lock-up”) | ||
| 3 | MOUNT RUSHMORE | Memorial in the Black Hills to increase charge again (5,8) |
| MOUNT (“increase”) + RUSH (“charge”) + MORE (“again”) | ||
| 4 | FLEECE | Woollen coat to take to the cleaners (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | IMPRISON | Incarcerate troublemakers working across Rhode Island (8) |
| IMPS (“troublemakers”) + ON (“working”) across R.I. (Rhode Island) | ||
| 7 | TRANSIT | Male not in to send out shipment (7) |
| (male) not in TRANS(m)IT (“to send out”)
I can’t think of a situation where “transmit” and “shipment” are the synonymous? |
||
| 8 | HOLY TERROR | Very troublesome child, somehow hotly pursued by mistake (4,6) |
| *(hotly) [anag;somehow] pursued by ERROR (“mistake”) | ||
| 11 | GRIN AND BEAR IT | How stoically to suffer the intrusive paparazzi? (4,3,4,2) |
| Mildly cryptic indication that you should just smile for the cameras. | ||
| 14 | SALMONELLA | Nasty bug one got in small busy US city (10) |
| ONE got in *(small) [anag:busy] + LA (“US city”) | ||
| 17 | GOVERNOR | Senior administrator in charge of small number within Greece (8) |
| OVER (“in charge of”) + NO (small, i.e. abbreviated “number”) within GR (Greece) | ||
| 19 | TOPICAL | Newsworthy subject, a leader in London (7) |
| TOPIC (“subject”) + A + [leader in] L(ondon) | ||
| 21 | GROWN-UP | Adult with indefinite number in class (5-2) |
| W (with) + N (“indefinite number”) in GROUP (“class”) | ||
| 22 | ATTACH | Join junior member of embassy’s staff, briefly (6) |
| ATTACH(e) (‘junior member of embassy’s staff”, briefly) | ||
| 25 | WELL | Quite possibly fine for American to discard spades (4) |
| (s)WELL (“fine” for American, with S (spades) discarded) | ||
*anagram
9a is UN in FORTE. The W in 21d is from “with” and N is “indefinite number”.
Thanks, Hovis – proves my point about not criticising the setter too quickly…
Thanks Falcon & loonapick.
In 7 down a shipment is in transit , so in must be doing double duty I guess.
A shipment may be ‘in transit’ but that doesn’t equate the two.
Chambers Thesaurus (I know, skating on thin ice) mentions ‘shipment’ under ‘transit’.
And both get a mention under ‘transport’.
That’s where setters get away with it (and you cannot blame them – thin ice, though).
But if a shipment is in transit, isn’t that good enough?
Thanks Falcon and loonapick
Reckon that Falcon has ratcheted up the difficulty level a notch or two over the last few puzzles. This time a new word in FANTOCCINI and some word play – somehow missed the cryptic part of GRIN AND BEAR IT and the tenuous (but I think valid, based on dictionary synonyms) TRANSIT / ‘shipment’ equivalence.
Finished in the SE corner with ARRANGE, GOVERNOR and WELL.