Financial Times no. 13,941 by FALCON

by

I find myself stumped by two cities this morning, at 3dn. and 26ac. Otherwise, I enjoyed this – solid stuff, and the ccasional burst of inspiration.

ACROSS

1. TAKES ISSUE  Takes [scenes] + issue [children]

7. WAIT  Initial letters of W(afers) A(t) I(talian) T(rattoria)

9. BATS  Double definition

10. FIRST-CLASS  Double definition: a kindergarten is a child’s first class, and post – i.e. mail – can be sent first-class

11. WINNER  W(ife) + inner [a ring on an archery target]

12. NO CHANCE  No [number] + chance [gamble]

13. LEMONADE  A [article] within Le Monde [French newspaper]

15. OMSK Tomsk [womble] minus T [time]

17. OMIT  Hidden in frOM ITinerary

19. SEE STARS  Sees [realises] + tars [sailors]

22. ANGELICA  Angelic [heavenly] + a

23. LOCUST  Locus [place] + (fores)t

25. PROPENSITY  Anagram of person within pity [compassion]

26. AGRA ??? This ancient Mughal capital seems to be the best fit I can think of for the crossing letters, but the large number (M, C?) and the defeat (rout?) have me at a loss – or am I barking up the wrong tree?

27. CHAT  C [circa, about] + hat [bowler]

28. PALINDROME  Anagram of old man ripe; ‘dad’ is a palindrome, i.e. it reads the same backwards as forwards

DOWN

2. AVARICE  Anagram of caviare a

3. ESSEN  Again, I can guess at the German city, but am stumped by the rest. Thanks to Gaufrid for the explanation: of course, it’s lessened [fell] minus led

4. INFORMAL  Inform [give facts to] + a + L [learner]

5. SPRINGER SPANIEL  SP [starting price, odds] + ringer [dead ringer, double or lookalike] + SP [odds] + anagram of lean I

6. ENTICE  Hidden within apprENTICEs

7. WALKABOUT  AB [seaman, ‘able bodied’] within walkout [strike]

8. INSECTS  In + sects [groups]

14. ON THE SPOT  Anagram of sent photo

16. WESLEYAN  Anagram of Yales new to give a follower of the Wesleyan or Methodist church

18. MONARCH  On within march [rally]

20. ROSTRUM  Anagram of sort + rum [alcoholic drink]

21. SIGN UP  Sign [mark] + up [at university]

25. CHAIR  I [one] within char [cleaner]

 

 

5 comments on “Financial Times no. 13,941 by FALCON”

  2. Oh, good grief – of course it is. I even considered ‘lessen’. Thank-you, Gaufrid – edited accordingly.

  3. A lovely straightforward crossword to round off a particularly good selection of Thursday cryptics. Thanks to Falcon and Ringo too.

  4. Thanks Falcon for a pleasant puzzle and Ringo for the blog. I made the same wrong guess at 26ac and could not explain 3dn, so thanks Gaufrid@1 for these.

    5dn: I think the last part of this should be I within anagram of lean, to account for the words “being caught by” in the clue.

  5. The holy city is, I think, Acre (Massacre less a large number). I got Omsk and Essen but couldn’t figure out why they were right. Thanks for the explanations.

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