Clues by M and Grid by Bozzy
Theme: In commemoration of Paul Facey-Hunter (Puck)
Winner: Ralph Power of Bristol
Review of the February Extra 2025 3D crossword
There’s mystery and mischief afoot in this puzzle. What is the theme? Who is ‘M’, the setter? What is the significance of the sprite in the background picture? What do all the unclued entries have in common? Why does one of the latter have only two letters? What are the four ‘appropriate’ names in the yellow cells in the grid? There is a lot to unravel and the brief preamble is signally lacking in any pointers.
On first reading, the clue at 14, with its mention of ‘Bottom’ and ‘ass’, suggests a six-word quotation from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and several of the clues have hints in their wording that reinforce this as a possible point of reference: ‘puckish’, ‘good fellow’, ‘playful’, ’mischievously’, ‘knaves’. The friendly initial letters clue at 18 provides welcome confirmation that we might be on the right track, since it is paired with ROBIN (Goodfellow) at 22, and also provides, in PUCK, one of the thematic names in the grid. So, the theme is characters from the play perhaps, then? However, the next highlighted name to emerge is WANDERER at 28 and this track looks to be a cul-de-sac, at least to this solver, but more of that later. Back to the drawing board.
Ordinarily, in a 3D puzzle, I am able to cold solve around half the clues without reference to the grid, but this was far from the case here, not least because of the subtle misdirection in many of the clues, the hitherto unfathomable long quotation at 14 and the presence of the three unclued entries. To make progress was definitely going to need a route map of crossings and intersections.
The breakthrough came with REARGUARD at 19, which overlaps with the unclued entry at 10, which can only be GUARDIAN. The red light had suddenly turned green (that’s enough of the travel metaphors, Ed.). A quick check via Google revealed that the crossword setter PUCK of the GUARDIAN was also WANDERER (aha!) of the FT (aha!) and HOB(aha!) of the INDEPENDENT (aha!), and all three pseudonyms have their genesis in the Shakespeare play, Act II Scene I: Puck, the hob(goblin)’s soliloquy: ‘Thou speak’st aright; I am that merry wanderer of the night.’ Brilliant!
The lightbulb moment may well have identified the theme but it was not the end of the enjoyment or the fun: favourite clues were for HOBBY, NUTTY, USAGE, CHAIN and CHUPATI. The final hugely satisfying grid entry was the anagrammed long quotation at 14: LORD, WHAT FOOLS THESE MORTALS BE.
Many solvers will know that Puck, who was a much valued contributor to the development of the 3D project, sadly passed away in January of this year. The extent of his contribution is eloquently and movingly described by our President, Eric Westbrook, amongst others, on the Fifteensquared website.
Sincere thanks are due to Bozzy, stalwart of the 3D team, and the mysterious ‘M’. What they have given us here is a timely, skilfully constructed, witty and wonderfully fitting tribute to Paul Facey-Hunter, aka Puck. May he rest in peace.
KM
Grid solution
Background image
The backdrop to this puzzle depicts a bookplate featuring the sprite Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Rijksmuseum, CC0 1.0 licence).
Clues and explanations
Thematic solutions are indicated with an asterisk.
| Day | Solution | Clue | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ACTAEON | 21ac Act your age, ancient Hunter (7) | ACT + AEON (Greek, hence ‘your’ age) |
| 2 | ANCRE | 21to Crane flutters by Albert’s river (5) | CRANE*, river near Albert, France |
| 3 | APPAREL | 4ba Mischievously regarding papal clobber (7) | (RE PAPAL)* |
| 4 | BLURB | 6d Bishop following Britpop band gets publicity piece (5) | BLUR + B |
| 5 | CHAIN | 7d Batting after tea in series (5) | CHA + IN |
| 6 | CHUPATI | 20ac Fetch up a tiny slice of bread (7) | Hidden in fetCH UP A TIny |
| 7 | COMBINES | 22d,26ac Brings together harvesters (8) | Ref. combine harvesters |
| 8 | ERNES | 13d Sea eagles tucked up in winter nest (5) | Hidden in wintER NESt |
| 9 | FT* | 27ac Unclued (2) | Newspaper in which Paul F-H set as Wanderer |
| 10 | GUARDIAN* | 16ac,18aw Unclued (8) | Newspaper in which Paul F-H set as Puck |
| 11 | HIRER | 24up Inland Revenue invested in woman’s employer (5) | IR in HER |
| 12 | HOBBY* | 24aw Cookery pastime? (5) | Like a cooker |
| 13 | INDEPENDENT* | 9aw,11ac-3,12d,28to-4 Unclued (11) | Newspaper in which Paul F-H set as Hob |
| 14 | LORD WHAT FOOLS THESE MORTALS BE* | 1aw,10d,27to,23ac,25up,4aw Waste zero time, do tell: how he alters Bottom for ass reveals 22’s view of men (4,4,5,5,7,2) | (D[o t]ELL: HOW HE ALTERS BOTTOM FOR ASS)* &littish – from speech by Robin Goodfellow/Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream |
| 15 | MUSES | 25aw They inspire topless tickles (5) | [a]MUSES |
| 16 | NUTTY | 11d ‘Bonkers. Thank You’ texted by enthusiast (5) | NUT + TY |
| 17 | PAUL* | 3d One responsible for letters corresponding with 18, 28 and with 12, mostly (4) | Double def. Ref. Epistles of Paul and Paul F-H, he behind the pseudonyms Puck, Wanderer and Hob |
| 18 | PUCK* | 3aw 22, good fellow, foremost of playful, unruly, clever knaves (4) | acrostic Playful Unruly Clever Knaves Ref. Robin Goodfellow |
| 19 | REARGUARD | 19to,14ac,18aw-2 Sappers pull gunners back around turn from a defensive position (9) | RE + (DRAG RA)< around U (RE=Royal Engineers & RA=Royal Artillery) |
| 20 | REBACKS | 5ac Taking part in 50-metre backstroke strengthens spine (7) | Hidden in 100-metRE BACKStroke Bookbinding term |
| 21 | RECCO | 5d Among flyers, check out … (5) | RAF term for reconnoitre |
| 22 | ROBIN* | 2aw … one with a challenge sounded in song? (5) | ref. Robin Adair (“a dare”) traditional Irish song |
| 23 | ROUST | 15aw Puckish torus puzzle — wake up cowboy! (5) | TORUS* |
| 24 | SADLY | 29ba In tears as fox takes flyer? (5) | S(AD)LY |
| 25 | SLIPS | 8d Strips undergarments (5) | Double definition – e.g. strips/slips of paper and petticoats |
| 26 | SPELL | 23up Member of splinter group for a while? (5) | Double definition – splinter in skin and short period of time |
| 27 | USAGE | 17aw Custom you said that’s associated with Scarborough Fair (5) | U + SAGE (ref. parsley, sage…) Paul F-H was from Scarborough |
| 28 | WANDERER* | 10ac,13d-2 He roams around Queens after dawn, restless (8) | DAWN* + ER ER |
Solvers’ comments
What a lovely tribute to our recently departed friend! Sarah and I fondly remember meeting Puck at the York presentation lunch in 2019. A lovely man who brought so much to crosswords in general and to our project in particular. [NI]
Such a beautiful and fitting tribute! Rest in paradise, Paul 
[MS]
A wonderfully magical tribute… [DH]
Lovely puzzle in memory of Paul/Puck etc [JP]
Living in Australia it took a long time to work out the necessary info to correctly determine the answers to the the 3 unclued entries. Great feeling of achievement when it finally clicked. [KD]
I was saddened to hear of Puck’s death. Your crossword is a thoughtful and fitting tribute to him. Thank you, Bozzy and M. [RS]
Thank you so much to M and Bozzy for this wonderful tribute. The clue at Day 18 describing Puck/Paul was a gem. I had my own quiet moments as I completed this Special Surprise Puzzle, feeling connected yet again to one of my favourite setters ever, whose mischievous and clever setting will continue to be much-missed. Vale Puck. [JA]
It took me till nearly the end of the puzzle to figure out what was going on… Thank goodness F? is so suggestive. This was a touching tribute. Thanks for putting it together and letting us solve it. [NY]
An elegant tribute [PA]
A fine tribute. [TH]
A very entertaining and enjoyable puzzle. Some nice clueing with a good mixture of types, and a lovely tribute to Puck. Thanks Bozzy and M. [CW]
Fond memories of Puck’s puzzles! I found some of the clues a little curious – ‘your age’ for AEON, not sure about day 20 (‘back’ was a bit obvious); 23 having ‘Puckish’ in it while PUCK was a solution… but some lovely ones too (HOBBY in particular). [HS]
Excellent puzzle for the setters. [RG]
An enjoyable extra and a fitting tribute. [SB]
A touching tribute to a much loved setter. [RP]
It took us more than 30 minutes! [J&JH]
A fitting tribute! [HK]
I don’t do any of the newspapers but I see he’s been here before. A search on the three given pseudonyms found the answer. A worthy tribute. 14 I haven’t decoded what words make the anagram. [MJ]
A fine tribute to a good fellow. [DR]
Good idea for a theme. [PD]
Splendid tribute to Puck, with thanks. [JC]
Lovely puzzle and homage to some favourite setters. A few challenging words but all was fair in the end. [JT]
Nice both to cotton on to the themes [sic] early, and for it to feature my namesake. I still can’t parse 23up though. [RS]
Ok [GL]
Great fun but some really difficult clues. [RE]
A great tribute to a great setter, always enjoyed his puzzles, he’ll be much missed. RIP Puck. [SC]
Nice bonus and tribute to Paul Facey-Hunter. [MH]
Superb [RL]
Thank you M and Bozzy for this lovely tribute to an amazing setter. [AJ]
It took us more than 40 minutes. [J&JH]
Very enjoyable, even though I’ve ripped my hair out trying to get this finished! 
[MN]
Lovely tribute to a brilliant setter. [AR]
A thoroughly enjoyable challenge, thank you for the extra stimulation! [SF]
A nice tribute. Always enjoyed his puzzles! [JG]
Excellent [LA]
Excellent [LA]
Very clever intermingling of two themes. I enjoyed it. [JB]
Nice extra thanks [JM]
Fitting tribute [KPH]
Great. Just great. Loved it. [SW]
Rubric is quite confusing as are some of the clues. [RC]
Lovely puzzle [MD]
A fitting tribute [DM]
Lovely to have the extra puzzle in February. A wonderful tribute. [BS]
Did not like a lot of the clues. Seems like there were a lot of extra words. (Good thing I’m not reviewing it, I guess.) [AB]
A fitting tribute to some of our favourite setters – and where to find them… The Shakespearean links to Puck fitted in nicely. [SB]
A wonderful tribute! [MC]
I laughed and couldn’t stop smiling after I realized the theme was not Shakespearean! I don’t understand the parsing of Day 26, otherwise it was mercifully straightforward. Thanks to Bozzy and M for today’s laugh. (We Yanks need all we can get these days…) [JS]
Got stuck on a couple, but nice homage to Puck. [JC]