FT Polymath 637

[Mr Jackal]

10d. I have Fleet Streeter for the answer but seem to be two letters short in the first word according to the clue (7-8). Any ideas gratefully received.

[Calibax]

What's the clue?

[Mr Jackal]

..and the clue is ' "A journalist of the baser sort or sponging prophet" '.

[bibblebub]

someone else has the letters ?L?E?E?-S???E?E?
but they are also nonplussed, as am I

http://www.theanswerb...4.html#answer-6538226

[Mr Jackal]

Do you think the compiler has been at the Christmas spirit?

[Brenden]

Could it be something like fleeter streeter I know streeter was a baser sort of journalist.

[Calibax]

Fleet-streeter definitely fits the clue as it can mean a journalist of the baser sort or a sponging prophet but I don't know where the other two letters come from. Fleeter-streeter doesn't really make sense, at least not to me.

[Brenden]

Nor me but I am stumped.

[grasscarp]

I use to work with Fleet Street journalists back in the sixties and they certainly were not base in any way nor synonymous with a sponging prophet. I think that it is not that simple.

[saladdodger]

Anyone know why this & FT 13,885 aren't on the website as usual for downloading?

[Calibax]

FLEET-STREETER, subs, (collo-
quial). A journalist of the baser
sort ; a spunging PROPHET (q.v.)\
a sharking dramatic critic ; a SPICY
(q.v.) paragraphist ; and so on.

[grasscarp]

Well done calibax. So although I respected the journalists of fleet st it had other meanings!

[beijinger]

Fleeter streeter - see Farmer & Henley, slang and its analogues, 1890 (also mentioned in Brewer's)

[beijinger]

Fleeter streeter - see Farmer & Henley (slang and its analogues), also quoted in Brewer's Britain + Ireland

[bibblebub]

well done beijinger - fleet-streeter wasn't in doubt it was the 2 extra letters that were causing the problem

[HowardKennitby]

Fleeter-Streeter

Cassell's Dict of Slang supports Calibax's posting. Not an expression I had ever heard.