Times Quick Cryptic No 2652 by Alex

I have seen ‘f’ as an abbreviation for ‘following’ before but do not know from where it derives.

Checking sources, it appears that a lower case single ‘f’ is allowed when ‘following’ is a genealogical term, and an upper case single ‘F’ when ‘following’ is used regarding infertility.

Any alternatives?

Slight misdirection from Split’s capital letter, but without it, the clue would be nonsense.

A FIGURE can be “a diagram or illustrative drawing, especially in a book or magazine”.

COD for me due to the ALLITERATION in the clue itself.

ALLITERATION is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words e.g. “Bob brought the box of bricks to the basement”.

Wasn’t sure whether ‘arriving at’ is part of the surface or the definition. Perhaps depends on whether ‘meeting’ is a verb or a noun here i.e.

‘arriving at (surface)’ + ‘meeting (verb)’

OR

‘arriving (verb) at meeting (noun)’.

Thoughts?

Both COUNTERPOINT and ‘Set off’ mean “serve as decorative embellishment to something”.

In musical terms, this refers to a technique where counterpoint notes are offset against the cantus firmus (the basic melody of a polyphonic composition) notes, and is characterised by syncopation where the strong beats of the of the cantus firmus are tied over to the weak beats of the counterpoint.

Originally not exclusively feminine, CURTSEY is a variant of ‘courtesy’ i.e. “an expression of respect” dating back to the 1540s. The specific “bending the knee and lowering the body as a gesture of respect” is from 1570s.

Wondering why the definition is written with a ‘z’ rather than an ‘s’ – British paper and all that – I expect it was originally written with a ‘z’ in British English and is still valid in some archaic form – someone may care to elaborate?

ZIT is 1960s US teenager slang for an acne pimple.

MARTENs are solitary, omnivorous, weasel-like mammals, meeting only to breed in late spring or early summer. Litters of up to five blind and nearly hairless kits are born in early spring. They are weaned after around two months, and leave the mother to fend for themselves at about three to four months of age.