Comments on: Financial Times 12,929 by Satori

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:43:34 +0000

Still rather new to cryptics – only 4 months in, I found this rather OK and straight forward. I did struggle with the south east corner and this is the first Satori puzzle I’ve done, but really liked it. Filled 40 % in without any reference help at all, the words came naturally for me today.

Any who. Tomorrow’s another day, where’s IO ?

By: smiffy

smiffy — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:19:02 +0000

I found this the toughest FT puzzle in weeks, if not months, with the south-east corner causing me all sorts of aggro. Still kicking myself that the two 25s didn’t come to me quicker.
Not often that I find a war of attrition so enjoyable, so a tip of my hat (a woolly one, it’s frigid in these parts today) to Satori.

Agreed that 8D is very well-honed, but I do have a vague (or perhaps false?) memory of having encountered a similar treatment before, in the dim and distant past.

By: Octofem

Octofem — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:01:44 +0000

Gaufrid, I thought you would crack it! I had gone all round the houses without actually seeing the way. You should have a big smug grin, never mind a smile.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:44:07 +0000

Hi Eileen
Thanks for the congratulations. I was rather pleased when the penny finally dropped and haven’t stopped smiling since.

With regard to 19a, my problem is that the usual references give the following:

Chambers ca = cases; circa (L), about
COED ca = circa and circa = approximately
Collins ca (abbreviation for circa) = about
Collins circa = at the approximate time of

I accept that Chambers defines circa as about or around but there is no direct link given between the entries for ca and circa.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:20:55 +0000

Congratulations, Gaufrid, on cracking 8dn! It could so easily have been missed.

I don’t see your problem with 19ac. The first meaning of ‘circa’ in both Lewis and Short’s Latin dictionary and SOED is ‘around’. I thought ‘lines’ as an insertion indicator was very clever, especially with the more usual use in 2dn. [I played around too long with 'll'.]

Interesting to see [almost] the same device in 16ac and 22dn.

I rather liked 27ac.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:20:52 +0000

Octofem
Many thanks for prompting me to revisit 8d. It was well worth spending a little extra time on what turned out to be a superb &lit clue.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:54:56 +0000

Mornin’ Octofem

I’m not sure there is any wordplay as such in 8d, it seems to be just a (almost non-) cryptic clue. However, now that you have raised the question I will revisit the clue to see if I can come up with anything else.

By: Octofem

Octofem — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:28:21 +0000

Hi Gaufrid – it seems to be your week! I got held up on 25a, trying to take the ‘t’ from ‘troops’and getting ‘spoor’ which didn’t seem appropriate! ‘Brooklyn’ was an obvious answer for 8d, but could you explain the word play? The first letters of the words do not seem to work.