Comments on: Financial Times 12,937 by Sleuth

By: Sleuth

Sleuth — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 11:52:59 +0000

Hi Nathan

Thanks for your remarks which are much appreciated. Hope you continue to enjoy solving FT puzzles.

Sleuth

By: Nathan Jesurasingham

Nathan Jesurasingham — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 09:48:27 +0000

Hi Sleuth

Thanks for your comments. It’s always good to hear from the compilers. I have been solving FT puzzles for a few months now and you are one of my three favourite setters (together with Dante and Cincinnus).

I really enjoyed solving this puzzle.

I agree with you about lobbying Chambers to include k=grand in its next edition. Chambers has been my dictionary of choice since I was old enough to read and it would be good to see this included.

By: Sleuth

Sleuth — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 01:18:53 +0000

Thanks to Gaufrid for his blog and others for their comments. Regarding the k=grand debate, I’d argue from a setter’s point of view that having it as an option is very useful, especially as opportunities to use kilos, krone, kwacha and the like in surface readings are somewhat more limited. Crossword language can and
surely should reflect everyday linguistic usage even if, on occasions, there is not an explicit citation in Chambers. Language is constantly evolving and Chambers is an authoritative but not all encompassing monitor of this evolution.

In answer to Gaufrid’s point, while Chambers does give g=grand, this surely does not necessarily mean there cannot be other legitimate representations of grand (in the same way as bishop can be b or RR and doctor can be MB, MD, DR, GP or MB).

Perhaps a delegation of setters should strongly lobby Chambers
to include k=grand in its next edition to settle the debate!

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 14:38:58 +0000

The Crossword Centre debate was probably focussed in a UK context esp on ‘advanced’ puzzles where answers would normally by justified by Chambers. Chambers gives k = 1000 (number) and grand as 1000 (money – 1000 dollars or pounds) so my personal view is that grand = K is strictly speaking probably not correct.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:18:12 +0000

Nmsindy
“….. it tends to be used exclusively in a financial context.”

I would dispute this. ‘k’ as an abbreviation for kilo (or the multiplier 1000) is widely used in all fields where units of measurement are involved. Even outside the scientific/engineering realm, you have the likes of kg and km in everyday use.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:10:21 +0000

Eileen
Thanks for the correction. The answer to 6d was so obvious that I overlooked the fact that the seemingly obvious anagram fodder contained an extra ‘ny’ and missed out an ‘f’.

Yes, buff = fan is in Chambers.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:05:59 +0000

Paul
Thanks for the explanation. All is now clear!

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:02:15 +0000

Enjoyed this puzzle, which I found on the easy side, and which also contained a pangram (every letter of the alphabet used at least once). There was a long discussion on the Crossword Centre Message Board re K = grand (1000). It was inconclusive really, but in practice, though K = 1000 (the number,) it tends to be used exclusively in a financial context.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:49:39 +0000

I have no problem with K = grand but I do think it’s rather weak to have L for Lecturer twice in one crossword [especially when I wasn't aware of this abbreviation].

Gaufrid: I thought you had omitted ‘by’ from your anagram [as I, too, had taken it] in 6dn but it doesn’t actually work, does it? It seems that BUFF must = fan – but I can’t find it. Maybe Chambers has it?

By: Paul B

Paul B — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:44:10 +0000

By all means. SI = subsidiary indication, i.e. the bits that make up a word in the cryptic reading of its clue.

SURP-rising, in a down clue, would (within the outrageous lawlessness that is ‘libertarianism’) produce PRUS as a unit of SI, and wouldn’t be found in any dictionary that I currently possess.