Comments on: Financial Times 12,968 / Aardvark

By: Smutchin

Smutchin — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:31:04 +0000

Eileen, thanks for the explanation of ephemera – I too was unsure about it being used as a singular until I read that.

By: Smutchin

Smutchin — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:20:29 +0000

Gaufrid, I agree with your point about spicing up indicator words but ‘confuses’ is just wrong – it should be ‘confused’. But I rather like ‘facing’ for a reversal and ‘spend’ for a removal.

Thanks for the explanation of 29a – I got the solution but had no idea why!

I think I shall look at the FT crossword more often if this is typical.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:30:39 +0000

8d Ephemera – COED does indeed give this as a plural noun (though it does also say that it was originally used in the singular) but, ignoring the insect references, Chambers gives ‘something that lasts a short time’ and Collins ‘something transitory or short-lived’. Both give the plural as -eras or -erae.

Chambers and Collins also give ephemera as a plural of ephemeron.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:06:46 +0000

Agentzero: I had exactly the same doubts as you about this word the last time it came up. ‘Ephemera’ is a Greek neuter plural meaning ‘[things] lasting for a short time’ [literally, for a day - you see the word in connection with antique-collecting but the Latinised 'ephemera' [plural ephemerae] is an insect that lasts for only one day.

By: Agentzero

Agentzero — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:38:14 +0000

I was all set to criticise 17d on the ground that the River Dee lies in Scotland, but Wikipedia tells me there is an English River Dee in Cumbria (in addition to a second Dee in Scotland and one in Wales).

8d: isn’t “ephemera” a plural noun? So says the OED (I don’t have a Chambers here). If so, “it doesn’t last long” is flawed as a definition.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:54:58 +0000

I thought it wasn’t like you!

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:32:25 +0000

Thanks, Eileen. I obviously didn’t have my brain in gear this morning!

By: Eileen

Eileen — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:10:26 +0000

Hi Gaufrid

23ac: in regnal numbers, ‘IV’ = ‘fourth’.