Comments on: FT12,975 Set by FLIMSY Jan 15 2009

By: smutchin

smutchin — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:21:44 +0000

44 – agree with you about 7d (misleading is one thing, inscrutably vague is another) but I don’t see what you mean about 15d, which seems to make perfect sense to me.

I rather liked 1d – in fact, I’m annoyed I didn’t think of that neat, pithy clue myself when I was setting a puzzle recently that included REDUCE as one of the answers.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:43:58 +0000

Whether anyone agrees with me or Eileen is beside the point: the fact is that the clue, cited as dubious in the blog and subsequent comments, is correct according to a recognised and reliable source. And so there is, in that hefty respect, no argument.

For Octofem, ‘he is dead set against’ = ‘he is absolutely against’ according to Collins.

By: 44

44 — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:47:18 +0000

Still a novice, but DeadSet came almost instantly with just the first D, although I see the arguments against it.
I have more of a gripe with 7D (a taxi is quite specific, and therefore significant) and 15D (the “wrong” order of the anagram indicator and fodder).

By: JamesM

JamesM — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:55:27 +0000

I bought my first Chambers Dictionary years ago and updated it in the eighties in order to tackle the Sunday Times Mephisto.

Frankly, what’s good enough for the Mephisto is ……….

By: Octofem

Octofem — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:25:56 +0000

Sorry, I’m with Eileen on this. I just cannot think of a phrase where ‘dead set’ could take the place of sbsolutely. ‘ He was dead set on getting his own way ‘ – ‘he was absolutely on getting his own way! Just doesn’t work for me.’

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:16:42 +0000

Personally, I think it would be good if there were one ‘principal work of reference’ for all the dailies, since discrepancies do crop up. In several cases since acquiring Chambers, I would have rather gone along with Collins but, in this instance, I’d be interested to know how they would parse [grammatically] ‘dead set’ as an adverb. [I think we need to agree to disagree on this: I've given my version above and stand by it. ]

By: Paul B

Paul B — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:10:21 +0000

Most kind of you. And yet …

Since that definition/ part of speech is supported in a major dictionary, and since definitions supported by major dictionaries are supported by major editors, the clue ought to be valid in any of the dailies, including the Guardian. Would that be fair?

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:02:54 +0000

Sorry, Paul [Toora Loo-Rye Aye]: having recently acquired a Chambers, since that’s the ‘Bible’ for the Guardian puzzle [my first loyalty] I forgot I was in FT mode!

By: Paul B

Paul B — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:56:27 +0000

Come on Eileen (to coin a phrase), it’s always *well* worth tussling over the finer points of grammar in crosswords!

I see what you’re saying about other dictionaries and the available meanings of the component words. And yet, since Collins (AFAIA the principal work of reference for the FT puzzle) allows for the part of speech concerned, the clue is solidly correct as parsed above.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:33:20 +0000

Paul B: I’m not sure this is really worth arguing about – but here goes, anyway! Collins is the only dictionary I can find which gives ‘dead set’ as an adverb. All the others have ‘adj. absolutely determined’ [Chambers] or similar. In the expression ‘to be [or have one's heart] set on something, ‘set’ is a perfect participle [adjective]. ‘Dead’ can be an adverb, meaning ‘absolutely’ [eg 'dead right']: ‘dead set’ = ‘absolutely determined’ [adjectival phrase].