Comments on: Financial Times 12,988 / Bradman

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 10:53:29 +0000

(They’re all Magpie solvers up there, of course.)

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 10:48:34 +0000

They won the Cup three times in the 50s: 51, 52 and 55, and on three previous occasions. Last time they won the League was 1927.

But shurely Yap, you cannot have forgotten the recent triumph in the UEFA Intertoto Cup (2006)? Nor the Anglo-Italian Cup (1973) and Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (1969)?

Haway man.

By: Uncle Yap

Uncle Yap — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 10:25:24 +0000

We always do the Indy one day later and we just had a whale of a time with some of Bradman’s clues, especially 10Across Six batsmen got ducks? That’s one very rare century (4-5) My clue of the day

15Down seems prophetic … what a pathetic team it is now compared to its former glories in the early 50″s. I do not remember Nucasel United winning any trophy in the last half century

By: smutchin

smutchin — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:56:24 +0000

That’s an unfortunate and excusable error in 4a – and one that the crossword editor can take equal blame for!

I vaguely recall that the otic ganglion is “in the ear”, so that seems fine to me.

A scrupulously fair puzzle and I can only admire the variety and overall balance. As a relatively inexperienced solver, I still have trouble spotting crosswordese devices such as “RR” for bishop and “SA” for it, but that all comes with practice, I’m sure.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:52:14 +0000

Hi Bradman
I had originally included a reference to ‘Isaachar’ (FT 12,959) in my draft blog for this puzzle but deleted it because I didn’t want to highlight two errors in recent FTs

By: Bradman

Bradman — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:29:16 +0000

I fear that I misread the lower-case I of ALCAIDE in Chambers for a lower-case L, understandable I hope with a small-print sans serif typeface. That and ISSACHAR last month — have mercy!

By: Eileen

Eileen — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:21:15 +0000

Hi Gaufrid

Thanks for the blog: I hope the overtime rate is good!

13ac: even with your explanation, I can’t see the point of ‘special’.

19ac: I can’t remember hearing [of] the word ‘swank’ since I was a child!

22ac: I’m not sure I see your problem: ‘in the ear’ and ‘of the ear’ seem to me pretty much the same. The online medical dictionary gives ‘otic: of, relating to, or located in the region of the ear’.

28ac: I have never seen ‘mot’ without ‘bon’ to mean a witty saying. I see that Chambers gives it – with exactly the same definition as ‘bon mot’.