Comments on: Financial Times 13,033 / Neo

By: Neo

Neo — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:46:49 +0000

Yes, well, I’m not advancing as invincibly as I might toward a clueing poetics, but (to Ed Gein?) a ‘sac red’ is possibly almost the same as a ‘red sac’.

By: Agentzero

Agentzero — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:48:34 +0000

Thank you, Neo. I’ve enjoyed your work, and it’s always a pleasure to hear from setters here.

Regarding “bloodstained,” I suppose one could note that RED, in the sense of bloodstained, is often (at least in literature) used postpositively. That is, a warrior who “advances with his red sword” may simply have a painted weapon; but if he “advances, his sword red” there is a stronger suggestion of blood.

By: Neo

Neo — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:16:02 +0000

Thanks for your blog Agentzero, which I found excellent. You clearly know how clues are put together – an enormous help when blogging at 15/2 (and yes, that was a veiled reference to a recent, ah, unfortunate situation).

FYI 25ac and 21dn are both (intended as) charades for SI plus definitions. The Shaks. one is looser to allow for the play (so to speak) on As You Like It, but the ‘heavy table’ is a straight Collins def.

‘Divinely bloodstained bag lay empty!’ has a q. mark for a reason, which is (as you observe) that we have SAC RED and not vice versa. But that was the intended meaning, rather than a container. I know what you mean with the Shed (a brilliant compiler IMO) example, but I wasn’t after one of those on this occasion.

Many thanks to all.

By: Agentzero

Agentzero — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:00:48 +0000

Thanks for the comments, Rishi and Eileen. I have to say though, that even if we have correctly understood Neo’s intention, “bloodstained” = “with RED in it” is not fully convincing to me. Compare, say, Shed’s “on the rocks” = “with ICE in it” from last week.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:49:27 +0000

Thanks for the blog, Agentzero.

I was puzzled by 28ac, too, thinking the ‘T’ must indicate ‘time’ – then the penny dropped: an albert is a pocket watch chain, named after thhe Prince.

By: C.G. Rishikesh

C.G. Rishikesh — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 05:21:04 +0000

Agentzero: Thanks for your explanation of 10ac, which I solved but couldn’t work it out.

I appreciate your comment at 25a (which ploy I didn’t notice) but I, for one, think 21d is only a charade and not a dd.

I too wondered how ‘bloodstained bag’ could yield SAC RED but you have given a convincing explanation that SAC LY goes around RED (I too was looking at ‘bloodstained’ disjunctively though I didn’t pursue the thought as you did).

12a: This solution was held up for sometime because, from “changed direction”, I didn’t expect a solution word ending in -ing.