Comments on: Financial Times 13,372 / Styx

By: Colin

Colin — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 05:03:12 +0000

Thanks Smiffy,
I enjoyed this but had to work hard to finish that top left corner. I lacked the smarts and was on the wrong tack to begin with. So Styx got his licks in on me but they all materialised in the end.

And thanks for the baseball reference – a pleasant change.

By: scarpia

scarpia — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:24:25 +0000

Thanks Smiffy,
I thought this was a good puzzle with some inventive clueing.
like Eileen I struggled with the top corner and must admit that I didn’t know ‘smarts’ could mean intelligence.It sounds like it might be an Americanism.
It also took me a while to spot ‘tyres’ in 12 across – most annoying as I usually class embeddeds as gimmes!
What with Paul’s ‘everything’, that’s two in one day.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:45:18 +0000

Hi Smiffy

I agree with you that the surface of 10ac is very good – it’s just a pity that half the answer appears in the clue.

I was way behind you on 1ac – trying for a while to find a word beginning with LO. This top corner foxed me for a long time [I didn't know licks = music] and I finally had to admit defeat on 1dn.

I thought this was an enjoyable puzzle, all told.

By: smiffy

smiffy — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:09:08 +0000

Hi Eileen – wordplay at 7D duly amended (I was somewhat blase with my diagnosis after spotting the answer). The cryptic definition obviously didn’t really resonate as strongly for me. In fact, on reflection, the phrase “morning sickness” seems likes a rather vague catch-all term. It must have been coined by an unempathetic man…

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:40:51 +0000

Thanks, Smiffy.

My favourite clue was 7dn, for the ‘expecting’ trouble – I still remember it! [You need to add another S [direction].]