Comments on: Financial Times 13,389 / Io

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Fri, 21 May 2010 19:52:35 +0000

I’m a bit late – only finished this crossword today.
So, the party’s probably over.

I just want to say that was a particularly fine puzzle, the second time in a row that I really appreciated an IO.
I have to admit, I am not a big fan of Enigmatist [purely because the style of clueing, which is 'too mathematical' for me - whatever that means], but Mr Henderson’s other “hidden answer in 19d” seems to suit me a lot better.

Great crossword.
[missed, of course, the nina ]

By: scarpia

scarpia — Wed, 19 May 2010 22:37:34 +0000

I thought this was very tough for a midweek F.T. puzzle.Maybe it was because I attempted it in the pub at lunchtime,rather than at home where I can check things out ,but I had lot of answers only pencilled in.
Horsecar,unipolar,vesicular,locatives and adenosine were all unfamiliar to me.
Always nice to come across new vocabulary – just wished I’d taken the Indie to the pub and kept this one for home!

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Wed, 19 May 2010 15:10:03 +0000

I thought this was very good, hard for the FT, maybe this was because of the Nina which I did not spot, don’t tend to look for them in FT, but will have to now!

Favourite clues, TRAVEL SICKNESS, ROOTLE (these were my last two entries) and STATISTIC. HALF-LIFE was the first I solved and I did not see anything wrong with it at all. Thought the ‘of’ (similar to ‘from’) linked the definition and wordplay.

By: smiffy

smiffy — Wed, 19 May 2010 14:41:13 +0000

Phew! With locatives, adneosine and irrupts giving me brainache – I was grateful for the “easy” clues (such as 12A…)

Thanks Gaufrid, for confirming/detailing several definitions at which I merely hazarded drive-by guesses.

Also the type of Nina reminded me of Monk’s past forays into the FT. Although he seems to have been absent for a while?

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 19 May 2010 11:57:44 +0000

Hi Rishi
I am sure you are right and that is what was intended. However, I still have some difficulty reading the clue that way, probably because of my ingrained response when seeing ‘of’ in a clue which to me indicates ‘formed from’ or ‘consisting of’, ie a charade.

By: Rishi

Rishi — Wed, 19 May 2010 11:29:16 +0000

To further expand my cryptic note above:
The clue is: Measure of decay of lithium or iron? (4-4)
‘Measure of decay’ may be taken as the definition for word required, HALF-LIFE.
Now, half-life could be Li or Fe – which is suggested by “lithium or iron”.
So I don’t see where any difficulty lies.

By: Rishi

Rishi — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:20:19 +0000

Gaufrid
Half-life will be Li OR Fe!