Comments on: Financial Times 13,419 / Cinephile

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:36:25 +0000

Thanks Gaufrid.
I enjoyed this,as I always do enjoy “Cinecaria” puzzles,but like others here felt 16 across was a liberty too far.
Thought 14 across and 19 down were very good and nice to see a mention for the Red Priest – apparently the nickname came from his hair colour.
Red Priest are also a very good British Baroque ensemble,who’s flamboyant performances are well worth catching.

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:49:55 +0000

Gaufrid, another good blog and another entertaining puzzle from Cinefile, despite the issues over character and tort.

This was one of those puzzles where the clues can get in the way. Like you I started with the down clues but then filled in most of the across answers without reference to the clues. Long anagrams are much easier when you start with answer! The O at then end of INTO was the key to 1,29A.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:25:15 +0000

Hi Andrew
My initial reaction to ‘tort’ was the same as yours but part of its definition in COED is “a wrongful act” and with ‘crime’ being defined as “an action or activity considered to be wrong” I decided that felony=tort was close enough not to quibble about it.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:02:50 +0000

Oh, and surely it’s time to give EXCEL = XL = 40 a rest! It’s not even a very accurate homophone.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:44:56 +0000

Thanks Gaufrid. I agree with you and Eileen about 16ac – a liberty too far in my opinion.

And another one – 21dn: a tort is a *civil* wrong (e.g. libel), so surely not a felony (= crime).

Apart from those this was good fun, though (as is often the case with such clues) I guessed 1/29 from the definition and enumeration and didn’t bother to work out the anagram.

By: mike04

mike04 — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:17:04 +0000

Thanks for the blog, Gaufrid.

Verb inflections, including the agent forms, -ER and -OR, have always caused spelling problems for me.
I remember once agonising for ages about the agent form of the verb NEGLECT to complete a crossword. My old edition of Collins gives -ER or -OR and, of course, I chose the ‘wrong’ version.
Why are alternative spellings not always included below the ‘official’ solution of a crossword next day?
Last week I was rather annoyed when my solution to 1ac in No 13,413 set by SLEUTH never got a mention: JIMCRACK for GIMCRACK.

My interpretation of 16ac today is very slightly different from yours. I think that Cinephile has simply added the usual agent form ending to the verb ACT, even although the resulting noun is not an accepted dictionary word – with a question mark to excuse the liberty taken.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 09:40:03 +0000

Thanks, Gaufrid.

Re 16ac: my reaction was similar to yours. I’ve concluded that the question mark indicates your first interpretation – outrageous as it is! – because the second, assuming a spelling mistake, would mean the clue was a simple charade.

By: Ferret

Ferret — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 09:28:27 +0000

I found this quite straight forward apart from two things…..

I couldn’t decipher where MIDST came from until your blog

Secondly, the Four Seasons man (3,6)…struggling to get Bob Gordio out of my mind!