Comments on: Financial Times 13,458 by Mudd

By: verbose

verbose — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 20:54:45 +0000

Re 4a, small = s and “time bomb may be” = ticking; the definition is “in need of an oil, perhaps.”

By: Pete Maclean

Pete Maclean — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:46:55 +0000

Hi John,

It is good to hear from you again. I was thinking of you when I was in Singapore a while ago. I have never been to Addis Ababa but, yes, that must be quite a change! I do like Ethiopian food.

You raise a good point about “ticking” in 4 across. I neglected to mention it in the blog but I wondered about that too. The best thing I can think of is that ticking is a clue that there is a time bomb near!

Pete

By: John Newman

John Newman — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:55:43 +0000

Hi Pete

I am now in Addis Ababa. A bit of a change from Singapore. Despite much time on my hands I could not get 4,9,10 and 11 across. Must be rusty. But to be fair how does ticking = time bomb? I know it ticks, but….. I might even accept ticker, but not ticking.

cheers

John

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 07:56:45 +0000

Thanks for the blog, Pete. I couldn’t get into the top right of this for ages, and ended up finishing it in the pub with a friend on the Monday evening. 5 really made me smile when I got it, and I kicked myself at the time it took me to work out the anagram of SCYTHE.

By: Pete Maclean

Pete Maclean — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 07:47:02 +0000

Ahah! Thanks, Rishi. I seemed to recall that Swan Vestas were wax matches but I was not sure. Wax matches are, I believe, common in Italy where they are called “cerini”.

By: Rishi

Rishi — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 07:32:37 +0000

For ‘vesta’ Chambers does have the meaning “a wax-stemmed match; a short match with a wooden stem.”

In India too we have had some brands of match sticks using the term.