Comments on: Financial Times 13,539 / Aardvark

By: Lenny

Lenny — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 23:35:52 +0000

I found this quite straightforward but I was not happy with “another ingredient” to indicate the I for U substitution in simmer. Also I did not like “attracted by” as an inclusion indicator in Baobab. Some of the surfaces were a bit clunky, particularly in the clue for seersucker. I think I would have described Alan Aykbourn as a playwright rather than an author. Still, gong did not bother me.

By: bamberger

bamberger — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:00:25 +0000

Enjoyed this though most of the Southern hemisphere was blank.
Couldn’t get Alan Ayckbourn despite having most of the checking letters. He is yet another person who falls into my “who he?” category.

Baobab, ante prandium , brown betties and suriname were all unknowns.

I didn’t get triptych though I do remember the horse by that name.

Wordplay for patrami too hard for me I’m afraid.

By: Tony Welsh

Tony Welsh — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 17:43:54 +0000

I had a real problem with a knight being someone on a board, until I realized it was a _chess_ board! I had also never heard the term ante prandium. Nor had I heard of brown betties, nor of either a hob or a brownie meaning a fairy. So I learned a lot today and don’t feel so bad about having spent so long on it!

By: mike04

mike04 — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:58:14 +0000

Night owl: an exclusively nocturnal owl.
Apologies, Aardvark, I missed that!

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:56:16 +0000

Hi mike04
I’m inclined to agree with you but this is not unusual judging by the previous Aardvark puzzles I’ve covered.

By: mike04

mike04 — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:41:59 +0000

Hi Gaufrid

I’m not too sure about a couple of Aardvark’s definitions in today’s crossword.

In 27 ac, Coordinates: ‘Numbers that define the location of a point with reference to a system of axes’.
So coordinates are numbers – not lines.

In 14dn, Night Owls: ‘People who are, or prefer to be, up and about late at night’.
Their sight doesn’t get a mention in any of my dictionaries!

By: walruss

walruss — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 11:05:10 +0000

It is not a very good clue whichever way you read it, in my opinion! G for George is not right unless it is part of the relevant king’s full latin abbreviation anyway, and we’ve had that discussion here before. It’s not in Chambers dictionary on its own, as you’ll see, and I guess that would be why! But I agree with Gaufrid that it is ON in GG. An interesting discussion point too.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 10:46:49 +0000

Thanks Rishi.
Now that you mention it, I seem to remember that you posted a similar comment previously. I don’t have a copy of that publication and so only look for confirmation of abbreviations in Collins, Chambers and COED.

By: Rishi

Rishi — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 10:29:40 +0000

Chambers XWD: A Dictionary of Crossword Abbreviations has George against G
and
G against George
in the two relevant sections.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 10:27:12 +0000

Thanks Andrew, typo corrected.

I too went down the ‘G ON G’ path but forgot to mention it in the blog. I ruled it out because the ‘wins cooking’ isn’t accounted for.

There has been previous discussion regarding G=George but I cannot remember which post it was in.

Doesn’t my parsing above say “ON (cooking) in GG (George repeatedly) – I am assuming that on=cooking as in “the dinner’s on/cooking””?