Comments on: Financial Times 13,541 / Alberich

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 17:41:31 +0000

We saved this one for a Rainy Sunday Afternoon.
And what a treat it was, very satisfying [perhaps, as you say shuchi (with thx), apart from 30ac].

The abundance of high quality clues makes it hard to pick one out of the bunch, but our Clue of the Day was eventually 18′s TOLERATE. Nothing is what it seems there: ‘See about’ [with 'about' as a device, but which as a whole cóuld have been the definition], ‘treat’ as the fodder [which cóuld have been 'stomach'] and ‘dodgy’ as an anagrind with suits the stomach perfectly well [but we had to lift & separate].

Obviously, the disruption of moving to Prague has not affected the high standard of Alberich’s work [though it might, of course, well be that this puzzle was submitted earlier].
And we, solvers, are the lucky winners!

By: shuchi

shuchi — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 03:41:58 +0000

Hi everyone

Apologies for missing 25a – it was so neatly tucked away into the grid that I lost sight of it when blogging. My answer was PEP too, which I got from go = PEP. Search for ‘PEP savings plan’ suggested more than one but I plumped for Eileen’s Personal Equity Plan; result volumes favoured it over others.

Blog updated.

By: scarpia

scarpia — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 00:14:16 +0000

Thanks shuchi.
Super puzzle from Alberich.
I am surprised there have been no comments about ELODEA,surely a word which could be classed as an “obscurity”,yet not easily clued.A cockney would normally use something like ‘trouble’ or ‘bag for life’ as substitutes for wife.
Gordius would have been slated for this clue!
BTW,I thought it was funny!

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 16:33:21 +0000

Hi smiffy
What you say is absolutely correct when it comes to Rugby Union. The hooker is often just getting up from a scrum, ruck or maul when a drop goal is scored, usually by the fly half (or outside half depending on which hemisphere or era you play in).

However, in the other version of the game with the oval ball (League) it is more common, though as a drop (field) goal in RL is only worth one point there are probably fewer attempts per game than in RU where a drop goal would bring a reward of three points. This is because the role of the hooker in RL is as a playmaker rather than primarily being part of the pack as in RU.

By: smiffy

smiffy — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 16:06:17 +0000

Good to see Alberich back, after a longer than normal hiatus. I had the self-same three clues as mentioned above by nmsindy (plus NITROGEN) as the pick of the pops, and it’s hard to argue with the broad consensus that FEMINIST is a worthy favourite.

Re: 1D. At the risk of Gaufrid setting me straight (again!) on the positional nuances of rugby, isn’t it fair to say that while a hooker may kick a drop goal, it’s about as common an event as a football goalkeeper scoring with a header?

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:45:09 +0000

Yes, this was very good indeed, favourites DOG-TIRED, TOLERATE, FEMINIST.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:43:53 +0000

Hi again, Shyam

Apologies for my rather curt comment – I should have said, ‘I think it’s …’

I hadn’t heard of ‘your’ plan, either! I can’t quite see GO = PEG and Chambers has: ‘Pep: vigour, go, spirit, life’.

By: Shyam

Shyam — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:38:51 +0000

Hi Eileen

In fact, I was not aware of either of the plans, but stumbled upon Plan D’épargne Groupe (group savings plan) on the Net. I thought go and peg are not quite distant in meaning as well.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:32:20 +0000

Hi Shyam

No – it’s PEP [Personal Equity Plan]. DD

By: Shyam

Shyam — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:27:51 +0000

Shuchi

I see you have left out 25A PEG [DD]…