Comments on: Financial Times 13,557 / Cinephile – SO tricky

By: RatkojaRiku

RatkojaRiku — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 09:31:58 +0000

Thanks, Jen, for the feedback. My understanding of the point about the missing article is that the official title of the comic opera would be The Yeomen of the Guard (cf The Pirates of Penzance), hence the initial article (in front of Yeomen) is missing from the grid entry and the wordplay; the second article (in front of Guard) is, as you say, part of the anagram of “daughter”.

By: Jen

Jen — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 20:13:24 +0000

I’m absolutely sure I’m missing something, but isn’t the ‘missing’ article in 17,18 part of the anagram of daughter?

Thanks for the great blog entry on this! We had a really hard time with it, but enjoyed the puzzle (and your entry) tremendously.

By: RatkojaRiku

RatkojaRiku — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:53:46 +0000

Yes, Ramasamy, I noticed the missing article too, although the same could be said of 6,7, although (initial) articles often disappear from the names of book, films, etc when they appear in puzzles, in my experience – poetic licence on the part of (some) compilers! Personally speaking, I wouldn’t want my grids littering with too many surplus articles…

Thanks for the positive feedback overall – indeed, it was a daunting prospect for a virgin blogger, especially since the SO didn’t reveal itself to me as easily as it apparently did to others. However, as Richard says, once the breakthrough comes with these thematic Cinephile puzzles, things do seem just to slot into place.

By: scarpia

scarpia — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 23:07:36 +0000

Thanks RatkojaRiku.
I read 10 across in the same way as you and thought it was the weakest clue in the puzzle.You would need to know a fair bit about G and S to work that one out!
The other “obscurities” in the puzzle (NAAMAN/EPOPEE and BENDIGO)were clued so as to be solvable by wordplay alone.
A very enjoyable solve.

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:45:44 +0000

Yes, excellent blog and a somewhat benign Cinephile offering (SO came fairly quickly). It is always fun when he teaches us new words – Epopee, Naaman and Bendigo in my case – but makes them easy to construct. I also like his themes which are baffling for a while then, with a few letters, make themselves obvious and the puzzle just seems to complete itself.

Whenever I see the name Cinephile I know I am in for a treat.

By: Bracoman

Bracoman — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:40:26 +0000

Thanks for the very clear blog.

I thought it was not too tricky, although I had to look on the internet to get a list of SO’s. Maybe being snowbound with 3 feet of snow and nothing else to do but snow clearing and crosswords has improved my abilities. Certainly getting more exercise (physical and mental) than normal.

By: smiffy

smiffy — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:50:38 +0000

Welcome RatkojaRiku (no relation to Phssthpok by any chance?). A new FT setter and blogger on consecutive days!

You certainly received a blogtastic baptism of fire with this one. I found it one of the toughest FT in living memory. Not helped by the theme being something of a blind spot for me (28A was the entry for me), but NAAMAN and EPOPEE are pretty esoteric for a daily broadsheet too. The wordplay device at 1D is very clever.

Not quite sure what the point of Ramasamy’s comment (at #1) is. A vague and irrelevantly pedantic question (that should, incidentally, be directed at the setter rather than the blogger) strikes me as a very rude way to greet a blogging debutant…

By: Ramasamy

Ramasamy — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 13:46:01 +0000

How will you explain the missing THE in the answer of 17,18?