Comments on: Financial Times 13,583 / Cinephile

By: Agentzero

Agentzero — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:04:39 +0000

Thanks, Gaufrid.

A thought on 16 down, which occurred to me some time after solving: is “can’t have leaves” meant to be read “can not have leaves,” i.e., “is capable of not having leaves”?

By: bamberger

bamberger — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:02:05 +0000

Defeated by 19a and 24/22 where I had never encountered dele meaning abolish. While i got the answer , humpty =seat was new to me.

By: MikeC

MikeC — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:39:14 +0000

Thanks for the blog and a mostly enjoyable puzzle. Re 14d, is there a kind of reflexivity in the clue? The definition, not like, is a “dissimilar” version of mislaid sir. The question mark at the end then becomes an indicator of something odd going on, rather than merely an anagram indicator.

I’m sure I’ve seen analogous clues, though I can’t think of one right now.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:26:03 +0000

Hi Tony
‘Drawing’ is the definition in 11dn. Think in terms of sports scores, for example ‘one set each and three all in the third set’.

As I indicated in the parsing, Ge (or Gaea/Gaia) is the goddess of Earth. The full definition in Chambers is:

“In Greek mythology, the goddess or personification of Earth, mother of Uranus and (by him) of Oceanus, Cronus and the Titans.”

By: jmac

jmac — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:02:18 +0000

Thanks for explaining HUMPTY, DELE, and GE which were all new to me but fortunately didn’t hinder solving. I just assumed that COTTE was an alternative to cotta and am surprised that it is not in Chambers or (presumably) Collins. I did like DECIDUOUS but I wasn’t thinking of our friends down under, and possibly a question mark might have helped.

I must say that I do like the Reverend’s crosswords as Cinephile as they have the wit of his other persona whilst tending to avoid some of that incarnation’s characteristics(long anagrams,obscure (for me) literary references, etc.), which sometimes spoil my enjoyment of those puzzles.

By: Tony Welsh

Tony Welsh — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:01:26 +0000

Finished it, but have several little quibbles. e.g. I looked up black-water to check, winc while it was fairly obvious I had not heard of the fever, and found that it is generally one word, not hyphenated. And I agree about deciduous.

But what about 11d? Is “drawing” the definition? If so, I don’t get it. If not, what is the word there for and where is the definition?

Also, I don’t I understand “ge” for earth in 21d.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:42:48 +0000

Well, Gaufrid, it that were so (and it probably is like that), than I find this a rather thinnish anagrind.
IMO, “being …?” doesn’t say anything about mixing up the letters or the fact that one transforms into the other (like when setters use “becoming”, for example), does it?

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:29:46 +0000

Hi Sil
I didn’t see any double duty in 14dn. I took the ‘being … ?’ as the indicator for an anagram of the two words in-between.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:53:00 +0000

I enjoyed this crossword which was not too tricky.
The problem with my last entry COTTESLOE has been solved now, but I am still wondering a bit about 14d (DISSIMILAR).
Is there really an anagram indicator here?
Or is “Not like” doing double duty (for the anagrind, in combination with ‘being’)?
And if so, is that a valid anagram indicator?
Or does the clue as a whole suggest an anagram?
It does not feel completely right to me, but maybe it’s just me.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 11:36:01 +0000

Many thanks Gaufrid

I enjoyed this even though I was unable to get COTTESLOE.

And now it’s been explained … No Wonder!