Comments on: Financial Times 13,606 / Armonie http://www.fifteensquared.net/2011/02/01/financial-times-13606-armonie/ Never knowingly undersolved. Sat, 18 May 2013 18:15:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Agentzero http://www.fifteensquared.net/2011/02/01/financial-times-13606-armonie/#comment-149079 Agentzero Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:23:28 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=25984#comment-149079 Hello Dreadnought,

I think the WS quote is “the engineer hoist with his own petard,” where “hoist” means lifted into the air by the explosion. I am not sure whether “hoist”, where today we might say “hoisted”, represents Elizabethan verb conjugation or is just “poetic.”

]]> By: Dreadnought http://www.fifteensquared.net/2011/02/01/financial-times-13606-armonie/#comment-149054 Dreadnought Wed, 02 Feb 2011 10:40:52 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=25984#comment-149054 Ta agent zero.
Not much to say except I’m still baffled by the “heist” or “hoist” or maybe “hoisted” by one’s own petard conundrum. Is it a ws quote, so you always say “hoist”? Or is it just a common mistake, like ” cut the mustard”? Thoughts anyone?

]]> By: Scarpia http://www.fifteensquared.net/2011/02/01/financial-times-13606-armonie/#comment-149026 Scarpia Tue, 01 Feb 2011 23:26:05 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=25984#comment-149026 Thanks Agentzero.
I enjoy the brevity of Armonie’s clues,but I wish he would vary them sometimes.Nearly all of these are charades with a few insertions and a couple of anagrams.
Strangely enough,I had the exact same thought as smiffy @1 re the definition for 11 across.

]]> By: bamberger http://www.fifteensquared.net/2011/02/01/financial-times-13606-armonie/#comment-149007 bamberger Tue, 01 Feb 2011 18:05:20 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=25984#comment-149007 A game of two halves for me. Top half finished without any real difficulty but hardly any clues solved in the bottom half.This wasn’t helped by me having 21d as covert, thinking being miss=over in the absence of anything else coming to mind. This scuppered 23a & 26a.
Never heard of calf love sealyham or nimes.
Don’t like 25d -if you can’t get the wordplay “in France” hardly gives it away.

]]> By: Lopakhin http://www.fifteensquared.net/2011/02/01/financial-times-13606-armonie/#comment-148998 Lopakhin Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:29:53 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=25984#comment-148998 Smiffy’s right, of course, but in my masochistic way I enjoyed this – as I enjoy a lot of the FT crosswords, usually attacked on line when the Grauniad has defeated me and I need heartening! Shame though that Agentzero’s hard work has attracted little response/appreciation. Are there really so few who try the FT?

]]> By: smiffy http://www.fifteensquared.net/2011/02/01/financial-times-13606-armonie/#comment-148979 smiffy Tue, 01 Feb 2011 14:24:26 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=25984#comment-148979 G’day Agentzero, and thanks.

I found this something of a Jekyll and Hyde puzzle, mainly as a result of Armonie’s strict adherence to clue-writing economy (typically no clue longer than seven words). When it works well (e.g. 18A, 19D) the multum in parvo is impressive. However on several occasions this self-imposed constraint leads either to surreal surfaces (e.g. 11A or 6D, with 14D gaining bonus points for the gratuitous slang) or definitions that are too obvious or pedestrian (again 11D – why not ‘brewer’, or perhaps a pun on ‘tarts’ at 6D?)

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