Comments on: Financial Times 13,619 by Gozo

By: The Button

The Button — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 09:27:07 +0000

Thanks PeeDee for printing the correct solution!

I was on holiday for this one, so didn’t care how long it took me to finish… (more than a day!)

Admit that I was foxed by the 9 and 0 figures, but got the rest.
So was really perlexed when I went to ft site to check the answer and found quite a few different solutions in there. However several of the ft “wrong” answers were ones that I was very confident about so assumed it was a glitch.
First time I have used this website, but will be back for more.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:48:14 +0000

The Party’s Long Over.
And finally, yes finally, I championed this crossword.
Did I say ‘crossword’?
It was a real ‘tour de force’.
In so many aspects.

I will not say that this was the best puzzle of the three as I have too much respect and admiration for the other tributes, but it was certainly the most challenging one.
My Crossword of thát Day!

Gozo, this was an amazing experience.

By: Paul8hours

Paul8hours — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 13:26:43 +0000

Many thanks for the blog and to whoever it was who made us Grauniads aware of this amazing tribute puzzle.
Well done Gozo for a very impressive & truly appropriate achievement. I only found it yesterday but had a very enjoyable train journey to Leicester and for once I did not mind the delay in arriving.

By: Tony Welsh

Tony Welsh — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:18:42 +0000

Thanks, Tokyocolin. It would never have occurred to me to see the message in the first letters of the clues. It probably would not have helped me if I had, though, since I had never heard of JGG.

By: beermagnet

beermagnet — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:43:58 +0000

Thanks to whoever it was who tipped us the wink to come over to the FT and have a go at this. (I’m not sure who first mentioned it on the Graun or Indy blogs)

What a great crossword!

I think I had more enjoyment out of this than the day’s G or the I – but perhaps for a different reason – I absolutely love these alpha-jigs, and this was one with a twist and extras.
And what a twist!

I saw the perimeter message building but initially put in XC for the 90 which foxed me for a while. I thought the “extra” clues/letters would resolve by overlapping or something.
At that time that left S—-X so I was wondering how SPHINX could possibly fit there.

I don’t normally attempt the FT (not a paper I buy) but after this I will probably look in more often, particularly if I spot the name Gozo on the go.

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 12:52:36 +0000

Tom – nice to read your comment and I withdraw my previous “slightly in error” comment.
I thought the Bunthorne reference must have been deliberate.

By: BrigC

BrigC — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 12:05:01 +0000

Gosh, I was worried when I saw the published answer grid, having had so much trouble (and fun) completing it yesterday. It’s a wonder nearly all of the incorrect solutions interlock correctly, only FTS instead of ITS looking clunky.
I too think this was the best tribute of the three published in the Guardian, FT & Independent. A very impressive jig saw, many thanks Tom. It’s also wonderful that you should visit this forum yourself.

By: Mick and Pirjo

Mick and Pirjo — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 10:33:39 +0000

We have just started getting into cryptic crosswords and this was Pirjo’s first introduction to the jigsaw special. We stayed up late to finish it. Thanks Tom for a most enjoyable puzzle!

Has anyone else noticed that the FT has published the wrong solution grid this morning?

By: Tom Johnson

Tom Johnson — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 07:59:54 +0000

This is the first time that I have ever responded to bloggers’ comments on any of my puzzles, but your fulsome praise on my Cinephile 90th Birthday crossword cannot go unnoticed. Very many thanks for all that has been said. As for the Bunthorne reference — it was not an error on my part, just a very abstruse allusion to G&S operettas which enabled me to include Bunthorne who, you may recall, captained the Crossword Compilers team which included Cinephile on University Challenge. Robi — I have no idea how long the puzzle took to compile, as I do not attempt to complete a puzzle in one sitting. I produced a dummy version first, which was not wholly successful and so revised the grid, before the idea of the message within the clues occurred to me, so that added to the complexity of cluing. Colin Inman invited me to compile the puzzle in early December and I sent the final version to him just before Christmas.
And Conrad — I had no idea that you are an OE too — were we contemporaries?

By: smiffy

smiffy — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 03:34:27 +0000

I can only, slightly belatedly, join the chorus of sentiments on this (to both the setter’s gridmanship and our thematic hero’s milestone).
For once I decided to savour the puzzle, so saved it to solve in the evening rather than in less appreciative fashion during the work day. And certainly wasn’t disappointed!
Managed to solve a decent slug of the clues in isolation, but it wasn’t until DJIBOUTI dropped that I was able to start piecing them together. The two that, with hindsight, took me an inexplicably long time to fathom were IN DISORDER and DO THE DIRTY.