Comments on: Financial Times 13,637 by Cinephile

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 23:49:46 +0000

Thanks PeeDee.
Very enjoyable puzzle,not too difficult but plenty of witty definitions.
I think the special instructions are an FT ‘house rule’,similar to the one about linked clues being ‘of a kind’,whereas the Guardian just links to the relevant clue number.
Re 31 across – I remember a blog on this site by,I think,Andrew and TEACHEST was an answer.He gave a link to this little witticism -
A facetious Cantab is said to have placed upon his tea-caddy the Latin words, Tu Doces, (i.e., Thou teachest,) rendering the phrase into a punning motto, Thou tea-chest.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 23:01:47 +0000

Nice puzzle, but not as taxing (nor as clever) as a similar crossword some months ago in which Araucaria did a similar thing.
But … very important … then not telling us.
Today he did, making it – like smiffy said – much easier.

Like others I didn’t understand PRIEST, and, although I am more than convinced that what anax said must be right, it is really a stretch for us, the ‘younger generation’ [did I mention the name anax ... , and did I say I am part of the that younger generation (too)? ]

BTW, what is the role of “in Britain” in 12ac?

16d: “Little boy” for ANT (the only word that fitted ?NT, indeed).
Is ANT really short for Anthony?
Well, it is shorter than Anthony, true, but ….

I liked 17ac (EARRING), TWADDLED (28ac) [very unusual constructional device for Cinephile] and the surface of 29d (STRIPE).

Thanks , PeeDee.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:33:41 +0000

I notice Paul has ESPRIT, yet another anagram of PRIEST/RIPEST/STRIPE/SPRITE in the Guardian today.

By: anax

anax — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 19:41:00 +0000

Hi Smiffy

I seem to (vaguely) remember seeing TEA/CHEST in a book of Guardian crosswords – so long ago that some of the grid artworks were a bit ropey. I’m not talking hatched block cells, but there were different line thicknesses, grid number fonts/sizes etc. It was certainly a long time before crossword software existed; I’ll make a very rough guess at early 1980s.

By: smiffy

smiffy — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 19:32:16 +0000

A deftly constructed grid, although I concur with PeeDee that the special instructions were an immense help; once you’d solved one of a pair the wordplay for the other was largely redundant.

12D was solved purely from definition. Last time I paid any attention to such matters, the UK still had MAFF (Ministry of Ag, Fish & Food). Didn’t realised it had been subsumed by a five-letter rival!

Following up on the Priest/priest item. A quick trawl of the site archives suggests that Cinephile himself used the teachest/tea chest variant a couple of years ago in FT 12,917 (not sure if that counts as “many years”, Anax(!), but well remembered on the ‘art tutor’ bit). It also cropped up in The Times (24,425)in early 2010.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 13:41:55 +0000

Thanks PeeDee

I was banjaxed by PRIEST (although I couldn’t think of anything else that would fit) – a very clever clue.

The UD in 12d is ‘Urban District’, I think – usually found (formerly) in expressions like Urban District Council, which was usually abbreviated to UDC.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 12:36:19 +0000

Re ‘thou priest’ – it is only an archaism for us newcomers, Cinephile is old enough to remeber this as regular conversation.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 12:26:27 +0000

Many thanks PeeDee.

This was very enjoyable but I was undone by FLATLINE and, although I opted for PRIEST, the Art Spy ‘clue’ only served to confuse.

I rather liked its complementary anagrams. Whatever will The Rev think up next?

Thanks Cinephile: the competition is really hotting up between you and Arau-whatever-his-name.

By: Handel

Handel — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 12:26:19 +0000

31ac: Eh? Sorry, obviously being dense here Anax…

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 12:25:59 +0000

Thanks Anax, whizzed over my head. I’ll update the blog.