Comments on: Financial Times 13,639 / Flimsy

By: flimsy

flimsy — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:07:34 +0000

My Millennium Edition of Collins has i = interest (with reference to banking). I presumed it was still a common abbreviation in economics (though it’s been a while since I studied it…). By the sound of it though, it’s not common enough!

By: mike04

mike04 — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 22:58:02 +0000

Hello again, Sil

I’ve checked the three dictionaries you mention and, as you say, our abbreviation is conspicuous by its absence!
I was surprised, because my 1991 Third Edition of Collins gives the following:

i abbrev. for: 3. banking. interest

In Britain we still teach Simple Interest and Compound Interest in Mathematics lessons. Many years ago I remember teaching the subject using both

I = PRT/100 and I = P(1 + R/100)T (to power T, I mean, but can’t write!)
where P = the Principal, R = the Rate of Interest and T = the Time in years

I think the subject is taught differently now, but I believe that I is still used throughout the land!

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 21:40:19 +0000

mike04, unfortunately I don’t know anything about economics and so I have never seen your formula before [which is probably my weakness, and something that has nothing to do with being a non-Brit].
After I came home from work, I searched Chambers and couldn’t find it.
The Oxford Dictionary of English couldn’t help me either, nor could Collins Online.
And even though I am flexible and had, of course, an idea where it was coming from, a rule in crosswordland is that an abbreviation like this has to be in at least one dictionary [yes?].
That said, I’m fine with the clue, in which there was – to my relief – for once no Disraeli or Lear connection.

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 20:22:43 +0000

1a I’d call a “diabolical liberty”

By: bamberger

bamberger — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 18:25:57 +0000

Got most of this out but would never have got diabolical for absolute.

For some reasom bloody mary came to mind with only ??o?d? but decided that there was no way that it was an eye opener (and still don’t) so didn’t write it in .

Did get Israeli but don’t think that “Sharon for example” is much of a hint. I thought it was some sort of fruit to start with.

Mixture of some very good clues with some very tenuous ones.

By: mike04

mike04 — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:52:52 +0000

Hi Sil
How about the (old) formula for Simple Interest: I = PRT/100?

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:27:16 +0000

Nice crossword.

Ended up at 11ac, where I was looking and looking for a justification, only to discover that it was simply a hidden one (or as you said, shuchi, a cleverly hidden).

Only a pity that the clue to COFFIN (23ac) has indeed “off in” already in it.
A similar feeling I had about 5d: the first word of that long one (CLOUD) is (visibly) part of “Coloured”.

I have no real dictionaries at hand while writing this comment, but I cannot find any indication on the internet that “interest” could be I (in 2d) – and I’ve never seen it before.
But I am sure that Flimsy did his homework and that it will be somewhere.

In the post for Flimsy’s previous puzzle, I appreciated his ability to disguise definitions, or to use them in a different sense within the surface. Today there were a few more, like “beak” (in 18d) and “Check” (in 17ac).

The majority of clues read very well (even a simple clue from a construction POV like 7ac (TIFF)), with 16d (DRY-CLEAN) and 24d (FAITH) as two of the very best.

Many thanks Flimsy for an enjoyable crossword.
And shuchi for the blog.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 12:29:49 +0000

Many thanks Shuchi. this was very enjoyable.

For me, the SW corner proved harder than the rest.

This was another robust puzzle from the unduly modest Flimsy.

By: Canalonly

Canalonly — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 12:19:38 +0000

you’re welcome

By: Shyam

Shyam — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 11:59:03 +0000

Thanks Canalonly