Comments on: Financial Times 13672 Loroso

By: smiffy

smiffy — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 01:19:02 +0000

Phenomenal stuff! Certainly gruelling, but in an exquisitely masochistic way. I can’t recall the last time that the FT puzzle accounted for more attention than my commute and “coffee breaks” can afford. Finally got around to cracking the unfinished business that was the NE corner this evening.

Too many top-drawer clues to mention, but 11D provided the heaviest penny-dropping moment that I can recall in a long time (and I’m not referring to the long time that it did take for the light bulb to turn on for me there!). Also, I’ll be gobsmacked if I encounter a better one-two punch of adjacent clues than 8D/11D between now and Hogmanay.

PS: I’m going to have to start watching the snooker, if it provides such zen-like inspiration to clue-writing.

By: scchua

scchua — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 23:28:22 +0000

Thanks for dropping by Anax. My only regret was that I didn’t do justice to the brilliance of 1D and 11D.

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:44:32 +0000

Just got back from hospital with 2 broken ribs so was pleased to be able to complete this whilst in the ward under the influence of morpheus, sorry morphine. Rather tricky indeed but had lots of time on my hands so at least it kept me going. Thanks Loroso and scchua.-

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:29:50 +0000

Thanks scchua and Loroso.

I didn’t find most of this quite as difficult as today’s Boatman in the Guardian. However, having spotted the Oliver Twist reference in 13, 15, I entered the somewhat less peremptory PLEASE CAN I HAVE SOME MORE, which banjaxed the NW corner until I realised my mistake.

It took me a while to see the charade elements of 1d and 11d and I tried valiantly to find something similar in 13,15, but to no avail!

As scchua noted, I’m sure Mudd would have made something of FLATUS in 10a….

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:12:43 +0000

Thanks scchua.
A bit late to comment really but I couldn’t let such a brilliant puzzle go by without registering my praise!

I must have been on Loroso’s wavelength with this one as I didn’t find it too difficult – apart from misremembering the Dicken’s quote!
So many very good clues it’s hard to pick favourites but 18 and 24 across and the brilliant homophone at 2 down particularly stand out.

Great day for crosswords so far with Boatman and Loroso – now on to Radian in the Indy,who can usually be relied upon to give a fair,fun challenge.

By: anax

anax — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 21:06:05 +0000

Forgot to say, huge thanks to scchua for a superbly presented and extensive blog. Not surprised you were knackered after that!

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 20:21:24 +0000

PS. Hadn’t noticed the comment about the solver who found it easier than the average Anax/Loroso – it’s true, we never really know how hard it is for anyone else.

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 20:19:08 +0000

Anax-
I suspect a lot of people haven’t commented because they haven’t finished it yet! I really found it very hard, but enjoyable and a good one to look back on and savour. When I finally got 13 15 you could probably hear the penny dropping in space. Well done Scchua – very good explanations. I think the pressure might have got to me if I’d been solving this for a blog. The Guardian was hard today too (Boatman) – it’s been quite a day.

By: anax

anax — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:07:14 +0000

Bit quiet here today – wonder if everyone else (like me) has turned ‘one eye on the snooker’ into ‘both…’ (have to say I really enjoyed watching Ronnie today).
Thanks for your comments as always, and relieved to see the &Lits at 1d/11d spotted eventually.

Note to Bamberger: True enough, but the guideline relates to the level of obscurity of answers rather than the difficulty level of the clueing. Funnily enough a solver who usually tackles the Tele emailed me earlier to say she found this somewhat easier than typical Loroso/Anax, so I guess it just depends on the extent to which wavelengths match on the day – always unpredictable!

Bye for now – the intriguing Ebdon/Bingham battle demands my attention.

By: bamberger

bamberger — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:12:32 +0000

Way out of my league and I solved only 4a & 5d.
Just one comment-I have read on the Times blog site that the intention is that the crossword can be solved by a reasonably well educated person on a commute. Obviously commutes vary and I think it is more how much practice you have doing at xwords than how many O levels & A levels you have. Surely there would be very few who could finish this on a commute -wouldn’t it have been better for a Saturday? Cinephile seems to get more than his fair share of Saturday ones.