Comments on: Financial Times 13,664 by Cinephile

By: Pete Maclean

Pete Maclean — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 12:53:06 +0000

Declanor, Thanks for the support on BELARUS!

By: Declanor

Declanor — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:47:53 +0000

Pete, I quite agree with you on BELARUS. It could have been “… left in Russia …”, but that could have made it too easy.

AIR SHOT could also be a shot in basketball that completely misses the hoop, but that would not be quite as costly as in golf. When I played golf in Ireland and the UK forty years ago, a clear miss was called a “fresh air shot”; I assume the vernacular has changed. In the US we call it a “whiff”.

By: malc95

malc95 — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 09:52:11 +0000

Having HORNY (h.w.) at 23d held me up for quite a while!

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:53:37 +0000

Pete @ 3

It’s ages since I did this puzzle but I cannot now recall having had any misgivings about BELARUS.

Indeed, I did rate this somewhat easier than some of the Prize Puzzles set by Araucaria.

By: Pete Maclean

Pete Maclean — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:06:08 +0000

Sooz, Thanks for your input. I hope to get some more opinions about BELARUS.

Bryan, Indeed.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 11:30:58 +0000

Many thanks Pete, this was very enjoyable.

Who could ask for anything more?

By: Sooz

Sooz — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 10:42:20 +0000

Thanks, I wasn’t sure about AIR SHOT! I’m happy with BELARUS though – I think “left between Russia (so called)” is fine to give BELAR, in the sense that L comes between the letters of Russia. I like the way it sounds as though he means between Russia and America, when he doesn’t.