Comments on: Financial Times 13695 PHSSTHPOK

By: tony welsh

tony welsh — Tue, 17 May 2011 18:13:47 +0000

I too had trouble in NE.

Re. 4d it seems to me that the ice is wearing the notable!

By: scchua

scchua — Tue, 17 May 2011 14:57:55 +0000

Thanks mike04, corrected now.

By: mike04

mike04 — Tue, 17 May 2011 14:49:15 +0000

Thank you for a great blog, scchua.

A game of two halves, as Thomas99 implies. After a quick start I struggled in the NE as well.
In 1ac I went for SIGN UP (I blame “raised” in an across clue!) and then struggled in the NW.
BTW, scchua, in the solution you’ve changed SIGN IN to SIGN ON!

Thank you for a great solve, Phssthpok.

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Tue, 17 May 2011 11:02:11 +0000

Ah, how embarrassing – sorry. Didn’t mean to post that first version with the question but seem to have anyway. If anyone’s interested, PHSSTHPOK is the name of a character in Larry Niven’s sci-fi novel Protector (according to bestforpuzzles). Not sure if it has any specific relevance to crosswords.

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Tue, 17 May 2011 10:57:18 +0000

Now there’s a blog and a half! Excellent.

I’m glad you didn’t find it too easy either. I thought the last 4 or so were going to drive me mad! They were in the NE corner. I also had to look long and hard at 11a to realise it wasn’t politics or politico. And it started so gently! Well done, PHSSTHPOK.

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Tue, 17 May 2011 10:55:18 +0000

Now there’s a blog and a half! Excellent.

Incidentally, Paul/Punk/Mudd says on his website that he doesn’t quite “get” PHSSTHPOK’s name. Neither do I. Can anyone explain it?