Comments on: Financial Times 13,693 by Cincinnus

By: Jan

Jan — Fri, 27 May 2011 22:42:03 +0000

Thanks for GAM, Pete. I should have looked it up, but I was convinced it couldn’t be right! – Silly me.

By: Pete Maclean

Pete Maclean — Fri, 27 May 2011 00:47:11 +0000

Bamberger, I don’t know why prizes are typically reference books but, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I was more inclined to send in entries back in the days when the FT prize was a Pelikan pen (actually a token for such). And the one time I won, I thought it was cool to see my name printed in the paper!

By: Pete Maclean

Pete Maclean — Thu, 26 May 2011 22:37:11 +0000

Jan, Looks like we are both missing something! I somehow completely missed 19D when writing the blog. I have now added it in.

GAM for school? Yes, believe it or not, “gam” means school in the sense of a school of whales.

By: Jan

Jan — Thu, 26 May 2011 22:24:16 +0000

Thanks, Pete. I agree, 12 was a superb clue – I have a big tick by it.

But – I have a question mark by 19d. I entered AMALGAM – not sure if that’s right? A MAL, ok, but GAM (or GUM) for ‘school’? Am I missing something obvious?

By: bamberger

bamberger — Thu, 26 May 2011 21:08:52 +0000

Why are the prizes for most puzzle comps across the the newspapers generally crossword dictionaries or similar? Is it to put off the better solvers who most probably have them? I don’t bother submitting -I reckon the cost of stamps for unsuccesful entries would more than cover the actual cost of the prize and I’m not bothered about my name in print.

Re the Saturday prize puzzle, I generally find it easier than some of the weekday ones -though I don’t bother with Cinephile -it’s not that he is too hard but too many of his clues don’t follow the rules that other setters follow. I don’t usually bother if there is a theme -becomes too much of a treasure hunt.

By: Pete Maclean

Pete Maclean — Thu, 26 May 2011 18:09:13 +0000

I have occasionally wondered why certain compilers are chosen for prize puzzles and not others. I have no idea of the reasons but it seems clear that, at least with the FT, prize-puzzle compilers are not those who create the most challenging crosswords.

I find most, but certainly not all, Cincinnus puzzles to be moderately easy. This one struck me as fairly average.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 26 May 2011 06:58:21 +0000

Many thanks Pete

This was perfectly straightforward – particularly considering it was a Prize puzzle.

I bet that the Observer was flooded out with entries.