Comments on: Financial Times 13,694 / Dante http://www.fifteensquared.net/2011/05/26/financial-times-13694-dante/ Never knowingly undersolved. Thu, 23 May 2013 11:24:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Gaufrid http://www.fifteensquared.net/2011/05/26/financial-times-13694-dante/#comment-159899 Gaufrid Fri, 27 May 2011 15:34:20 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=30071#comment-159899 Hi Agentzero
2dn is not a homophone, the ‘say’ is indicating ‘for example’. A bill (or billhook) is “a cutting tool with a long blade and wooden handle in the same line with it, often with a hooked tip, used in eg pruning” (Chambers).

I parsed 19dn as a pun. Pa is an abbreviation for paragraph and one of the definitions in Chambers is “a short separate item of news or comment in a newspaper”. So a ‘newspaper cutting’ could be a PA SNIP.

]]> By: Sil van den Hoek http://www.fifteensquared.net/2011/05/26/financial-times-13694-dante/#comment-159893 Sil van den Hoek Fri, 27 May 2011 15:22:19 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=30071#comment-159893 Thanks, Agentzero.
Can I help you with 2d and 19d?
Maybe.

A ‘ bill’ can be ‘a long-handled saw with a curved blade’ (although it isn’t in Chambers). In that case it is a tool by example.

In 19d I think ‘par’ means ‘paragraph’ of which Chambers says: ‘a short separate item of news or comment in a newspaper’. In fact that paragraph could be seen as a ‘newspaper cutting’ in itself. Maybe, that was Dante’s intention – there is a question mark at the end!

I particularly liked 19ac (PHLEGMATIC) and 29ac (PLEASURE): the surfaces read so well.
As one not having the right antenna for cd’s, it was the WARHEAD of 11d that defeated me. Is it really a cd? The first part is just a straightforward definition (‘the point of missiles’). And then ‘used in earnest’? I don’t get that.

]]>