Comments on: Financial Times 13,722 / Mudd

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:55:10 +0000

Thanks, lenny and scchua.
Thought that it would be like that, but I don’t know anyone with engines ….
Or, wait a minute. Of course, my friend Thomas ….

By: scchua

scchua — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:24:22 +0000

Sorry lenny. Tonight’s the night for “crossings”!

By: scchua

scchua — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:22:36 +0000

Sorry Sil, crossed with yours.

Your query re 14A IDLE: “turn over” refers to eg. an engine that is idling.

By: lenny

lenny — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:22:07 +0000

Thanks too Scchua, your posting crossed with mine

By: lenny

lenny — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:20:33 +0000

Thanks for the enlightenment on the currency of Guinea, Sil. If I may return the compliment, Idle is, indeed, a DD. When an engine is turning over it is idling.

By: scchua

scchua — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:16:35 +0000

Thanks shuchi and Mudd for an enjoyable puzzle.

Favourites were 20A POTTY TRAINED, held back a while thinking “crazy” was the anagrind, 25A MAYO, clever cryptic and 10A WEREWOLF. 27A AVID was helped by coincidentally just having read Mudd/Paul’s blog on his Cryptica website where there’s a more Paulish and amusing clue for the same.

Hi lenny Guinea also refers to former French Guinea, a colony where and when the currency was the franc.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 18:57:33 +0000

Lenny, the currency in (formerly, French) Guinea – a country in Africa – is still the ‘franc’.

Just like you I was initially tempted by Trim, but.

I particularly liked OPEN FIRE, WICKETKEEPER [said the one who doesn't understand anything about it], MAYO [although I am pretty sure that I have seen this before - in a Paul?], WARREN and POLO NECK.
MIDGET was one of my last. The combination of half vague definitions (‘One’s little’ and ‘he phoned home’) didn’t convince me though.
My Last One In was IDLE (14ac)- couldn’t be anything else other than that, but perhaps my knowledge gaps in English idiom are too big to understand the first part of the clue. Is it a dd? The second part feels like a cd.

Many thanks shuchi!

PS, I do like Quixote’s alternative even more than Mudd’s 20ac.

By: lenny

lenny — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 18:43:01 +0000

I usually expect Mudd to be gentler than his alter egos but this was quite a workout. I had a similar problem to Bamburger, essaying Hot Tip for 1A, although probably only Hurricane Higgins would have a hot tip. I finished with some tricky 4-letter answers. I had to go through the alphabet to get Dram, having been tempted by Trim. Last in was Fido. I get really angry with myself when the hidden word is the last in. I loved Lickety Split and the trade mark humour of Potty Trained.

I got Guinea on the £1.05 definition. If it is a DD I do not understand it.

By: shuchi

shuchi — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 16:32:00 +0000

@Quixote: Thank you – that’s a very funny clue!

By: Quixote

Quixote — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 16:18:26 +0000

Bradman in Quixotic IOS guise can offer you his own previous clue for POTTY-TRAINED: Being able to control output in trade?