Comments on: Financial Times 13,744 by Cinephile

By: Jen

Jen — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 00:59:19 +0000

Thanks so much for the blog. We loved the puzzle (usually love Cinephile and thought this one just perfect), and really like the ability to see the clues when mousing over the numbers. A really nice addition to the site.

Thanks so much PeeDee!

I thought the indirect anagram was a tricky clue, but my mother solved it with ease.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:57:41 +0000

Allan_C @5: As PeeDee (@6) has said, my objection was to the indirect anagram, not the use of “American soldier” for GI in itself. I had hoped that the context would make that clear.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 07:04:15 +0000

Hi Allan, I think Pelham is objecting to anagrams made up of letters not present in the clue rather than the GI=’American Soldier’ definition per se. As you say, this is a commonplace abbreviation.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 23:33:07 +0000

Don’t very often get to see the FT (no FT, no comment) but picked this one up on the train and rattled it off in about 20 mins. A relaxing change from some recent Indy offerings.

GI for ‘American soldier’ just the wrong side of the line and asking too much for a weekday newspaper crossword? Never! With all due respect, that’s commonplace elsewhere.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:18:29 +0000

Many thanks PeeDee & Cinephile this was very enjoyable.

However, I had absolutely no idea who ELBARADEI was.

I assume that he was a pal of Cleopatra’s?

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:49:06 +0000

Hi Pelham, I agree both 8dn and 18ac are not strictly correct and proper, but they work OK for me.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:13:28 +0000

Thanks Cinephile for the crossword and PeeDee for the blog.

There are three clues that could be taken as indirect anagrams. I was happy with 14dn because it was a small change after interpreting ape as GORILLA.

I could also accept 8dn, where editor was abbreviated as ED to form part of the anagram fodder, but at least all the letters were actually in the clue.

I was much less happy with 18ac, where it was necessary to convert “American soldier” to GI before forming the anagram. To me this is just the wrong side of the line and is asking too much for a weekday newspaper crossword. Of course, this is a matter of personal taste, and I have no quarrel with anyone whose opinions differ from mine.

By: Wookie

Wookie — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 11:14:52 +0000

Came to the same answers using slightly different logic!