Comments on: Financial Times 13,771 by Cincinnus

By: Bamberger

Bamberger — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:30:35 +0000

My notes indicated that I couldn’t parse 2d and I have never come across faugh.
I got Honolulu fairly early but I thought that oh no rather than ho no was the correct expression.

By: Pete Maclean

Pete Maclean — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 09:46:57 +0000

Keeper, Thanks for your comments. I figure that plenty of people, even Brits, are not familiar with China = PAL. To us Europeans, B&O is also well known but as Bang & Olufsen.

By: Keeper

Keeper — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 20:59:22 +0000

Thanks for the blog, Pete. China = PAL was new to me.

As a Yank, I was preparing to voice strong objection to Ohio = O (we use OH to avoid confusion with Oklahoma and Oregon). But just before posting, I remembered B&O (Baltimore and Ohio) Railroad, which is well known to American players of the board game Monopoly.

By: Pete Maclean

Pete Maclean — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:35:20 +0000

Pelham, Thank you for that. I am now satisfied with postbag and accepting of OHIO = O although not quite happy with it.

So, could CHINA = PAL be Cockney slang? I suspected it was Scottish as I only ever heard it used in conversation there.

Pete

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 12:06:53 +0000

I am entering this discussion not having done the crossword, but in the hope that this may be helpful: 22ac: Chambers (1998 p. 1280) gives "a term used collectively for letters received" as a definition for postbag, which works for me. 6dn: O = Ohio also has the authority of Chambers (1998 p. 1116), although I agree that OH is what one would expect. 17ac: I cannot find a way of making this respectable. 11ac: I do not think CHINA = PAL is specifically Scottish. I have always understood it to be abbreviated rhyming slang China plate = mate. This is also given (as Cockney rhyming slang) in Chambers (1998 p. 286).

By: Pete Maclean

Pete Maclean — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:27:24 +0000

Bryan, Thanks for pointing out my omission of the proper 13A. I have corrected it. Surely the satisfaction of pointing out the blogger’s lapse is reward enough?

John, I have added an explanation of CHINA = PAL. I don’t know if it is much in current use but in my young days, “china” was in common use in Scotland to mean one’s pal.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:04:23 +0000

John Newman @ 3

13a is RAUL:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra%C3%BAl_Castro

Do you get it now?

By: John Newman

John Newman — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:00:46 +0000

Thanks Pete. Glad you said confounding. One of the harder Cincinnus for a while. I had a number of “why” annotations on my answers so am glad to see your explanations.

13A was one I couldn;t get so hope you will soon provide it.

Faugh is a word I have never heard of so would never get 2D. I have also never heard of pop meaning pawn. And how does pledge mean toast? Another one of your american dictionaries?

I am also still stuck on Palaver. Pal = china?

I liked woebegone.

cheers

John

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 10:30:23 +0000

Many thanks Pete & Cincinnus.

Very enjoyable but trickier than usual.

There’s a typo in your blog as ELEVENS should be 12a while 13a is missing.

Do I get a reward?

By: Lenny

Lenny — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 10:04:31 +0000

Thanks Pete. I did this in bed last night so it is fresh in my mind. It made a very pleasant end to the day with Cincinnus’ characteristic wit and ingenuity. I particularly liked the two long anagrams for Barnacle Goose and Crème Anglaise and the hidden word Peri.

I had the same problem as you with Honolulu. Thanks for parsing For a Laugh. I did not know the word Faugh and thought the expression of disgust was Ugh so the wordplay was lost on me.

It was nice to be reminded of platters at 27. It was a popular word in the 1950’s usually applied to 78rpm records and of course the Platters were a popular American vocal group. My dictionary gives the word as old inf. esp. US.