Comments on: Financial Times 13,768 by Monk

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:24:29 +0000

Hi Sil,

ID and IDE are both fishes, L and EL are both lines, take your pick I think!

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 23:43:56 +0000

Extremely difficult puzzle which eventually I didn’t finish.
Reason? Simply lack of time.

Thanks PeeDee, for cracking this crossword and for your blog.
Oh, and btw, INFIDEL (20d) = IN and IDE (fish) inside F(ine) L(ine).

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:01:46 +0000

Stuart @6 re 5dn: I agree with PeeDee – that is a much better explanation. I may say that I am all for setters trying out new devices, especially in a context where the answer is obvious. If a device is generally regarded as fair, it can then be used in more obscure settings, but otherwise no harm is done.

PeeDee: thank you for amending your explanations of 19ac and 23ac in line with my comment @4.

Lenny @5: thank you for your concern. The reason my previous comment is in three parts is that, having accidentally submitted an incomplete comment, I thought I had better get my remark on 9dn up as quickly as possible. Then I could add the other things I wanted to say without the same urgency.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:35:02 +0000

Re 5d – I had it in mind that it was “qu[estion] 1″ (qui) for “start of exam”?

Enjoyable puzzle & blog, thank you

By: Lenny

Lenny — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:31:49 +0000

Thanks PeeDee. This was a very tough offering from Monk. I was slow today to pick up on the substitution of FT for Us even though I have seen it loads of times before in the FT crossword. Foreign Draft and Floating Debt were both new to me and had to be pieced together from the wordplay. Other new words were Tropism and the specialist meaning of Delouse. Last in was Mendoza. I had almost given up on it but many years of reading the labels on wine bottles finally came good. I had always thought of Mendoza as a wine-growing region and did not realise that it was a city as well.

As PeeDee mentions, there are some particularly good misdirections here in the definitions of Obesity, Trousseau, Emetics and Euphemism.

Glad you are OK Pelham, I was worried that you had keeled over in mid-blog.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:38:49 +0000

Having finished the incomplete comment on 9dn, can I add that I thought 14dn was an especially delightful clue?

19ac: I would not count the P = “quiet” as part of the anagram. It can be read either way, but see Neo’s comment (number 3) on yesterday’s puzzle.

23ac: You need to include F in the list of exam grades. I initially had DEFACED. The correct answer is better.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:33:45 +0000

Sorry I accidentally hit “Submit Comment” before finishing typing.

9dn: Presumably “between us” = “between FT” = “between F and T”: again, I think this is stretching the language too far.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:31:17 +0000

Thanks Monk for a tough crossword and PeeDee for sorting it out. I had NABOB (which I could not justify) at 16ac and so could not get 17dn. Both of these clues were perfectly fair now that I have seen the answers.

As you say, a nice device with the six symmetrically placed answers starting in F and ending in T.

However:

24ac: I think “captain of” = “leader of” = “first letter of” is too much of a stretch.

5dn: Is “start of” really a fair indication for three out of four letters?

9dn: I

By: Conrad Cork

Conrad Cork — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:18:04 +0000

Thanks PeeDee and especially Monk. Lots to chew on here, and very satisfying.