Comments on: Financial Times 13,792 by Styx

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 08:33:39 +0000

Thanks to deke for the explanation of TROTTER.

This was indeed a good crossword, unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to give it the time it deserved. Crosswords are like poetry, best appreciated slowly.

By: MikeC

MikeC — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 21:54:20 +0000

Thanks PeeDee and Styx. Enjoyed overall. I struggled with the combination of 2d and 26a, going for INSTRUMENTALIST and DOTANT. Both are proper words (the latter new to me) and mentalist is a reasonable interpretation of “medium”. Maybe some more editing needed?

By: jmac

jmac — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 21:24:54 +0000

Yes, a gem of a puzzle. A wide variety of clues, all clever, but with a good range of difficulty. Thanks Styx and also Peedee – bloggers contribute so much to the understanding of puzzles and the fact that you manage to do this when no doubt life intervenes is admirable.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 20:55:01 +0000

There we are: TROTTER was my last entry (having made a mistake in 7d) and where PeeDee thought it was a CD, I went for a DD – but deke, you are surely right. What a clever clue.

That said, I thought this puzzle had a real overdose of clever clues anyway. We always admire Loroso, Alberich and the like, and then say that there are “too many good clues to single out”. I think, today Styx should get the credits he deserves for an outstanding crossword.

There were only two clues that didn’t really work for me.
24ac: “in reduced quantities” for “less G” is one of them. I do not like the plural (of “quantities”) in this clue.
27ac: I needed the blog to understand what was going on, but still feel uncomfortable with the word “with” in “Tail-ender with opener” – I have been criticised for a similar thing in the past and I do understand why now.

All in all, great crossword.
And a warm welcome back to Styx after a two-months gap!

By: deke

deke — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 20:14:10 +0000

Hi PeeDee. I think in your haste you overlooked that 16A can be read as T (leading part of “the’) + ROTTER (swine), and &lit.