Comments on: Financial Times 13,812 / Falcon

By: Bamberger

Bamberger — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:57:19 +0000

I got about half of this out by just looking at the clue and writing the answer in. Then I came to a grinding halt and gave up 30 minutes later with not a single further clue solved. Of course the more you get the more chance you get of solving further ones but I would never have got 23a,16d, 17d & 22d never having heard of them. I have heard of the verb “to torch” but hadn’t heard of the noun “torch” in this context.
For 3d I was lookign of an anagram of something and never thought that I was after another phrase for on the rocks.
Pretty tough overall I thought.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:34:21 +0000

Steve @5: Thanks for that. I think that makes 3dn acceptable, or at worst a totally forgiveable error.

Incidentally I could also point out that 29ac is one of those rare clues that has two equally good parsings with the same answer: I had it as [HALL + *(GEN)] in CE, but Gaufrid’s (HALL in CE) + *(GEN) works just as well.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:18:05 +0000

I agree with the above comments re 3dn. FYI, the official Tony Awards website refers to the trophy as a statuette: http://www.tonyawards.com/presskit/ (scroll down towards the bottom of the page). However, I’m not claiming that this usage by a PR hack provides a convincing justification …

By: Rishi

Rishi — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:13:15 +0000

Gaufrid

On reading your intro but without moving further down, I guessed that you must be referring to the Christie novel N or M. I have seen clues with that wordplay before.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:48:52 +0000

Gaufrid @2: Thanks for that. I am always glad to have a misapprehension corrected.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:28:30 +0000

Hi Pelham
There is no problem with 11ac. Had you delved a little deeper into Wikipedia you would have found that Mark Antony’s mother, Julia Caesaris, was a cousin of Julius Caesar.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:16:00 +0000

Thanks Falcon for a pleasant puzzle and Gaufrid for the blog.

Re 3dn: I have tried to persuade myself that mounting the Tony medallion on its substantial base makes the whole thing a statuette – and failed. I think you are right that Falcon has slipped up here.

The one that caused me to raise an eyebrow when solving was 11ac. Is (or, rather, was) Mark Antony a relation of Julius Caesar? Wikipedia says “important supporter and loyal friend”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Antony

Of course, neither of these possible lapses made the clues unsolvable, and I would be only too happy if someone can find a convincing justification for either of these clues.