Comments on: Financial Times 13,838 – Crux

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:29:20 +0000

Thanks Crux for the puzzle and Sil for the blog.

28ac: I agree with the criticism. The time honoured solution of starting “I’ll come” would give a perfectly good surface here.

24dn: I take Sil’s point. I would more naturally say that “everyone” starts with an E. I would call it a blemish, rather than a serious error.

26dn: I think “covered in” is just an indication for “after” in a down clue.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:01:39 +0000

Well, David, for me, it starts “with” an and ends “in” an E.
Correct me if I’m wrong.

Indeed, the cryptic grammar in 28ac is not right. We had a few discussions on that recently in the Guardian blogs. But I did not want to flag it up again. “I must come in last to get topmost decoration” would have been a way to solve this.

By: David

David — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:23:08 +0000

Also thanks for the blog Sil, but I cannot understand the problem in 24D. ‘Everyone’ does start in an E, doesn’t it?

By: David

David — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:20:20 +0000

28A) I come in last and get topmost decoration (6)

Isn’t this a liberty by the setter? I thought the grammar in the cryptic reading was not correct.

1A) PATIENT (invalid) less I (one) – For PATIENT, the same clue would work with licence and invalid interchanged!

Loved most surfaces except for 30A.