Comments on: Financial Times no.13,911 by HAMILTON

By: ACP

ACP — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:02:01 +0000

Finally a puzzle with local (from down here) knowledge.

Yes, MikeC, we do have to struggle through a lot of Anglo stuff (like BR, for one) but what do we expect . . . it’s all good fun.

By: Alberich

Alberich — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:09:45 +0000

I enjoyed this, but then I like to consider myself something of an expert on Australian linguistics – since I’m probably the only person on this planet sad enough to have seen every single episode of Prisoner: Cell Block H. I was keeping an eye out for “dunny”, “smoko” and “keep nit”.

I interpreted 26 Down as GOT reversed + S for singular, which isn’t too far of a leap from “one-piece”.

A ripper of a puzzle!

By: MikeC

MikeC — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:53:52 +0000

Thanks Ringo and Hamilton. Too tough for me, I’m afraid. The frequent Oz references so bemused me that I failed on lots of “ordinary” clues as well. I guess it’s a lesson about how solvers elsewhere must feel about excessively Anglo-centric clues!

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:30:22 +0000

I’d have been totally stonkered without the dictionary of Australian slang at koala.net. By the way, it is Australia Day today.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:59:45 +0000

Ah mate it’s RO (partly wROng) plus RT (abbrev. rt. for right, in Collins etc.).

By: crypticsue

crypticsue — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:41:49 +0000

As Eileen says, horrible compulsive. I never knew wasting time in front of Neighbours years ago would come in so useful, although I will admit to texting No 2 son (currently in Melbourne) for a couple of the anwers. Thanks Ringo and Hamilton. I imagine quite a few people will find this a ‘theme too far’.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:36:15 +0000

On second thoughts, the clue is ‘partly’ wrong, which does perhaps suggest wROng, since [t]ORT is mostly wrong!

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:33:39 +0000

Thanks for the blog, Ringo.

I can’t believe I persevered with this, once I’d spotted the theme but it became horribly compulsive!

I read 1ac as Gaufrid did and my creative reading of 5dn was wROng + RT, which takes care of the order but [t]ORT does seem more reasonable.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:23:00 +0000

Thanks Ringo
Your preamble sums up how I felt when completing this puzzle, not being conversant with Australian vernacular.

I parsed 1ac as STRE[et] (two-thirds of the way) around (mastering) IN (popular).

I’m not that happy with 5dn since surely the wordplay leads to TORR, or at a stretch ORTR, as there is no indicator for ‘right’ coming before ‘partly wrong’.

Regarding your query about 15ac, Wikipedia states that a Slab Hut is a kind of dwelling or shed made from slabs of split or sawn timber and one of the definitions in Chambers for ‘slab’ is “a large thick slice of cake, etc”.

By: George Ashton

George Ashton — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:36:05 +0000

Also struggled with this, many thanks and keep up the good work.
19 down is Nightshirts (pyjamas) with high (near) removed