Comments on: Financial Times 13,946 by Aardvark

By: Ernie

Ernie — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 20:02:01 +0000

my reading of 23D

definition = mass = berg

grebe (diver) backwards = eberg

ice is drug slang for a methamphetamine = ecstasy = e for short

(e)berg with missing ice = berg

By: scchua

scchua — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 23:24:09 +0000

Thanks nmsindy. One of my usual blind spots at work again.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 17:24:52 +0000

Thanks nmsindy, fixed now.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:39:26 +0000

Enjoyable puzzle, thanks PeeDee and Aardvark. BTW, I think TYBURN-TREE is fine as BURNT in TYRE with the other E (earth) at the end.

By: mike04

mike04 — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:17:30 +0000

Thank you PeeDee and Aardvark.

I agree with scchua’s point about the car accessory.
In a modern road vehicle, a tyre is hardly a non-essential.

In 12ac I read “green’s leaves” with ‘noticed’ = ‘remarked upon’ as a homophone indicator. However I do prefer your interpretation!

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:09:18 +0000

I can imagine one word being overlooked, but a whole phrase going missing would me more likely to be spotted by the setter/editor. I like the Earth’s ice mass idea, very clever.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:01:47 +0000

Hi PeeDee
If it is a single word omission then I think that “earth’s” would probably do the trick; or what about ‘missing the end of large ice mass’.

By: scchua

scchua — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:54:20 +0000

Thanks Pee Dee and Aardvark.

Quite enjoyable. I too thought 23D was GREB[e] reversed and a missing something after “missing” or that we had to figure out what it was that was “missing”. Also, I was held up (my last one in) by 14D TYBURN TREE where TYRE was partially in and partially out, but certainly not “circling” BURNT E. And unless it’s a spare (perhaps even not), I don’t think a tyre is a car accessory.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:49:18 +0000

I like the GERBE theory. I did think of grebe, but for some reason failed to associate grebe with diver. I still can’t think of any obvious misprint or omission that would both supply the missing e and preserve the surface reading.

By: Rishi

Rishi — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 13:02:37 +0000

I understand that Dan BERG is a noted wreck diver.

Now, missing ICE (ice) in ICEBERG (mass), BERG (diver) would surface (appear)!