Comments on: Financial Times 14,020 by Mudd

By: Pete Maclean

Pete Maclean — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 18:28:40 +0000

exgnome, Thanks for commenting. 20A took me a while to figure out! Seems we have a mixed response to 11A.

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 20:31:03 +0000

Agree with you Pete about the weakness of 12ac. 0 pen simply doesn’t mean ‘without a pen’ or ‘with no pen’ or suchlike. And although in 11ac Wag’s tail is g, one might argue that Wag tail is not g and certainly Wagtail is not g.

Otherwise a nice crossword. I particularly liked 19dn.

By: exgnome

exgnome — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 10:10:25 +0000

I also found this tricky in places and was left stumped by 20A. I’d rate 11A as my COD.

Many thanks for a very clear blog.

By: Pete Maclean

Pete Maclean — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 03:05:30 +0000

Bamberger, thanks for your comments. I don’t know how true it is for other bloggers but please don’t imagine that I solve every puzzle without assistance. Some I do but I also frequently resort to using pattern-lookup software and occasionally anagrammers. I also happen to have acquired a good trove of esoteric knowledge over a lifetime of 60 years so was very familiar with Lett — but I sure appreciate that this archaism would be unknown to many, if not most people. 19d stumped me for a brief time but eventually it clicked. Just keep practicing and you should develop the same talent. Sometimes I amaze myself at how quickly an answer comes to me, as was the case with POLTERGEIST. And other times I amaze myself at how long I stare at a clue that is really rather easy, as was the case with CALAIS.

By: Bamberger

Bamberger — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 17:05:56 +0000

I regard the Saturday and Monday FT crosswords as ones I can reasonably get near to fully solving without recourse to aids-excepting Cinephile who I wouldn’t attempt even if you paid me. Usually I get between 2/3 and 3/4 after say an hour on and off and I may eventually be left with one or two that I simply can’t get. Not so with this one -I only solved 4a,12a,17a,21a,25a ,22d & 28d before giving up and I’ve been looking forward to this blog to see if it really was that hard.
10a While I got more I simply hadn’t heard of moliere so that sunk me.
11a Brilliant -I assume that crops up from time to time
13a I thought that rumpy pumpy was a little stronger than fun…

6d Too tough for me to realise that you had to substitute hi for greeting to get the anagram fodder
14a Well done anyone who got that without checking letters.
15d Lett =latvian was unknown
19d I just couldn’t see what the clue was about.

Well done blogger