Comments on: Financial Times 14,035 by Monk

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 13:29:40 +0000

Please ignore that last post, I just realised that “Rome” is the clue, not “Monroe”.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 13:25:22 +0000

I still prefer “M ON ROE” to “M ON RO, E”. The latter seems a bit strained, RO isn’t a word and the surface reading doesn’t really make any sense. Using ‘on’ to mean ‘in’ seems not that bad, and roe is a word and the surface does make some sense.

I have often wondered whether cryptic crossword clues are like poems, where there is no single ‘correct’ interpretation, or are they quizes where the setters intention is the definitive solution?

By: Wanderer

Wanderer — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 12:48:59 +0000

My apologies — comments 4 to 7 appeared while I was typing my contribution at 8, so my comments on MONROE are unjustified and out of date!

By: Wanderer

Wanderer — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 12:46:21 +0000

Difficult indeed! Held myself up at 23 by entering HEATHROW – I got the idea quite quickly but couldn’t see beyond ‘warm’=HEAT, and of course I couldn’t parse the rest. Luckily the excellent WAR MEMORIAL put me right quite quickly. Thanks for explaining TEACHER, RECCIED and NITWIT, all of which I got (eventually) without fully understanding.

I’m another for whom M ON ROE doesn’t seem right. For me this leads to either MROE or ROEM, and I agree with Eileen that it seems to be a clue for MINROE.

Lots to enjoy here, with big ticks for MERCEDES, SEEMLIER and WELL I NEVER. Many thanks to PeeDee and Monk.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 12:45:42 +0000

Thanks PeeDee
I think Monk’s ‘twist’ today is that the second and penultimate letters in every answer are the same.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 12:44:49 +0000

Thanks Monk. My comment @3 is meant as a tongue in cheek reponse to Eileen, I really do think it is a good clue!

I too am hopelss with Ninas, I will go and have another try now…

By: Eileen

Eileen — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 12:36:28 +0000

Many thanks for the clarification, Monk. I hadn’t thought of separating the RO and E. Makes perfect sense now – my apologies.

[I'm afraid I'm hopeless at spotting Ninas, even when told there is one. ]

By: Monk

Monk — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 12:28:15 +0000

Ta muchly PeeDee for blog. I feel obliged to answer the comment at #3 to put later bloggers and blog-readers in the picture.

The “fair” in the clue was indeed meant to be read as “just”, because the clue at 11ac (NB raised for discussion by the crossword editor) admits multiple parsings. One, [ROME = M in ROE], was noted by Eileen #2; the intended one, [ROME = M on RO, E], is IMHO fair (!) because it is an across clue, in which convention has A on B = BA.

And there is a Nina

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 12:05:43 +0000

Hi Eileen, I suppose in 11ac Monk does state that the suggested clue for Rome is only ‘fair’, ie not actually very good.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 11:48:16 +0000

Thanks, PeeDee, especially for 21dn, which I failed to get, and for the parsing of the second part of 17dn – which I don’t much like! – and of 11ac – ditto: for me, the clue leads to MINROE.

Apart from those niggles, an enjoyably tough puzzle. Thanks, Monk.

For 18 dn I had REGIMEN[t].