Comments on: Financial Times 14,053 by Aardvark

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 12:35:15 +0000

Sorry @12 I am repeating myself. I had forgotten what I had said @5 and failed to check it.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 12:33:06 +0000

SPOILER ALERT for FT 14,054 if anyone reading this has not yet done that puzzle:

Orense uses “working” = “on”. We can then possibly resolve 9dn by “charged” = “working” = “on”, and I do not think we have changed meaning when making the two-step link. Having said that, I like PeeDee’s suggestion @11 better. I should also like to support the comment by Mike@6. It is good to see “here” in a clue for a place name.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 08:31:49 +0000

My best guess is that there was a misprint in 9dn, the clue should have read

“Charge repeatedly during socket test…”

By: keriothe

keriothe — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 23:10:25 +0000

I came here hoping for an explanation of “on” but it seems to have eluded better brains than mine. The only other possibility I thought of was “drunk”, or “on the way to being drunk” as Chambers has it. I’m not in the least convinced.
Thanks for the bog, PeeDee. With you on Schubert!

By: Ernie

Ernie — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 21:34:40 +0000

re 10A I took ‘to activate’ as the anagram indicator.

Thanks to PeeDee for the comprehensive blog.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 20:26:55 +0000

I agree, ‘on’ does not mean ‘on charge’. If someone told me their toothbrush was on all night, I would assume it was buzzing away in the bathroom, not sitting quietly on the charger.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 18:50:01 +0000

I would always say ‘on charge’ for that – insufficient data otherwise.

By: mike04

mike04 — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 15:06:58 +0000

Thanks for the blog, Peedee.

Pelham @5: I was thinking along similar lines. For ‘on’ as an adverb, Chambers gives:
in or into, or allowing connection, supply, activity, operation or validity.
“My sonic toothbrush was charged last night / My sonic toothbrush was on last night.”

Thanks Aardvark.
STOCKTON-ON-TEES: I liked the “here” in north-east England!

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 13:53:04 +0000

Thanks Aardvark for a pleasant crossword and PeeDee for the blog.

9dn: The best I can think of is that a battery that has been charged is working and hence on, but I am not happy with this and would welcome a better idea. I have the same problems with the suggestions in comments 1 and 2 that PeeDee has articulated in comment 4.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 13:22:40 +0000

Hi ANgryVocab and Brain, good ideas that I hadn't thought of. I can't get either to work properly though. In heraldry charges are emblems placed on the shield. As a verb, to charge a shield is to put emblems on it, and a charged shield is one having emblems on it. However, 'charged' does not mean the same as 'on' that I can see. "the shield is charged with emblems" makes sense, "the shield is on with emblems" doesn't really make sense to me. Similarly, "what card did you put the bill charged" or "what card was on" does not really make sense.