Comments on: Financial Times 14,098 by Cincinnus

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 21:40:28 +0000

Well one of the senses of ‘simple’ given in Chambers is ‘a medicine having only one constituent’, and at a stretch simple = unexciting, not really the same but possibly their meanings overlap.

By: Pete Maclean

Pete Maclean — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 22:25:13 +0000

Wil, I cannot say that I see SIMPLE as fitting 26ac.

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 21:36:20 +0000

Lovely crossword as always from Cincinnus. I was a bit thrown by writing in SIMPLE for 26ac: it could be the answer, couldn’t it? There were not at that stage any checkers so it went straight in.

By: Bamberger

Bamberger — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 16:23:13 +0000

I can’t imagine a commentator saying “Australia is 20 for 4″ they would always say “Australia are 20 for 4″ . Mind you I think Australians would say 4 (wickets down ) for 20 runs.

By: Pete Maclean

Pete Maclean — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 16:11:56 +0000

Ah, yes, interpreting 19D as Austin and Morris being both cars and men is better. Thank you, dreadnought. By the way, I once owned a car that was one of the two — and I cannot remember which!

I think we will have to agree to disagree about 3D. Americans find expressions such as “Australia play test cricket” to be odd and consider them wrong. But I believe that Brits use such constructions commonly and consider them to be fine.

By: Bamberger

Bamberger — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:54:32 +0000

I couldn;t get 1d,2d & 10a which were all interlinked. Also failed on 17d even with ?t?e?s?d.

I’m ok with Australia . The test match players (ie those playing in a test match) make up Australia.

I’m afraid I don’t follow the point being made in “Australia is a singular noun so takes the third person singular conjugation of the verb “to be” which in turn must take a singular object.” Sorry.

By: John Newman

John Newman — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:11:49 +0000

Thanks Pete and Cincinnus for yet another excellent puzzle.
I can’t resist putting in my bit as an Australian to say that 3D is in error. It should definitely read PLAYER. I don’t recall ever seeing Cincinnus make a mistake before so it is a huge surprise. Australia is a singular noun so takes the third person singular conjugation of the verb “to be” which in turn must take a singular object.
Interestingly, in my work my country is always being muddled with Austria so I should have solved this clue immediately but sadly must confess to taking a little while.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 12:39:15 +0000

Many thanks, Pete & Cincinnus.

I opted for PEDALO @ 1d but left a note for myself: ‘Is 1d Correct?’

It was and now that I know why maybe I will be able to sleep again at nights?

And here’s a link for William Morris otherwise Lord Nuffield:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris,_1st_Viscount_Nuffield

By: dreadnought

dreadnought — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 04:55:01 +0000

Yes I enjoyed this too, especially the Aston Martin fodder.

19d: I think both Austin and Morris are both cars and both men, so ‘carmen’ works OK.

Thanks for blog.