Comments on: Financial Times 14124 Neo

By: Neo

Neo — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 22:50:54 +0000

Sil, that one is ‘journey’ (syn. with ride) after ‘dark reportedly’ (nit = hom. of night). D for daughter or daughters is standard, as is S for son or sons, and both are tolerated even by The Times, notoriously choosy as it is about single-letter indication (to protect solvers from the REALLY REALLY obscure stuff, I think: take = R not allowed, are = A not allowed &c).

RE/ ACT, yes, that’s not really what I should have done! Every so often this happens, dammit, and I know not why, but I deserve a slap. Many thanks.

Cheers scchua for your usual lovely effort, and to all.

By: scchua

scchua — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 22:49:56 +0000

Thanks for all your comments.

[[Robi@6, Bob Hoskins was in the 1996 film version of Joseph Conrad's The Secret AGENT. Well done on the other 2.]]

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 21:47:12 +0000

Thanks, scchua, indeed a comparatively easy Neo today.

A lot of nice touches, but also a clue (6d, REACT) of which I cannot believe that it’s Neo who wrote it. As you said, because of the use of “act”.

GUATEMALA (14d), NO COMMENT (5d), IVANHOE (25ac) and TRACHEA (19d) were perhaps my favourites, all for different reasons.
On the other hand, clues like 18ac (AUTOMATIC) and 17d (UNSCREW) leave me cold.

The starter of 15d (DEMOCRATS) is D for ‘daughters’. Where can I find that? Plural?
Since nobody mentioned it, NITRIDE (9ac) is quite tricky. There’s also NITRITE (which I thought it was, just like in the Araucaria, but which is not really a homophone of “night ride”).

Many thanks, Neo, for today’s ‘light entertainment’.

By: Robi

Robi — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 19:26:57 +0000

[[Can't get Bob Hoskins link]]

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 15:37:58 +0000

Thanks Scchau and Neo, really like this even if the tennis court was lost on me a bit.

By: Robi

Robi — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 15:35:03 +0000

[[Hunt for red OCTOBER]]

By: Robi

Robi — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 15:19:29 +0000

[[Alec Baldwin played Jack Ryan in 'The Hunt for Red October,' where a NUCLEAR reactor ACCIDENT was staged???]]

By: Robi

Robi — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 14:55:14 +0000

Good crossword, although my history didn’t include the Tennis-Court Oath [as practised by Andy Murray.]

Thanks scchua for your usual comprehensive blog. I lazily put in NUCLEAR inCIDENT and then had to opt for AUTOMATon. For 23, I tried COney at first [Marshal Ney.] I particularly liked GUATEMALA and NO COMMENT. NITRIDE appeared in an Aruacarian crossword a few days ago, clued as:’Compound report of journey in the dark.’ Great minds think alike no doubt.

[[#1 is Alec Baldwin
#2 is Kurt Russell who appeared in 'The Thing.'
#3 is Bob Hoskins; I'll have to think a bit more...........]]

By: rowland

rowland — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 12:08:04 +0000

Tasty fare from FT Neo, my first solve of the day. As you say, scchua, great surfaces here, and good CDs. The FT is very good these days, I think. NO COMMENT the fave offering for me today.

Thanks for your intelligent blog, and to Neo for his ‘smart set’.