Comments on: Financial Times 14,191 by Loroso

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 13:47:36 +0000

A remarkable puzzle – I certainly wasn’t expecting such a challenge when I finally got around to it a day late! There were lots of clues that looked like they couldn’t work and it was very satisfying to finally see the parsing. My last two in were 18a (Tung) – finally saw that “water tower” when I’d already picked up Chambers – and 12a (Elder), with its perfectly clear syntax that I’d been overcomplicating in my head long after realising what the answer had to be. I was very grateful for the extra help in 9a (Salix), without which I might never have got 6d (Mincemeat). “Eme” was new to me. Pretty stiff for a weekday, but then it is almost the holidays…

By: fearsome

fearsome — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 11:39:44 +0000

thanks PeeDee and Loroso
This was tough but very enjoyable and I was left 2 short Mincemeat and aliases
so particular thanks for explaining them – I had thought of mincemeat but had got nowhere near parsing it so left it blank.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 22:58:42 +0000

Whoa, this was some puzzle.

Saw 7ac (ASH) straightaway and spotted the theme (after just three letters!).
But it wasn’t plain sailing at all.
I got there in the end, but couldn’t explain ALIASES, MINCEMEAT (had to be it because of 9ac – linked in a quite an original way), ELDER and, of all clues, ARAUCARIA.
So, many thanks PeeDee (and others) for explaining these.

I liked the sneakiness of ‘Water tower’ in 18ac.
Also the way Loroso avoided to use the word Spooner in 20ac. In this respect, I remember him saying a few years ago at this place that if he could he would.

As I said I couldn’t parse ARAUCARIA, but “Drivers surrounding head of Irish police” for AA around R + the rest of RUC, did remind me of 14ac in today’s Guardian crossword by Arachne. “Of sound mind, ultimately buffered by stout” for E inside GUINNESS following the rest of SANE.
I don’t think I have seen this before.
And then all at once twice the same day.
Great minds (who, by the way, in this case know each other very well) think alike!

Terrific crossword.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 22:40:14 +0000

Thanks, PeeDee, for the blog.

My apologies, Loroso, for being too busy making mince pies, etc, etc, to finish – or even start doing the necessary research for the acrosses for this [too good for a weekday, at this time of year!] puzzle but I just want to put in my twopenn’orth re 3dn: on Monday, ‘nix’ appeared in the Rufus puzzle I blogged and it occurred to me then that NIX ON offered a cluing opportunity that Paul [Mudd] might have exploited. It was interesting to see it in the same week in a more modest guise – and from you! [I certainly don't see the need for 'former'.]

Huge thanks, as always [from a 19dn ] for those parts of the puzzle that I did have time to complete.

By: JollySwagman

JollySwagman — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 21:43:31 +0000

Nice – thanks both.

Didn’t twig how mincemeat worked even having the right answers in.

Re presidents – PMs too – I never feel the need for a “former”. Were that an accepted convention clues without it would be too easy (allowing for the possibilty of PMs and presidents from other lands). Of course American presidents retain their honorific beyond their term of office.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:20:33 +0000

I get the same mixed feelings as you re 3/24 Pelham. In the context of this crossword I think it is OK to omit ‘former’ as it is in keeping with the level of difficulty of the puzzle as a whole.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 14:51:57 +0000

PeeDee @4: Thanks for coming back in. To clarify my last remark at 2, I agree with you in adding “former” to the explanation at 24ac. I am interested in views on whether the word (or something similar) is necessary in the clue. My first thought was that it should have been in the clue at 24ac, but I was not at all bothered by its absence in 3dn. I can give no logical justification for why I feel differently in the two cases.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 14:22:04 +0000

Thanks for the corrections, fixed now.

Re 24ac: I added ‘former’ to the blog to aid any internationl solvers who are not particilarly familair with NI. The name RUC changed to the Police Sevice of Northern Ireland in 2001.

By: MikeC

MikeC — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 14:09:21 +0000

Thanks Loroso and PeeDee. Fine crossword and blog. There were several of these where I was pretty sure of the answer but could not quite explain why. An exception (!) is 1d, which I think is COST then AS surrounding R(anci)D. I also had to make extensive use of the dictionary, for example, for 20a, where I thought first of NIN PINE (Pin Nine) – Put Nine is much more precise. “Initial exchange” answers the question put a day or two back of how to avoid the Rev Spooner . . .

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 13:43:26 +0000

I was just going to do the Dac today but reading the preamble tempted me to this puzzle as well. An entertaining puzzle indeed so thanks PeeDee both for the encouragement to try the puzzle and for the blog. Last two in were 9ac and 6dn. When the penny dropped, I thought this was an excellent device to resolve any uncertainty about the obscure answer at 9ac – obscure to me anyway.

13ac: I think this is DA containing (“guards”) AVID I.

24ac: Of course, this had to be one of the answers. I had ARAUC the same way as PeeDee but then initial letters of “as roads in Antrim” for the ARIA.

27ac: I think we can take “in America” as the indication for US.

3dn: I originally had OBAMA here, parsed as O (no) BA MA (appointments to degrees). The correct answer is much smoother, and I am not going to claim an ambiguous clue here.

5dn: I think the word “affected” belongs properly in the clue as a way of telling us that aliases are assumed names.

24ac/3dn: I am not sure whether the word “former” is necessary before “Irish police” and “president” respectively. It would be interesting to see what others think.