Comments on: Financial Times 14,238 by Gaff

By: pogel

pogel — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 12:32:18 +0000

Diva is an entertaining film, but I don’t remember any alien invasion involved…

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:39:29 +0000

Thanks for dropping in Gaff and thanks for another great puzzle – yes, I realised after posting that it wasn’t the same thing (though on the Guardian site they have found one scientist who thinks there might be a connection – not a very close one presumably, given the speeds and timeframes involved). The consensus seems to be that it is indeed just a strange and unfortunate coincidence.

By: Gaff

Gaff — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:23:05 +0000

The ‘visitor’ is indeed the asteroid due to make a near miss this evening – this is the one they saw coming, not the meteors that struck Russia this morning. A dreadful coincidence.

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:13:19 +0000

peterj’s right of course, except “near miss” (which was perhaps what Gaff was expecting) doesn’t seem to cover what happened today. The footage is terrifying.

Gaff really is just about the most outrageous setter around, and today was no exception. I think the 7 references all seem to make sense (including ET) and fit in with the rubric, though it didn’t give much away, did it? The “allusions” (what happened to the other visitors from space) all replace conventional definitions. I always look out for this setter; I never know what to expect either in terms of theme or in the cluing style.

Thanks for the blog; it must have been quite a challenge.

By: Wanderer (not the setter)

Wanderer (not the setter) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:09:33 +0000

Thanks peterj! That makes a lot of sense. It is much cleverer than I had realised. Great fun.

By: peterj

peterj — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:01:51 +0000

I presumed the film allusion clues were all sort of &lit…
War of the worlds – infected martians
Independence Day – they shoot down the UFOS
Close Encounters – they leave earth with more passengers
Armageddon – Old Bruce comes to the rescue
Deep Impact – Half blown up earth
maybe…
My thanks too to Jed and Gaff – been lurking here for a bit

By: Wanderer (not the setter)

Wanderer (not the setter) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:34:16 +0000

Thanks Jed and Gaff. Agree with peterj about the asteroid near-miss (or not a miss at all if you’re in Chelyabinsk) as the reason for the puzzle appearing today. I think the seventh must be 22d, with the movie appearing in the solution rather than as the whole solution. I read it as ‘Rescued after phoning’ = ET ‘in declined’ = in DIED, with ‘planned intake’ as the def.

Still baffled by two: don’t understand what ‘shot down’ contributes to INDEPENDENCE DAY, nor what ‘left with more passengers’ contributes to CLOSE ENCOUNTERS. Any help gratefully received!

By: peterj

peterj — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 10:48:29 +0000

I assumed it was because of today’s news that an asteroid is making a near-miss with earth – these movies are all about “other visitors” from space and many of them are asteroid-impact related.
2d is also a movie. I couldn’t find the seventh!