Financial Times 14,453 by Ateles

22 comments on “Financial Times 14,453 by Ateles”

1. 

   Muffyword

   #1 - Fri 25th Oct 13, 11:13

   
   

   Thanks Jed and Ateles,

   I wonder whether the setter is a collaboration, as there is a nina which might suggest this is not by someone new to the crossword world.

   4 is (shop)PING

   7 is mOunTaInS (OTIS)

2. 

   crypticsue

   #2 - Fri 25th Oct 13, 13:07

   
   

   I don’t think its a collaboration – look up the name of the setter on Google!

3. 

   nestorius

   #3 - Fri 25th Oct 13, 13:53

   
   

   Is the number of this delight not 14,453??
   And… is 5-a-side fair? I have not seen digits before.

4. 

   Gaufrid

   #4 - Fri 25th Oct 13, 14:06

   
   

   Hi Nestorius
   Thanks for the heads-up, I’ve corrected the number. As for 5-a-side, I don’t know about ‘fair’ but it is certainly necessary for the perimeter message. I’ve seen numbers used in a similar way previously. I can’t remember where but it was probably in a barred-grid puzzle.

5. 

   Anon

   #5 - Fri 25th Oct 13, 15:11

   
   

   @crypticsue Just googled the name, and a collaboration seems more than likely…

6. 

   Conrad Cork

   #6 - Fri 25th Oct 13, 15:35

   
   

   Gozo’s fabulous tribute to Auraucaria’s 90th also included figures.

7. 

   crypticsue

   #7 - Fri 25th Oct 13, 15:49

   
   

   Anon@ 5 – I think you are right – I was in a bit of a hurry when I googled. Two names would come to mind….but as I have been wrong earlier today I won’t say any more.

8. 

   ernie

   #8 - Fri 25th Oct 13, 16:57

   
   

   for 8A I had (b)rain(s)

9. 

   Hornbeam

   #9 - Fri 25th Oct 13, 18:12

   
   

   Sorry, everyone, most of all Ateles. I didn’t enjoy this one. For instance, Ape Man was obvious to this household, but vetoed because the word ‘man’ was already in the clue.

10. 

    Parissolver

    #10 - Fri 25th Oct 13, 20:09

    
    

    Agree with Hornbeam. Didn’t enjoy at all

11. 

    Tilsit

    #11 - Fri 25th Oct 13, 20:52

    
    

    Splendid stuff from two of our finest setters.

12. 

    jetdoc

    #12 - Sat 26th Oct 13, 06:42

    
    

    Thanks to both the spider and the monk. Tributee is chuffed to bits!

13. 

    Sil van den Hoek

    #13 - Mon 28th Oct 13, 12:20

    
    

    Did this puzzle only this morning, two days after half of Ateles made me curious.
    I didn’t find this an easy puzzle, lots of words (and names, like Yedo and Otis) that were unfamiliar to me.
    Had to look up/confirm a lot (mallei, moue, capi to name a few).

    I saw the nina early on (was expecting it, of course) which helped me significantly.
    I couldn’t see 6d despite have ?0th around the perimeter.
    Should kick myself!

    Many thanks Jed for the blog.
    Needed it for the parsing of both 1 and 2d.
    I guess in 2d ‘bit’ is the insertion indicator?

    Thanks to M&S for all the effort!

    ps, a pity that Nimrod didn’t fit in.
    I looked and looked, even in the unchecked squares, but alas.

14. 

    Sil van den Hoek

    #14 - Mon 28th Oct 13, 12:22

    
    

    ‘having’ not ‘have’ (in the second paragraph)

15. 

    Monk

    #15 - Mon 28th Oct 13, 23:29

    
    

    Hello Sil@13&14. There is more in there than is at first apparent: see link at bottom of http://www1.maths.leeds.ac.uk/~mark/crosswords/ft/xwd14453.html 🙂

16. 

    Sil van den Hoek

    #16 - Mon 28th Oct 13, 23:57

    
    

    Well, Monk, to paraphrase The Beatles, I should have known better with a man like you ….. Clever!

    By the way, though I tried, I found it very difficult to figure out which clue was yours and which was Arachne’s.
    But then, you’re both setters at such a high quality level.

    Fine tribute and very kind of you (both) to donate the fees to the RNIB!

17. 

    Monk

    #17 - Tue 29th Oct 13, 10:54

    
    

    Thanks Sil@16. And now that you mention it, since we vetted/amended each other’s clues and (deliberately) kept no log of who set which final version, I can remember/determine who set only two of the clues; one from each of us!

18. 

    Jan

    #18 - Tue 29th Oct 13, 15:55

    
    

    Many thanks to Jed for the blog – what a difficult task, not knowing the background! Thank you also to Monk and Arachne for a splendid Spider Monkey outing.

    What can I say? Gosh!

    I had printed out the puzzle before leaving home on Friday for the weekend. I completed it in the campervan on a camping site near Mansfield when I returned from Sheffield by bus (love my bus pass!) Like Sil, I was encouraged by the hints which Monk and others let fall. I think 5-a-side would have floored me without them. The nina saved the day. Whilst JOHN was obvious, I didn’t notice TEATHER.

    Maybe even golly-gosh!

19. 

    Eileen

    #19 - Tue 29th Oct 13, 16:37

    
    

    So *that’s* why we had the weird [to me] word GRODIEST.

    I join with Jan in ‘golly-gosh!’- sheer brilliance and a lovely tribute. Many thanks to both halves of Ateles – and to brave Jed.

20. 

    Woodspiral

    #20 - Tue 29th Oct 13, 19:21

    
    

    11a reminds me of Frank Zappa! Can someone explain why ‘goes under the table’ is an anagram indicator? I’ve not seen that before.

    For 20a why is ‘Number’ a definition for ‘Ethyl Ether’, is that slang?

    Thanks.

21. 

    Pelham Barton

    #21 - Tue 29th Oct 13, 21:15

    
    

    Thanks Ateles for a puzzle that was most certainly a fitting tribute to its subject and Jed for the blog.

    Woodspiral @20:

    11ac: Chambers 2011 has under the table hopelessly drunk (inf)

    20ac: Number is being used here in the sense of something which makes you numb – a long-established crossword device.

22. 

    Woodspiral

    #22 - Thu 31st Oct 13, 08:06

    
    

    Thanks Pelham Barton. Cryptic anagram indicator and cryptic definition foxed me.

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