Financial Times 15,279 by IO

14 comments on “Financial Times 15,279 by IO”

1. I think 14,21 is to do with a watch on a chain…

2. Thanks Io and PeeDee,

   There is another mini theme of Victorias.

   I think 5dn could be the little Constance is Con, and then as you suggest.

   Prince Albert is a DD (!).

   RUN-UPS is *(N + USURP).

3. The hardest ‘Henderson’ puzzle in a very long time (well that’s what I thought anyway).

   It did help that I spotted the Victoria theme quite early on but even so muttering and Tippex were employed in abundance.

   Thanks to Io for the excellent challenge and PeeDee for the explanations (If I’d been blogging this one, the explanations wouldn’t probably have appeared until much much later.

4. Muffyword @2, 14,21, to do with wearing trousers left or right, or piercing?

5. thank you mufyword – I have just looked that up **blush**. I am clearly clueless and entirely the wrong person to be blogging this!

6. Not an easy blog @PeeDee-I thought Prince Albert could be a DD when I checked in Chambers,23 had me flummoxed apart from the (3.3)
   the crossers and N or RN for navy.CLOVEN was another one where it was the only word that fit-with C or Con.

   Thanks Pee Dee and to @Muffyword for extra suggestions.

   He is pretty much the Gaffer of setters and the Victoria theme is staggering.

   Hope JH pops in later.

   Wow!

7. Here are a few victoria references in the grid:

   VICTORIA PENDLETON – cyclist
   VICTORIA WOOD – commedian
   QUEEN VICTORIA – queen, with husband PRINCE ALBERT
   VICTORIA COREN MITCHELL – poker player, with husband DAVID
   VICTORIA BECKHAM – spice girl, with husband DAVID
   THE VICTORIA ARCHES – building in Manchester
   VICTORIA STATION – mainline railway station in London

8. Re 16/1: Dickens means devil in the expression “what the dickens?”, so world of Dickens = hell, as you guessed.

   Super puzzle – PeeDee, thank you.

9. Great stuff – a bit too tough for me (on a weekday?) but typically ingenious, with a good helping of humour. Thanks both.

10. Too tough. But entertaining and even more entertaining seeing the explanations here. Thanks!

11. Thanks PeeDee and Io.

    This needed a huge effort to complete. Started on Friday evening and only finished on the train into town this morning.

    And I wasn’t confident that I’d got the answers right until I came here. Specifically needed help on:

    The ICH in 7ac – very clever;
    PRINCE ALBERT as a penis ring – I think that I’ll skip that from my bucket list!;
    The construction of 5dn – still not sure;
    THE ARCHES as an ecclesiastical court;
    The constructions of 23/25.

    As ever, a tour de force from Io. Terrific puzzle with all the East Enders and Victorias and a real sense of achievement, even if I didn’t fully parse.

    Thanks again.

12. Thanks Io and PeeDee

    This was way too hard for me ! I don’t often give up on a puzzle – but knew that I must’ve had a couple wrong – and I did. Had guessed Rhys MITCHELL (with only the HELL parsed), had written in BESEE instead of VISTO at 19a (it actually parses OK ‘The Vatican’ could be (a) see and ‘BESEE’ is an old term for ‘view) and had written in an unparsed ASH ROAD at 24 (‘affliction’ being RASH with the R moved along).

    Anyway it meant that VICTORIA PENDLETON was never gunna happen – so just gave up and come here for the answers. There was just too much local knowledge required to persist (and even more to crack the theme) – else I’ve become jaded.

    It’s pushed me to have a break for a while from doing two puzzles a day. Might have a go at some older ones every so often … but won’t be looking at any of the current ones.

13. Aw Bruce.

    As the other regular tail-endear I’ll miss you.

    Hopefully a break will do you good and we’ll see you back here soon.

14. Thanks Hamish

    I’m sure I’ll be back … be finishing off quite a few old ones first though (at leisure) !

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