Financial Times 15,327 by GOZO

10 comments on “Financial Times 15,327 by GOZO”

1. Thanks, PeeDee, for a delightful blog of a delightful puzzle.

   I got started on the birds with GODWIT, which I learned, years ago, from crosswords. [I met FIELDFARE that way, too.] I didn’t know EVEJAR but the cluing was immaculate – and I liked the clever exploitation of it in 21ac [after writing out sixteentwentyseven and failing to find a hidden word].

   Many thanks to Gozo – I really enjoyed it.

2. Thanks Gozo and PeeDee

   Very clever gridfill I thought. Glad I wasn’t the only one to write out sixteentwentyseven!

   2D reminded me of a old groaner of mine: If an old German is steering a boat, do you have a Hun at the tiller?

   I’ll get mi coat…

3. Very enjoyable crossword and a beautifully illustrated blog. Thanks to Gozo and PeeDee

4. Thanks for the blog and nice pics PeeDee. Very clever of you to have spotted the 2 across clues which did have defs – completely escaped me. I couldn’t parse ON THE RACK either. I liked most of the avian clues with ‘1627’ and SHRIKE being my favourites. First time I can remember KIR having appeared in s cryptic.

   Yes Eileen @1, according to my extensive ornithological knowledge, the natural habitat of both the NUTHATCH and the FIELDFARE is indeed Crossword Land.

   Thanks to Gozo for an entertaining puzzle.

5. I got 2d but I don’t like it – I think Attila is stressed on the first syllable.

6. Quite right Corby, it doesn’t work as a straight homophone. I did not notice that at the time.

   In retrospect my take is that we need to split ATTILA into AT TILA before the applying the homophone, much the same way as charades or other clues split words into pieces before cryptic devices are used on the pieces, jointly or several. It is a matter of taste whether one likes this applied to homophones or not.

7. Thanks Gozo and PeeDee.

   Given the instructions, I started off with the down clues, got 7 & 8 quite quickly, worked out GODWIT as a probable, and 10 and 13 confirmed my hypothesis, so I was up and running.

   And we had the bonus definitions at 12 and 19ac – although I have to admit to looking up the Mark Rylance character – associating him now with the BFG.

   EVEJAR as a variant of Nightjar that was new to me but clearly clued.

   And we had a bonus bird at 20dn.

   So all done – except – I could not bring myself to write in ON THE RACK because I couldn’t make sense of around the clock. it would be nice if Gozo were to drop by since, given the high quality of the clues in this puzzle, I think that we must be missing something.

8. Thanks Gozo and PeeDee

   Excellent themed puzzle that this fellow is so good at – SNIPE was my entry point.  Great mix of clue devices and was chuffed to see the lift and separate trick taken into a different space with 1627 @ 21a.  Needed two sessions to get it out though !

   The only bird that was new to me was the alternate name of the nightjar and didn’t know of the Jerusalem character at 19.  CARBUNCLE was well clued, but from I’ve read about them, there doesn’t seem to be a direction relationship with them and the eye – would be damned painful if you got one there.

   Suspect that there may have been a word missing from the clue at 15 – if it read “Extremely distressed – this could be ANOTHER around the clock”, it would lead to an anagram of ANOTHER and the CK from ‘around the clock’.  The surface would make sense then too !

   Finished in the SE corner with HORNPIPE and MAOIST the last couple in.

9. Bruce – I think carbuncle means eyesore in the sense of an ugly building.  Famously Prince Charles once described the extension to the National Gallery as a “monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much loved and elegant friend”.

10. Thanks PeeDee

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