Financial Times 16,110 by WANDERER

12 comments on “Financial Times 16,110 by WANDERER”

1. I parsed 22 rather differently. I seem to remember from Scouting days that to steer a ‘whole point’ to, say, starboard meant changing direction by 42.5 degreees, i.e. the angle between any one of the 8 ‘principal’ points N,NE,E,SE,S,SW,W,NW. So I had ‘whole point’ as the def, with the other wordplay giving 2xNW as Turbolegs describes.
   I got held up by 24, which I had as LONDON (LONe DON without E[uro] (money, ‘capital’) which I only ditched when ‘awhile’ became inevitable.
   Otherwise, a very enjoyable solve. Thanks to both.

2. Thanks Turbolegs and Wanderer.

   I agree this was a great puzzle which I enjoyed although I could not parse 22ac.

   Grant @1 – – 45 degrees rather than 42.5 degrees??

3. To Bracoman @2:
   Guilty. Arithmetic not my long suit & unforgivable in electronic age, I’m still not sure I’m right about ‘whole point’ & Turbolegs’ ‘expansion’ parsing looks good to me (though he did misunderline the def.). While I’m in confessional mode, I misspelt MISCENGANATION to include CA for California rather than SC. So, sadly, a technical DNF for me. Bum.

4. Thanks, Turbolegs, for the blog and Wanderer for another great puzzle.

   I was mystified by 22ac, too – but the double act of Grant and Turbolegs have sorted it out for me now.

   I toyed with LONDON, too, before getting AWHILE [lovely clue!]. Other favourites were 18ac [a rather bizarre picture] and 1dn – and 20ac has a brilliant surface!

5. Put me down as another who hadn’t met TRINE or MISCEGENATION.

   I can’t think of when I might have met AWHILE to mean a short time as opposed to a long time. Certainly, if somebody said to me “it will take awhile” I would assume that to mean a long time. Checking in Chambers, it does seem to be one of those so-called Janus words.

   Thanks to Wanderer for the entertainment and to Turbolegs for the blog.

6. I always think of AWHILE as meaning [for] a short time and A WHILE as a long time.

   [‘While’ is Northern dialect for ‘until’ and there’s an anecdote that signs at level crossings showing, ‘Wait while red lights flash’ had to be amended ]

7. I’m glad you said that, Eileen. I’ve often found myself wondering whether to use “awhile” or “a while”. The first meaning for “awhile” in Chambers is “for some time” which I took to mean a long time. I should add that my Collins only gives “a brief time”. Given that they sound the same, it is a confusion that is bound to occur.

8. Mostly what Eileen said @ 4

   Thanks to Wanderer and Turbolegs

9. Lovely surfaces. LOI 10d after internet check. English is an interesting language, you come across new words almost daily.

10. Thanks Wanderer and Turbolegs

    Interesting views on 10. I came across it at least four decades ago, so having got a couple of crossers on first Across pass it was a write-in!

11. Thanks, Wanderer and Turbolegs. I got MISCEGENATION fairly quickly – unfortunately, in the US it’s a well known term with a racist history. The new word for me was NAFFEST – am I just ignorant?

12. Thanks Wanderer and Turbolegs

    Entertaining puzzle with some new terms for me too – TRINE, MISCEGENATION, APPLE-PIE BED and ‘pants’ (having become familiar with NAFF through these puzzles).  Lots of interesting and varied clues where I thought that the construct of HOI POLLOI and COMMANDO (a trick that is becoming more popular but never fails to trick one for a while (or awhile, depending on one’s sharpness at the time)) were a couple of the best.

    Finished in the SW corner with LONELY (quite clever), OMICRONS and AWHILE the last few in.

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