Financial Times 16,695 by MOO

14 comments on “Financial Times 16,695 by MOO”

1. There’s an irreverent streak to Moo that I rather enjoy and today’s grid was no different.
   Besides liking the 2 long clues at 3 and 6, I also ticked SANDERS, BOOTY and EIDERDOWN.
   I wondered for a mo if 20a might be ‘blonde’, Melania notwithstanding, but just as soon doubted that sort of joke would pass muster here!
   Thanks to Loonapick, I learned Amati today and Doctor of Divinity.
   Thanks to Moo too – it was fun.

2. Altercation =Debate?
   maybe in Balkans Parliament.
   Otherwise OK

3. I had “BLOND” for 20a. I would consider “BROAD” to be very derogatory to the ex-president’s wife and daughters. I was once scolded by the head of Human Resources for using that word at a company meeting. I was referring to any woman posing on the beach for an advertisement. All together a fun and fair puzzle. Thank you Moo and loonapick. The latter, particularly, for parsing DEBATE.

4. As far as I remember my Roman history, “decimate” (1a) means to select by lot and kill every tenth man to punish a mutinous cohort or legion. By extension, it might mean to destroy a part of something. I never heard that it meant “get rid of”.

5. i enjoyed this a lot, though i’d given up on DEBATE with the vowel checkers.
   I really liked SURGEON, INANE, BOOTY, CREATURE OF HABIT (where i wasted some time trying to force ORDER as the last word) and more.

   “Trump” of course is an Americanism indicator, no more, nothing to do with Melania and Ivanka! Just like Beyonce! nothing to do with her own assets …

6. A steady enough solve, although we have some of the same quibbles as others, such as with DECIMATE and DEBATE. And regarding dutch’s comment @5 about Beyoncé’s assets, we have to confess to having BOOBY for 26ac – we parsed it as a sort of double definition since in some games etc a person or team with the lowest score gets a booby prize.
   Very enjoyable. Thanks, Moo and loonapick.

7. I too had BOOBY for 26ac as did allan_c @6. A quick Google of the singer confirmed the connection.

8. COD 21d to this KENYAN in Nairobi, as saw it instantly. As for 9d, Rishi in India must have also got it straightaway.

9. Thanks Moo. I botched the NW corner by missing DECIMATE ( get rid of?), TRAINEE (my own thickness to blame), and DEBATE (altercation?). There was much to enjoy, however, including EYE-OPENER, INANE, and LISTEN IN. Thanks loonapick for parsing.

10. While I thank Moo for the late afternoon entertainment, I also questioned the definitions for DECIMATE and DEBATE. The former always leaves something so only gets rid of a part. But the latter does have an obsolete meaning of fight or strife, so I guess it does get a pass. Enjoyed the rest.
    Thanks for the explanations Loonapick.

11. DECIMATE was gettable because the definition, while incorrect, is a very common misconception. DEBATE, on the other hand, I found impossible – the crossers being vowels did not help.

    dutch@5, I took the Trump reference in 20a as both a general US and a specific Donald reference. His attitude towards women, as reflected in his personal life over the years, is consistent with his use of that disrespectful term.

    Thanks, Moo and loonapick for the fun and elucidation.

12. On Decimate being incorrect, you might want to check the OED’s now on usage: “Historically, the meaning of the word decimate is ‘kill one in every ten of (a group of people)’. This sense has been more or less totally superseded by the later, more general sense ‘kill, destroy, or remove a large proportion of’, as in the virus has decimated the population. Some traditionalists argue that this is incorrect, but it is clear that it is now part of standard English.”

13. *note on usage…

14. Thanks Moo and loonapick
    Late to comment although doing the puzzle on publication day. Was also trapped by a BOOBY instead of a BOOTY (maybe not for the first time :-o) – a clever clue when it’s full meaning was explained. My logic was the same double definition with the ‘booby prize’. Actually liked the construction of both 20a and 26a for using a person to indicate the Americanism but having a surface meaning befitting that person.
    Enjoyed the solve, notwithstanding minor eyebrow raises with the two D definitions discussed above. Interesting to see two Russian revolutionaries appearing.
    Finished in the SW corner with ASPIRANT (that took a while to see the adjectival meaning), INANE (which needed all crossers before seeing the clever word play) and that DEBATE (by disassociating this ‘revolutionary’ from the other two and seeing B Ed as the teacher and then the tricky ‘had’ for ATE).

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