Financial Times 16,816 by Mudd

12 comments on “Financial Times 16,816 by Mudd”

1. Yes, this was a quick solve over breakfast with WALTER DE LA MARE, my FOI , providing so many crossers that I never looked back. PRIMITIVE was my favourite for the surface. Just needed an online check upon completion for the readily parsed but unknown SALCHOW – more familiar with a triple AXEL though!
   Thanks to Mudd and Pete.

2. I started at the other end to Diane @1. FOI was PASSENGER TRAIN that helped me solve most of the top half first.

   I did have a bit of difficulty with the bottom-left corner, not knowing SALCHOW or WALTER DE LA MARE. There were also a few clues I could not parse – for example, having read the words a million times, I only realised today Ares is different to Aries. I will be sure to remember “if” too.

   This week’s clues all seemed rather run of the mill, and there are no real favourites for me. I have not done the crossword for very long, so I may have the wrong end of the stick, but does it seem that Mudd has lost his slightly irreverent tone and sense of humour lately?

   Thanks to Mudd and to Pete

3. Thanks for the blog. I agree that 1Ac is a bit weak and Chambers gives nothing to link it to trains.
   I always thought that HOSE referred to stockings in plural and they are always called NYLONS but I suppose a singular is okay.
   I never knew the spelling of SALCHOW , perhaps it is named after somebody.

4. Roz, Good question! And good guess! I have added the etymology of SALCHOW.

5. We too thought 1ac was a bit of a stretch. But OTOH a train does travel so both the train and its passenger(s) can be described as travellers even though ‘traveller’ normally refers to a person.
   A pleasant enough puzzle, though. Thanks Mudd and Pete.

6. Thanks Mudd and Pete
   Probably one of the quickest solves of a Mudd puzzle that I have done for a while. Agree with the commentary on the ‘traveller’ definition – maybe he was making the same sort of logic as ‘flower’ for a river.
   Didn’t have 14a as a double definition – had the second part as a charade of PIN (flag, as on a golf course) + UP (whimsically, ‘on the ceiling’).
   Knew WALTER DE LA MARE as a writer, but more for his “Memoirs of a Midget” that I read ages ago, not as one of children’s poetry).
   Finished in the SW corner with HERMITAGE, SALCHOW (that needed a look up) and SERVIETTE (that held out for the longest).

7. Thanks Pete , nice to learn these things. Must be someone for the Axel and the Lutz .

8. After looking at my copy of this crossword I noticed that I had only ticked two favourites, LEADING and GRAND and noted one word that required outside help, HERMITAGE. Generally I’m more enthusiastic about a Mudd crossword but this seemed run-of-the-mill to me. Thanks to both.

9. I’m sure I’m being very dim but why is ARIES “house”?

10. Brian @9: One of the signs of the zodiac. The definition in Chambers (2014) reads “one of the twelve divisions of the heavens in astrology”.

11. In comment 10, I should perhaps have made it clear that the definition I was quoting was for house, not for Aries.

12. Thank you, Pelham.

    I didn’t know its use in astrology – you live and learn when you do crosswords!

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