Financial Times 16,870 by Buccaneer

19 comments on “Financial Times 16,870 by Buccaneer”

1. Really enjoyed having a weekend to mull over this Buccaneer offering. I remember thinking there were some good misdirection. Favourites included CRUYFF, WORKAHOLIC, INFANT and EURO. Liked the footy references.
   Thanks to setter and blogger.

2. Misdirections!

3. Thanks Buccaneer and Pete

   20ac: I had CHEESY here, taking “with” as part of the second definition. Actually, I can see that I originally had CREAMY, but that clashes with 17dn, and does not fit the clue as well as either CHEESE or CHEESY.

4. Thank you, Pelham. I am sure you are right about CHEESY and have amended the explanation accordingly.

5. I missed that in the blog but I also had CHEESY.

6. Thanks for the blog, do not worry about being late, we always appreciate the effort.
   I did enjoy this and I even knew the two footballers. WOOF was very good for setter.
   DARLING BUDS OF MAY is a great clue, it is from Sonnet 18 ( shall I compare thee to ……. ) also a novel by H.E.BATES and I think it started the career of Catherine Zeta Jones.

7. Thanks to Buccaneer for another excellent crossword and to Pete Maclean for the blog

8. Thanks for the blog, Pete. I’ve been out all day, so didn’t know it was late.
   Buccaneer’s first puzzle appeared on February 1st but he’s already well known – and one of the top favourite setters of many of us – as Picaroon in the Guardian (yesterday) and Rodriguez in the Indy (today), so we’re being spoilt.

   He’s well up to form here with, as Diane says some great misdirection: I particularly liked 10ac TIBERIUS and 23dn WOOLF in this respect – easy to solve but so clever.
   Other favourites were 21ac EURO, 23ac WORKAHOLIC and 7dn FORETASTE.

   Many thanks to Buccaneer for the fun.

9. I had a different experience to Roz, Diane and crypticsue – for me, this was the least enjoyable crossword I have done for some time.

   I found the misdirections annoying, particularly the ones that use or allude to phrases never heard in native English. And there were too many clues that require specialist knowledge. Using a dead person who played soccer in the Netherlands in the 70s as the “star player” was the worst of several examples.

   But, there were some nice clues, too. INFANT, MESSIANIC and USHER all made me smile.

   Finally, Pete, I have a slightly different parsing for EQUID. I had E for electronic and QUID for money.

   Thanks to Pete for the blog, and thanks to Buccaneer.

10. I thought the blogger did an excellent job with a tricky puzzle. For all that it was enjoyable . I have NO interest in football but had no difficulty with CRUYFF so did not agree with Martyn @9. Cruyff was well known on the international scene not just in the Netherlands

11. Buccaneer and Picaroon prizes in the same weekend — it doesn’t get much better than that. While I enjoyed the Picaroon offering a bit more this was plenty satisfying with clues like INFANT, PUNCHLINE, AVOID, and NITRITE. Thanks to both.

12. Thanks for the fun Buccaneer.
    I suspect EQUID is another of those terms where sticking an “E” in front is meant to signify an electronic, or internet, connection. I also suspect this device will become as common as sticking “gate” on the end of something to indicate a scandal. In ten years it will be tiresome.
    Thanks for the blog Pete – it is always appreciated.

13. Buccaneer has been a busy boy lately with Picaroon appearing in the G on the same day. As expected, a very entertaining solve, although I became frustrated at the end before my last in DEADBEAT finally flashed out through the brain fog. The enumeration, plus being released 30 years ago, helped with the ‘TV programme’ at 11, 14 which I initially thought was going to be something newly screened on a streaming service that I would have had no hope with.

    A good mix of clues with the ‘Comment from setter, say’ part of the wordplay for WOOLF and the surface and ‘is liable to save?’ def for MESSIANIC being my favourite bits.

    Thanks to Buccaneer and Pete

14. Mystogre @12 re 8dn: I cannot now remember how I parsed it when solving, but I like the idea from Martyn@9 that the E and QUID should be taken separately.

15. I cant believe the consistency of JB as a setter. Never ceases to amaze me.
    Anyone read his book?

16. Yes, copmus. (And neither can I.)

17. Yes, quite unbelievable to have him today in the FT for the fourth (!!) time within the last four days (in various guises).
    And for the second time this week in the FT (which is rather exceptional).
    Another belter but more about that later (lucky Pete!).

    As to Johan Cruyff, his surname is actually Cruijff.
    In the Dutch language, ‘ij’ is seen as one letter, pronounced like the double vowel ‘ui’.
    That is rather difficult for British people because there is, as far as I know, no English word that contains something that sounds similar.
    Most Brits say ‘oi’ (which sounds reasonable but actually doesn’t come close).
    For those solvers who think Johan Cruyff is just an obscure Dutch footballer, this is what Matt Dickinson (Sports Columnist of the Year) wrote only a day ago in The Times:
    I could read about Cruyff endlessly – surely the most influential and interesting man in football, ever. Whenever asked about my favourite day in this job, it is hard to resist the hour I spent chatting under the shade of a tree in Barcelona with “the Pope of football” and being treated to his intelligent idealism. How often do you hear those terms put together in football?

18. Well said, Sil, but rest assured there are many of us non Dutch-speakers who acknowledge Cruyff’s place in the pantheon.

19. Thanks Buccaneer and Pete
    A very old one from the bottom of the to-do pile – obviously it has been a busy couple of months. Anyway it was an excellent one to have caught up on … and I did make a bit harder work of it than a number of the folk here, taking well over the hour to complete. There was certainly a lot of deconstructing of many clues and really liked the misdirection that was littered throughout.
    There is a term ‘ninja-turtling’ that is often used – it means that you know something quite high brow by associating it with something more commonplace – from the names of the famous artists used by the Ninja Turtles. Today, that was with Johan CRUYFF – didn’t really know the Dutch footballer, but was aware of a leading racehorse stallion who sired many good horses down here in Australia.
    Finished this very enjoyable crossword in the NW corner with SPRAY CAN, CAMBRIDGE and INFORM – all classic examples of the misdirection and complex word play mentioned earlier.

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