Financial Times 17,002 by AARDVARK

16 comments on “Financial Times 17,002 by AARDVARK”

1. I was baffled by 15a, but finally (I think..) worked it out.

   DODDER as in “potter about”

   DO = trick, + reverse of (RED (snooker ball) + D (region on a snooker table))

2. I’ve had my struggles with Aardvark in the past so I was delighted to complete this unaided today. Probably because of the MAINLY crisp cluing.
   Suspecting a pangram, wrongly as it turns out, nevertheless helped with that fashion designer referenced in 16d which was among my favourites.
   As with yesterday, the quality of today’s grid was high with a plethora of good devices and much wit.
   Wasn’t sure about BORDER. I suppose ‘part of table’ is the definition, with ROB (trick) and RED (snooker ball) both reversed but then what about ‘potter’?
   Thanks to Aardvark and PeeDee (especially for parsing TILED).

3. Ah, Andrew. We crossed…I also considered DODDER for ‘potter’.

4. I was also a bit puzzled by DR = drawer (in Collins but not Chambers), but I suppose it might be used as an abbreviation in classified ad for a piece of furniture.

5. Are people on the other side of the pond aware that the last Pontiac was manufactured 12 years ago? So sad, because that was the only brand my parents owned from 1948 until 1975.
   Anyway, thanks Aardvark for the challenging puzzle and PeeDee for the explanations.

6. I also was dubious about “border” – “potter gave me no trouble as it is he who sinks the ball. Also the clue for 10d reads as being the country rather that “pertaining to the country” which the answer evidently is. I too was glad to complete an Aardvark unaided. Thanks A and PD.

7. 14d was not parsed. OED(dictionary) to probe inside PEN( writer) END(dying)? Challenging puzzle and great blog considering time pressure.

8. SM,
   That’s what I had.

9. Thanks Aardvark and PeeDee
   15ac: Put me down as another one who had an unparsed BORDER but is convinced by Andrew@1 that DODDER is the right answer.
   10dn: While a construction like “in West Africa” is often used to mean “a place in West Africa” the adjectival form actually matches the part of speech in the clue more closely.

10. Andrew @4 re 16dn: I found dr. as an abbreviation for “drawer” in Chambers 2014.

11. Thanks for filling the gaps everyone. I will update the blog ASAP.

    My assumption is that dr. for drawer is a banking abbreviation, the person drawing on the funds. It would be nice to see an example of it in use somewhere.

12. Thanks Aardvark for the challenge. DODDER never would have come to me nor could I dredge up JUNK for boat though that’s quite familiar. I was very happy to both get and understand GROSS — just this past Monday I learned from another crossword’s blog that grass = informant though the origin of that was not 100% clear to me. Other favourites included the hidden OYSTER, TILED, SETTLER, AMNESIA, and SORBET. Thanks PeeDee for the blog.

13. Hi Tony,

    According to the OED the word grass for police informant comes from the rhyming slang of the 1930s and and onward. Originally the slang for an informant was a “grasshopper”, rhyming with “shopper”, someone who “shops” their friends (shop being an old word meaning to imprison). Grass is just a shortening of grasshopper.

    Interestingly, in earlier rhyming slang “grasshopper” used to be used for “copper”, a policeman, rather than an informant.

14. Thanks PeeDee. I asked the question in the Guardian blog and several of the posters indicated that Cockney rhyming slang was the origin i.e. grass/grasshopper/copper but I knew copper to be the police and not an informant. Another poster elaborated by adding shopper to the mix. Still others thought the Irish song, Whispering Grass was somehow connected. I appreciated all the feedback but your explanation finalises it for me.

15. It is often the case that the origin of a phase is different to the thing that made it popular. Inventions work this way too, the “inventor” of a device is usually the person who first made a usable product from the idea, not the first person who ever created a thing that did this.

    The first usages of “grass” as informant predate the writing of the song “Whispering Grass” by over 10 years, so the song cannot be said to be the origin of the phrase. However it is certainly possible that the song is the reason that this phrase caught on and became widely used and didn’t just die out again.

    Who is to say what was the real “inventor” of this word, the spark that created it or the flames that fanned it?

16. Thanks Aardvark and PeeDee
    A fail for me – holding out for days to convince myself of a decent answer for 15a. Ended up with a hopeful WORDER (reversal of RED (snooker ball) + ROW (specific part of a table, along with columns) and relating it back to Harry Potter’s spells. Ahhh not to be !!!
    Thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the puzzle with its variety of clue devices .
    Only other one to give trouble was understanding the “JEST” part of 25a – not helped by having BOW as just the ‘weapon’.

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