Financial Times 17,123 by GOLIATH

11 comments on “Financial Times 17,123 by GOLIATH”

1. Very enjoyable, and nothing too taxing. Can someone clarify for an Antipodean what is a mail reader? Might it be alluding to a particular tabloid publication?

2. GDU@1
   I think the reference is to the readers of ‘Daily Mail’ (a right-wing tabloid).

3. Thought 25/26 a tad laboured-i think their ideal target is lower middle class women
   I had to unscrew the clue and put it back together to see whaat he was on about.
   But the surgery clue was better as he was in terra firma.
   I liked HOEDOWN for its surface and COMPLEMENT reminded me of a bloke going into a bar , ordering a beer and seeing a bowl of nuts, picked one up and the nut said “cool haircut?”
   The next one said “nice jacket” etc etc and he says to the barman “whats with these nuts?”
   “Ah they’re complimentary”

4. Not so easy for me. I parsed 13a as ‘Equip… with weapons’ (=ARM) ‘old’ (=AGED) ‘fellow’ (=DON). I also found PIVOTAL, PETROLHEAD and WAR MEMOIRS quite hard to parse.

   I liked Goliath having his fun and crossing the cruciverbal/professional divide with OPEN HEART SURGERY. Is he trying to tell us something about his other interests?

   Thanks to Goliath and Turbolegs

5. I parsed ARMAGEDDON as WordPlodder did and I too smiled at OPEN HEART SURGERY (a beautifully constructed clue.)

   Other ticks were for MAIL READERS, ANACHRONISM (lovely anagram), DEAF AS A POST (for the construction) and PETROLHEAD, which was a new word for me, for its surface.

   Many thanks to Goliath and Turbolegs.

6. Thanks Goliath and Turbolegs
   Found this the toughest of the week, not uncommon when daunted by lots of split clues and interrelated ones. Find that when one does crack the first one, it does tend to break open the puzzle – still this one took well over the average time to finish.
   Some tricky parsing and lovely anagrams, as has been mentioned, and pleased to see all of them.
   Finished in the SW corner with PARMESAN, COMPLEMENT and MAIL READERS (which took ages to finally drop).

7. Copmus@3 there is no 25/26. There is a 23/26D and a 25/27A but I cannot quite link your comment to either clue/solution. If you meant 25/27A why do you assume that the solution relates to women? Also when does “middle-class right wing” equate to “lower middle class”? I ask this out of curiosity as I have no real knowledge of the English Daily Mail.

   Last one in for me was 15D as the only Jeremy that I could think of with a “skill with language” was the University Challenge compere Jeremy Paxman but I could not recall his surname.

8. When I was a young man in the UK, the “middle class” were the professional people and there was a “working class” which are now referred to as “middle”. Below that must be, I presume the, “unemployed” or “welfare class”. Enjoyed the puzzle but did not finish having been stuck on TALL (high) for 26a even though I had READER for 27a. – I guess it was a class thing! Thanks Goliath and Turbolegs.

9. Peter @7
   Copmus@3 is correct in saying that the focus market for Daily Mail sales is women. About A Thousand Years ago when i worked on the FT we were once told that the Mail was bought by more wealthy households than bought the FT: but the decision-making husbands working in finance read the FT and the wives read the Mail. That would have been 30 years ago: i suspect the world has changed since then. But Copmus @3 is correct, I think.

10. “Mail Readers”?
    No,in The UK we say “Daily Mail” readers.
    If you Google “Mail Readers” you get something completely different

11. Thanks Goliath. I found this crossword to be easy until it wasn’t — it took a bit to finish the SW corner and I failed with MAIL READERS. My top clue was PETROLHEAD (motorhead in the US) and I also ticked HOEDOWN, TRAPEZE, and ARMAGEDDON. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.

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