Financial Times 17,217 by GOZO

7 comments on “Financial Times 17,217 by GOZO”

1. Quit an innocuous divertissement that brought a few smiles. My general knowledge was inadequate to work out PENATES without help, and I’d never heard of MUTANDA. Two is about the right number of lexicon-expanders, methinks.

2. When I saw the introduction at the top of the puzzle, I wondered exactly what we were in for. In the end, this wasn’t as difficult as I was anticipating and the anagrams helped with a few answers, eg EGLANTINE.

   Thanks for the parsing of TWENTY-TWO, as I had no idea about the bingo term and thought the line in rugby was yards, not metres. I wasn’t sure how to parse NETS – as you say, a sort of double cryptic def. MUTANDA isn’t exactly a word you hear every day of the week. I did happen to remember PENATES, who I think may have been Lares’ better half; probably muddling up my singular and plural there.

   Thanks and welcome to the “semi re-badged” Oriel and to Gozo

3. A very clever crossword although, ironically, the first five clues that I solved were not anagrams.

   My last one in was 21D with help from my ancient recollection of Latin: the phrase “mutatis mutandis” lingering in some part of my ageing brain.

   Re 13A, I remember “two little ducks” from Bingo in my youth; although I didn’t know the rugby reference. Isn’t rugby a game played by men with funny-shaped balls?

   Thanks, Oriel, for explaining 1A: I didn’t know that a peacock’s tail was called a “train”.

4. This was fun (while it lasted), and not an exercise I’ve done before. My favourite pairing was INELEGANT/EGLANTINE.
   PATTERNS was helpful in snagging TRANSEPT as I didn’t know about feathery ‘train’.
   Nor did I know MUTANDA, my last one in, and had to confirm it online.
   Thanks very much to Gozo for an enjoyable solve, as always, and to the solo Oriel for a well-considered blog.

5. Thanks for a very clear blog, I like anagrams so this really suited me.
   Did not know MUTANDA but the clue was clear.
   I think a peacock’s tail, when down, looks like the train on a wedding dress.

6. A return to ft crosswords now that electricity and internet are back here in Naples, Florida. What an enjoyable return once I worked out what “an anagram crossword” really meant . Thank you Gozo and welcome Oriel. I’ll echo comments on “mutanda” (which my computer mole just tried to change to mutant!) and “twenty-two” although both were gettable.

7. Gozo’s a master and this crossword is an example of that. Top choices included SINCERE, INELEGANT, and ANTISERUM (great surface.) I needed a look-up for EGLANGINE, MANNHEIM, and MUTANDA. I love anagrams and an reminded of a Wall Street Journal crossword a month or two ago where half of the clues needed their definitions anagrammed before solving and the other half needed their answers anagrammed before entry into the grid. And welcome Oriel and thanks for the blog.

Comments are closed.