Financial Times 17,279 by LEONIDAS

14 comments on “Financial Times 17,279 by LEONIDAS”

1. Enjoyed this. A few unknowns for me: PANETTONE, TIMBALE (think I’ve seen this before) and only seen ICEPACK in the medicinal sense. Got held up for a bit on 8a thinking it would end with NIL< and 7d held me up a while with the sneaky “around” as part of the anagrind.

2. Very happy to see Leonidas this Friday morning having missed a few of late.
   There were numerous clues I enjoyed whether for their surfaces (4, 6 and 24) or for the sheer fun of unravelling them such as all the perimeter clues, of which the ‘steaming’ 7d was my favourite. Agree with Hovis that ‘around’ in this clue was devious and for this reason, it was my LOI but no less satisfying for that.
   Thanks to Leonidas and Turbolegs for the blog (and for parsing 1d which I wish I’d seen ).

3. Like Hovis, I was convinced that 8A would end with NIL or LIN.

   I did know Panettone as Australia received a lot of Italian migrants after WWII and it’s a fairly popular at this time of year. However, for me, nothing beats a fruity traditional Christmas cake.

   Re 15D: I hear tittering; I hear chuckles. Seems okay to me.

4. I’m with Peter – you have to read TITTERING as a gerund but it works.

   This was a fun puzzle, and not excessively taxing. Thanks, Leonidas. Strictly, PANETTONE is more bread than cake but that’s being pedantic. I’m in the middle of making several panettoni to send to various clan members as Christmas gifts. It’s an elaborate process but worth it. Far superior to traditional Christmas cake in my book.

   Thanks for the blog, Turbolegs. But why a “mixed bag”?

5. Thanks Leonidas and Turbolegs

   7dn: Small point on the parsing here: As noted by earlier commenters, the “around” in the clue is part of the anagram fodder. It is not needed as a containment indicator as the D from griddle can come after the anagram. (Indeed “around” would not work as a containment indicator, since the two Ds in the answer are the first and last letters.)
   19dn: Small point of congratulation to the setter in using doctor to give GP, thereby avoiding a possible ambiguity with GRANDMA.

6. Enjoyable puzzle with the same clever bits as pointed out by others. I’d never come across ‘Steaming’ as yet another colloquial term for DRUNK and this made 7d even more difficult. I’d heard of TIMBALE without knowing anything about it, but (M)ORPHEUS was a new ‘Greek god’ to me.

   I’ve also learnt there’s no such fish as a SLEE.

   Thanks to Leonidas and Turbolegs

7. Typo in 1a. TRAMPOLONIST should be TRAMPOLINIST of course

8. Thanks Leonidas, I liked this very much. My top choices were 1a, RAMADAN, INDULGE, 26a, TIMBALE (I agree with Turbolegs description of Christain Bale as a phenomenal actor), and SUPREMO. I had to reveal a couple of letters to get 7d and I couldn’t parse ORPHEUS. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
   [Diane: If you enjoy Leonidas (aka Wire) check out his crossword in Wednesday’s Indy. It’s very good.]

9. An enjoyable and not too taxing puzzle, with nothing we didn’t know. 7dn and 10dn took a bit of working out but gave us nice ‘aha’ moments when we got them. Others we liked were ABSTINENT and PANETTONE.
   Thanks, Leonidas and Turbolegs.

10. Not quite sure why our reviewer deemed this a mixed bag. It wasn’t particularly demanding but I thought it well clued throughout with some nice PDMs, good surface reads & precise wordplay. TIMBALE, RAMADAN & TRAMPOLINIST were 3 particular likes. Enjoyed it a lot.
    Thanks to Leonidas & Turbolegs.
    Ps Have only just started to do the FT puzzles so unaware that today’s setter also does the INDY as Wire so will follow Tony’s (@8) recommendation

11. Thanks all, for stopping by as well as for the inputs/edits.

    widdersbel@4 – I thought there were a number of clues that were very good and/or had excellent surfaces ( e.g. 8a, 22d ) and there were some which I didnt fancy much, especially clues where its not possible to know for certain that you have solved them unless you have crossers ( e.g. 14a ) or where surfaces seemed contrived ( e.g. 6d ).

    Regards,
    TL

12. Thanks, TL – I see what you mean about 14a. Strangely, that one came very easily to me but I did hesitate to write it in and was glad once I had some crossers to confirm it.

13. Tony @8,
    Thanks for the tip-off. I’ll investigate further!

14. Thanks Leonidas and Turbolegs. I actually found this puzzle very enjoyable and still challenging in parts. With regards, anil

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