Financial Times 17,329 by STEERPIKE

33 comments on “Financial Times 17,329 by STEERPIKE”

1. Enjoyed the mini theme of measurements contained in the grid which could also include a PINCH and a SMIDGEN.
   Thanks to Steerpike and Turbolegs (especially for parsing LEAGUE and FUEL OIL).

2. Only spotted the various imperial units dotted around the grid after completion. Very good. My only concern with this fairly simple but entertaining crossword was the L for ‘liquid’ in 9a. I dare say it can be found somewhere but not in Chambers.

3. L for liquid-will try to remember this.
   Liked APPENDAGE and EARSHOT.

   Thanks, Steerpike and Turbolegs!

4. Enjoyable; smiles outnumbered groans. Didn’t understand EARSHOT. I’d have preferred 3-6 for 2d.

5. Geoff,
   Something that is within ‘earshot’ can be heard. It’s xommonly said that if your ears are burning (or your ‘ear’s hot”, it’s a sign someone is talking about you.

6. I think it’s usually the person being talked about who says “my ears are hot/burning”. I thought that was a lovely clue. In fact, the whole thing was lovely. Thanks, Steerpike.

   And thanks for the blog, Turbolegs – it was nice and gentle, as you say, although I slipped up on 26a, where I put BOORISH despite thinking it was an odd synonym for “square”… doh!

7. Re 4D, I don’t really see how “allowing” and “suffering” mean the same thing. I allow (let) someone to play jazz but I suffer when they do it.

   20D reminds me of my favourite quote about jazz: “I love jazz when it is just out of earshot”.

   Why does this English website want to remove the “u” from “favourite”?

8. Peter @4. This use seems to be archaic. My Collins gives the example suffer the little children to come unto me. No idea where that comes from.

9. Sorry, @7 not @4.

10. Peter @7 – “suffer the little children” is the example of this usage that readily springs to mind. Seems fine to me.

11. Hovis @8 – Bible, innit. Something to do with Jesus telling the parents to let the children come to him.

12. Very nice wordplay from Steerpike today. Wasn’t sure about recording by as a positional indicator but didn’t stop me solving it.

    Peter@7

    Suffer = allow is biblical usage. Suffer the children… meaning allow the children.

    Thanks Steerpike and Turbolegs

13. Blah – Middle English usage, to be pedantic. The NT would have originally been in Greek, of course. “Suffer” is how it was translated in the earliest English versions of the Bible. Modern translations use “let” instead.

    Another one we get from the Bible is “suffer fools gladly”.

14. Obscure Units: 1 teaspoon = 5ml
    TAD = 1/4 teaspoon
    DASH = 1/8 teaspoon
    PINCH = 1/16 teaspoon
    SMIDGEN = 1/32 teaspoon

15. A CABLE LENGTH or length of cable is a nautical unit of measure equal to one tenth of a nautical mile or approximately 100 fathoms. Owing to anachronisms and varying techniques of measurement, a cable length can be anywhere from 169 to 220 metres, depending on the standard used

16. Firewood is sold by a measurement called a “CORD“.” A cord must equal 128 cubic feet. To be sure you have a cord, stack the wood neatly by placing the wood in a line or row with individual pieces touching and parallel to each other, making sure that the wood is compact and has as few gaps as possible.

17. ROOD is an English unit of area equal to one quarter of an acre or 10,890 square feet (1,012 m2). A rectangle that is one furlong (i.e., 10 chains, or 40 rods) in length and one rod in width is one rood in area, as is any space comprising 40 perches (a perch being one square rod).

18. The unit of measurement usually given when talking about statistical significance is the standard deviation, expressed with the lowercase Greek letter SIGMA

19. LEAGUE, any of several European units of measurement ranging from 2.4 to 4.6 statute miles (3.9 to 7.4 km). In English-speaking countries the land league is generally accepted as 3 statute miles (4.83 km), although varying lengths from 7,500 feet to 15,000 feet (2.29 to 4.57 km) were sometimes employed.

20. Thanks Steerpike & Turbolegs

    Re L = liquid, I’m not convinced either. The closest I can think of is LPG or LNG, but in those instances it’s LIQUEFIED.

21. “16 ounces 1 pound
    14 pounds 1 STONE
    8 stone 1 HUNDREDWEIGHT (112 pounds)
    20 hundredweight 1 ton (2240 pounds)”

    Drilled into me in primary school by psychopathic nuns who interpreted “suffer little children” as an imperative to use corporal punishment.

22. Thanks Frankie G for the additional info. You certainly had the measure of this grid! I suspected cable and cord but only knew rood as a cross!

23. 16D mentions “Buzz” LIGHT YEAR = 9.46 trillion kilometers (9.46×10^12 km), or 5.88 trillion miles (5.88×10^12 mi).

24. “12 INCHES 1 foot
    3 feet 1 yard
    22 yards 1 chain (the length of a cricket pitch)
    10 chains 1 furlong
    eight furlongs 1 mile (1760 yards or 5280 feet)”

    Also drilled into me in primary school by psychopathic nuns who interpreted “suffer little children” as an imperative to use corporal punishment.
    If I’ve made any mistakes, they failed.
    Thanks for the memories Steerpike, and Turbolegs for the blog.

25. Diane@5 & Widdersbel @6, yes I’m familiar with the expression — I just didn’t twig till I came here and had a “D’oh!” moment.

26. Many thanks to Turbolegs for the blog, and Frankie G for pointing out all the themed clues. I wasn’t even aware of that usage of SIGMA, I just needed a word that fitted in!
    As for liquid for L, I was thinking of chemical states and their abbreviations; solid (s) liquid (l) gas (g).
    Thanks also to everyone who took the time to comment.

27. FrankieG
    Thanks for your efforts.
    Steerpike
    Thanks for dropping by.

28. The King James Bible quote that reminded me that ‘suffer’ = ‘allow’ was “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”. It’s a controversial enough translation that it sticks in the mind!

29. I really enjoyed this. Thank you Steerpike and Turbolegs.

    Can someone tell me more about riverbed being a part of a flower. I’ve never known that before

30. A river flows. Hence it is a”flower”.

31. Thanks for the blog and all the extras everyone , great puzzle .
    Anil it is a crossword trick, flower= flow-er , something that flows, so a river, also called bankers.

32. Enjoyed this one. Solved in one sitting, my only grumble being the same as others above: L equals liquid. Hmmmm. Just like C equals carpet and S equals sofa.

    Loi was Lingering, where I got it into my head that Loitering might be the answer, but meaning an error elsewhere.

    And I admit to a mistake. I had Boorish rather than Bookish

    Thanks

33. A bit late, alas, to point out that the abbreviation “l” for “liquid” is given in the online Oxford Dictionary of English. I understand that the FT policy on acceptable abbreviations is that they are OK if they are given in any of the main one-volume dictionaries (Chambers, ODE and Collins).

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