Financial Times 17,337 by BUCCANEER

19 comments on “Financial Times 17,337 by BUCCANEER”

1. SCAREDY-CAT
   I saw some wordplay
   Y cross
   SCARED chicken
   CAT cheetah?
   Y between SCARED and CAT

   Def: Chicken? Or we can call it a cryptic def?

2. I’ve only ever come across Ant and Dec in crossword land and had no idea they came from the NE. I was therefore defeated by 27a for which I put in the nonsense word “necast”; no surprise it didn’t exist. I did remember KED as a sheep ‘fly’ and EDDO for the ‘tuber’. Parsed SCAREDY-CAT as a cryptic def, but maybe KVa @1 is correct; I didn’t know before but now see a “Y-cross” refers to a fork-shaped cross.

   Appropriately enough I was held up in the NE by NECK for ‘put away quickly’ at 10a and the sneaky ‘A head’ def for my last in APIECE. I liked the idea of the high society girls learning their ‘Polish’ at the FINISHING SCHOOL.

   Thanks to Buccaneer and Teacow

3. I really enjoyed solving this crossword. I particularly liked the way the Geordie entertainers were ‘transferred’ from their usual way round

   Thanks very much to Buccaneer and Teacow

4. Marvellous stuff, thanks Buccaneer & Teacow. Dec and Ant being the wrong way round was quite confusing for me.

   KVa – interesting idea, but I’ve not seen Y as cross before. Is that one I need to add to the list of abbreviations to learn? I just took it as a CD.

5. One website says:
   The Y-shaped cross, or forked cross, is a Christian symbol. It has been popular in western Europe since the early thirteenth century and its use later spread to other parts of the world.
   Prof Wiki says:
   A forked cross, is a Gothic cross in the form of the letter Y that is also known as a crucifixus dolorosus, furca, ypsilon cross, Y-cross, robber’s cross or thief’s cross.

6. An easy one at 1a to start us off.
   Then every clue a little challenge.
   Until my LOI – 27a “Geordie entertainers getting transfer (6)”:
   It must be NE CAST, and if I swap the N & S it gives SECANT. Now how does that mean “transfer”?
   No, it’s just ANT & DEC who famously never appear on screen in the wrong order. Clang!
   Liked GAME BOYS, FINISHING SCHOOL, APIECE, AHORSE and KNELL – succinct misdirection.

   typo: The misspelling of Chekhov has come up here before)
   Shouldn’t 13d have been clued as two words ROCK BREAKER(4,7)?

7. Nice to see the Pirate on a Monday!
   Thanks

8. I am vaguely aware of Ant and Dec, but not enough to interpret 27A, so thanks for the demystification. As with many beloved UK celebrities, their presence in the US is negligible. I don’t think I have ever heard them speak. They pop up in cryptics often enough (like cricket) that I really ought to know better. I just guessed from the apparent definition (although WP@2, I also considered “necast???”).

   I don’t think the Y-cross idea parses, since that leaves a leftover “a” in the clue. “Chicken” could be ‘scared,” but I don’t see “a chicken” as “a scared.” But KVa@1, I like the lateral thinking. “Cross between chicken and cheetah?” would be a closer call.

9. KVa@1 & @5: It looks like you’re on to something. I wonder if Buccaneer will come and tell us if that’s what he meant.
   Thanks B&T

10. Thanks, KVa. I’m familiar with T for cross but Y is a new one for me.

11. As Widdersbel says, marvellous stuff.

    I’m another one to have been initially beguiled by ‘necast’. Like crypticsue, I eventually enjoyed their transfer.

    I particularly liked CHECK OFF, CURRY FAVOUR, OVERPAID, ADDICTIVE, AMETHYST, the linked PAGANINI and VIRTUOSO and YAKKED (I always enjoy that kind of clue) – great surfaces throughout, as ever.

    Thanks once again to Buccaneer for the fun and to Teacow for the blog.

12. 26A – I have never heard of “ked” as a “fly”.

    9A is “ahorse” really a word?

    25D: despite Teacow’s explanation, I cannot parse this clue. The answer is obvious from the clue and cross letters but what is a “teat”?

13. Thanks for the blog, good Monday puzzle , I like your idea of calling a KED a walk.
    From 14Ac, a Pagan will believe a lot of things, just not the fairy stories of the major religions.
    Peter@12 , a TEAT is a nipple, so it can supply milk.

14. A good puzzle.

15. Thanks Buccaneer and Teacow

    9ac: ahorse is given as archaic in Chambers 2014 (C): it uses the same a- prefix as asleep.
    14ac: C starts the list of definitions for pagan with the original meaning “a person following … pre-Christian religion”, but also gives us “more recently, someone who has no religion”.

16. 14Ac says – one who doesn’t believe – that is a sceptic, there is no religious implication here at all.
    Even if we take Chambers pagan as someone with no religion they will still believe many things.

17. Further to my earlier comment on 14ac: I drink quite a lot of water, fruit juice once a day, and occasional cups of tea when on a train or in a hotel. It would, I think, be generally accepted that my drinking habits fit to the usual way in which the statement “he doesn’t drink” would be understood. I am happy that “doesn’t believe” can similarly be taken to mean “has no religion”.

18. Anyone who doesn’t drink alcohol is a godless soul in my view. But that was just a joke.

19. Lovely crossword but didn’t know the Geordie entertainers so didn’t get DECANT.

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