Financial Times 17,562 by BRADMAN

24 comments on “Financial Times 17,562 by BRADMAN”

1. I needed help with Assai but I should have got the North Road reference which was a new device to me as a Yorkshireman. Great puzzle and thanks for blogging!

2. Being from a land far away, Wat and Great North Road stumped me, but I did remember the Ouse river. Nor did I have the local knowledge to parse NEWSPAPERS.

   Everything else fell into place and was quite enjoyable.

3. I second GDU’s comments; a lovely puzzle with some chewy anagrams (eg GEOMETRICIAN) I enjoyed getting stuck into.
   Didn’t know ASSAI but the parsing was clear, at least for Brits.
   Favourites were CARD SHARPS, DITHERING and PEACH MELBA, the latter just because it’s delicious!
   Thanks to Bradman and Cineraria.

4. I third GDU’s comments – a lovely puzzle. Yep, Wat was obscure, but somehow I remembered it from a past puzzle. I did manage to parse ASSAI – ASS first, of course, followed by AI with the help of Wikipedia. It then took me ages to work out that “Very” was the straight clue. I also remembered Ouse River, but SAYS had me completely stumped for a good time, it being my LOI.

   Despite my love of a good anagram (of which there were many), my absolute favourite was Di the Ring in 19, closely followed by Pro Gnostic and Col I/C.

   Thanks Bradman for an enjoyable outing and thanks Cineraria for your great explanation.

5. Thanks, Bradman and Cineraria!

   Top faves: GEOMETRICIAN (Referring to the old Greek geometric problem of constructing a square with the same area as that of a circle. The irrational pi didn’t let them do it. The surface was quite witty), NEWSPAPERS (Are they in the pink otherwise?) and COLIC (a witty surface again).

   DITHERING
   ‘operatic cycle’ being THE RING CYCLE—->(the) starting (part of the) operatic cycle=THE RING.
   I think that’s why the ‘starting’ appears in the clue.

6. Thanks for the blog , excellent puzzle with some very interesting words, ASSAI was unknown to me but like Diane I thought the wordplay was very fair. NEWSPAPERS very appropriate clue for a puzzle in the FT.

7. Failed on the crossing PROGNOSTIC & ASSAI, the latter being new to me. Had only seen TORC as an armband before but a quick check in Chambers revealed it can also be a necklace. Pleased when I spotted PRACTITIONER which opened up the puzzle to a great deal when I looked like I might flounder and fail miserably.

8. [ Mathematical pedantry , probably best to ignore – The circle can be squared, probably first shown by Dinostratus using the trisectrix of Hippias. The original Greek problem was using a straight edge and compass only ( straight lines and circles ) , this cannot be done but was not proved until 1882 . This is not a criticism of the clue, it is fine in the classical sense. ]

9. I liked Torc. But I like Talk Talk better.

10. I got a refund from them for crap service.

11. 10A was last in for me. I had never heard of the word, I was even more surprised, after an internet search, that they are worn by men (?) and women.

    Re 1D, I agree with Cineraria that “cant” and “Kant” are not homophones: nor where they when I lived in England and nor are they when I live in Australia. “Cant” has always been pronounced as “carnt” or “cahnt” whereas Immanuel’s surname has always been the hard “a” of “kant”.

    Re 17A: I’m a musician (country and pop) and my wife is a classical violin teacher, but we struggled over this one.

    Re 18A: “river” as a definition for “water”? Only in crossword land!

12. Thanks Bradman and Cineraria

    18ac (RIVER): The definition of the noun river in the ODE (3rd edition, 2010) begins “a large natural stream of water”

    19ac (DITHERING): I disagree with KVa@5 on this. The full title of the cycle (in English) is The Ring of the Nibelung, but it is widely known simply as The Ring. I do not think Don would use “starting” to indicate the first two whole words of a longer phrase, so I think the word “starting” is an unnecessary, but relevant, juxtaposition indicator.

    1dn (CANT): The only pronunciation for the answer in either ODE or Chambers 2016 has the vowel as in “cat”. In my speech, the homophone is perfect.

13. I think in the sense of jargon that CANT is pronounced exactly the same as Kant .

14. Too late but the same point as Pelham Barton @12.

15. Pelham Barton@12
    DITHERING
    I am convinced my logic was wrong.
    Thanks.

16. The word means jargon or language peculiar to a group and is indeed pronounced the same as the philosopher. Not to be confused with being unable or unwilling.

    Quite a demanding puzzle but some excellent clues. Thanks to setter and blogger.

17. Oh dear too slow in typing.

18. Thanks Roz and SM – I never mind people agreeing with me. On reflection, I think Cineraria’s point may relate to the way that the name “Kant” is pronounced in the US. Both UK and US are illogical in their standard pronunciations of foreign names, but they are differently illogical. Certainly, in the Monty Python Philosophers’ Song, “Kant” rhymes with “ant”.

    Further to my earlier comment on 18ac (WATER), note the question mark on the end of the clue, correctly underlined by Cineraria, to indicate the definition by example. Perhaps “river” does not define WATER, but “river?” certainly does.

19. On 18a, Read it as “in river”. Then there is no problem.

20. Thanks Bradman. While I found this to be heavy with anagrams, I was impressed with their quality, especially when woven into readable surfaces e.g. PRACTITIONER and GEOMETRICIAN. I also liked CARD SHARPS and DITHERING for their clever construction. I didn’t get ASSAI, a word unknown to me, but the clue was not “unfair” in the least. I agree with john @19 re: “in river”. Thanks Cineraria for the blog.

21. ‘Water’ for ‘river’ is Scots usage as in the Water of Leith, the main river flowing through Edinburgh.
    Great puzzle – thanks, Bradman and Cineraria.

22. Enjoyed this and fairly sped through after the difficulties of Guy yesterday, which left me flummoxed.

    Assmi ar Assai. Like many of us, I did not know this one.

    Thanks

23. 18ac: I can see two problems with the suggestion of “in river” as the definition. First, what is the question mark doing in the clue? Second, it has an adjective or adverb phrase defining a noun, at least in the meaning implied. Some of the FT setters would not be bothered by either of these issues, but Bradman is one of the ones who use language precisely in their cluing. In any case, I cannot see that as preferable to the straightforward parsing given by Cineraria, with “river?” as the definition – a noun defining a noun, with the question mark serving to indicate a definition by example.

24. Re 1d CANT/KANT, it’s a homophone for some, a pun for others, and aural wordplay for everyone. If Cineraria would join the increasing number of people who eschew the dreaded h-word in crossword blogs, these arguments would be significantly reduced.

    I didn’t get any clues on my first run through of the acrosses, but once I got a couple of down clues, the whole thing gradually fell into place. I think this makes for a very satisfying experience.
    Thanks, Bradman and Cineraria for the fun.

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