Financial Times 17,579 by ARTEXLEN

14 comments on “Financial Times 17,579 by ARTEXLEN”

1. Thanks Artexlen and Teacow

   8dn: I think this is an unsignalled definition by example. Perhaps the simplest edit that would make the clue sound would be to turn it round and add a question mark, as “Resolved dispute in golf, acting as decision maker?”

2. Favourite was the clever SIDELINED. I also liked HOORAY for its surface and its Oz link

   I could not parse ONEROUS or BROADCASTS so thanks for that leg up. As Teacow said: a bit complex overall, but it was within my range

   I have written this before but the crossword editor must wake up one day and realize that the majority of FT readers are outside UK. Even assuming I have interpreted the sarcasm correctly, clues such as “our leader” in 5d seem a little misdirected for the bulk of the readers.

   Thanks Teacow and Artexlen

3. The clues were straightforward, but overall, this puzzle was a bit challenging. I could not parse ONEROUS, either. I figured that it was “remove the central letter” from something, but my imagination failed after that. Thanks for clarifying.

4. Although it’s neither here nor there, I parsed DEPUTISING slightly differently as (DISPUTE)* + IN + G(olf).

5. I approached 25d differently. I removed top from (B)END which can mean “cave” or “yield”.

6. Martyn@2: What has the proportion of FT readers who are (currently located) outside the UK got to do with the proportion of FT crossword solvers who do not wish the crossword to be written from a UK perspective?

   Hovis@4: I parsed 8dn the same way as you. It could of course also be (DISPUTE + IN + G)*. My preference in parsing is to keep the anagram as short as possible, and particularly to keep any abbreviations out of the anagram, to avoid the hint of indirectness. Sometimes, of course, it only works if the abbreviation is part of the anagram.

7. Got there, though rather slowly. Was held up by a few easy and obvious ones, with Loi Switch On.

   Doh!

   I parsed Deputising as Hovis@4

   Thanks for explaining Onerous – almost my Loi.

   Thanks to all – enjoyable solve.

8. Thanks Artexlen for an excellent set of clues. My top picks were ORATORIES, SIDELINED, MATEY, CASSEROLE, SWITCH ON, and DEPUTISING. I was held up in the NW corner by initially putting “tuts” (sounds like tots) in 1d instead of BOOS. I eventually corrected this which led me to BOSCH and ONEROUS, the latter unparsed. I also failed to parse BROADCASTS but all else made sense. Thanks Teacow for the blog.

9. [Martyn @2 and Pelham Barton @6: The FT is a British publication and I would expect the crossword to reflect that fact regardless of who reads it. I’m actually surprised at how much Americana there is in some crosswords — US states and their capitals, Presidents, Indian tribes, and geographic features to name a few.]

10. Thanks for the blog, good set of clues , I was pleased to see Caroline HERSCHEL get a mention, she was German but Spanish is needed for the wordplay.

11. I forgot to mention: I took the same approach for END as John @5.

    Thanks for your responses, PB@6 & TS@9. Let’s continue the discussion on the weekend, when the clever MALLEUS clue from RK is blogged.

12. I rarely disagree with Pelham Barton, but I don’t see 8d DEPUTISING as a definition by example as he suggests @1. Maybe I’m missing something, but it looks to me like a straight definition.

    On the UK/US references discussed above, I’m a North American who appreciates the Britishness of these puzzles. Our Canadian newspapers feature crosswords as well as popular news content that are very US-centric, much to our annoyance. It’s nice to get a different worldview with our puzzles. I struggle with rhyming slang, but always get a chuckle out of those clues. So count me as a non-Brit who does not want to see the FT puzzles Americanized.

    Thanks Artexlen and Teacow for the Monday fun.

13. Cellomaniac@12 re the definition in 8dn: ODE 2010 gives us deputise as an intransitive verb “temporarily act or speak on behalf of someone else”. My point is that the “someone else” need not be a decision maker, so a decision maker is an example of the “someone else”. It is really a minor point, and on reflection I would like to amend my remark to say “make the clue undeniably sound”. Chambers 2016 and Collins 2023 have definitions that take us through the noun deputy, but amount to the same thing in the end.

14. PB@13, a minor point indeed. I have some difficulty imagining someone being a deputy for someone who is not in a position of some authority. Such a person is more likely to be called a sub, or substitute (or an understudy in the theatre). In any event, I think we both liked the clue, and I still would have liked it in your amended form.

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