Financial Times 17,629 by FALCON

14 comments on “Financial Times 17,629 by FALCON”

1. I thought there must have been some devious crypticity (if that’s a word) in 27a, but apparently not. Didn’t think much of that clue.

   Most enjoyable with no speed bumps.

   The clue for 14a could be taken both ways, but it’s clear from the intersecting clues.

   Thanks Falcon & Teacow.

2. Didn’t reckon much to 27a either.
   Don’t think i’ve heard the word “een” for almost 50 years! English O level finally proved to be of some use

3. In response to Geoff@1, I initially had the same reaction to 14a, that is, that the clue could be taken both ways. I then realized that if you follow the clue’s words in order, one at a time, then “produced” = MADE, which is then reversed (“round”) to become EDAM (“cheese”), so that EDAM is what you end up with and therefore the answer. This is exactly how Teacow parsed it.

   Thanks to Falcon and Teacow for an enjoyable start to the week.

4. Following me@5, I don’t know if my reasoning is supposed to be how the clue is intended to be parsed, as I can see the reverse also being a possible interpretation, as Geoff@1 and I initially saw it. Any thoughts on this?

5. Larry@5,6 re 14ac: This issue has been a bone of contention within the world of crosswords for decades. As you say, there are two valid interpretations of this clue. One school of thought says that this does not matter as long as the ambiguity is resolved by the need to fit with other answers. Another school of thought says that every clue should be unambiguous in itself. It is really a matter of personal preference.

6. I would like to add my thanks to Falcon and Teacow for the crossword and the blog respectively.

7. A nice start to the week from Falcon; PEPPER was my favourite. Een still survives today, at least on October 31st.

   Thanks Teacow and Falcon.

8. Thanks Falcon and Teacow

   While agreeing with PB @ 7 about centrally located reversal indicators, one of the things that made me smile about this clue is that edam is a round cheese.

9. Centrally located reversal indicators are one of my pet hates, but otherwise this was a pleasant enough breeze.

10. An approachable crossword, albeit with some odd uses of English. No favourites. I failed to see the parsing for NESSUM DORMA, so thanks for explaining it

    Thanks Teacow and Falcon

11. Thanks Falcon. The aria was my undoing but all else went smoothly. Top picks included BASSO PROFUNDO, HAIL MARYS, NINCOMPOOP, RED HERRING, and TASTELESS. Thanks Teacow for the blog.
    Pamela @3: In the US, PEPPER and pelt are often used as synonyms so I don’t think it’s just an English usage.

12. Thanks for the blog, good set of neat clues.
    Tony@13 , NESSUM DORMA became famous in the UK due to a diving competition in Italy.

13. I found this very satisfying, probably because I managed to complete it in a reasonable amount of time without any help from the app! I had to look up synonyms of pelt to get PEPPER – is that cheating? – and needed Teacow’s help to parse LOB and TOT. I thought all the clues read very smoothly as both surface and cryptic meanings. Thanks Falcon and Teacow.

14. Roz@14 – very good!

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