Financial Times 17,630 by SLORMGORM

21 comments on “Financial Times 17,630 by SLORMGORM”

1. Thanks Cineraria

   I had the same experience, same unfamiliar words and same parsings as you. It looks fairly tame in retrospect, but some clues needed some thought and time (and in the case of CHAMBERS, I never worked the parsing out). My favourites were CHASTITY and BOGS DOWN for their surfaces. For future solving, I promise to learn the names of all the other moons in our solar system.

   One question: I thought duds were trousers – no? Because TOGAS certainly are not.

   Thanks Slormgorm and thanks again Cineraria

2. Martyn@1: “Duds” means “clothing” or “apparel,” generally.

3. Thanks Slormgorm and Cineraria!
   Liked CHAMBERS, STOIC (could be an extended def) and TOGAS.
   BOTTOM OUT
   I had the same parsing.
   ‘Pulling a moony’ indicates ‘…in public view’. What could be the purpose of the ‘obviously’?

4. \Cineraria@2 – It must be my sheltered upbringing, but I only ever heard duds used to mean trousers. Thanks for widening my horizon yet again.

5. Thanks for the blog, very good set of clues, PLAYER PIANO could have had a Kurt Vonnegut reference. CHAMBERS was neat, avoding the dctionary and good use of slugs.
   ELARA is pretty obscure but fairly clued , used to be called Hera.
   Martyn@1 I know all the major moons but I do not agree with the modern fad for naming every tiny bit of rock in orbit around a planet. The size limit to give a moon a name needs to be increased.

6. COP IT, BOTTOMS OUT and CLINK were among numerous picks in this enjoyable grid which was mercifully gently on my jetlagged brain.
   I used to watch The Simpsons regularly so 23A (THE HOUNDS) was quickly spotted and the clear wordplay helped on the unknown satellite.
   Thanks to Cineraria and Slormgorm.

7. 16dn: Chambers 2016 gives us “chastity n sexual purity; virginity or celibacy; refinement of style; moderation”

8. Pamela@10: FT policy appears to be that any definition in any standard dictionary may be used. Standard dictionaries include the latest editions of Chambers, Collins, and probably ODE.

   This is a general matter which I hope it should not be necessary to repeat every time I quote a specific definition.

9. Pamela@10: In addition to PB’s comments (with which I would agree), my Shorter OED (I was brought up on it, too) gives a meaning of chaste as “restrained from all excess” and refers to that meaning in the definition of “chastity”, so I think that would cover “moderation”.

10. Perplexus@12: if you go to the SOED 2007 edition, it gives meanings for chastity including “2 Moderation, restraint; simplicity of style or taste”. I prefer not to quote from SOED if I can avoid it, because it can be argued that, if a meaning is only in there and not in any of the single volume dictionaries, it could be considered too obscure for a daily puzzle. I normally only quote from there if it matches one of the others but with clearer wording. This meaning for chastity is marked as dating from the middle of the 18th century, but there is no suggestion that it is now out of date.

11. I practice chastity in moderation. What would Pamela and Pelham Barton make of that?

    [ Aristotle famously advocated “moderation in all things”. That strikes me as a rather immoderate statement. “Moderation in most things” would be a more moderate position. I suspect Pamela might agree with me. ]

    In 25a I couldn’t see POINT = use so I gave up, saying to myself “what’s the point.”

    Thanks Slormgorm and Cineraria for the chaste fun.

12. [Cellomaniac @14: I have always followed by father’s simple dictum – moderation in all things, including moderation!]

13. I very much enjoyed the Simpsons reference, although it’s rather tough if you don’t know it! TOGAS was tricky amid a generally amenable set of clues – didn’t know DUDS so just took it on trust. ELARA was new to me. Also liked CHAMBERS and HOLY LAND. Isn’t the heel named after the dagger?

    Thanks Slormgorm and Cineraria. Lord make me chaste… but not yet.

14. Amoeba@16 re STILETTO: This is the sort of thing where I naturally go to SOED first, to get the dates at which the various meanings of the term were established. The original was indeed the dagger and is dated early 17th century: the heel (given as “in full stiletto heel“) dates from mid 20th century.

15. Pamela @ 8: You must have attended a very sedate school. I have a distinct recollection of a classmate’s bottom flattened against the back window of the school bus which had stopped unexpectedly just as he mooned his farewell. I imagine you didn’t refer to the lavatories as the bogs either.
    Not too tricky but I thought PLAYERPIANO was a bit odd. Thanks Slormgorm and Cineraria.

16. 2dn: Chambers and Collins both give player piano as a general term for the trademark Pianola, which is given in Collins as “a type of mechanical piano in which the keys are depressed by air pressure from bellows, this air pressure being regulated by perforations in a paper roll”. I have seen (and heard) some in action at a specialised museum, but this was decades ago.

17. Thanks Slormgorm for an entertaining crossword. I had forgotten that BOGS are toilets and I had cap instead of HAT but generally this went in without much trouble. Favourites included LEADING, ALLIANCE, STASH, and CHASTITY. I normally think that CHASTITY goes way beyond moderation but I learned long ago not to challenge setters’ definitions because the list of synonyms in every dictionary is more extensive than you think. Thanks Cineraria for the blog.

18. Appropriately there’s a PLAYER PIANO in Westworld(2016-22):
    ‘The series prominently features a number of re-workings of popular songs for player piano and strings, among them … Radiohead’s “No Surprises“; … The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black“; … “A Forest” by The Cure; The Animals’ version of “The House of the Rising Sun“; Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” … Licensing costs ranged from $15,000 to $55,000. … “Westworld has an anachronistic feel to it, it’s a Western theme park, and yet it has robots in it, so why not have modern songs? And that’s a metaphor in itself, wrapped up in the overall theme of the show”.’
    Thanks S&C

19. Loi was Togas – never ever heard of the expression Duds for clothing. Whereas in my valleys grammar school, the toilets were always known as Bogs.

    Never seen an episode of The Simpsons; spent a lot of time thinking the clue must’ve been something to do with the Scottish Burns. Eventually worked out the anagram from the crossers.

    Thank you.

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