Financial Times 17,670 by Mudd

28 comments on “Financial Times 17,670 by Mudd”

1. I must confess that I started missing Mudd when he left the weekend slot, and I agree it is good to see him back

   I usually agree with Pete’s favourites, but not BUSINESS CARD I am afraid. No matter how hard I try to reconcile it, I just cannot make it work in my mind. It is not really an ID, and if it is an ID, how can it be “some” concern? That aside, the clues were great and I had many favourites. Ticks went to UPRIGHT, RETINUE, MADEMOISELLE and EXPANSE for their excellent surfaces and to VISIT because I thought it clever (and it reminded me of Singapore).

   Thanks Mudd and Pete for an enjoyable puzzle and a great blog

2. SATURNINE, CASH-STRAPPED and TORSO were my picks. And yes, I agree with Martyn and Pete that I welcome Mudd’s return.
   Martyn, a concern in this sense is a business concern, as in a ‘going concern.
   Thanks to Mudd and Pete.

3. Liked VISIT, APRICOT (almost entirely sugary//fruit), TWENTY-TWENTY (saw the ‘scores’ as wordplay) and TORSO (for the ‘elephant-trunk’ combo).
   WHIPPET
   Should there not be a ? at the end of the clue? The WP as well as the def needed one, I thought.

   BUSINESS CARD
   Martyn@1
   Agree with you but someone may have a better explanation. ‘Some ID of concern’ might have worked better (if the ‘ID’ is considered as an abbreviation of identification rather than an ID card)?

   Thanks Mudd for the fun puzzle and Pete Maclean for the excellent blog!

4. Thanks Mudd and Pete

   23ac: This should be GNAT in COE (old runner).

5. [Oops, got the wrong end of the stick, Martyn!]

6. Some-how! 🙂

7. Found this easier than usual for a Mudd puzzle and really enjoyed it.

   Can’t remember all my favourites but know there were lots including COGNATE and DONATOR

   Thanks Mudd and Pete Maclean

8. Thanks for the blog, never seen a BUSINESS CARD but I assume it says who you are ( ID ) and who you work for ( of some concern ) .
   SATURNINE I always find strange meaning gloomy, Saturnian means happy and carefree and Saturnalia is basically an orgy.
   TWENTY-TWENTY my favourite and I agree with KVa@3 about the extra layer.

9. I read BUSINESS CARD as Roz @8 and Diane @2. Someone hands out a business card to show they are part of that company, verify their ID and give out their contact details – so ID of some concern, where concern = business.

   It felt like a typical Mudd with the NECKTIE homophone, slightly dodgy cryptic definitions.

   Thank you to Mudd and Pete Maclean.

10. Thanks both Mudd and Pete

    Just curious why FT Saturdays are delayed on 15^2 – there’s no prize is there? Not complaining just curious

11. Just tradition , the prizes ended with Covid, it is nice to have one puzzle to last a week , especially for newer solvers, also the answer grid is not printed for a week so maybe this site does not have permission for an earlier blog.

12. Roz has made me wonder about SATURNINE and it appears that that Saturn, the Roman god of Agriculture, was often depicted as a time-worn old man. However, the festival of Saturn was a remarkably joyous festive event, and an occasion of relaxation of all sorts of social rules.

    Also pleased to see Mudd back, and thank to all for the blog and comment.

13. 3dn: Chambers 2016 tells us that Saturn was “believed by the astrologers to induce a cold, melancholy, gloomy temperament”, and defines saturnine accordingly.

    7dn: Chambers gives us “business card n a card carried by businesspeople, with their name and designation, and the name, address, telephone number, and description, etc of their firm.” The terms “ID” and “concern” in the clue match as noted by Diane and Roz above, remembering that the clue is meant to be a cryptic definition, not a plain one.

14. Roz@11 As almost every other non-prize crossword is blogged here before the solution is published in the newspaper in question I don’t think that argument can really provide justification for issuing Saturday FT puzzle blogs a week after the event. Further, it used to be the case that Monday FT puzzles were prize puzzles, and, now that that is no longer so, the blogs appear on day of publication. I, for one, should much rather see blogs on day of publication while the experience of solving the puzzle is still fresh in the mind. Solvers who would rather wait a week do not need to view the blog until then.

15. Rudolf @ 14 I would never use them but I believe the non-prize puzzles provide the answers for the nerds immediately online so publication in the paper is not relevant.

16. Especially liked 22d “Part of elephanT, OR SOme trunk (5)” — ‘She has eyes that folks adore so | And a torso even more so’
    Thanks M&PM

17. Roz@15 Anyone who wants the answer to any crossword clue can get it from the date of publication by referring to Dan Word (in google, just type the clue together with the words crossword clue, and the search engine will take you there). I assume that most of the people who visit this website (not just those who comment on it) do so in order to help them understand how particular clues work, and that they will prefer to do that when they have just tackled the puzzle in question, not several days afterwards.

18. Hurrah Mudd is back! He’s the one I understand best, and managed this one in a couple of efforts on the Saturday – unheard of. Only struggle were Necktie and cognate, and favourite is Twenty-Twenty.
    I am more than happy that the blog is not until the answers are printed. Otherwise all the comments might be spread over the course of a week, and over that period how many are going to bother to comment?

19. Rudolf@17 , you could always wait a week to do the puzzle and then the blog would be fresh, in the end it is up to Pete and KenMac and I would will be grateful whatever they decide.
    I am told the papers themselves will fill in the answers for you instantly in the week as long as you agree that they can sell all your data to advertisers .

20. Thank you Pelham for the correction to 23. I think I know why I got it wrong this time — my mind was revolting at the idea of referring to Sebastian Coe as old!

21. Roz and Rudolf (@ 11, 14,15,17, 19)

    As a newer solver I like having the whole week to do the puzzle before the blog comes up.

22. I have nothing to add except (a) to observe that the FT does not publish the answers to its Friday puzzles until the following Monday, and (b) to wonder why there haven’t been demands from some of the correspondents here for the relevant blog to be accordingly delayed.

23. @Roz. Thanks explanation. Having thought on it and rad comments above; I think,on the whole, a few puzzles per week with extended time between publication and blog is a good idea.

24. I share Roz@19’s point of view. In fact, I follow that practice – I do the Friday FT and the Guardian Prize and Everyman puzzles a week after they are published. Once you delay the first time, there is no practical difference between that and doing them on the publication day, except that you don’t have to wait a week for the blog.

25. Cellomaniac@24 that is a very good idea. I only solve on paper, for Azed and Everyman I send off the prize grid but keep my annotated clues. For Guardian and FT I keep the whole thing.

26. Roz@25, I too only solve on paper (in my case printed from the websites). I’m convinced that there is a special connection between my left hand and my brain, but only when the hand is holding a pen or pencil.

    (I don’t submit prize puzzles – the postage from Canada is prohibitively expensive – so there is no reason to solve them right away.)

27. The FT does not have a prize and the Guardian prize is rubbish. I can only solve when holding the paper folded properly and holding a pen . I think some prizes you can enter by email or fax but I am no expert.

28. Late on this but Current seemed to be a quadruple definition?

    Electricity
    In
    Today’s
    Newspaper

    Thanks to Mudd and Pete and everyone else.

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