Financial Times 17,686 GOZO

11 comments on “Financial Times 17,686 GOZO”

1. I didn’t know decibels were tenths of a bel. Never heard of bels. But it makes sense. My knowledge of Greek mythology doesn’t encompass Irene, and the wordplay was a little too tricky, but it’s about all that fit. I wasn’t devious enough to parse ASSESS.

   Plenty to enjoy, and, for the second day in a row, a welcome escape from an impossibly difficult Guardian puzzle. Thanks Gozo & Loonapick.

2. Full of Gozo’s customary wit. I liked MOUSEHOLE (Tom, as in Tom and Jerry, presumably), as well as CHEMICAL ELEMENT and WREATH.
   As Loonapick says, there were anagrams aplenty and I had fun working them all out.
   Thanks to Gozo and Loonapick.

3. With two examples, I felt 12a was defining the plural, CHEMICAL ELEMENTS, rather than the singular. I’d agree with loonapick about GALLEONS and cannot really make sense of TRAWL. The anagram were generally fun – nice to find Carmen in FLAMENCO DANCERS and WREATH is excellent – but I’m less keen on nounal anagrinds following the fodder like ‘spin’ in IMPUGN and ‘trip’ in ARTICHOKE. And, finally, I’d have preferred not to find wordplay from definition in NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. So, yes, some editing probably needed. ASSESS, TITUS ANDRONICUS and INNKEEPER my favourites.

   Thanks Gozo and loonapick

4. Could an arc be a segment of a circle, maybe? I also think you might cast for an answer, as well as trawl for one.

   I will remember Tudors in Tunics for a long time!

   Thanks Gozo and loonapick!

5. AGN@4
   ANARCHIC
   arc may be =segment (loosely speaking).
   TRAWL
   The surface is nice. Cast for=Trawl for? TILT.
   Diane@2
   MOUSETRAP
   Does Tom in the general sense of a male cat not work (without any reference to T & J)? Good clue. Agree.
   CHEMICAL ELEMENT(s)
   Agree with PM@3. HE and AL appear in CHEMICAL but that has no role in the WP, I think.
   Thanks Gozo and loonapick!

6. KVa@5
   Why yes, of course it does (but queens are just as likely to do this!)

7. Diane@6
   LOL
   MOUSEHOLE (keyed in MOUSETRAP @5)
   You are right about queens. Today it was Tom’s turn.
   Or a tom’s turn!

8. 26a ASSESS is an old chestnut https://www.fifteensquared.net/2021/10/06/financial-times-16909-by-gozo/ – “26a Evaluate Jenny? (6)” – (same position, too)
   As is 19a AUDI TOR
   Liked the &littish 17a WREATH, 13a IMPUGNS – nice surface, and 7d IRENE – a “girl'”s name that means peace in Greek (Ancient or Modern).
   [24a MOUSEHOLE – I’ve been there – “Tom Waits” – coincidentally getting mentioned in the G today]
   Thanks G&L

9. An enjoyable solve with plenty of easy anagrams; our only complaint is that it was over too soon.
   Thanks, Gozo and loonapick.

10. Thanks Gozo for a pleasant crossword. I liked the anagrams at 21a and 6d as well as MOUSEHOLE, IRENE, and STRING. OLD BEAN was new term for me. Thanks loonapick for the blog.
    [Diane @6: In the wild it’s the female cat who does the lion’s share of the hunting while the male guards the territory. Domestically the roles are a bit more fluid.]

11. Thanks Gozo and loonapick

    1dn: As a mathematician, I am fully aware that, in formal geometry, the words arc and segment are used with very precise and clearly distinct meanings. However, specialists in any field of knowledge have no right to restrict the use of words in general language to their formal meanings, so we should note the question posed by AGN@4 “Could an arc be a segment of a circle, maybe?” and see if we can find support for the reply by KVa@5 “arc may be =segment (loosely speaking).”
    Collins 2023 gives us
    “arc part of an unbroken curved line”; and
    “segment a part of a line or curve between two points”.
    On the principle that setters should not be expected to overrule dictionaries, I think we can and should accept “segment” in a clue as an indication for ARC in its solution.

Comments are closed.