Financial Times 17,765 by GURNEY

20 comments on “Financial Times 17,765 by GURNEY”

1. Very enjoyable. I learnt that a collect is a prayer. I’d come across “bish” as British slang here berore but alas, had forgotten it. And I didn’t get THATCHER.

   Thanks, Gurney & Cineraria.

2. NORTHWESTERLY
   Loved it.
   THATCHER
   You are so very right about THAT, Cineraria.

   Nice puzzle! Excellent blog! Thanks both!

3. Yes, like KVa, I took ‘so’ as an intensifier in 13A.
   I too took a while to get going but breezed quickly through the puzzle once NORTHWESTERLY was entered.
   Lots of nice wordplay in this. SNARL was my favourite but I needed Cineraria’s parsing for GO-AHEAD. Thanks to him and Gurney.

4. Liked this, took longer to complete than I should have…
   Looking at the “very” was trying to fit “Très” into 13a…
   Plus forgot “Collect” was a prayer, so the SW took longer.
   Also like GDU@1, forgot “bish” yet again, only got it after the crossers…
   Thank you to Gurney and Cineraria

5. Parsed THATCHER with THAT = “so very”: Pick any adjective to describe Thatcher – I’d choose from divisive, uncaring, humourless.
   She was so very humourless = She was that humourless.

6. Thanks for the blog , very enjoyable puzzle , sound and neat clues . I did not know PORTAL so I am glad it was hidden .
   Geoff@1 you are lucky that you did not get THATCHER .

7. [More on THATCHER’s complete lack of a sense of humour here. She “writes” her own episode of Yes Minister.]

8. 26a GO-AHEAD – thought the “go” in the clue spoilt it. Why not leave or quit?

9. [ Frankie @7 she always pretended to watch and like the show, her so-called script , obviously written by aides, had Sir Humphrey as an economist. Anyone who really watched the show knows that he did Classics . ]

10. Thanks FrankieG @7 for the amusing episode of Thatcher’s “Yes Minister” which was new to me.
    Thanks also for the fun puzzle and blog.

    PS could someone please tell me how to type in italics on my phone?

11. What the Phantom Stranger wrote@4.

    Thanks Gurney and Cineraria

12. And thanks for the great article, FrankieG@7.

13. SM@10 you can use the i button at the top of the comment box to type in italics or the b button for bold
    A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle. I’m always happy to see Gurney as the setter. Thanks to G & C.

14. Thanks Newbie I had tried that but just got . Something wrong somewhere.

15. FrankieG @7, I always knew THATCHER was unfunny, but I had no idea that she was so very humourless.

    Re 9a, my father, a child of the Great Depression in New Brunswick, hated LOBSTER all his life because it was the only seafood that poor families, like his, could afford. How times have changed.

    I thought of NORTHWESTERLY for 27a but didn’t write it in at first, because I always thought the correct word was ‘norwester’. Thanks to global warming we even get norwesters – or chinooks – in eastern Canada now.

    Thanks Gurney and Cineraria for the fun.

16. I enjoyed the puzzle but thought that a few clues could have been made slightly less wordy.

17. Many thanks for the excellent blog, Cineraria, and many thanks also to all who commented.

18. SM@14. On my phone the i button inserts the html markup tags <em></em> and whatever is written between the tags is in italics while the tags themselves aren’t displayed. If the i button doesn’t work you can just type the tags directly. This will work on any webpage you are publishing to.

19. Thanks so much Newbie@18 Greatly appreciated.👍

20. Yes minister maybe the best show ever made (black adder otherwise?)

    Great fun but took lots of staring. Thank you all

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