Financial Times 17,843 by GURNEY

22 comments on “Financial Times 17,843 by GURNEY”

1. Loved DECANTER, ORBITAL ROADS and ONCE (though I think I have seen this trick before).

   TEAM
   A minor observation/question
   Should we not take ‘in the morning’ (rather than just ‘morning’) as AM?

   Thanks Gurney and Teacow.

2. Lovely Monday puzzle tho’ I got held up in the SW and didn’t parse ONCE.

   Liked: SOMEBODY, DECANTER, SPARSE, ISLANDER

   Thanks Gurney and Teacow

3. Although I parsed 3d as in the blog, it is perhaps interesting to note that SHERD is an alternative spelling for SHARD giving a different parsing.

4. Annoyingly, 14A held me up for a while.

   I hade TUNE which i’d argue is equally valid?

   T (end of street) + UNE (one in france
   = TUNE (to correct)

5. Mark A @4

   I also had TUNE for 14a at first parsed the same way as you – but had to change when I couldn’t get 7d

6. Agree with KVa@1 on 6d TEAM – AM = ” in the morning”. And think 2d AIRBRUSH might need the “of” in the definition.
   Nice alternative parse of 3d SHE[r]D, Hovis@3. [The Ancient Greeks used potsherds on which to scratch the name of their candidate for ostracism.
   Cleisthenes may have introduced the system to Athens, where it was first used in 487 BC, and may have himself been ostracised later on.
   This enabled George Forrest to make the pun that he’d been ‘hoist with his own potsherd’ – hilarious, eh?]
   Thanks G&T

7. Mark A@4: I also had TUNE on the first pass. Perfectly plausible.

8. Another who tried TUNE at first.

   AIRBRUSH
   FrankieG@6
   Collins says
   To airbrush a photograph or other image means to change it using an airbrush, esp to make it more
   beautiful or perfect
   If we consider ‘image’ as a photo/pic, the def seems fine without the ‘of’.
   Collins also says
   To improve the image of (a person or thing) by concealing defects beneath a bland exterior
   The ‘of’ may have to be included in the def, if we consider this sense of ‘image’.

9. A gentle puzzle indeed. But there were nice surfaces throughout and I enjoyed it. Many of my favourites have been mentioned: ISLANDER, CARROT, SPARSE, CURFEW, and I groaned at DECANTER.

   I did not remember ORBITAL ROAD – is it only used in UK? Anyway, I knew what the answer was but could not think how to express it, so it was LOI. And, would someone please tell me how key is ESCAPE? I cannot see it in in my dictionary

10. Martyn @ 9 It’s the ESC key on your keyboard…

11. Like Mark and Cineraria I originally put in TUNE for 14ac and struggled to get DECANTER but that just shows my inadequacy. Thx to Teacow and Gurney

12. Thanks Gurney and Teacow

    14ac: I was another with TUNE here until I got retort.
    3dn: Did anyone else try (or, perhaps more to the point, will anyone admit to trying) SPAT here? It parses as S + PA(r)T, but the definition needs “discard” to define SPIT, rather than SPIT OUT. As usual, I am prepared to take plausible definitions on trust when solving, and I forgot to check this in my dictionaries before setting off from home this morning: I will not be back until Saturday. Of course, as soon as I got the E from MARKET, I realised that the intended answer must be something else. I thought of SHED from the definition, but did not think of the parsing as my mind was fixed on S + something, and I could not make S + HE(r)D work. Anyway, I would like to ask if anyone can find dictionary support for “discard” defining “spit” on its own.

13. Thanks Simon S@10. Talk about missing the obvious!

14. A lot of tuneful people here at 14a. I was listening to some Anton Webern as I did this puzzle, so TUNE never entered my mind.

    That clue was truly one of my favourites, along with the long anagram at 11d ADMONISHMENT, and the running refreshment stand at 10a DECANTER.

    Thanks to Gurney and Teacow for the excellent puzzle and blog.

15. [Cellomaniac@14: By a path of connections in my brain, you have set the wonderful tune from the Agnus Dei in Elis Pehkonen’s Russian Requiem running through my mind. It is a great example of the principle that modern composers can write tunes when they want to. The work was commissioned by Birmingham Festival Choral Society in which I sang tenor for just over ten years. I have a CD of (I think) the first performance, which was before I joined, but I sang in a later performance. It was a real pleasure to be reminded of that tune.]

16. Many thanks, Teacow, for the excellent blog. Many thanks also to all who commented.

17. [ PB@15, from Webern to Pehkonen, now there’s a path I’d bet few people have walked. I‘D love to hear that piece – I hope I can find it somewhere. ]

18. [Cellomaniac@17: I do not think I have any Webern in my CD collection. The jump in my mind was from the notion that modern composers never write tunes to the fact that they do when they want to, and the example I know best is the Pehkonen. There is certainly quite a bit about the Russian Requiem online, and I think the CD (which has four songs for solo voice as well) is still for sale.]

19. Another tune-smith here! Had a great time doing this puzzle. Never heard of an orbital road. Thank you everyone!

20. I can play the spoons with my elbows.

21. 3dn following my earlier comment: Collins 2023 p 1914 gives a meaning for spit vt “to eject or discharge (something) from the mouth” with the usage example to spit blood. It is then a question of whether “discharge” is close enough to “discard”. I still think that it is not obviously wrong that SPAT could be a valid alternative here, looking at the clue in isolation without the checked letters.

22. Pb@12 we followed exactly the same path as you wrt spat

Comments are closed.