Financial Times 17,867 by GURNEY

11 comments on “Financial Times 17,867 by GURNEY”

1. 

   Pelham Barton

   #1 - Mon 14th Oct 24, 14:53

   
   

   Thanks Gurney and Teacow

   3dn: The meaning of crescendo used here is “A climax”, given in SOED 2007 p 557 and dated Early 20th Century.

   6dn: I think this must be DON absorbing (LP + HI), with “old record” being the indicator for LP, otherwise you have one O too many.

2. 

   Teacow

   #2 - Mon 14th Oct 24, 15:03

   
   

   Thanks Pelham Barton@1… I’ve corrected the parsing of DOLPHIN

3. 

   Fiona

   #3 - Mon 14th Oct 24, 15:20

   
   

   Another lovely puzzle to start the week.

   Thanks Gurney and Teacow

4. 

   allan_c

   #4 - Mon 14th Oct 24, 15:28

   
   

   A pleasant not-too-difficult puzzle that we enjoyed solving. The SE corner proved a little trickier than the rest, perhaps because we tried to be too clever with 15dn thinking we needed to separate ‘southeastern’ and find the name of an eastern dish – a case of D’oh! once we got the answer. LOI, though, was AIRLINE once we realised it was a definition by example.
   Thanks, Gurney and Teacow.

5. 

   Martyn

   #5 - Mon 14th Oct 24, 17:16

   
   

   Approachable puzzle, with a relatively high number of “deduction” clues adding an element of difficulty (for me at least).

   I had ticks for PASSWORD and PIETY. It took me some time to see the parsing for DOLPHIN and I know someone will quote the nth example of Chambers, but I am yet to convince myself that SPOKE is ray, which also slowed me momentarily.

   Thanks Gurney and Teacow

6. 

   E.N.Boll&

   #6 - Mon 14th Oct 24, 19:58

   
   

   A nicely balanced puzzle, and enjoyable.
   EPOCHAL is a new one on me, but fairly set, so doable.

   Like Martyn@6, I’ve raised an eyebrow before that RAY = SPOKE, but found that it can be “any one of a group of lines radiating from a central point”, so the bicycle wheel allusion perhaps passes muster.

   Cheers, G and T

7. 

   Gurney

   #7 - Mon 14th Oct 24, 21:05

   
   

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

8. 

   Geoff Down Under

   #8 - Mon 14th Oct 24, 21:13

   
   

   In my former life as a music teacher I’d have marked wrong anyone who described a crescendo as “noise at its peak”. To a muso, it’s a gradual increase in volume. I’d have thought that “climax” is now accepted because enough people over the years have made the error, and that, after all, is how language evolves. I was surprised to read, Pelham @ 1, that the use is a century old. But I still reserve the right to grimace.

   Another of my annoyances is when compilers equate “beat” and “rhythm”, as often occurs.

9. 

   Pelham Barton

   #9 - Mon 14th Oct 24, 21:43

   
   

   Geoff@8: In the context of any sort of music course, I would agree with you insisting on the original meaning of crescendo. As a mathematician, I feel uncomfortable when people talk about things growing exponentially when they mean rapidly. Some years ago now, I suggested that a submission to an academic journal should be edited to remove this usage, and I would still do so in a piece of technical writing. However, I have come to accept that, in general conversation, the word “exponential” carries the less precise meaning.

10. 

    Geoff Down Under

    #10 - Mon 14th Oct 24, 22:12

    
    

    Yes, Pelham, agreed. Sometimes I think that misuse of terms over the years has grown exponentially. 🙂

11. 

    Ken F

    #11 - Mon 14th Oct 24, 22:42

    
    

    I was poised from 2:30am UK time to include my comment that this was a straightforward solve aided by 6 anagrams.
    My advantage of being in Perth WA still.
    My opportunity passed overnight here though

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