Financial Times 17,954 by AARDVARK

19 comments on “Financial Times 17,954 by AARDVARK”

1. I still cannot access the app version. I guess I could have printed it and used that. During the week I have a short period available for crosswords and I (wrongly) anticipated FT would fix the issue. So now I realise it will not be fixed in time, it means no crossword for me today.

   It is not a huge issue. After all it is only a hobby and they get it right 99% of the time.

2. I rarely do puzzles with pen and paper these days, but like Martyn I couldn’t get the puzzle on the app so it was back to the old-fashioned ways.

   Much like Cineraria, this was slow to yield for me and I had to beat a retreat down to the SE corner to get started. Good to have the double pangram. I liked the misleading ‘happening’ def and working out the parsing of my last in, AQUILINE for ‘hooked’.

   Probably just serendipity, but I note that LEMAN and LOVER span the end of one answer and beginning of the next for a couple of the across answers on the grid.

   Thanks to Cineraria and (H)Aadvark

3. I delayed solving this because the interactive version wasn’t available, but eventually decided to set up a version I could fill in on my computer and I am very glad I did. I manage to enter seven answers on my first pass through the clues, but I made very slow progress after that, or maybe several well-spaced periods of fast progress. I can’t really blame the clues which I thought were all fair, apart from maybe a slight moan about the ‘change a letter to an unspecified different letter’ in 18a.

   I noticed J, Q, X and Z were all in the grid quite early on so I expected a pangram, but only after finding AQUILINE near the end did I think it was probably a double pangram.

   I’ve developed a bad habit of sometimes using the check function to test a possible answer when I don’t fully understand the clue or to make sure the answers I have entered are definitely correct, but I had to solve it all honestly today.

   Thanks, Cineraria and Aardvark.

4. Like Cineraria, my first trip through the clues was not particularly fruitful (although I got about a half dozen). From there it was slow but steady progress. My favorites were 20D (A LA MODE) and 12A (MANUALLY). Thanks Aardvark and nice job by Cineraria—way to persevere!

5. Liked MANUALLY (though I have a query on the def), EYE TO EYE and NOR-EASTER.

   CARPET BAGGER
   Agree with the blogger’s comment.
   MANUALLY
   The solution is an adverb but the def sounds adjectival to me. Am I wrong?
   HABITUDE
   Tendency: def
   to be: link words?

   Thanks Cineraria and Aardvark.

6. Ha! I had seen the first few words of the blog on 225 before attempting the puzzle. Like others here, I went to the online version where today’s Aardvark puzzle was listed, clicked to open it and then – without noticing that I had opened a Peto – went ahead and solved it, wondering why the blogger had had so much difficulty. Only when I came to the blog – and encountered load of unfamiliar solutions – did I realise what I’d done. So I now know I have a double pangram to solve if I can find time later in the day.

7. In 22a, I had A IS reversed.
   Does anybody else remember the quintuple pangram by Maize

8. Yes, Hovis, I remember it well. It always brings mixed memories. I now see I didn’t say so in my comments at the time me but I have to confess I only counted as far as four pangrams, then stopped, thinking there couldn’t possibly be any more. It’s something I regret not having spotted at the time ever since. Still, a great achievement from Maize and that’s what matters.

9. Martyn@1 et al.: The online app version is now published/available.

10. Late to this, for the same reason as others. Had 22a as Hovis@7.
    Loved the puzzle. Eskerrik asko A ETA C. That’s T.HANKS A&C in euskera (BASQUE [I married one]).

11. Thanks Aardvark and Cineraria

    KVa @ 5 How about “The motor’s failed, so we’re going to have to do this manually / without power”?

12. Simon S@11
    MANUALLY
    ‘without power’ is adverbial. Isn’t it? That works.
    ‘lacking power’ seems adjectival to me. Isn’t it more like ‘manual’ than ‘manually’
    (lacking power=powerless rather than powerlessly?)?

13. Hovis@7; FrankieG@10: For FANTASIA, I would have preferred the clue to read ” . . . ace is backed” to parse it as you propose, but I agree that your parsing is plausible.

    KVa@5: For HABITUDE, I considered underlining only “tendency,” but since “habitude” means “constitution” or “characteristic condition,” I thought adding the “to be” to the definition emphasized the existential aspect. I am not sure what to make of MANUALLY, other than to say that it seemed close enough to serve the purpose.

14. Thanks to Aardvark and Cineraria. I noticed that the puzzle was already a pangram when I had the left half done, so I figured we were in for a double. That actually helped me with a couple towards the end (to wit, AQUILINE and FATWA, my second Q and W respectively). This is the first time that pangram-ness has ever actually served me as a solving aid–normally I either don’t notice it at all or don’t catch it in time to help.

15. I found this very difficult and it was a failure because I was finally stuck on 9A and eventually put in Latitude, having no idea why it might be the answer but it fitted.

    It wasn’t the answer 😂

    I had no idea that Nor was a conjunction.

16. {I understand that in the US À LA MODE is usually [Comme d’HABITUDE (1967)] used of, say, apple pie, to mean “with ice cream”.}

17. I struggled to get about half of the clues, this was way too hard me. I just couldn’t tune in at all.

18. Moly @15: The coordinating conjunctions (which have the feature that they can join two independent clauses) have the mnemonic FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. That’s “for” in its relatively rare use as a conjunction (“I’m going to bed soon, for I am unusually tired”) rather than a preposition (“I did it for you”), and “yet” in its use as a conjunction (“it is very cold out, yet there is no snow”) rather than an adverb (“it hasn’t happened yet”). “Nor” is not often used to join two clauses, but it does happen: “He has not taken out the garbage, nor has he done the laundry.”

19. Not come across that mnemonic before. Thanks mrpenney.

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