Financial Times 17,962 by GURNEY

11 comments on “Financial Times 17,962 by GURNEY”

1. Agree with Loonapick—fun, straightforward puzzle. Being in the states the Denver and RI pieces came pretty quickly. I ended up finishing in the southwest corner with MADRIGAL causing the biggest delay. I so wanted the brief city to be LA, but I guess one US city was enough. Thanks Gurney and thanks Loonapick for a great blog.

2. I had a similar experience as you, loonapick, although JOURNALESE was my LOI.

   I ticked VINEYARD, and ENCHANTING

   I could not parse DEFENDER as I did not know DEF (English slang perhaps?). In 23 I initially thought “cutbacks” indicated a reverse hidden clue, and it ended up being cleverly misleading. In CRATER I was surprised “showing” is a hidden word indicator. Thanks for confirming. I thought Jour for time in JOURNALESE was a bit sus – but if you are OK with it, then I am happy to accept it. Good to learn!

   Finally, in 18 what is the function of “needed”. Is it excess?

   Thanks Gurney and loonapick

3. Bish and def were new to me. Enjoyable, thanks Gurney & Loonapick.

4. Thanks Gurney and Loonapick

   19dn: Collins 2023 p 524 has “def adj slang very good, esp of hip-hop [C20: perhaps from definitive]”. Chambers 2016 p 404 says much the same. Neither of these marks the word as particularly British.

5. For 19d oed.com has “def adj. slang (originally U.S., esp. in African American usage). 1981– Excellent, outstanding; fashionable, ‘cool’.
   [1907 ‘I never do him one def ting,’ a single thing. ‘Def’ is emphatic, but is not a ‘swear-word’. W. Jekyll, Jamaican Song & Story lxviii. 171]
   [1979 Someone get a fly girl, gonna get some spank and drive off in a death O.J. G. O’Brien et al., Rapper’s Delight (song, perf. ‘Sugarhill Gang’)]
   1981 Deaf [sic]—a mispronunciation of ‘death’—is the current superlative. (In topsyturvytalk, death is the liveliest and baad-baaader-baaadest is the equivalent of ‘good-better-best’.) W. Safire in New York Times Magazine 18 January 6/3″
   On Etymology: “… Probably alteration of death n., originating in the nonstandard Jamaican English pronunciation and spelling def, and the use of the word (in both forms) as a general intensifier (see quot. 1907). Compare death adj.²
   Notes
   The form in quot. 1979 is often interpreted as being a use of def adj., and is in fact spelt def in many later transcriptions of the song, including that in L. A. Stanley Rap: the Lyrics (1992). However, in the original published lyrics, the word is spelt death, although the pronunciation on the recording itself is indistinct. This song, one of the most celebrated and influential hip-hop records and one of the first to enjoy international commercial success, may in part account for the enduring use of def within the genre and the strength of its association with hip-hop culture.
   An alternative derivation < definite adj. or definitive adj. seems less likely, but see the form def’ in quot. 1982.”

6. That’s more like it: I got all but 6 answers and I’m happy with that.

7. AT@6 – well done! It’s worth knowing that for some reason the FT usually puts its most difficult weekday puzzle on a Wednesday.

   I agree with others that this was enjoyable stuff. I got DENVER before JOURNALESE in the end.

   Thanks both.

8. Thanks for the guidance on def.

   That takes me back a couple of days to the recommendation that I get Chambers app. Does it have the same number of words as the paper copy? My SOED app has a lot of holes that I have never noticed in my (currently inaccessible) paper copy.

   Sorry Admin, a bit off track but still relevant I hope.

9. Martyn@9 – the Chambers app is excellent and allows wildcard searches when you only have some of the letters in an answer.

10. Fairly straightforward but enough of a challenge. Did not know DEF as very good but EMMY was my favourite as our daughter won two last year.

    Thanks to Gurney and loonapick

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

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