Financial Times 18,000 by Julius

24 comments on “Financial Times 18,000 by Julius”

1. Thanks Julius and Pete

   A couple of small points:

   4dn: I think this is meant to be [n]IFFY. It could have been [wh]IFFY if “starter” had been in the plural, but I could not find wiffy without the H in any of the usual dictionaries.

   21dn needs to be ALDER in CA, not CAL.

2. For 8D, wouldn’t the definition be “Expendable” or and the wordplay “bloke for Rembrandt, perhaps?

3. Ignore “or” in the comment

4. 8dn:I took the definition as all of “Expendable bloke sent out to bat”, as in multi-day cricket, where an inferior batter is sent in to bat shortly before close of play on one day, keeping the superior batter for the following day’s play. Then “Rembrandt perhaps?” defines NIGHT WATCH MAN, with the enumeration (5,5,3).

5. Another diverting weekend puzzle from Julius.
   My favourite was ANDROMACHE for its sporty surface but I also liked Pete’s favouite, CHATEAU, and share his admiration of WORDSWORTH.
   It’s true that 10a could just as easily have been IN SHORT so it’s a good thing that my route was ADJUDICATION-IFFY-BRIEF!
   On the other hand, I agree with Pelham’s reasoning for ‘niffy’ v ‘whiffy’.
   Thanks Julius and Pete.

6. I agree with PB@1 and @4. For 8dn, I needed almost all the crossers before I saw NIGHT WATCHMAN as the answer.

   I usually finish a Julius puzzle with a lot of ticked clues. I did not have a single tick today.

   10ac – I confidently entered IN SHORT. I agree with Pete that it is a reasonable answer.

   I did not like NABOKOV with no indication of word order, nor did I like 9dn for remoteness – Penny whatsername was in office for less than 3 months. For 6 I had no idea how INNER means “its next door to the bull” and could not parse AVID. Thanks for the guidance Pete.

   Thanks Julius and Pete

7. I think 7dn should be OK the right way round in NAB + O + V, where the O given by “old” is the second O of the answer, and “abducted” is the containment indicator.

8. Yes, I think you are correct again PB@7. Looking at NABOKOV again, I am OK with the clue now

9. Thanks Julius for a nicely clued crossword. I had no issues getting the solutions but I couldn’t parse IGNOBLE, BEARSKIN, NIGHT-WATCHMAN, or PENNY DREADFUL. My favourites were ADJUDICATION, IN BRIEF, the beautifully hidden WORDSWORTH (I liked the definition, poet, neither at the beginning nor at the end of the clue), ABRIDGE, CHATEAU (my COTD), and CALDERA. Thanks Pete for the blog.

10. My top faves: WORDSWORTH, CHATEAU and NIGHT WATCH MAN.
    PENNY DREADFUL
    Learnt this only last week while solving another puzzle.
    Thanks Julius and Pete.

11. Really enjoyed this.

    Loved NIGHT-WATCHMAN (which I got thanks to a cricket loving ex – and parsed the same way as PB@4), ALIMENTARY, CHATEAU, NABOKOV

    Thought ANDROMACHE was well hidden

    Thanks Julius and Pete Maclean

12. AVID
    A minor point
    The def should be ‘eagerly desirous’

13. Thanks for the blog , very enjoyable set of clues , will just go with the list from Tony@9 and add for chateau the capital for Nice hidden at the front .
    PENNY DREADFUL just been in the Everyman .
    INNER I thought of darts not archery but I guess it is both .

14. Excellent puzzle, with plenty of cracking solutions.
    Man of the match award goes to WORDSWORTH, for a superb hidden reversal.
    I rationalised 8(d), as a descriptive DBE ( indicator: “perhaps”). One might refer to Van Gogh as ” the sunflower man”, so Rembrandt…. ” the nightwatch man” ?

    No quibbles at all from me, many thanks, Julius & Pete

15. The usual crossword treat from Julius, Many thanks to him and Pete

16. It took me most of the crossers to be confident of NIGHT WATCHMAN and I think ENB@14 has the right take with Rembrandt being the ‘Night Watch’ man. I agree with Martyn’s observation about Penny Mordaunt being in role for a very short time but I’m inclined to forgive on the grounds of the amusement factor: maybe she could have been described as ‘swordswoman’, referencing her (even shorter) role during the Coronation? WORDSWORTH is, indeed, a splendid reverse hidden – I am amazed our setter even thought to look for it.

    Other faves inc BEARSKIN for Busby Berkeley; HEN PARTY for the amusement; CHATEAU for every bit of its cleverness; ARTILLERYMAN for the clever anagram spot; DOWN-AT-HEEL as yet another splendid Julius anagram and, finally, AVID for the surface (and I almost agree with KVa on the def which I think also includes ‘for’: Eagerly desirous (for) is the def in Chambers. Otherwise Julius would be cluing Def for WP which I do not think he would do)

    Thanks Julius and Pete M

17. PostMark@16
    AVID
    Did look at that particular Chambers entry (‘for’ placed within the brackets) but according to some dictionaries, AVID is followed by ‘of’ or ‘for’ when used in a sentence. Looking for further enlightenment on the matter from you and others.

18. PM@16/ KVA@17
    I think, “desirous OF” would be the better construction in “proper” usage, but FOR is also correct; I just took the clue at face value……”[ eagerly desirous for ] [ topless work in Florence] , no connector. Definition/ wordplay. I agree, that ( definition) for (wordplay) would grate on me, but others may find it acceptable.
    Whatever….it is a very fine clue, I think!

19. Saw 4d as [n]IFFY, 21d as C(ALDER)A, 7d as NAB(OK)+O+V, not NAB+O+(OK<)+V.
    Was thinking 6d INNER was a score of 25 in darts, as more appropriate for the pub names, but that's an outer. An inner is "The Bull" (2×25=50).

20. Thank you for the corrections. ‘Niffy’ is not familiar to me.

21. I remain a bit puzzled by NIGHT-WATCHMAN.

22. Pete@21
    As PB@4 explains, the first def is ‘expendable bloke sent out to bat’.
    The second def is a cryptic one: ‘Rembrandt, perhaps?’ (Not referring to a painting by him but the man himself, who painted The NIGHT WATCH. Rembrandt could be described as NIGHT WATCH MAN in this context).
    I think the clue is sound.

23. With thanks to Pelham, KVa and others, I believe I now have the NIGHT-WATCHMAN clue correctly parsed.

24. Always twitch at “abler” since it is grammatically infelicitous (more able). And able is not a synonym for skillful, let alone that someone who is more able to do something is by definition more skillful.

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