Financial Times 18,009 by GOLIATH

26 comments on “Financial Times 18,009 by GOLIATH”

1. 12A VAL isn’t a recognised abbreviation for “value”. The clue works as a hidden – nO VALue – indicated by “of”.

2. Liked DOUBLE CHIN, ALEXANDER DUMAS and DILATOR.
   PSALMS
   Isn’t PS just ‘an afterthought’ rather than ‘as an afterthought’?
   Does the clue work all right?

   Thanks Goliath and Oriel.

3. 5d, 19d ORGAN RECITAL: the doctors’ slang making a reappearance after just nine days.

4. Agreed: great fun. I couldn’t decide whether it was DILATOR or DILATER, and I got it wrong: also got fixated on 2d being NEW LEAF, which held me up. Yes, OVAL was a hidden answer.

   Favourites DOUBLE CHIN, SAY WHEN, DESPOTS, ANTELOPES.

5. Thanks Goliath and Oriel

   KVa @ 2 I think PS = ‘as an afterthought’ works better than just ‘an afterthought’. You are more likely to say ‘as an afterthought’ where you would write PS. And otherwise the ‘as’ in the clue seems to be redundant.

6. Thanks Simon S@5 for your response.
   PS is indicated as a noun in various dictionaries.

7. Thanks Goliath and Oriel

   12ac: I took this as hidden in nO VALue, the same as Rudolf@1. I cannot find val for “value” in any of the usual dictionaries, but VAL is a function in programming languages such as QBASIC, which I still use. It could perhaps be argued that VAL is a legitimate abbreviation of “value” for that sort of reason, but I would not want to press the point.

8. Collins
   val=value (American English).
   An ‘American’ indicator would have been needed?
   Anyway, I parsed OVAL as the others above.

9. I totally agree with Oriel’s preamble – and with Simon S re PS.

   Many thanks to Goliath and Oriel.

10. KVa@8 which version do you mean by “Collins”? The headwords on page 2194 in Collins 2023 – the latest printed edition – go straight from vakeel to Valais.

11. KVa@8 Did you find that entry for “val” in the online version of Collins? If so, I think the source is actually Webster’s New World College Dictionary, as cited in the footnote to the entry. The dictionary part of the online version of Collins seems to be a sort of amalgamation of the main Collins dictionary (complete and unabridged), which Pelham has at hand, the Collins CoBuild, which is a learners’ dictionary, containing (mainly) explanations of the meanings of words in a context rather than definitions, and the Webster’s already mentioned. The main Collins Dictionary (not those other two) is the one that is regarded as a standard source for UK crosswords.

12. Yes I thought this was great fun.

    Loved: RIGMAROLE, SYNTAX, PSEUD, DOUBLE CHIN

    Thanks Goliath and Oriel

13. Pehlam Barton@10 and Rudolf@11
    Yes. Collins online.
    Got the point now. Thank you both.

14. Pelham*
    Sorry for misspelling your name.

15. Thanks Goliath for great stuff as expected. I liked OVAL, STAKE HOLDER, NEW LIFE, and ALEXANDRE DUMAS, my COTD. I couldn’t parse DOUBLE CHIN. Thanks Oriel for the blog.

16. What Tony@15 wrote.

    Thanks Goliath and Oriel

17. A little gem from the big setter.
    For me, it has everything, including a sense of humour.
    There is no point picking out a favourite clue, I loved ’em all.
    OK, I am a sucker for phonetics, so DIE LATER, SIN TAX, & HEADS HOT, are my type of setting.

    Though two had an indicator ( say + declaring) but not the latter. Is that a quibble? No, it’s not.
    Fun all way, a brilliant puzzle and blog, my cap is high in the air, Goliath + Oriel

18. Ian@17: In 1ac the wordplay defines SIN TAX, which sounds like the answer SYNTAX, and in 17dn the wordplay defines DIE LATER, which sounds like DILATOR. This is why there are indicators in each of these clues. In 14ac, the wordplay defines HEAD’S HOT, which does not sound like the answer HEADSHOT, but has the same letters as the answer, in the same order, albeit with differences in spacing and punctuation. There is no soundalike indicator because it is not that type of clue.

19. PB@18 I stand corrected. Good clue, though, it fooled me longer than I would like to admit.
    How would that type of clue be classed? A double def?
    cheers IB

20. Thanks for the blog ,agree with Tony@15 plus Martyn .
    Two minor quibbles because it is so good . Two double entries not quite in line , the setter usually manages this . Second , we have no trademark fission clue .

    ENB@19 I took it as a normal definition plus wordplay clue .

21. Roz@20: It is precisely because there was no clue involving an unsignalled splitting of a clue word that my pleasure in the puzzle was unalloyed. This puzzle shows how a satisfying crossword does not need that ghastly device.

22. Roz@20 I entirely agree with PB. This setter’s puzzles are so much better when he eschews the Guardianesque anything-goes nonsense that is the unfortunate heritage of Araucaria and his apostles. Anyone who takes setting seriously will appreciate how much more difficult it is to produce concise clues which (a) make good surface sense, and (b) are grammatically correct both for the surface reading and the cryptic reading, than it is to create stuff that distorts the language for the purpose of displaying some “clever” effect. I fully expect to receive brickbats for saying this, but I doubt I’m the only person frequenting this site who feels this way.

23. gladys@4: Chambers 2016 gives “dilator (also dilater)” so you were not wrong, though dilator is probably more commonly used (in the UK, at least).

24. Well I do not give a stuff about surfaces or grammar , I do not even read the clue , just each word with suspicion and sometimes it is nice if I actually have to think .

25. In that case, Roz@24, we must be truly grateful that you don’t set crosswords. If you actually do do what you’ve said you do, and are not merely attempting to wind us up – if so, you’ve not succeeded – it seems to me that the procedure you adopt is hardly intellectually satisfying. Moreover, you are doing good setters a gross disservice by wilfully failing to distinguish between garbage and excellence. But I expect you are simply expressing an extremist view that you don’t yourself hold.

26. Ian@19: I am not sure that there is a specific name for the type of clue at 14ac. I go along with Roz@20 in calling it definition + wordplay.

    Gladys@4 further to Perplexus@23: ODE 2010 p 490 only gives dilator, but Collins 2023 p 560 gives dilator, dilater or dilatator. Obviously we can rule out the last of these on the wordplay and the number of letters, but in my view you are entitled to regard DILATER as a valid alternative answer here. I think I am thereby agreeing with Perplexus@23.

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