Financial Times 18,080 by SOLOMON

17 comments on “Financial Times 18,080 by SOLOMON”

1. 28 across is to ‘pipe’ ie, add cream, inside ‘horns’ so named after the shape of the cream puffs, I think.

2. I parsed HORNPIPES as Steven. Plenty to like: BALLCOCKS, RUN UP, FIT, NOVEL (I think it’s an &lit?), LATITUDES, PARK BENCH, ARTY FARTY, ROMEO and TAXES. A rare query on a Solomon puzzle: is HEW a synonym of saw? All the definitions for HEW in Chambers specify the use of blows.

   Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs

3. HORNPIPES
   Ditto as others
   NOVEL
   Took it as an &lit (like PM@2)
   HEROINE
   Trainspotting: A movie
   YO-YOS
   Meant to be an &lit, I think.

   Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs

4. Absolutely loved this. I assumed ‘hew’ just meant ‘cut’, so ‘saw’ seemed fine but, after reading PostMark’s comment, I’m not so sure now.

5. Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs

   23dn: This is tricky. Like Hovis@4, I took hew=saw on trust while solving, but PM@2 has raised doubts.

   ODE 2010 p 823 gives us hew verb 1 with these two definitions:
   chop or cut (something, especially wood or coal) with an axe, pick, or other tool.
   make or shape by cutting a hard material: a seat hewn out of a fallen tree trunk.

   Collins 2023 p 921 gives us
   1 to strike (something, esp wood) with cutting blows, as with an axe
   2 (tr; often foll by out) to shape or carve from a substance
   3 (tr; often foll by away, down, from, off, etc) to sever from a larger or another portion.

   The first definition in each of these clearly excludes sawing, but I am not at all clear in my mind whether that exclusion extends to the later definitions. I will content myself with presenting the available evidence and will let others draw their own conclusions.

6. I managed to finish, but the last thing I would describe the puzzle as was enjoyable.

   I’m happy it pleased some, but for me there were far too many unparsed or puzzling answers, too much general knowledge (eg two unknown Christian names) and too many where are got the answer from the definition, and then spent ages trying to work out the cryptic bit.

   Isn’t 10% of a word (leafleters)is poor indicator what letter one has to select? What about 5% of a 20 letter word? Maybe I’m missing something here.? Or am I supposed to know it’s the first letter? Rather like “a bit of”

   Re 2d, presumably Johnson would also have placed Zebra here?

   Well done with the blog!

7. Loved it! I’d guess Solomon is a Scotsman in his fifties judging by his cultural references?

8. Thanks for the blog a lot of clever wordplay and definitions , BALLCOCKS has both aspects , SPINAL TAP is very neat although a fictional group originally .
   The novel Trainspotting is mainly about heroin and its users etc plus a big deal at the end .
   NOVEL , some say the modernish form invented by Henry Fielding .
   I would say sawing involves an insfrument with teeth .

9. Too late to edit the edit .

10. 23A is a lovely clue if you do let hew/saw slide. I would allow it.

11. Liked ROAST, CHEWS, LOVER, PARK BENCH

    I usually like Solomon a lot, but I was not overly enthusiastic about this puzzle. I remember his puzzles as being full of accurately worded clues with neat surfaces. While I agree with Moly@6, what did it for me was the neat surfaces have largely disappeared. While I got a few of the references (SPINAL TAP, HEROINE), I believe most of them were lost on me. If only I were a Scotsman in his fifties.

    Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs

12. Thanks to Soloman and Turbolegs,
    I solved this rapidly (for me).I am surprised at the DD rating of 10.

13. Thanks Solomon. I eventually revealed the nho HORNPIPES, CACTI with its stretchy definition, and ALREADY with its suspect 10%. Gripes aside I thought this was an overall excellent crossword with ticks going to DEATH, NICER, BELLY DANCER, NOVEL, DARTS, SPINAL TAP, ARTY-FARTY, and LOVER. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.

14. Good on you, Ken F@12. It is an endless fascination for me how some puzzles click for people and not others. I thought it was quite difficult in places.

15. A stiffish challenge but it was all getteble, albeit if we didn’t see some of the parsings till afterwards. And we share others’ reservations about ‘hew’ for ‘saw’.
    But there was plenty to like, including RETARDANT, THE MATRIX, CACTI and SPINAL TAP – plus what was almost our LOI after a delayed penny-drop: AFTERNOON, referencing Samuel rather than Bojo.
    Thanks, Solomon and Turbolegs.

16. Like Turbolegs I found this to be very chewy. That clue, 23d, brought to mind Beyond the Fringe’s description of the variety of activities you get down the mines.

    My favourite was 8d LATITUDES, for the beautifully hidden anagram in the excellent surface.

    Thanks Solomon for the fun, and Turbolegs for the excellent and much-needed blog.

17. Agree with Moly. Not difficult to solve but way too many overly obscure parses.

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