Financial Times 18,081 by Julius

16 comments on “Financial Times 18,081 by Julius”

1. 

   Martyn

   @1 - Sun 15th Jun 25, 23:12

   
   

   I was so happy to see Julius providing us so many wonderful anagrams

   The across clues in the top half were write ins, and I thought the puzzle would not take long. Julius had other thoughts it turned out and, different to Pete, I found some of the clues challenging.

   I shared many favourites with Pete. My list included NODDING OFF, GLOBALISM, and FAN MAIL. The highlight was the superb anagram and surface in 5dn.

   I still do not understand the tin lid definition KIBOSH, no doubt an expression unknown to me, and the parsing of LIBYAN defeated me altogether, so thanks to Pete for the explanation.

   I am afraid I felt Julius went a bit overboard with the unknown words today – way too many for me. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable outing.

   Thanks Julius and Pete

2. 

   Pelham Barton

   @2 - Sun 15th Jun 25, 23:14

   
   

   Thanks Julius and Pete. I just have a tiny amendment to suggest for the parsing of 15ac. I think the IM is given by “Julius is”, not just “Julius”.

3. 

   Pelham Barton

   @3 - Sun 15th Jun 25, 23:41

   
   

   6dn: SOED 2007 p 1593 has “put the lid on, put the tin lid on colloq.” with “put a stop to” as one meaning, matching “put an end to” for kibosh (p 1501). A small point here is that kibosh is given only as a transitive verb or a noun. I could only find the expression without tin in either Chambers 2016 or Collins 2023.

4. 

   Tony Santucci

   @4 - Mon 16th Jun 25, 01:57

   
   

   Thanks Julius for a top drawer crossword with my favourites being AFTERSHOCK, BEAM, FAN MAIL, EAGLE, and LIBYAN. Thanks Pete for the blog.

5. 

   Fiona

   @5 - Mon 16th Jun 25, 06:01

   
   

   Really enjoyed this.

   Favourites: KIBOSH, BEACHY HEAD, NODDING OFF, SCHENGEN

   BANG took me ages to get and, like Pete, SNAG was my FOI and BEDS was my LOI

   Thanks Julius and Pete

6. 

   KVa

   @6 - Mon 16th Jun 25, 06:15

   
   

   UNSHAVEN
   A minor tweak to the blog
   S in (UN+HAVEN)
   AGNUS DEI
   ‘lied sung at’ uncovered —->iedsunga.
   (a slightly different reading)

   Liked AFTERSHOCK, UPDATE, NODDING OFF, OUR MUTUAL FRIEND and DEBUG.

   Thanks Julius and Pete.

7. 

   Shanne

   @7 - Mon 16th Jun 25, 06:55

   
   

   Threw myself by spelling KIBOSH as kybosh, which is how I’ve seen it spelt before, but did wonder if that was going to be the spelling used.

   Martyn @1 – To put the tin lid on something – here’s a BBC article on Brexit in Scotland from 2020 with a subheading at the bottom using that phrase.

   Thank you to Julius and Pete Maclean

8. 

   crypticsue

   @8 - Mon 16th Jun 25, 07:41

   
   

   Lots to enjoy as one would expect from Julius

   Many thanks to him and Pete

9. 

   grantinfreo

   @9 - Mon 16th Jun 25, 07:47

   
   

   Yep, smooth puzzle, thanks Julius and Pete. Beds loi for me too — forgot about them being borders, d’oh. The anag (Durer if no umlaut)” is brilliant. For Connery’s “kish”, well we all know the Martini line, but did Sean himself have a problem?

10. 

    E.N.Boll&

    @10 - Mon 16th Jun 25, 08:35

    
    

    This is superb puzzle, full of craft and novelty.
    Not a negative on the horizon.
    I will even forgive the setter, for my bete-noir, the self-reference clue (15ac, I AM, …ITEM).
    Like Shanne@7, I have always used KYBOSH as the spelling (6d). (Which makes it sound like I write it all the time!)

    I thinks it’s a mash-up, from my Ma and Pa, both in the army in WWII. “KYBO”, was used in letters back then, as a loving end to a letter, (but not so romantic): ” Keep Your Bowels Open”.
    Kibosh ( always preceded by “the ‘effin”), was Walloon, picked up by my dad, stationed in Belgium; “the head/top”,
    I think from “caboche”(?) He would interchange the two phrases. “well, that’s put the xxxx kibosh on that!”/ “that’s put the xxxxx tin lid on that!”.
    [ I think the tin lid, meant the Tommy’s helmet ].
    Both meant, “well, that’s effed-up my plan”.

    Whatever, I loved finding it in this puzzle, which I found totally entertaining and very smart, throughout.

    Big thumbs-up, J and Pete.

11. 

    Eileen

    @11 - Mon 16th Jun 25, 09:05

    
    

    What crypticsue said @8.

    Not much more to add but I don’t think anyone has mentioned CHUBBIER, which made me smile. Lovely surfaces throughout, as ever.

    I don’t think my heart will ever leap at the sight of ‘Spooner’ but Julius is one of the few setters I can always rely on to produce a meaningful one.

    Many thanks to Julius and Pete.

12. 

    Roz

    @12 - Mon 16th Jun 25, 12:55

    
    

    Thanks for the blog , the usual high standard of clues , like Grant@9 I will pick out OUR MUTUAL FRIEND .
    LIBYAN , a Libran is really born in November but don’t tell the astrologers .

13. 

    Brian L.

    @13 - Wed 18th Jun 25, 17:02

    
    

    Don’t understand why “horn” is common-sounding

14. 

    Roz

    @14 - Wed 18th Jun 25, 17:32

    
    

    I suppose horn and blower are slang terms for a telephone , not the proper name .

15. 

    Pelham Barton

    @15 - Wed 18th Jun 25, 19:54

    
    

    Brian@13 and further to Roz@14
    horn is given as “US, Canadian and Austral an informal name for telephone” in Collins 2023 (p 945) and more specifically as “the telephone (US sl)” in Chambers 2016 p 734. Both these sources give blower as informal for a telephone without any geographical label.

16. 

    Brian L.

    @16 - Wed 18th Jun 25, 21:51

    
    

    So slang is “common”. Thanks for that both.

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