Financial Times 18,086 by XELA

18 comments on “Financial Times 18,086 by XELA”

1. For 6A: NO + GOO (matter) + first letter of (how . . . starts) D[ATING]

2. Thanks for the input Cineraria@1; Your parsing didn’t strike me and in retrospect, I think i automatically excluded any direct word play from the clue ( NO appearing in the clue and the solve ). Also, fell into the solver’s trap of not searching farther once you have come up with a parse that seems to fit. 🙂

   Regards,
   TL

3. It is funny how we all react differently to a crossword. Our blogger stated it was a challenging workout, but I found this relatively straightforward. I did notice a lot of words in the clues where fewer would have done. But I found the clues well constructed

   I ticked OMEGA and STITCH UP. And I loved NON COMPOS MENTIS and SALVOS just for being great expressions / words. I think it shows a love of the language by our setter.

   I had the same parsing for NO GOOD as Cineraria and I must say I still use an iPod, meaning it is not by any stretch bygone for me (I only have a company phone and do not want my music etc on that).

   Thanks Xela and Turbolegs

4. Thanks for the blog , I really like this setter , lots of neat clues with a lot of variety . NAUGHTIEST is very clever and concise . OMEGA a rare reference to quarks , Murray Gell-Mann used the original model to predict the OMEGA particle with triple strangeness as a series finale . Unfortunately charm came along later to spoil things .

   Don’t worry Martyn , I only listen to music on vinyl and our only phone is from the 1950s so you are very up to date .

5. Maybe so Roz but for this solver series finale just meant the last letter of the Greek alphabet. I found it tricky overall but the hangover may have held me back.

6. Roz, if you are still there, I know you are a scientist but can you explain the mathematical method RULE OF THREE? I looked for it on the internet and did not find the answer.

7. I needed the s of tusk to twig salvo, loi, and on a Fridee arvo too… bit slow mate. But this was fun, naughtiest and Orwellian faves, cheers Xela and Turbolegs.

8. Like Martyn, I found this relatively tractable and I’m another GOO parser for NO GOOD. nho the Australian term but am aware of ‘arvo’ so assumed the same diminution of Salvationist. Faves inc the aforementioned NO GOOD, PEDDLE, TWO YEAR OLD, NAUGHTIEST, SCARCEST, NUGGET and ATTEND.

   Our blogger queried ‘item’ = POINT in SET POINT: I took the synonym in the sense of points/items on an agenda.

   Thanks XELA and Turbolegs

9. Martyn@6 Suppose you know three numbers a, b and c, and want to find a fourth number x, so that the ratio of a to b is the same as the ratio of c to x. To get the answer you multiply b by c and divide the result by a.

   For example, if a = 3 , b = 4, c = 6, then x = 24/3 = 8

10. Martyn @6 – the rule of three is old-fashioned according to my search.

    I’m another solver parsing with GOO for NO GOOD.

    Thank you to XELA and Turbolegs.

11. Liked NO GOOD, NIGHT OWL, NAUGHTIEST and ATTEND.
    Thanks Xela and Turbolegs.

12. I loved the crazy drunk sergeant, both for the image and for spotting the noncom at the front of NON COMPOS MENTIS. I had no ideas at all about how to parse NO GOOD; otherwise I agree with the majority that this was pretty straightforward.

    Thanks also to Rudolf @9; I don’t remember that being called the RULE OF THREE; maybe it simply isn’t over here (I call that cross-muliplying). The only RULE OF THREE I know is the one from folklore studies: the rhythm of folk tales is such that things tend to happen, appear, occur, etc., in threes. Goldilocks and the Three Bears is relentlessly structured around threes, as the canonical example. (Why three? It’s memorable that way.)

13. I’m another who found this a gentle challenge, and I always enjoy Xela’s setting. The surfaces, in particular, are coherent, crafty and clever.
    I messed up (ish), going for (M) ASTI (K), in 18(ac), a local ( cyclades) spelling of the Greek liqueur, which tastes like…..PASTIS.
    Re 10(ac), NIGHT OWL: it’s not actually a bird, but who cares? There must be a clue using the opposite of “EARLY BIRD”, to get “NIGHT OWL”?
    Rule of Three: I’m slow in posting, so Martyn@6 may already have his answer. It’s not so much scientific, as artistic. The human brain “enjoys” groups of 3, hence poets, orators, and advertisers use them.
    e.g. SNAP, CRACKLE & POP. / ” education, education, education”.
    There’s a mysticism angle to it, too.

    Well, this puzzle, the blog, and fellow posters have made my day.
    Thanks to Xela, Turbo, & others

14. A NIGHT OWL is also an ‘exclusively nocturnal owl’ (Chambers) so “bird” is ok.

15. Sorry Martyn@6 I have been busy today but you have lots of answers , alas not the real one which is – Three quarks for Muster Mark .

16. Thanks Xela and Turbolegs

    11dn: The meaning of rule of three explained by Rudolf@9 can be found under rule in Collins 2023 p 1740, Chambers 2016 p 1362, SOED 2010 p 2629, and in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 2018 p 1201, which quotes from an Elizabethan manuscript dated 1570

    Multiplication is vexation,
    Division is as bad;
    The Rule of Three doth puzzle me,
    And Practice drives me mad.

    I looked in all of those sources (as well as ODE and the Pocket Oxford), under both rule and three for the sort of meanings given in comments 12 and 13, but could not find these in any of them. Presumably this is because those meanings are simply the normal combination of words in the phrase. Xela has selected the meaning which has dictionary support.

17. I eventually parsed “no good” as Cineraria @1 – with the same hesitation that “no” did not belong in the answer as well as the clue.

    I had never heard of the “rule of three” in all my scientific career until I met the poem:
    “multiplication is vexation,
    division is as bad,
    the rule of three perplexes me
    and fractions drive me mad”

    and looked it up. It’s one of those rules for working out problems such as “If 3 soldiers can dig 2 trenches in 4 hours, how long will it take 9 soldiers?”. For people for whom formulation of problems and algebra come easy there is no need for a rule, but the rule seemed to have been taught as a rote way of solving such rote-set problems which then avoids either the examiner or examinee ever engaging their brain.

    “Omega” for “nothing major” is almost tautological as “Omicron” and “Omega” are literally “little and large O” in Greek. It’s a minor quibble of mine but I admire clues where the wordplay breaks a word down in ways that are not obvious or linked to its meaning – the use of “non com” in “non compos mentis” being a lovely example.

18. I enjoyed this one, although I missed isopod, of which I have never heard. I was looking for an older instrument to envelop SO…..

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