Financial Times 15,941 by CRUX

17 comments on “Financial Times 15,941 by CRUX”

1. 21d is surely just a cryptic definition with ‘dependent’ meaning ‘hanging down’. But why ‘old’? Dunno. Clue works well without it.

   For the main part, I really enjoyed this with several clues giving me pause for thought. Some weak clues such as those for CZECH, ELF and (arguably) ICICLE.

   Thanks to Crux and Teacow.

2. Thanks Crux and Teacow

   I saw the definition in 21 as ‘feature in winter’ with ‘old dependent water’ being water that’s been there so long it’s solidified. Any takers?

3. Thanks to Crux and Teacow. Enjoyable. At least one on-line dictionary defines ICICLE as “an emotionally cold person.” Elsewhere GOLDEN HELLO was new to me (though easily gettable), and I was slowed down by starting with inception (which does not parse) rather than INCIPIENT.

4. Simon@2. The issue I have is still with ‘old’. Icicles can form pdq, such as in freezing rain. I don’t see how ACD’s definition relates to the clue.

5. Hovis

   Under ‘dependent’ Collins gives “hanging down” as an obsolete definition which would account for the ‘old’.

6. Ah, ok. Thank you Gaufrid @5. That does seem to be the most satisfactory explanation.

7. Thanks Gaufrid. I never knew it was obsolete. Maybe at my age, I am getting that way myself.

8. I had no problem with 20d (just a cryptic definition, the department of which is not Crux’s forte) and just like ACD I carelessly entered ‘inception’ at 24ac.

   While I liked this puzzle as a whole, there were again these moments that never happen when I solve an Arachne, Picaroon or Nutmeg.

   Does 9ac really tell me to take a part of ‘shy person’? Probably, just about.

   Can anyone tell me how 10ac exactly works without using the term ‘indirect anagram’? The answer wasn’t hard to get, so that’s not it.

   Why does Crux use ‘downstream’ in 14d?

   ‘Republic’ as the definition of ‘Czech’ is incorrect. He could have written ‘Republican’, though.

   Anyway.

   Many thanks Teacow & Crux.

    

9. Sil @ 8

   What’s the problem with ‘Czech Republic’?

10. There is no problem with ‘Czech Republic’, that’s the problem.

    ‘Czech’ doesn’t equate ‘Republic’, ‘Czech’ isn’t a ‘Republic’, it’s not even a DBE – the two are inseparable.

    Apart from that, I’d actually hoped you would give your view on 10ac.

     

11. Thanks Crux and Teacow

    Usually thoroughly enjoy puzzles of this setter, but this one made me feel flat in places – starting off with the OLDEN / ‘old-fashioned’ which seemed to be very close, ELF seemed over simple and ICICLE (until it has been explained here and now think that it is quite a clever clue).  Was another who initially wrote INCEPTION until better sense prevailed (along with some crossing letter issues!)

    There were other clues that were at his usual best – 29a, 1d, 14d and 20d.

    In past history, I was a part owner of a racehorse called PINCHBECK, who was one that actually paid for himself by winning a Group 4 race and narrowly beaten in a couple of Group 3 ones.  He was by a stallion called Gilded Time out of a mare called Brass – brilliantly named (although not by me).

    I think that 10a works OK – he is not asking us to have GIN as a part of the anagram fodder, rather mixing BEER with a spirit that is in this instance, GIN.

12. Sil

    The Czech one is a republic mentioned (implies a soundalike within the clue) in 21. No issue for me.

    In 10, ‘spirits’ so often gives ‘gin’ or ‘rum’ that it’s a gimme for me – if they don’t work, I just broaden my horizons.

13. OK, Bruce, but why does GIN go indide (BEER)*? What do you think is the anagram indicator and what does tell me to insert GIN?

    And since you liked 14d, can you explain Crux using ‘downstream’?

14. Samne question to Simon (as in the first line of my previous post).

    Well, to be honest, I think 23ac is complete crap. It is not a DBE, unfortunately.

     

     

15. Hi Sil

    At the end of the day, this was a daily crossword with the main aim I assume to give the daily commuter something to solve on their way in to work or for others to have a crack at with minimal use of reference resources.  If it was a competition puzzle where both setter and solver are to be judged, then the points that you make are probably valid – here they are a bit harsh I reckon.   It’s like putting together a 20 page contract to get somebody to mow your lawn :).  None of the issues that are mentioned got in the road of me getting the right answers.

    To be honest, I think that there is a bit of a double use of ‘mixing’ in 10a, a ? at the end of 23a would have fixed that and the ‘downstream’ for me works as a lift and separate where P. and INCH go down and then BECK as well as making the surface reading better.  I probably liked the clue more for the memory of the horse that I once part-owned.

    As I mentioned in my preface, it wasn’t one of my favourite Crux puzzles either – but as it turns out, for different clues.  Hope that you get to enjoy today’s offering better!

16. For what it’s worth, I agree with Sil about 23a. It is simply wrong. The Czech Republic refers to the republic of the Czechs in much the same way as we talk of the British Isles. Nobody would say that ‘British’ is the name of the isles.

17. I’m not sure I was harsh on Crux as I made clear that, on the whole, I enjoyed the puzzle.

    Apart from what I still think is wrong (23ac), I only put question marks to a couple of clues and that was because I didn’t see how they should be parsed.

    Actually, I still do not see how 10ac works (and to a lesser extent 14d).

    I’d hoped that the blog would make things clear but, unfortunately, it didn’t. Therefore I think, my question marks are fully legitimate. At least, Bruce @15 (thanks for that) tried to find an explanation, although I am not convinced yet.

    I fully appreciate that a solver’s main objective is to fill the grid, rather than thinking too deeply about it all. However, clues should be fair and correct. In that sense I do not make any difference between a daily crossword and a prize puzzle.

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