Financial Times 16,221 by GOZO

10 comments on “Financial Times 16,221 by GOZO”

1. I make it triple pangram; I started counting when I saw all those Zs. Impressive! Good puzzle anyway. Thanks to both.

2. As is often the case for me with a Gozo, there is a lot of knowledge needed that is way outside my limited field.

   Had to come here for 3d and took a guess at PARKWAYS. Never heard of: ULEX, PULEX, SZCZECIN, HEWLETT JOHNSON, BARMOUTH, MURRUMBIDGEE, WAGGA WAGGA, NEVE – Sheesh!

   For TROJAN, the TRO is almost certainly TRO(upe). I took OXON to be OX + ON (Bull working). I doubt that “evenly” is doing double duty in 27d and parsed as even letters of iNtErViEw or EVEN<

   Thanks to Gozo and PeeDee.

3. Grant @2 – thanks pointing that out and my apologies to Gozo for understating this impressive grid fill!

   Hovis @2 – I don’t see any problem with EVENLY doing “double-duty” in that neve is also found reversed inside it.  If the clue relied solely on this then you might cal it a weak clue, but this is a bonus.  It is an extra way of getting NEVE out of an otherwise standard clue.

4. I did notice the amazing triple pangram which as this was quite tricky in places did help with a couple of the clues

   Thanks to Gozo and PeeDee

5. Yes, the triple pangram was great. Looking it up, I see Gozo has a history of this, most recently in April of last year. Spotting the triple pangram helped to confirm a few I was unsure about, including the unknowns ULEX and NEVE. I’d also never heard of the RED DEAN or the (presumably unpronounceable) ‘Polish city’.

   Much as I loved this, there is unfortunately one boo-boo. WAGGA WAGGA is correctly pronounced as though it were spelt as ‘Wogger Wogger’, not ‘Wagger Wagger’ and for the clue to work, it would have to be the second, incorrect pronunciation indicating ‘Two happy dogs’. By a coincidence, there’s also another clue with incorrect Australian pronunciation elsewhere today. I hope the pangram number isn’t a sign that this is to happen again!

   Thanks to Gozo and PeeDee

6. Thanks PeeDee (as ever) but the parsing of 19dn should be slightly tweaked. The third and fourth letters are not coming from CzechoslovakiA.

   CZ is the IVR of the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, Gozo uses the obsolete Czechoslovakia which – as far as I know – had CS as it abbreviation.

   Nonetheless, an enjoyable puzzle.

7. I was in 19 once. And 14 where their vowel sounds at the pub are such that the clue is fine

   Enough of that -in need of some zz’s myself

   Thanks Gozo and PeeDee

8. Interestingly, FOI KENYAN. LOI ULEX which l thought was(c)ULEX but that’s a mosquito.

9. Thanks PeeDee for pointing out the triple pangram. I was mildly annoyed at the number of odd/arcane answers which prevented my completion of this crossword but now I’m in awe of Gozo’s work.

10. Thanks Gozo and PeeDee
    Only missed by 8 letters (by my count) from making it a quadruple pangram – and really not too many crazily uncommon words. A great effort !
    Wordplodder is absolutely correct on his pronunciation of the NSW city – it is an aboriginal word meaning ‘crows’ … assuming that there mustve been a proliferation of them there once (maybe still is).
    The Welsh town, Polish city (looks very pretty from the photos in Wiki), the leftist dean, the French madman and the flea genus were my new learnings. OXON was my first one in, so my English geography has improved. The second meaning of PARKWAYS was also new.
    Enjoyed it a lot and managed to finish it (with help) inside the hour.

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