Financial Times 16,481 by JULIUS

16 comments on “Financial Times 16,481 by JULIUS”

1. 22ac Mel Blanc stumped me — but not a very demanding clue if you know the answer. But apart from that thanks, Julius — your usual fun run. And thanks too to PD

2. Another great crossword from Julius – My top favourite was 22a – although the surface reading of the clue doesn’t sound very appetising.   I should have got 10a earlier than I did but ‘holy city’ isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when I think of somewhere I haven’t been anywhere near since January 🙁

   Thanks very much indeed to Julius and PeeDee

3. A minor typo in explanation for 25A.
   Should be A-bomb not H-bomb

4. Great crossword indeed and I agree with crypticsue’s favourite.

   I also thought the clue for THABO MBEKI was very clever and I smiled at the gregarious Vince and drunk Arthur.

   Many thanks to Julius and PeeDee.

5. Most of this puzzle went in straightforwardly and I enjoyed it a lot, with TIRAMISU being my absolute favourite – also true in real life! But I can’t say I was entirely happy with the indirect hidden answer fodder for ARIA, which was the only clue I struggled to parse. I just feel it was more similar to indirect anagramming than to basic subtraction instructions like, say, “Robin’s girl undressed”.

   Thanks to all.

6. Another great crossword from Julius.

   Unlike crypicsue and Eileen, 22a was my least favourite. Got it straight away but feel the definition is somewhat loose.

   Didn’t know the bloke at 25a or the runny cheese at 4d but they were both my first guess from the anagram fodder, so all goog.

   My favourites were TIRAMISU & TARMAC.

   For our younger solvers, CHILL OUT is an old term for CHILLAX 🙂

   Thanks to Julius and PeeDee.

7. A pleasant solve with a few gastronomic references to whet the appetite for dinner. All went in without too much trouble, with wordplay or def helping out for the couple I’d never heard of – RACLETTE and the GRU bit of GURU. I’m in the “like” camp for MEL BLANC and I also enjoyed the CUBAN HEEL and BARISTA cryptic defs.

   I don’t know if it was ever used by P. G. Wodehouse, but CLUBBABLE brings to mind Bertie Wooster at the Drones. Now there’s something very contemporary for our younger solvers.

   Thanks to PeeDee and Julius

    

8. Thanks to Julius and PeeDee. I did not know CAMRA so did not parse TARMAC and had to look up CUBAN HEEL but did know MEL BLANC.

9. Needed help with 25a, and also to check GRU. CLUBBABLE looked strange to me, too many B’s, but it appears to be ok.

10. Thanks Julius for an enjoyable crossword. I hadn’t heard of THABO MBEKI but I solved the clue from the parsing — I love when that happens. On the other hand, I hadn’t heard of CUBAN HEEL and I failed that one. I only guessed at ARIA so thanks PeeDee for parsing. Liked the surfaces for VAIN and AUGUST; also pleased to learn a new word, CLUBBABLE.

11. surprised at raclette apparently being obscure – i cheated, having lived in Switzerland for 7 years. Solved in my garden on a lovely warm day, and the subliminal (well, cryptic anyway) advertising at 5d worked. Thank god the puzzle wasn’t full of Loire whites.

    I saw a lovely 40th anniversary picture of 1a just recently, but on googling that was 2016?

    many thanks Julius and PeeDee

12. A pleasant solve on a pleasant afternoon in the garden.  We liked the contrast between the calamari in the clue and the ice cream in the answer in 5dn, but our favourites were TIRAMISU and TARMAC.

    Thanks, Julius and PeeDee.

13. Thanks, Julius and PeeDee. Enjoyable and finished without too much difficulty. Loved MEL BLANC.

    CLUBBABLE was used by C.S. Lewis in The Four Loves to describe the friendship enjoyed by him, Tolkien and their Oxford pals.

14. Missed Cuban Heel but otherwise all fell in place reasonably painlessly. Annoying because I suspected “last” might have been pointed towards shoe, but I just had cabin locked in my head. Hmmm.

15. That was easy!

    But very nice.

    I am with Hovis @6 re MEL BLANC (22ac). Not only didn’t I know him but, in hindsight, the definition seemed somewhat incomplete.

    However, I had no trouble finding the answer as it was not very well hidden in the clue.

    The only other one that I found so-so was 1ac.  Not cryptic enough (if at all).

    But, apart from those two, really enjoyable stuff.

    Especially 7ac (CUBE) and 21d (TARMAC) were quite neat.

    Many thanks to PeeDee for the blog & Julius for the fun.

    Let’s see what tomorrow brings …..  🙂

     

16. Thanks Julius and PeeDee

    Did finish this one yesterday but only getting around to checking it off tonight.  Found it a little bit easier than his normal fare, but not much with a few new terms to come to grips with – CLUBBABLE, CUBAN HEEL, CAMRA, GRU and RACLETTE.

    Really liked the clever CUBE and BARISTA.  Also enjoyed untangling the word play of THABO MBEKI and UPSWING.

    Finished in the NE corner with that BARISTA, LOUDNESS and the CUBAN HEEL (with some French political knowledge required to get the convoluted definition).

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