Financial Times 16,756 by Mudd

16 comments on “Financial Times 16,756 by Mudd”

1. This was not my favourite puzzle.

   I started OK on the left / western side, but the eastern side had too many obscure clues (with some that were wrong) for my taste. GAGSTER was the first solve on the right, which enabled me to reverse engineer the other clues in the SE corner.

   It then stopped being enjoyable and started feeling like a waste of time, as I struggled through the NE corner. I eventually put it down with HERE and OP ART unsolved. I am sure I could have got them eventually, but I had lost the will to continue.

   Thanks Pete for the explanations, and thanks Mudd

2. I too failed in the NE corner though OP ART and DEFLATED now look straightforward. Thought of BREATH and BANDIT but they did not go in as I couldn’t parse them. HERE defeated me. Thought Jersey cows were milkers not beef?? Apart from that I could’t see any clue I wold describe as wrong.

3. Malcolm, I had that same thought about Jersey cows.

4. All went in reasonably smoothly for me, though I didn’t make the effort to parse GAGSTER, so thanks to Pete for that. A good puzzle – and I had no problem with beef – one of the meanings in the OED is “any animal of the ox kind”. I particularly like 1a, too.

5. Perplexus, Thank you for commenting.

6. Another amusing Mudd crossword, probably our most prolific setter. He had a hand in curating last Sunday’s NY Times cryptic using clues from his zoom sessions. It was a nicely done puzzle but I’m sure a write-in for his usual solvers.
   I liked CASTLE, NOVICE, SUNDRIES, EVEREST, and WINDSOR. I think “Cricket” as an animal is a stretch but I guess in the animal-vegetable-mineral classification it’s OK. Thanks Pete for the blog.

7. Thanks for the blog, a lot of nice clues here’
   Jersey cows actually produce the richest milk of all, gold top from an old fashioned milkman, as mentioned they could be used for beef but not actually bred for it.
   A cricket is a member of animalia , a big one, one of only five kingdoms for all known life.

8. Like others this took me a while to get into but, once one the way, things fell into place. I did look sideways at a few of the definitions and they have already been mentioned. I didn’t help myself by tossing in BAY WINDOW as dogs bay. Got it sorted later. All good fun in the end. Thanks Mudd and Pete.
   As an aside 19a is a three hour ferry ride from me, so I was surprised to see that clue.

9. Thanks, Mudd and Pete. I didn’t finish this – didn’t get GAGSTER or CRICKET BAT or TWIG. All very logical when explained, but I agree with Martyn@1, not my favorite. Some very clever clues, however; loved HANDSOME, WINDSOR and OP ART!

10. Why is shower a horrible lot?

11. Apparently it’s a Britishism, I find. (I’m down under.)

12. Why is man castle?

13. Because chess. The use of ‘man’ to refer to a chess piece is common in British cryptics.

14. Ah yes! Thanks, Pete.

15. 10a made me consider ‘beefcake’ and ‘cheesecake’ as two related words which tend not to be in common usage now. My favourite was 5d, but I couldn’t parse 7d either so thanks Pete for the explanation.

16. Thanks Mudd and Pete
    My original thinking of this puzzle was in the negative as well. It took much longer in elapsed time (number of sittings) and actual hours to get it completed. Was a little miffed with myself for not getting AXEL as my last one in, instead going for a weak cryptic definition with ABED. Still think that there were some issues with a couple of the clues – would guess that 99/100 people would associate Jersey cows with milk rather than beef and the sounding of GANGSTER with a cold for GAGSTER left me cold when I read it here without understanding it beforehand. Thought that the TURKEY clue sounded very familiar when I came across it in a later puzzle.
    Conversely, there were a lot of really neat clues including the clever AXEL, OP ART and TWIG.

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