Financial Times 16,889 by SLORMGORM

20 comments on “Financial Times 16,889 by SLORMGORM”

1. 

   Diane

   #1 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 04:28

   
   

   I agree, Teacow, that there are some wonderful surfaces in this week’s opener from Slormgorm, not least 14; 7 and 12 were also good. The perimeter clues were all fine and I had ticks for 3, 15 and 19 besides. This all clicked neatly and rapidly but very satisfying all the same.
   Thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow, particularly for parsing the ‘ran’ part of 23 and ‘singer’ part of 25 (which elicited a puerile giggle).

2. 

   Roz

   #2 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 05:23

   
   

   Thanks for the blog, total agreement with you and Diane, this was a very fine puzzle.
   I call them CURLING TONGS but Cambers does give the IRONS alternative.
   I actually think the setter was quite restrained in the clue for TITANIC.

3. 

   Diane

   #3 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 05:49

   
   

   Yes, Roz, curling tongs for me too (irons sound like a more archaic and hair-frazzling tool – definitely not a snazzy Dyson appliance).

4. 

   ub

   #4 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 05:50

   
   

   I did not know ‘curling irons’ could be a singular appliance, but there it is in Collins as another term for ‘curling tongs’. Other dictionaries have it as curling iron, so it’s a toss-up. Though it has probably been used before, I enjoyed ‘out of habit’ = naked. It was my last one in and took me a few minutes to parse. Thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow.

5. 

   Diane

   #5 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 07:06

   
   

   Ub@4
   Like a pair of trousers with 2 legs, curling irons/tongs are a wand with 2 blades or heated “jaws”.

6. 

   SM

   #6 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 07:23

   
   

   Excellent puzzle and blog which increased my general knowledge with Barnet Fair and curling irons both hitherto unknown. I always thought a Barnet was a particular hair style.Unlikely to try either style or irons.

7. 

   copmus

   #7 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 11:23

   
   

   Third symphony becomes naughty after having a drop of tea (7)

8. 

   Perplexus

   #8 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 12:10

   
   

   Slormgorm reliably diverting as usual. Very satisfying puzzle with good variety and one or two slightly wacky clues. AMonday treat.

9. 

   Roz

   #9 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 12:44

   
   

   ( Yes Diane@3 basically just two hot pieces of metal , how foolish we were, perms as well. I wonder if tongs are more sophisticated these days. ]

10. 

    WordPlodder

    #10 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 12:55

    
    

    I wasn’t too keen on SATEDNESS as a word, but the rest was good, including the expected slightly naughty clues from Slormgorm. One day I’ll remember how to spell TBILISI (and parse today’s clue) but I’m not quite there yet.

    Thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow

11. 

    ACD

    #11 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 13:16

    
    

    Thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow. I too have trouble spelling TBILISI and did not know the Barnet-hair connection, but I much enjoyed this puzzle,

12. 

    Diane

    #12 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 13:37

    
    

    [Ah yes, Roz @9, those ghastly perms. Think tongs probably are better these days but give me ‘poker-straight’ over red hot pokers any day of the week! Though now straightening methods wreak their own brand of havoc – foolish indeed!]

13. 

    EdK@USA

    #13 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 14:00

    
    

    I thoroughly enjoyed today’s puzzle. My favorite was 11a, with its cleverly misleading use of “fat cat”.
    As an American, I tried hard not to take offense (or offence) at the surface of 22d. 🙂 But we do say “curling irons” rather than “curling tongs”. I got the answer without knowing the “Barnet” rhyming slang, so I appreciate the blog’s explanation.
    According to some of the dictionaries I checked, “impassionate” can be its own antonym, just as “cleave” can be. I.e., it can mean either “impassioned” or “not passionate”.
    Thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow.

14. 

    Tony Santucci

    #14 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 16:37

    
    

    Thanks Slormgorm for the fun. I missed NAKED because I had “in store” instead of IN STOCK but otherwise all else seemed to slide in smoothly. Favourites included LEOPARD, IMMUNISER, and YANKS. Thanks Teacow for filling in my parsing gaps particularly in CURLING IRON. (I just assumed Barnet was a place that had a curling team.) I like learning about rhyming slang.

    [EdK@USA: The surface of 22 was greatly modified by “can be jerks;” if it read “are jerks” then I might be offended. I’ve certainly seen many Americans, a few Brits, but never a Swede deserve that description.]

15. 

    brucew@aus

    #15 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 16:43

    
    

    Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow
    Always look forward to a Slormgorm start of the week and this was no exception – not over-stretching but with enough grist to give a decent workout to get to the end. 16a was pertinent, having finally received my first shot of the Covid vax last Friday.
    Didn’t properly parse the DIGITAL WATCH and all of the bits of the CURLING IRONS clue made it my favourite. Ended up using a word finder to get TBILISI – just couldn’t get TRIPOLI out of my head, even with the second I firmly entrenched. It was the penultimate entry with the clunky SATEDNESS the last one in.
    [Aha, copmus@7, had to look up EROICA to pick up Herr Beethoven’s third]

16. 

    Slormgorm

    #16 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 20:47

    
    

    Many thanks to Teacow for the usual great blog and to all who solved and commented.

    Hope to see everyone again next time around, but until then its chin chin and cheers from me. 🙂

17. 

    Teacow

    #17 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 21:49

    
    

    As always, Slormgorm @16, thankyou for the kind words and great puzzle.

18. 

    jeff@usa

    #18 - Mon 13th Sep 21, 23:00

    
    

    Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow. Also a few new references for me like the Ned and Barnet, but I got everything even when I couldn’t parse all. IN STOCK was my last one, because like Tony@14 I thought “in store” until getting 13a where AK made the answer evident. Liked the double def of ORDERLY.

19. 

    Gazzh

    #19 - Tue 14th Sep 21, 08:07

    
    

    Thank you Teacow especially for explaining SATEDNESS, my LOI as it took a while to land on the exact definition and then take the plunge with a plausible but unfamiliar word unparsed. Lots to enjoy here, thanks Slormgorm.

20. 

    Cellomaniac

    #20 - Wed 15th Sep 21, 20:42

    
    

    Re CURLING IRONS – Scottish soldiers posted to Canada in the 19th century wanted to curl on the frozen rivers but had no stones, so they melted down some cannonballs and used them. They were called curling irons. My curling club and others in eastern Canada still used irons into the 1950s.

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