Financial Times 16,914 by JASON

19 comments on “Financial Times 16,914 by JASON”

1. Saw the name of today’s setter and expected a challenge – and a fun one it was too. Had to keep chipping away throughout the day but got there in the end though was uncertain of TROPPO until checking online.
   I loved 9a for its conjuring of Bond villain, Oddjob. 1a,1d and 27 all deserved ticks. I was puzzled over 15a’s definition. As Grant says, ‘farmer’ is not gender-specific but aside from that, ‘a female with a new mare’ is not necessarily a farmer; could be a trainer, breeder, vet…
   And are ‘excellent’ and ‘elegant’ synonymous? An elegant dress or wine may well be excellent but an excellent set of exam results? Just wondering.
   In any case, it was very enjoyable, so thanks to Grant and Jason.

2. Oops, I meant could exam results be ‘elegant’?

3. This was indeed a hard one which I dnf. There were some excellent clues. 18 dn was very neat although I had to confirm the Australian meaning of TROPPO. I have no better suggestions for 15ac .But well done Grant Baynham for a great blog and JASON for the challenge.

4. To Diane @1:
   Re excellent/elegant..

   I don’t think they have to be synonymous, just ‘meaning the same on occasion’ and my nephew’s recent A* A* A* exam result looks pretty elegant to me.

   As to FARMER, I have the same reservations as thee. Are we missing something?

5. Diane, I don’t understand your reference to a “Bond villain”. I parsed this as “This’ll top a bloke” = headwear = hat. “Bloke” (doing double duty) = Chap. “Perrier” (in French) giving “eau” (as in water). This is pretty much as Grant solved it. How did James Bond enter the equation? Disclaimer: I have never seen a James Bond movie so I may be missing something here, but I believe that the solution can be explained without any reference to a spy movie.

   I also share your concerns about the vagueness of 15A.

6. Peter@5,
   I parsed CHAPEAU exactly as you and Grant did, ie, ‘top’ off an outfit with a hat. However, it amused me to think of the Japanese Bond villain who used his hat to decapitate (and hence ‘top’ a bloke!)

7. Grant @4
   Yes, there’s a certain elegance to those results! Perhaps Jason will drop to enlighten us?

8. To continue the pedantic slant of yesterday: Oddjob, the villain, was from Korea. He certainly used his reinforced hat as a most effective and lethal weapon but I do not remember any decapitations.

9. [Harold Sakata, Japanese-American actor played the Korean villain in Goldfinger. Was probably allowed to stay up past my bedtime all those years ago to see it so my memory could only produce Oddjob. Did he not decapitate the odd marble sculpture? It was a throwaway comment, anyway, but trust Fifteen Squared to keep you honest!]

10. Most enjoyable and my only real holdup was working out which of the remaining letters in the anagram for 26a went where. My favourite was 9a

    Thanks to Jason and Grant

11. I finished, but only with the help of a word finder app. Australian meaning of troppo was new to me , as were the Honduran currency and the word “thalassic”. I share others’ concern about “farmer” but have no better suggestion.
    Otherwise, a challenging but fun puzzle. 9 and 25 were my favorites. Thanks to Jason and Grant.

12. Random thought triggered by the puzzle: Would Sea World draw bigger crowds if it were named Thalassic Park? (I expect to hear groans all the way from the other side of the Atlantic.)

13. Have just googled Oddjob . He did indeed use his hat( made by Locks of London) to decapitate a stone statue and killed Tilly by breaking her neck with the hat.Oddjob also hated the Japanese because of their occupation of Korea and loathed being mistaken for Japanese.
    Nice to have a digression in these trying times.

14. I only got round to this this morning with my breakfast coffee so am a bit late.
    My concerns are the same two – FARMER (doesn’t seem to have a definition) and ELEGANT, but that one has been covered. I am still unconvinced.
    Of course, at the risk of upsetting about half the population, the answer to 15a could be WARMER if the definition was taken as “female” but I am not sure exactly how it could be justified.
    Thanks to Jason and Grant.

15. Nice work, EdK. 🙂

16. Well it’s reassuring to know that others found this tricky. I finally solved most of it but I failed at TROPPO and PRIVIES. Favourite was CHAPEAU. Thanks to both.

17. I didn’t know the musical term troppo, I was wondering if troppo was some Scots (from Dundee) slang for a crocodile.

18. Pretty hard, more so than the “usual Tuesday FT, with several unparsed. Exactly the same thoughts as others about FARMER.

    Thanks to Jason for a toughie and to Grant

19. Thanks Jason and Grant
    Agree that it was a harder than usual Tuesday offering – can still remember the easier Monday puzzles that this setter originally prepared. Very enjoyable though with pauses over BEARER (until the Edward Rex penny dropped), FARMER (for the same reasons as many) and TEE OFF (put together finally from the word play and wondering how ‘wind up’ (end something) was the same as tee off (start something)).
    Obviously was aware of TROPPO and Crocodile Dundee but stumbled with the musical term.
    Finished all over the shop with that BEARER, CAREFREE and that TROPPO the last few in. A testing but really entertaining crossword.

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