Financial Times 16,923 by BRADMAN

12 comments on “Financial Times 16,923 by BRADMAN”

1. An agreeable Friday interlude just needing to look again at 22a’s ‘sugary’ substance once 20s ‘senior’ was entered.
   I parsed 1a as did Turbolegs but had TACIT for a while until 6a came along.
   I liked 5d, 7d and 26a best.
   Thanks to Bradman and Turbolegs for the blog.

2. A nice little time occupier for a cool afternoon. Thanks Bradman.
   I don’t really get the wordplay for 14d. The definition is fine but I am not sure how Bradman being helpful equates with Friday, or do we only get Bradman on Fridays. What have I missed?
   Thanks for the blog Turbolegs.

3. The clue structure at 16d raised an eyebrow and I didn’t know where the extra ‘i’ in the anagram fodder for 1a had disappeared to either. Your explanation makes sense but I’m still not sure I approve. Must be because I’m a PRECISIAN, even if I’d never heard of the term before today.

   Apart from this, the only bit I couldn’t parse was the ‘police activity with street sealed off’ part of the wordplay for 17d. I thought the ‘Bradman now and then’ at 14d, just indicated that Bradman is usually the Friday FT setter, but maybe there’s more to it as Mystogre @2 suggests. The CREDIT &lit was my favourite.

   Thanks to Turbolegs and Bradman.

4. Then….anything to do with Don Bradman (then?)? Was he somewhat helpful to the bowlers on Fridays? 🙂

5. Thanks for the blog, very agreeable as Diane says @1.
   1Ac I suspect just a slight edit to IS has spoiled the anagram ??
   14D as above I think Bradman in the FT is always a Friday ? Turbolegs would know for sure.
   I thought BIZARRE was very neat, also PRECISIAN with the added bonus of learning a new word.

6. Ah yes, Roz, I think you may be right there as I can’t think why else it was not simply ‘coin’s’ in 1a.

7. And there’s a typo in the clue for 21a. FT, yet again, showing poor quality control I fear.

8. Thanks Bradman and Turbolegs
   1ac: This reminds me of something that happened to Neo recently. In line with the suggestion by Roz@5, I wonder if this has been subedited by someone who does not understand crosswords.
   14dn: As others have done, I took this as a reference to Bradman normally appearing on Friday. I cannot remember any puzzle of his in the FT on any other day of the week. Kurukveera: The setter’s real name is Don Manley. He uses various pseudonyms of famous Dons, including Quixote and Pasquale.

9. Looking at history on this website, it looks like Bradman is the setter of the FT puzzle almost every third Friday in the past few months, at least.

10. I struggled to parse MAN FRIDAY too. “I am a helpful sort” is clearly the definition, referring to Robinson Crusoe’s assistant. Bradman does appear regularly on Fridays, but where does the MAN fit in with the secondary indication? As it’s a down clue, could it be a cryptic indication of “the man on Friday”?

11. Thanks Bradman. Despite stumbling in the NW corner I had fun with this. Favourites were KENYAN, MAN FRIDAY, TOWN HOUSE, and OLDSTER for its melancholic surface. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.

12. Thanks Bradman and Turbolegs
    Took a couple of sittings to get this one out on another busy week (second last of this contract before starting another in November).
    Started off well enough, immediately seeing the hidden HERMES but then slowly but surely had to piece the rest of them out, having to look up a few to verify them – PRECISIAN, BRADFORD and Sam WELLER. Actually liked MAN FRIDAY a lot after finally remembering that he only appears on a Friday, now and again. It is the closest I have seen him have a mini-theme with the servants / assistants at 11a, 13a, 27a, 3d and the word play of 14d.
    Finished in the NW corner with CARTAGE, INTERESTS and CREDIT the last few in, even though they weren’t all that difficult in hindsight.

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