Financial Times 17,316 by ZAMORCA

25 comments on “Financial Times 17,316 by ZAMORCA”

1. It was only towards the end of this solve – when I got stuck in the NE corner – that I remembered Zamorca’s predilection for pangrams. Finding the ‘z’ in GAUZE and finally realizing the role of ‘genetic’ in 1a (where I’d persisted with DNA), helped complete this enjoyable puzzle.
   Thanks to Zamorca and
   Turbolegs.

2. Not sure about 18a, Turbolegs; I’m afraid I went on definition alone for that.
   Meant to say how much I liked ‘back-stabber’ in 26a.

3. I’ve seen half-cut to mean drunk, which could be an anagram indicator but never seen “cut” to have this meaning. For WELCOMED, I had CO for commanding officer and WELD for bond. Good crossword, I thought.

4. Parsed WELCOMED as Hovis did (Nothing new?). 🙂

   Looks like ‘cut’ has to be added to the ever-growing list of anagrinds, notwithstanding GDU’s protest (anticipated).

5. Nice to know I’m missed, KVa. But Picaroon’s in the Guardian today took me so long I’ve hardly begun this one. But if it will make you happy, yes, “cut” is a rather unusual anagrind.

6. LOL.
   Someone may come up with a better explanation for LEASE in EASY TO PLEASE. In that case, this idea (cut as an anagrind) might be saved for future use by some setters.

7. Sorry, can’t help with EASY TO PLEASE – I just lazily bunged it in and moved on. I thought DNA was going to be involved in 1a too, but once I saw the anagram I suspected we were on track for Zamorca’s usual pangram. I remember having seen PUS for ‘matter’ at least once before; a bit yucky in association with a PUSHCHAIR but a good clue.

   Thanks to Zamorca and Turbolegs

8. Quite a quickie after Picaroon’s, but good fun, and no pesky obscurities. When I think of “irk” I think more of peeve or irritate, but provoke is in the thesaurus, so I don’t have a leg to stand on. 🙂

   Thanks, Zamorca & Turbolegs.

9. Me @1
   It was the NW corner which gave me pause.

10. Lots to like here.
    Inventive cluing, nice surfaces, clever long anagrams.
    Liked QUIRKY, DROWSY, SYMMETRY and especially PUSHCHAIR.
    I have no problem accepting “cut” as an anagram indicator.
    That’s exactly what an anagram involves: cutting it up and rearranging it.
    The problem is that “cut” usually indicates a word with its tail removed.
    Thanks Z & T

11. Diane@1 and 9.
    Crosswords can be strange. I finished the NW corner first although the rest was not too difficult either. I agree with you about ‘back-stabber’
    A most enjoyable puzzle so thanks all round.

12. Thanks, Zamorca & Turbolegs.

    For 18a, I took “cut” as the anagram indicator, with half an eyebrow raised, but didn’t dwell on it. FrankieG’s take on it works for me.

    I also liked the “back-stabber” (spent too long trying to work out how BRUTUS would fit) and thought the clue for GAUZE was particularly nice.

13. Thanks Zamorca and Turbolegs

    18ac: I am sure that I have seen “cut” before as an anagram indicator, and it works for me in the sense of “drunken” or “intoxicated”. The reason I find FrankieG’s explanation @10 less convincing is that the anagram is the rearranging not the cutting.

14. “cut” is given in the list of anagram indicators in Chambers Crossword Dictionary.

15. Rudolf – being included in a list isn’t sufficient justification (appeal to authority).

    Another sense in which it might work is:
    Formed, shaped, fashioned, or made by cutting; having the surface shaped or ornamented by grinding and polishing, as cut glass
    (From the OED)

16. Widdersbel@15 I do agree with what you say about the fact that inclusion in a list of anagram indicators is insufficient justification.

    The point I had intended to make was just that there is nothing new about the use of “cut” as an anagram indicator – the Chambers XWD Dictionary has been around for over 20 years (the edition I have is from 2006), and the fact that it appears in the list given there is indicative of precedence.

    As far as justification for such use is concerned, I am struggling to find anything in the meanings given by Chambers Dictionary (which is, I believe, the FT’s dictionary of choice) which is of help. A possibility is “adulterate”, but that means to debase by mixing with something else. Collins has “to edit”, but in relation only to films. Neither of these dictionaries has “intoxicated” in the list of meanings.

17. There’s our problem: Chambers probably have sound reasons for all the words they include in their lists but we don’t know what they are.

    But the aforementioned OED cut glass definition works for me (I think that’s the kind of thing FrankieG was getting at earlier too).

18. 18ac continued: It never occurred to me to look up “cut” for the slang meaning “drunken”. Following Rudolf@16, I looked it up in Chambers 2014, and was surprised to find that it was not there. I found it in section 101.3 in my copy of The Slang Thesaurus by Jonathon Green. That volume is dated 1986: given that I have been teetotal since 1981, it is perhaps reasonable that my knowledge of the slang vocabulary of drunkenness is a bit behind the times.

    It has long been my view that if a definition is given in any recent edition of Chambers, Collins, or the OED, setters are entitled to regard it as valid. When Chambers 2011 included a section entitled A Wordgame Companion, including a list of anagram indicators going on to eight pages, I gave the view that the same principle could perhaps be extended to that list. I have no quarrel with anyone whose opinions differ from mine: I have every possible quarrel with anyone who states an opinion as if it were a fact.

    16dn: While I am back in, can I add my support to the parsing [CO + ME] in WELD. I am a good deal more confident about this one than I am about the justification for “cut” as an anagram indicator.

19. It’s odd. My online Chambers has half-cut as drunk, but not fully cut, as it were.

20. Thanks Zamorca, I always enjoy your crosswords even when I fail with several clues — BRIGHT SPARKS, QUIRKY, and TEA-URNS for example. I liked many of the surface readings including INSINCERE, TOP-SECRET, and NEARS. Other favourites were DROWSY (“Et tu Brute” held me up), SYMMETRY, and WELCOMED. I don’t think of “cut” as an anagrind but as long as we’re speculating “cut” and “ripped” are synonyms when describing certain male physiques; “ripped” certain qualifies. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.

21. Not quite there today. We got stuck in the SE corner (oddly enough we got stuck there in Phi’s Indy offering today) and ended up with an unparsed QUEASY crossing with TEA BAGS and a superfluous homophone indicator. D’oh! Otherwise a pleasant and fairly quick solve helped – this being by Zamorca – by looking for a pangram.
    Thanks, Zamorca and Turbolegs.

22. Whenever I encounter “It’s in Chambers, so it’s OK” I’m reminded of all those silly “words” that professional Scrabble players use in their parallel universe.

23. An interesting response to the origin of the phrase half cut appears here….
    Can’t vouch for it’s accuracy

24. That comment was half cut….

25. https://www.quora.com/Where-does-the-phrase-half-cut-meaning-drunk-come-from/answer/Speedwell-Colliberry?ch=15&oid=380470568&share=6f41ca06&srid=urnDis&target_type=answer

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