Financial Times 17,585 by MOO

20 comments on “Financial Times 17,585 by MOO”

1. Didn’t know English National Opera, so didn’t get ENOUGH. I thought 4a might be GRUESOME, but thought “Surely not?” Not a great clue, methinks. Ignorance of Cicero meant I failed to get ROMANTIC. I’ve never heard of TEA LEAF for thief, and was surprised to read in Collins that it’s British and Australian.

   I’ve never been a big fan of “up” as an anagrind (2d).

   Despite all this, mostly enjoyable, thanks Moo & Teacow.

2. Re 21A: how long has “brother” had the same meaning as “colleague? Have these setters been watching too many American TV shows?

   This is just after “Black Friday” has invaded Australia. This is an American custom that has something to do with their “Independence Day”, so why has it suddenly become an issue in Australia? Has it also invaded the British culture? Just like “trick and treat”. McDonalds has a lot to answer for.

   26D: Wow, let’s just wait for Pamela’s comment on this one! She loves sexual inuendo. She would also appreciate the answer defined as “1,3”.

3. I found this one of the better puzzles and greatly enjoyed it. The clues were a good mixture of tricky and easy ones. MEWS raised a smile and the reverse hidden MAESTRO was clever.

   Only gripe is perhaps it is time to have a pause for any clues where the answer is ETON?

   Thanks to Moo for a fun puzzle and Teacow for the clear blog. FLOREAT.

4. Enjoyed this one and sped through most of it, but then got a bit stuck with Tea Leaf, Unpaid and Billposter, before they finally fell.

   We had widgeon yesterday and pintail today, so it’s nice to see the ducks making an appearance

   Favourites included maestro and wrongdoing.

   @2 Peter – “brother” is a long-standing expression to describe a trade union work colleague.

   Thanks to Moo and Teacow

5. Hi Peter, thanks for the call-out. By the way there are two “n”s in “innuendo” – all things are better in twos!

   I did love 26A. I have two!

6. Thanks Moo and Teacow

   21ac: I am not a fan of “offers no resistance” as an indicator for removing just one of the two Rs in BROTHER. Thank Moly@4 for clarifying that the definition given is a long established meaning of brother.

   15dn: In my view, the second part is a whimsical definition of a BILL POSTER (two words) and is technically wordplay.

   26dn: The first part of this clue defines A TIT and the second part defines AT IT. As with 15dn, whichever of these does not match the enumeration given is really wordplay. Incidentally, Pamela, there are three Ns in innuendo.

7. An enjoyable puzzle from Moo with WRONGDOING, PINTAIL and PRESERVE among my favourites.
   I relied on the crossers to confirm GRUESOME as the surface was a little vague, I felt, so I can sympathize with GDU’s comment @1.
   Thanks to Moo and Teacow (always like seeing those names together) for the blog, especially the parsing for 8d.

8. I agree with SM@2 – good puzzle with variety of clues and variety of difficulty. I even did not mind GRUESOME. My favourites were WRONGDOING and AFT (took me for ever to parse the latter).

   GDU, I fear you have interpreted Black Friday wrongly, or you are joking and I missed it. As I understand it, its objective and name are entirely related to retailer profitability.

   Thanks Moo and Teacow

9. Black Friday is the day after American thanksgiving, which is fixed as the fourth Thursday in November, and supposedly is the day that retailers start to show a profit on the year i.e. move into the black.
   Thanks to Moo for the puzzle, caused the little grey cells to do some work, and thanks also to Teacow for a very well done blog.

10. A nice way to start the FT week with WRONGDOING, ROMANTIC, EMENDATION and PRESERVE my big ticks. I’d agree with PB @6 that BILL POSTER should probably be two words. And I share the view that the deletion indicator for BOTHER does not work for the removal of a single R from the fodder. By explicitly stating ‘offers no resistance’, I fear Moo has backed themselves into a corner on that one.

    GDU @1: I know folk have their pet (and pet hate) indicators and ‘up’ does tend to be one that splits the house. I have always defended it on the basis that ‘what’s up with him?’, ‘something’s up’ etc all imply a state in which all is not as it should be. And it can fit very naturally into some surfaces. I certainly use it occasionally myself. One of the best arguments against it came from another setter who observed that, with 1,000 odd anagrinds to play with, it seemed a shame to fall back on ‘up’.

    Thanks Moo and Teacow

11. Thanks for the blog, I found this pretty good overall , a lot of concise and neat clues.
    BILLPOSTER I thought the point made was that the wordplay gave two words which is fine, the definition is one word in Chambers.
    BOTHER- offers no resistance at first – would be better.

    Black Friday arrived in the UK quite a few years ago and caused a frenzy for a while. Now seems to be dying out, most people seem to have realised that many “sale” prices are higher than on other normal days.

12. Thanks Moo for a well-crafted crossword. My top picks were WRONGDOING, UNPAID, ROMANTIC, MANIACAL, GRAPPA, and AFT. I used a word finder for GRUESOME and I couldn’t parse ENOUGH. Regarding “up” as an anagram indicator, I see it like “high” or “ecstatic”. BTW, I know the Guardian reserves Monday for an easier crossword; does the FT follow that convention? It seems to me that the level of challenge is more random in this paper. Thanks Teacow for the blog.

13. Following Roz@11, I would like to clarify that my remarks about 15dn (BILLPOSTER) were simply about how to classify the clue. I have no problem about its soundness. Actually, I was surprised to billposter as a single word in Collins 2023. Had the enumeration been (4, 6) I would have taken it as a clue type that is often very effective for a phrase, namely to define the meaning by which the phrase gets into the dictionary (usually figurative) and then the literal meaning putting the individual words together.

    While I am back in, “up” is not given in the eight page list of anagram indicators in the Wordgame Companion in Chambers 2011 that interrupts the entry for the headword maiden. I remember Azed commenting in one of his slips that he had been invited to supply that list, but had declined to do so, because he did not want to convey the impression that there was a specific list that setters should stick to. Chambers 2011 and 2016 both give us “in revolt” and “amiss” among the meanings of up adv: I think either of those justifies its use as an anagram lead.

    Incidentally, it took me far longer than it should have done to realise that the apocryphal child’s question “what did you bring the book I don’t want to be read to out of up for?” does not end with five prepositions, only with one: “up” is definitely an adverb in that sentence.

14. … surprised to see billposter …

15. I remember a sign attached to the main window of an empty shop which warned “Bill Stickers will be prosecuted”…..

    ….underneath which someone had scrawled “Bill stickers is innocent”

    This is why I thought his mate, Bill Posters was two words……

16. Moly @15: followed by “Free Bill Stickers”, to which was then added “With Every Four Gallons”, for those old enough to remember free gifts with petrol.

17. 4a GRUESOME has appeared before with a similar definition, but not often, so I still get a kick out of it.

    I had trouble with 11a MAESTRO until the containment penny dropped. Assuming the definition would be at the beginning or end, I looked for an answer meaning “report”. This is not a complaint – the clue is fine and I liked it.

    Re “up” and other unusual anagrinds, I treat almost any word as a possible anagrind. If the clue suggests an anagram (e.g., from enumeration, unusual words, definition, etc.) I look for it, and if I’m right I then try to identify the unusual anagrind. It’s a fun exercise to ascribe tangential meanings to words that don’t cry out “here’s an anagram”.

    Thanks, Moo for keeping me up on my toes, and Teacow for the pointedly good blog.

18. Since when is “up” an anagram indicator (2D)?

19. Pelham @13: The full question, with the child presented with a book on the land of Geoff @1, is “What did you bring the book I don’t want to be read to out of about down under up for “

20. George@19: Thanks for that: I had forgotten the extended version. Of course it does not affect my argument that there is only one preposition at the end of the sentence, as the penultimate word is still the adverb up. Clearly about is a preposition in the longer version, but in my view down is definitely an adverb, and I would say the same for under.

Comments are closed.