Financial Times 17,713 by Leonidas

11 comments on “Financial Times 17,713 by Leonidas”

1. Good puzzle as usual from Leonidas.

   Favourites were: AGITPROP, TAOISEACH, GRAPHIC NOVEL, FANTASIA, HALF-BROTHERS

   Thanks Leonidas and Pete Maclean

2. Thanks Leonidas and Pete Maclean!
   Liked TAOISEACH, CONTOUR and SPECIE.

   OIL LAMP
   Why is the ‘reportedly’ there?

   SPECIE
   In the sense of ‘coined money’/‘money in coin’, the plural ‘pieces’ is justified, I guess.

3. Like Pete, I found this a mix of easy clues with a few difficult ones thrown in

   I like tight clues with interesting surfaces and without excessive words, and Leonidas delivered on all fronts again. Favourites are – TREE HOUSE, MANTID, the neat anagram STREAM, and the slightly ridiculous (in a good way) MOUNTIE and CONTOUR.

   I had the same question as KVa@2 – why is “reportedly” in OIL LAMP? I also had a few quibbles – firstly 1d stout and porter are different. Saying a stout is a porter is a bit like saying a pinot is a shiraz. While we are on alcohol, SAKE is not wine either. I had never heard of an ait as an island (nor, it seems, has Apple, as autocorrect keeps telling me it is a mistake). I will keep that one in mind as it seems a crosswordish word. COPPER BOTTOM meaning reliable is a new one to me. I think I can forget that one. And I do not see the use of a double definition / crypt when both halves are obscure – pull a sickie and swing the lead are both unknown to me. And who says Cain and Abel are half brothers?

   I did not mean the quibbles section to be longer than the positives. I promise I did enjoy it, as I do most Leonidas puzzles. And, as always, a great blog too

   Many thanks Leonidas and Pete

4. COPPER-BOTTOMED
   Found this punny news headline online:
   Copper-bottomed deal for investors as metal price climbs to record high

   (Background:Supply fears and soaring demand have both contributed to surging copper prices, which is also considered an indicator of overall economic health.
   euronews.business)

5. Thanks for the blog, I agree with Martyn for his second paragraph, I too am fond of brief clues.
   I also like old phrases so this puzzle really suited me. I will single out TAOISEACH , so hard to spell (or say) and the clue made the spelling very clear.
   SICKIE I think the cryptic diversion makes me think of pendulums, I still hear this said, nautical origin but the original task sounds quite difficult.
   COPPER-BOTTOMED I still hear, usually with guarantee, nautical origin again.
   OIL LAMP , 50A = L AMPERES , we all say AMPS , but officially Amperes so perhaps that is the “reportedly” . Offhand this the only SI unit I can think of with a shortened version .

6. Martyn @3 – some of the islands in the Thames are AITs, those by Shepperton and Sunbury. The one at Chiswick is now spelt Eyot, but still said “eight”. I’m sure it’s in Three Men in a Boat.

   Enjoyable crossword, thank you Leonidas and Pete Maclean.

7. Too late to add, but swinging the lead is the easy job bringing a boat in. The lead is a hollow weight you fill with tallow, on a rope with measured knots. To measure the depth the crewman swings the lead out, counts knots for the depth, checks the tallow to see mud or sand to see the bottom.

8. For 1a SICKIE I thought of a plumb bob, but with that you have to wait till the lead stops swinging.
   13a OUTDO “Excel not in DOS” reminded me of the ’80s when we had SuperCalc, WordPerfect, Harvard Graphics, and Paradox – all “ultimately scrapped”,
   when Microsoft Windows and Office eliminated all competition.
   Thanks L&P

9. No, swinging the lead is a real thing, I have visceral memories when describing it, the feel of the lead and the knots. I’ve done it when old enough to be capable but without enough strength to do anything else helpful with the boat. Not for long, my younger sisters took over as they reached that stage, and my daughter was recruited young, for the same reasons. She remembers being under 10 and learning.

   Sonar isn’t accurate enough on soft mud to give a good depth indicator, and on a falling tide going aground is definitely something to be avoided.

10. Enjoyable crossword with no real quibbles as far as we’re concerned, apart from the typo in 1dn. Thanks, Leonidas and Pete.
    FrankieG @8: WordPerfect is still going strong; the latest version is 2021 and I use it all the time as it’s much more user-friendly than Word. And WordPerfect documents are easily converted to Word or PDF for sending to other people.

11. 15a The base of very is y, not v.

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