Financial Times 17,939 by SOLOMON

21 comments on “Financial Times 17,939 by SOLOMON”

1. I guessed the same for COFFEE CUP, but that really does not make any sense to me, unless it’s “co-“, as a prefix. Nod to MORECAMBE & WISE.

2. COFFEE CUP
   I had the same parsing as Cineraria. Co- as in co-worker/fellow worker.
   OOPS-A-DAISY
   I think OO is intended to be outside the anagram fodder.

   Liked REFLECTED, PARTY LINE and POLKA (took ages to parse this).

   Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs.

3. I am usually a fan of Solomon, but I was not as enthusiastic about this as our blogger. I solved OBELISCAL early and it almost made me give up.

   But I persevered and much was forgiven when I solved MERCURY – a wonderful clue. I also liked FREIGHT, RED HERRING and LYCRA.

   I had no idea how to parse COFFEE CUP and missed a couple of others. Thanks for the steer Turbolegs.

   Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs

4. My FOi was 1a MORECAMBE, AND my LOi (appropriately) was 25d WISE.
   You’ve got the right parse for 15d COFFEE CUP.

5. Loved 9a smelLY CRAck 😀, and the innovative Russian dolls P(O(L)K)A 23d.

6. I’m in agreement with others that Solomon is a great (and today rather risqué) setter! This was a very satisfying solve indeed.
   My favourites were ROCK OPERA, EN FAMILLE, OOPS-A-DAISY and the saucy COFFEE CUP.
   I think Turbolegs’s parsing of the latter is probably right though I thought FF + Coe (Seb) for the three fellows and the slightly less substantial ‘E-cup’!
   Much appreciated, Solomon, and great job on the blog, Turbolegs.

7. I really enjoyed Solomon’s work today. I went the way of the EE Cups on 15D, with Co being the abbreviation for colleague and the double F’s. I think my favorite clue was 1D as I can relate to the spritz of lemon juice in the eye. Thanks to Solomon and Turbolegs!

8. I’d agree with the CO = fellow and EE CUP = substantial support parse. Very enjoyable as always and, as FrankieG, I admire the POLKA construction. I also enjoyed Solomon’s fun definitions for FREEMASON and RASTAFARI. MORECAMBE was FOI and I must confess I was on the lookout for WISE thereafter – but then forgot about him until he turned up much later. Other faves inc MANDATE, ERROR and STAFF, all for the smooth surfaces; the amusing PARTY LINE; CLEANSE, EXTRA, FREIGHT and SOLAR, again for simple smoothness and finally MERCURY which made me laugh.

   Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs

9. I didn’t parse COFFEE CUP – but an EE CUP size doesn’t exist in international bra sizing (American, European, Australian, etc), English just possibly for some manufacturers, but not usually. Same is true for bra pattern designers for dressmaking. That whole nomenclature is an inconsistent mess after a D cup.

   I liked the POLKA, wrote in MORECAMBE and WISE but forgot to link them.

   Thank you to Solomon and Turbolegs.

10. This was great fun I thought – with POLKA, MERCURY, MOLE, and FREEMASON getting the biggest grins.

    Thanks both.

11. Like FrankieG @4 MORECAMBE and WISE were my FOI and LOI respectively.

    Needed help parsing a few so thanks Turbolegs.

    Lovely puzzle – favourites included: MERCURY, FREEMASON, RED HERRING

    Thanks Solomon

12. POLKA stumped me but thanks to TurbolegsI can see that it is a very neat clue. I too couldn’t fully parse COFFEE CUP and I do think the use of BRA= SUPPORTER is becoming a little overdone as are drug references (as in PARTY LINE). But here was an awful lot to like here

13. Some great clues, especially the Russian Dolls one. Totally failed to find a word that worked either for wordplay or definition in 1d so thanks blogger for resolving that one.

    10a seems to be two sets of wordplay but no definition; is that allowed? I think he/she’s got away with one using Dreaded to mean dreadlocked, at least I assume that’s how it’s supposed to be read. Can’t find anything to support that, but maybe I’m missing something.

14. Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs

    10ac: I think the word “perhaps” is part of the definition – the word serves no other function in the clue. I read it as a definition by example, illustrating a possible meaning of the answer.

15. 17dn: ODE 2010 has dreads meaning “dreadlocks” (p 533) and -ed¹ (p 558) explicitly as a suffix forming adjectives, which can be applied to any suitable noun.

16. Fair enough PB, that’s some detailed book if you’re only up to D on page 533… don’t think I could fit it on a shelf

17. King Solomon mines a rich seam of golden surfaces in this puzzle.
    I appreciate the views of other posters, but I found this faultless. Clever. Novel.
    It will take something extraordinary in 2025 to match this crossword.

    I bow to Solomon, with a big nod too, to Turbolegs ( the perfect preamble in your blog. )

18. WW@16: I keep my large dictionaries on the floor just behind the swivel chair on which I am sitting to type this. I have the single volume Chambers 2016, Collins 2023, and Oxford Dictionary of English (ODE 2010) and the two volume Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (SOED 2007). These are the most recent editions, at least when I last looked. I quote page numbers to confirm that I am using the print editions.

    The volumes are remarkably similar in size; on rough measurement each is just over 6cm thick and about 27cm tall. The Oxford volumes are just over 20cm wide, whereas Chambers and Collins are about 2cm narrower.

19. Thanks Solomon for a superb crossword. I fully concur with Turbolegs’ preamble. My top picks were LYCRA (!), POTASH, STAFF, DEPLETE, ROCK OPERA, EXTRA, FREIGHT, the very clever POLKA, and SOLAR. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.

20. I laughed out loud more than once during this puzzle.

    That alone makes an innocent pastime on the bus to work more fun and worthy of praise.

    Of course liked LYCRA, POLKA, FREEMASON, and even that string of clues to make ILLOGICAL

    Thank you everyone

21. Sorry to see a setter still using soldier = man and man = staff in this day and age.

Comments are closed.