Comments on: FINANCIAL TIMES 12,827 by CINEPHILE

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:59:16 +0000

Hi Duggie

Thanks for your kind words.

My Chambers is of 1998 vintage. I don’t have the 2003 version (a sin, I know :-) but am waiting for the 2008 edition to come out next month.

My blog name? The derivation of my Christian name (as given in Chambers).

By: Duggie

Duggie — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:43:01 +0000

Gaufrid: my Chambers (2003) lists RI, as does Collins.
Don’t feel bad. Your blog is first class: concise and well laid out. Bully for you taking the job on. I wouldn’t. Not only do you need time but you’ve got to solve every puzzle - and fast! A tall order. By the way, where does your name come from? A pun on ‘go for it’?

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:22:27 +0000

Hi Octofem

Having had more time for research, I have corrected the analysis of 15d.

Three errors in my first blog is not very good! I put it down to time constraints, having had to complete two FTs after the Times this morning. Perhaps if I hadn’t spent so much time determining the wordplay for 9d it might have been different.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:53:15 +0000

Thanks Duggie. I had a feeling it was something like this from a past crossword but Chambers doesn’t list this abbreviation. I was never happy with ‘Royal Institution’ which is why I included the question-mark.

I have just checked my old COD and what do I find - ‘RI’ Regina et Imperatrix.

I will have to try and remember that not all crosswords are set around Chambers entries.

By: Duggie

Duggie — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:38:19 +0000

26A: Does the RI not refer to (Queen) Victoria’s title of Regina Imperatrix? (The other ‘Victorian’ name in Dac’s puzzle below is a new one on me - are we supposed to bone up on Strine slang?) I agree that a surfeit of anagrams can make a puzzle much easier, so the opposite is true I suppose.

By: Octofem

Octofem — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:17:56 +0000

I am still trying to see any connection to ‘cats’ in tiffanies.
Does anyone think it is not a misprint?

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:43:58 +0000

Thanks Rishi. You have just made me revisit last Saturday’s FT in which I initially thought there was a misprint. All will be revealed a week tomorrow when the blog is posted.

By: C G Rishikesh

C G Rishikesh — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:03:13 +0000

No problem! I understood it perfectly well. I know how we do these small mistakes while typing out the blogs (or comments) amidst multifarious tasks that we have in our everyday life. Guess how many little fixes I do after I post a message. Thank Goodness the blog proper has the “edit” facility.

I am also well aware of how we cannot see some wordplay even when it is staring us in the face. That’s because at that hazy moment we have not got out of the mindset that we started with. Once we abandon the original line of thinking and re-examine the clue, we see light and the intended parsing dawns on us.

- Rishi (as friends call me)

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:06:11 +0000

Sorry, that should have been ‘You are of course right!’ The ‘?’ was a typo and I was not doubting the validity of your comment.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:53:50 +0000

You are of course right? I missed the obvious having struggled with the wordplay for a couple of other clues.

Thanks, I’ll amend the blog accordingly.