The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/30066.
Here Tramp gives us principally simple clue structures, with a remarkable anagram at 1, 9A FERMAT’S LAST THEOREM. I think that the definition of 15D TIRAMISU scarcely suggests a dessert, yet alone a particular one.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1, 9 | FERMAT’S LAST THEOREM |
Scientific fact maybe lacking substance – flat-earthers most stupid (7,4,7)
|
| An anagram (‘stupid’) of ME (‘MaybE lacking substance’) plus ‘flat earthers most’. | ||
| 9 |
See 1
|
|
| 10 | COLOGNE |
Pass person inhaling good scent (7)
|
| An envelope (‘inhaling’) of G (‘good’) in COL (mountain ‘pass’) plus ONE (‘person’). | ||
| 11 | FECUNDATE |
Withdraw sheath for contraceptive during enjoyable time to get pregnant (9)
|
| An envelope (‘during’) of EC, a reversal (‘withdraw’) of CE (‘sheath for ContraceptivE‘) in FUN DATE (‘enjoyable time’). | ||
| 12 | CUT UP |
Focus for rescuing sheep in distress (3,2)
|
| A charade of CU (‘focus for resCUing’) plus TUP (‘sheep’). | ||
| 13 | EXPO |
Sexpot stripped for show (4)
|
| Just what it says: ‘[s]expo[t]’ minus its outer letters (‘stripped’). | ||
| 14 | STAY-AT-HOME |
Intimate squeezing partner’s core, relaxed in armchair? (4-2-4)
|
| A charade of STAY, an envelope (‘squeezing’) of T (‘parTner’s core’) in SAY (‘intimate’); plus AT HOME (‘in’). ‘Armchair’ as an adjective. | ||
| 16 | CULMINATES |
Destroying climate, sun reaches highest point (10)
|
| An anagram (‘destroying’) of ‘climate sun’. | ||
| 19 | BEAT |
Risk money accepting a flutter (4)
|
| An envelope (‘accepting’) of ‘a’ in BET (‘risk money’). | ||
| 21 | MANGA |
Form of comic, Mark, with one short joke (5)
|
| A charade of M (‘Mark’) plus AN (‘one’) plus GA[g] (‘joke’) minus its last letter (‘short’). | ||
| 22 | REPROBATE |
Rake with money returned to pick up sex worker (9)
|
| An envelope (‘to pick up’) of PRO (‘sex worker’) in REBATE (‘money returned’). | ||
| 24 | ROSSINI |
He scored from ball into box, missing header during international (7)
|
| A charade of [c]ROSS (‘ball into box’) minus the first letter (‘missing header’) plus IN (‘during’) plus I (‘international’). | ||
| 25 | WRECKED |
Drunk with wine drinking fizzy stuff out of round (7)
|
| An envelope (‘drinking’) of C[o]KE (‘fizzy stuff’) minus the O (‘out of round’) in W (‘with’) plus RED (‘wine’). | ||
| 26 | ADULTERATOR |
Polluter to run after dirty river checked by Environment Agency (11)
|
| A charade of ADULTER, an envelope (‘checked by’) of E (‘Environment’) in ADULT (‘dirty’) plus R (‘river’); plus A (‘Agency’) plus ‘to’ plus R (‘run’). EA is given in Chambers as an abbreviation foe Environment Agrency, but I am not happy with treating the two letters independently. An alternative might be to treat ‘river checked by Environment Agency’ as an envelope of R in EA, but I think that ‘Environment Agency checked by river’ would be the way to do that job. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | FRENCH POLYNESIA |
Foreign land line scary: phone mobile connected with female (6,9)
|
| A charade of F (‘female’) plus RENCHPOLYNESIA, an anagram (‘mobile’) of ‘line scary phone’. | ||
| 2 | RERUN |
Once more broadcast concerning series (5)
|
| A charade of RE (‘concerning’) plus RUN (‘series’). | ||
| 3 | ARMY ANT |
Host, part of TV duo, is a crawler (4,3)
|
| A charade of ARMY (‘host’) plus ANT (& Dec, ‘part of TV duo’). | ||
| 4 | SOCIETY |
Club foot out of sock that is tiny without padding (7)
|
| A charade of ‘soc[k]’ minus its last letter (‘foot out of’) plus I.E. (‘that is’) plus ‘t[in]y’ minus its internal letters (‘without padding’). | ||
| 5 | ALLOCATE |
Order at local store, ultimately to get deal (8)
|
| An anagram (‘order’) of ‘at local’ plus E (‘storE ultimately’). | ||
| 6 | TIGHTROPE WALKER |
Act in theatre work: PG film essentially getting released (9,6)
|
| An anagram (‘getting released’) of ‘theatre work PG plus IL (‘fILm essentially’). | ||
| 7 | STIFLE |
Squash flies all over the place with end of swat (6)
|
| An anagram (‘all over the place’) of ‘flies’ plus T (‘end of swaT‘). | ||
| 8 | WEEPIE |
Small place cleared to screen one sad film (6)
|
| An envelope (‘to screen’) of I (‘one’) in WEE (‘small’) plus PE (‘PlacE cleared’). | ||
| 15 | TIRAMISU |
I squeeze into casual suit that could be taken in when not satisfied? (8)
|
| An envelope (‘into’) of ‘I’ plus RAM (‘squeeze’?) in TISU, an anagram (‘casual’) of ‘suit’. I am not happy with ‘squeeze for RAM, but the definition part of the clue is tenuous to the point of non-existence. | ||
| 16 | CAMERA |
Apple device set up date feature on smartphone (6)
|
| A charade of CAM, a reversal (‘set up’ in a down light) of MAC (‘Apple device’) plus ERA (‘date’). | ||
| 17 | AIRLIFT |
Rescue from island – lifeboat team wanting number in back of boat (7)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of I (‘island’) plus R[n]LI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute, ‘lifeboat team’) minus the N (‘wanting number’) in AFT (‘back of boat’). | ||
| 18 | EMPOWER |
Give authority? Those people might (7)
|
| A charade of ‘EM (them, ‘those people’) plus POWER (‘might’). | ||
| 20 | TRENDY |
Stylish attempt to cover butt (6)
|
| An envelope (‘to cover’) of END (‘butt’) in TRY (‘attempt’). | ||
| 23 | OVERT |
Visible hole on green (5)
|
| A charade of O (‘hole’) plus VERT (‘green’). |
The wordplay for 11ac is quite fun, but fecundate?! What an effing orrible word!
TIRAMISU
Collins has this under RAM
(tr; often foll by in or down)
to stuff or cram (something into a hole, etc)
TIRAMISU is a dessert. No?
Also, I found the Italian meaning of the word fitting the context:
Tiramisu translates from Italian (tiramisù) to literally mean “pick me up” or “cheer me up”.
ADULTERATOR
Agree with the blogger that it should be EA checked by R. Maybe there’s another explanation.
Thanks Tramp and PeterO.
CULMINATES
The solution is intransitive, but def is transitive?
Correct me if I am wrong.
STAY-AT-HOME
I had
relaxed=AT HOME
(in–a link word)
Well, not as Trampled as I usually am.
I agree the definition of TIRAMISU is pretty general, but Tramp was able to use two verbs in both the surface and eating senses, plus there was a question mark, so I’ll give it to him.
Really liked the long FLT.
Agree with gif@1 rsgarding the F-word.
KVa re 16: surely they’re both intransitive?
Certainly more on wavelength with tramp than usual helped by getting FERMATS LAST THEOREM immediately just from the enumeration.
TIRAMISU and the unparsed ADULTERATOR, which I didn’t parse, caused the most scratching of the head.
Enjoyed FERMATS LAST THEOREM and ROSSINI.
Thanks Tramp and PeterO
Fermat returns for the first time since May. Unlike Wiles’ proof, this rather jumped out, despite The Guardian app not telling me where word three was going. Luckily, it was nearby.
(Thanks for yesterday’s replies. I am simply using the Guardian phone app as I have for years. All I did was a required update. The new crossword format is more colourful, in line with the wider puzzle section. It features scrolling…and a few bugs.)
I liked piecing together the likes of FECUNDATE, SOCIETY and ROSSINI from the wordplay. Some others were messier processes, like spooning through a TIRAMISU.
Thanks Tramp and PeterO
I don’t really share the quibbles regarding two clues.
TIRAMISU: For me, ram/squeeze is OK (‘I managed to ram/squeeze all my holiday clothes into a cabin case’); and while the definition is indeed vague, the wordplay and crossers meant that I was sure the answer was correct, which is the only requirement of a crossword clue.
ADULTERATOR: I think it’s quite fair that R checked i.e. restrained by EA gives ERA – I don’t understand the objection, unless I’m missing something.
Is F’s LT a scientific as distinct from mathematical fact? I suppose maths is part of science.
Favourites include CUT UP (I think ‘in’ is part of the definition), TIGHTROPE WALKER, COLOGNE.
Thanks Tramp and PeterO
Lots unparsed. Some very odd definitions. Why “scientific” for 1a, for instance – it’s a theorem in number theory.
Tough puzzle, and I’m amazed that I could finish it but I could not parse my answers for 14ac, 24ac (why does cross = ball into box???), 1d, and 6d (I guessed it might be an anagram but could not work it out).
New for me: FERMAT’S LAST THEOREM. – thanks, google. I am not good at science-related clues.
EDIT: Oh I see now – CROSS = Soccer – a pass of the ball across the field towards the centre close to one’s opponents’ goal. Is that the box? Never could have guessed that! But … why kick the ball towards the opponents’ goal?
You have missed out TOR from ADULTERATOR. I parsed it as ADULT (dirty) + EA around R(iver) with TO R(un) following it.
Comment #12
I like to have a few letters in place before I tackle longer anagrams, and in this case I struggled to get a toehold until the theorem appeared. I got that one by guessing it must be theorem, then it became reasonably obvious. Following that, once I saw French the rest was obvious for 1d.
I thought the other two more “remarkable”, especially the tightrope walker. The anagrist for all three felt well concealed until I had the solutions.
The definition for Tiramisu did seem rather vague, but once you have identified the wordplay there can’t really be any doubt. Personally I don’t mind some of the definitions being vague as long as the wordplay is clear. There were some comments yesterday about some solvers having a preference for getting the definition first and some starting with the wordplay. I think it’s good to sometimes be forced to do some clues one way or the other.
Michelle@10 In soccer a team scores by kicking the ball into the opponent’s goal, ie the one the opponent is defending. Which is where the expression “own goal” comes from when a team accidentally sends the ball into their own net
Michelle @10
A ball is “crossed” into the penalty area in the hope that a teammate will be able to head or kick it into the net.
The penalty area is of course the penalty ‘box’ (as in the clue).
Agree with AID@11 about ADULTERATOR
Thought I’d been clever spotting island=ait in AIRLIFT 🙂
As a bonus, ROSSINI also has a reference to the great Italian striker Paolo Rossi
Cheers P&T
AID @11, Bodycheetah @17 – the blog says “Plus ‘To’ plus R”
Andy in Durham @11: PeterO does say ‘to plus R’ in his parsing and like KVa @3, I had relaxed = AT HOME. I enjoyed this, especially working out the nho FLT. Other ticks for FECUNDATE, CULMINATES, ROSSINI, ALLOCATE and TIGHTROPE WALKER. Always a pleasure to see this setter.
Ta Tramp & PeterO.
I agree with Ravenrider @13 about being forced to tackle the clues in a different way. I didn’t get Tiramisu until ALL the crossers were in, but thought the definition was just about ok.
Lots to like in this one, but a fair number of niggles too.
Like ravenrider @13, I guessed THEOREM from crossers, after which 1A was obvious. Twas a pleasing anagram – but it’s a mathematical theorem, rather than a scientific fact.
I guessed TIRAMISU, partly from crossers; I’m awarding it a Gold Star for being such an awe-inspiringly loose definition.
I liked the surfaces for CULMINATES, STIFLE and WEEPIE – and the pleasingly succinct clues for EXPO and OVERT.
Heartfelt gratitude for the blog, PeterO: I almost lost the will to live partway through trying to parse ADULTERATOR…
Thank you Tramp for the entertainment.
Dropbear@14, muffin@15 and Andy@16
Thank you for explaining about soccer goals – I had no idea! I suppose I had never thought about it as I know they kick goals to score points but I suppose I thought they have to kick them into their own end of the field.
I also did not know that the penalty area = box, so thanks for explaining that too.
Haha, obviously I am now exposed as a total soccer ignoramus!!!
EDIT: by the way, I love to watch cricket – so much easier to understand 😉
btw TIRAMISU is regularly mistranslated as “pick me up”. Tirare is actually “to pull”, so it’s “pull me up”.
That was a nice challenge. Needed all the crossers to get my LOI, Tiramisu. Agree with PeterO that the parsing is tenuous at best. Thanks to T & P.
Another enjoyable puzzle from one of my favourite setters. I do enjoy a good surface and Tramp always provides them – FECUNDATE and REPROBATE are splendid.
I liked the long anagrams, though I agree that the definition for FLT is off-centre. But I don’t have a problem with TIRAMISÙ. As ravenrider @13 says, the wordplay is so clear that the solution is obvious – and Tramp acknowledges the vagueness of the definition with a question mark (muffin @23: “pull me up” is a literal translation, but “pick-me-up” is the proper idiomatic translation. You wouldn’t translate “Lavati le mani!” as “Wash the hands for yourself!” would you?).
Thanks to Tramp and PeterO
Crispy @18 I was referring to the parsing rather than the suggestion that anything was missing from the blog
I share many of the quibbles today, and had to reveal STAY-AT-HOME, but it was an enjoyable diversion.
I sigh at obscure cryptic staples like TUP and COL, words that I have never come across outside crosswordland in over 50 years on the planet, and I agree that Fermat’s theorem is maths not science (and remember when it was a conjecture rather than a fact).
Thanks Tramp and Peter.
Comment #28
Thanks, Tramp. Your puzzles are always just at the right difficulty level for me. It’s always a small moment of joy when, having struggled with a long anagram and scribbled down all the letters, the answer suddenly leaps out. There were three such answers today.
I had also not heard of 11Ac; I guessed FECUNDAGE but then saw an unparsed D.
Question: Where in the puzzle is the only English word that’s an anagram of itself?
Crispy@18 OK, I admit I didn’t read the blog too carefully (sorry about that PeterO), I was rushing to get my response out as that is a rare treat for me – normally everything has been fully explained by the time I am on here. However, I do feel that PeterO’s parsing was slightly convoluted and mine is clearer, showing that R(iver) is checked by EA.
Quizzy Bob @29 STIFLE
As a one-time mathematician, I would call FLT a theorem, not a ‘scientific fact’. Scientific facts are ‘what we currently believe in our present state of knowledge, though subject to future correction’. Mathematical theorems are true, given the appropriate axioms and assuming no logical errors in their derivation. Good anagram though.
Thanks for the blog , great crossword with brilliant anagrams .
FERMAT’S LAST THEOREM not actually valid , I have a marvelous counter-proof but this box that I type in is too narrow to contain it .
Roz @33. Brilliant, thanks, made my day.
Some amazing anagrams in this. Thank you to Tramp for the puzzle and PeterO for disentangling the parsing.
LobsterDarts @27 – I wouldn’t call TUP or COL particularly obscure – they are both valid words in specific situations. I’ve come across rams TUPping with raddle to mark the ewes they’ve serviced in sheep-farming country, and there are various well-known COLs in the Lake District, it’s a specific geological / geographical term.
Flavia@5
CULMINATES
I agree. I stand corrected (I looked at reaches in isolation).
beaulieu@6 and others
ADULTERATOR
Agree with your take on ‘check’. It works both ways
like ‘line’. A lapse of concentration. Apologies.
Michelle@22 seriously?
I got confused by cricket the day I heard there were two batsmen in at the same time
Before that I only knew family picnic cricket – Max 6 players at most!
The top half went in steadily but the bottom caused some serious head-scratching. Part of the pleasure was retro-parsing a few “well it must be” guesses and seeing them click into place, like the (NHO) FECUNDATE and AIRLIFT. I wasn’t a fan of the cluing for EMPOWER or (LOI) TIRAMISU but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this. Thanks to Tramp and PeterO.
Thanks Tramp – super crossword with many great clues. I don’t agree with any of the quibbles, as I was able to parse (frequently after solution, of course) all of the entries.
MUFFIN #23 – Although the direct translation of TIRARE is “to pull” “pick me up” is not a mistranslation of TIRAMISU, but an alternative and quite usual rendering in English.
Michell #10 & 22. I’m charmed that my fellow bloggers have explained the football references to you. Thrilled that you are doing the Guardian cryptic and hope that you will not be put off and come back here, when even more obscure references to 1960s and 70s TV shows appear!
Absolutely no way SQUEEZE can be used to mean RAM.
Quite a few compilers lately are using words to suit a non existent meaning
shanne@35 the cruciverbalist definition of obscure is any word you don’t know that impedes or prevents solving the clue 🙂
Thanks for the blog and the comments.
The definition for TIRAMISU is indirect , but, I think it’s ok. If you’re full (not satisfied) you might take it in (eat it). The “take in” goes with the suit-altering surface. I didn’t want to use “sweet”. If you don’t like it, fair enough.
I have a friend who is completely Ximenean and he didn’t question that clue, or any other. That’ll do me.
Neil
Like @bodycheetah #17, I saw [Pailo] Rossi, plus “IN” for international inserted. Clearly not the wordplay, but pleasing nonetheless.
Do STAY-AT-HOME and armchair mean the same?
The latter implies a person who sits back and comments but has no hands-on experience of whatever they pontificate on. I’ve never heard stay-at-home used in this sense.
Whereas a stay-at-home parent, for example, would be very much involved in the practicalities of child-rearing.
Does anyone have an example?
Thanks to Tramp and PeterO!
TIRAMISU did for me, crossed with the ‘form of comic’. I know the pudding but not the expression.
The parsing of several needed checking and some seemed pretty convoluted.
1a and 9a was new but 9a became obvious with the crossers then it was a trawl through Google.
Not sure how much I enjoyed today, but to get so close to finishing on a Friday for me, is an achievement in itself.
Thanks both.
Armchair detective.
It’s a direct lift from Chambers
I’m glad Tramp@42 seems to be agreeing with my@4 justification of the definition for TIRAMISU. Tx, Tramp!
If you solvers want to know what a setter is thinking, just go ahead and ask me!
I was fine with stay-at-home for “armchair”: I have often heard terms such as “armchair general”, “armchair admiral”, and best of all “armchair force” for self-appointed instant experts on all things military who pontificate on conflicts from the safety of their own home while other people’s children are put in harm’s way.
KVa @2 makes an excellent point about the etymology of tiramisu (“pick me up”) which is very much what one would want when unsatisfied (as well as the allusion to eating dessert if one has not satisfied their appetite, which for me was fine by itself). If I were the setter, I would be claiming that was my intention all along 🙂
FTL was in my GK, but agree with others that a mathematical theorem is not a scientific fact.
I was pleased to get ROSSINI – I am slowly accumulating various indirections for composers (scorer, works in bars, and so on), but the number of crosswordland synonyms for sheep still defeats me.
Thank you Tramp for the challenge (and for dropping by) and PeterO for several parsings that eluded me.
Postscript: I am now working on my own clue for FLT, to include the word “marginal”
As a skiing and cycling fan, COL is not even slightly obscure to me. I wouldn’t often use TUP, but it’s a word I know from real life. There’s a pub called The Guildford Tup near where I used to live, and its sign is a stylised ram (I imagine it would pass for an Aries symbol to the right audience).
KVa’s TIRAMISU translation is a fact that I often drop.
FECUNDATE..OK, I’ve never used that one, but it was easy enough to work out.
I had no issue with armchair/AT HOME or RAM/squeeze.
Thanks for dropping by, Neil.
Very entertaining. ARMY ANT had an amusing surface, and clever plays on “host” and “crawler”. The long ones were all great (though I didn’t manage to fully parse ADULTERATOR). I thought TIRAMISU was perfectly fair — the crossers were very helpful, and I liked the definition. (Tramp @42 I presume you meant to say “If you’re not full (not satisfied)” — unless I’ve misunderstood.)
Many thanks both.
A theorem in maths that has been proven is considered a fact. FLT has been proven to be true, so, is therefore a fact.
I wouldn’t call the as-yet-unproven Riemann-Hypothesis, for example, a fact.
(Have the email and name boxes switched round?)
Tramp@46
Thanks for the response.
I’m very familiar with this use of ‘armchair,’ as I hope my comment indicates.
I wouldn’t use the term ‘stay-at-home detective’ though – and I have never seen it used.
I’m looking for an example of where the term ‘stay-at-home’ is used in this sense.
🙂
Thanks Ian@34 , glad you liked it and pleased that somebody knows the reference .
Aye-Aye @54 – Stay-at-home football fan / armchair football fan?
This is only the second Tramp that I’ve completed and for me it was a brain twister for sure. Enjoyed the convoluted anagramming, and some other bits like ROSSINI. The definitions were a tad loose in a lot of places – 15d TIRAMISU being the worst. Thanks PeterO, and to Tramp.
Thanks Crispy@56 – I guess that one does work!
Roz @33
Hold off with your counter-proof – I’m still working on his last-but-one.
muffin @23: you’re confusing literal translation with idiomatic translation. While “tiramisu” is literally “pull-me-up,” the equivalent English idiom is “pick-me-up.” Which version better captures the spirit of the phrase?
Peter@59 the strange thing about Fermat is that the Little Theorem is easy to prove but extremely important , the Last Theorem very hard to prove but little intrinsic importance . It has of course produced a lot of new developments in attempts to prove it .
Martin @50 I probably first came across tup as the name of a pub too – the Derby Tup in Chesterfield. I wonder how many other examples there are.
I really don’t get the objections to ram=squeeze. A rammer is used to compress the gunpowder in a musket or cannon. A tightly packed group of people can be said to be rammed together. A ramjet works by compressing the incoming air using the speed the engine is moving.
I had RESPIGI for the composer, but couldn’t parse it… well, now I see why.
I’m with those taking exception to FERMAT’S LAST Theorem being a “scientific fact” ; it’s not a fact, and it’s mathematical rather than scientific. Gettable easily enough though, once a few crossers were in.
MANGA and TIRAMISU held me up for a while, but it was TIGHTROPE WALKER that was LOI.
A gritty but satisfying solve overall.
Thanks Tramp and PeterO!
Good crossword. I only got TIRAMISU right at the end when I got it ending in U, which then gave me MANGA to finish off. Some convoluted parsings but v. enjoyable.
The composer is RespigHi, not Respigi.
Thanks Tramp. This was too difficult for me to be enjoyable, certainly at the tougher end of the Tramp spectrum IMO. I revealed FERMATS LAST THEOREM, ADULTERATOR, and TIRAMISU and failed to fully parse several others. FECUNDATE, WEEPIE, and TRENDY made my podium. Thanks PeterO for the blog.
Failed on TIRAMISU. Didn’t get as far as trying to think of an equivalent for ‘squeeze’. Not helped by being simultaneously stuck on ADULTERATOR. 1-nil to Tramp. Well played the setter.
Lots of fun with an appreciation of the surface for CUT UP, the REPROBATE picking up sex worker, the club foot SOCIETY, the good anagram for TIGHTROPE WALKER, and the lifeboat team calling for an AIRLIFT. Maybe the TIRAMISU clue could have been … taken in to cheer me up?
Thanks Tramp and PeterO.
That was a tough one. I needed a lot of help with the parsing. Thanks.
Enjoyed the Crossword but feel that Fermat’s last theorem is more mathematical than scientific.
Can I just say how much I admire the total lack of even the most basic football knowledge among so many respondents, despite the opportunities recently afforded!
Somebody yesterday asked if we were now expected to know all about world famous ex footballers?
The answer is, of course, that we are expected to know everything, or at least everything that the setter knows, and if we dare to admit ignorance of anything whatever, someone will immediately pop up to say how shocked and surprised they are that there are people who don’t know that! Just accept that you can’t win and live with it.
gladys @72: Well said. I’m still trying to memorise the 1500 rivers in Britain 😆
Last two aren’t happening, so I’m stopping now. 15d TIRAMISU one of them, so I’m glad I didn’t keep trying. Same for 26a ADULTERATOR. I specifically looked for A = agency, and didn’t find it. Otherwise very enjoyable, with thanks to Tramp
I enjoyed 11a FECUNDATE (great word), 22a REPROBATE (nice pdm), 18d EMPOWER (“those people” = EM)
1d FRENCH POLYNESIA, I started with the notion that FRENCH PALESTINE was a thing, but it wasn’t! 🙂
Thanks PeterO for the blog!
Shanne @35 I’d normally agree, but having lived in Cumbria, where tup is an everyday word, and having an interest in climbing and hill walking, where col is a well used word they were both ok for me. Nice of Tramp to pop in but I, too didn’t like tiramisu.
Supertramp on BBC4 tomorrow night , 1977 concert at QMC . 01:10 so Saturday morning really .
Gladys@72 a very valid point . Sometimes we do get something that is pretty obscure for most people , usually from a dead-ened in the grid , I think most setters will then try to make the wordplay very fair .
hmm.
i went straight to the etymology of TIRAMISU and – bearing in mind this is Tramp – was happy to conclude that the dissatifaction was more of a sexual than a gustatory nature.
in this sense the def. not only made perfect sense, but i thought was very clever, if obscure.
triffic puzzle
Tony @73: after that comes all of the two-letter rivers of Europe, followed by every one of the words that Chambers says can be abbreviated to its initial letter. And then there is a whole body of GK that is probably entirely unknown outside of regular cryptic puzzle solvers and never seen in the wild (such as “pi” for “pious”, and a novel named “She”). Such is the nature of the hobby we have all chosen.
Roz @76: my standard for fairness is that at least one of the definition or the wordplay should be accessible to the target audience of solvers. I do believe that our setters aim to challenge us rather than bamboozle us.
Well, as I like to say, one person’s GK is another’s obscurity.
It us a simple truth that a theorem is not a fact. Perhaps the confusion is due to the way geometry in particularly is (used to be?) taught in schools, with Euclid’s axioms presented as “facts” about the world, and therefore anything deduced from them is also a “fact”.
However, although both theorem and fact express an idea of correctness, they are not equivalent. In much the same way that while the existence of a word or usage in Chambers makes it acceptable, it doesn’t necessarily make it correct. If you will, Chambers is the “axioms” we have agreed to accept for our crosswords.
@79 yes, they are not equivalent terms, but once proven, a theorem is factually true, isn’t it, which is Tramp’s assertion.
the answer has the word “theorem” in it, cos it was one when Fermat posited it; it’s just a name.
also, “scientific” – accepting (just about) that science includes mathematical knowledge – must be forgiven for the sake of the clue’s surface.
no harm, no foul. carry on.
It says BSc on my degree certificate. Subject-Mathematics.
So that means it’s a Science – fact proven.
Roz@33, in 2015 I published this limerick, followed by an explanatory note:
I have jumped grand canals in a bound.
Proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem, I found.
I to China sell tea,
Have sex daily (times three).
On my exploits I’m pleased to expound.
In 1637, Fermat postulated his famous Last Theorem, that no three positive integers a, b, and c can satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than two. Andrew Wiles published his widely acclaimed proof 358 years later. I can now reveal that in fact I found my own proof a year earlier, in 1994. (Unfortunately, I put it down somewhere and seem to have lost it.)
This was a complete fail for me. I was not on the setter’s wavelength at all.