Ft 15815 Saturday March 24Th 2018

[Christoddd]

1 account 8 letters
GORILLAS
DON'T understand G as finish third

[Captain2]

Reluctant to post the clue if Chris doesn't, but in the interests of others (and the answer is here too)

Our close relatives sufferinG OR ILL, ASto finish third (8)

[fiction-factory]

This isn't easy. The clue was 1ac before so is this clue Account or Count (1 ac- Count )?

[fiction-factory]

Thanks Captain. All clear now

[fiction-factory]

.... although i'm not sure where the 'finish third' fits in

[Mamyalynne]

It threw me on Saturday at first till I took my socks off.

[Captain2]

It is actually 1 across FF

Did you realise it is still a 'free' crossword? Just downloaded it - so that's tomorrow's lunch hour sorted.

[Mamyalynne]

sufferin (8)G OR ILL, AS (8)to finish (8)

[fiction-factory]

3 is prime... so primates?????

[fiction-factory]

As in prime eights?

[Mamyalynne]

a third of the wordplay

[fiction-factory]

that is worse than abtruse. I assume there was a theme or some form of special instructions. Give me a standard cryptic any day.

[fiction-factory]

Ah, so theme was something to do with answers being a third of the wordplay? So the primates (prime eights) for gorillas was just a coincidence or my warped thinking

[Captain2]

No mention of any special theme at all FF.

Here's the crossword

https://labs.ft.com/crosswords/2018/03/24/Crossword-15815.html

[Davemano]

Yes, I thought the ILL was the 'suffering' bit.

[Mamyalynne]

No here is no theme - definition is 'Our close relatives'.

Maybe I have parsed it wrong, it's how I saw it.

[Captain2]

I'm with you Mamya - just another way of saying 'look folks the definition/answer is hidden in the clue'

[fiction-factory]

Yes, can see the defiition of course, and the hidden in clue, but the 'finish third' bit threw me . I can also see gorillas is a third of the clue but that is abstruse in my view.

[Mamyalynne]

There'll be a new one up at Midnight - more head scratching.

[Captain2]

Gorilla nits?

[Davemano]

Next question please Bradley.