Comments on: Azed 1799

By:

petebiddlecombe — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 14:53:01 +0000

Correct! Not sure why Azed opted for this def.

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neildubya — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 12:32:50 +0000

I take your point but, in this case, AFTERTHOUGHT is not exactly a difficult word so surely you could get away with a more “cloaked” definition?

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petebiddlecombe — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 13:05:05 +0000

1D clue.. Because the vocabulary is very hard, Azed and other advanced cryptic setters feel obliged to give you a very fair definition, often including direct quotes from Chambers. This helps you to be sure you have the right answer, often without understanding all the wordplay, but makes it much harder for them to write clues with convincing surface meaning. That’s best reason I can find why some people who can thrash me at Listener solving struggle to do a Times puzzle inside 20 minutes – they’re not as used to definitions that are fair when you understand them but not so close to what’s written in the dictionary. The advanced cryptic setters who manage to make most of the clues convincing (which certainly includes Azed) deserve extra praise.

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neildubya — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 12:03:28 +0000

You’ll kick yourself – 11A was FLOC, hidden in “oF LOCals”. Def is “fuzzy cluster”. Ta for explanations of the others.

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linxit — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 10:22:36 +0000

2 Down – straightforward double def. The degree is a B.Lit, and to blit is to transfer data between computers.

23 Across – REE(“reel” without the last letter) inside OR(=tincture – see or2 in Chambers)

28D was one of the two I was stuck on, so thanks for explaining that. The other one was 11A. FLO? I can’t make anything work with that clue!