Comments on: Guardian 23943/Paul – Duffer

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Pasquale — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 17:16:31 +0000

The TAMAR is a lovely river on the Devon/Cornwall border. No clue to CATAMARAN (mine included) seems to be complete without it!

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Miss Pedant — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 15:38:52 +0000

I thought ‘switchback’ was some kind of special offer.

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petebiddlecombe — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 14:02:05 +0000

AskOxford bill their dict search as the Compact ed – next size down, in contrast to the “concise_oed” in the URL. My instinct would be to believe in “Compact” for commercial reasons. The commercial sense behind Collins being online is beyond me but don’t tell them! Yes the Guardian does use Chambers-only stuff on occasion – I hope they save it for Saturdays but can’t guarantee it.

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rightback — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:35:57 +0000

Thanks Peter. The Concise Oxford is available online here, and contains under the entry for 'switch': 'a slender, flexible shoot cut from a tree'. I just meant that Chambers doesn't give 'switchback' as meaning 'rollercoaster', though it's in the COD as well as Collins, which as you say are probably better references in general for the daily crosswords - though I'm sure I've seen a few 'Chambers only' words and abbreviations in the Guardian. Thgir

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petebiddlecombe — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:19:06 +0000

Switchback & dictionaries: Although the Guardian puzzle doesn’t (AFAIK) have a publicly stated standard reference, I would try Collins or the Concise Oxford first for daily paper crosswords. COD also has switchback = roller coaster. That said, Chambers does have it, tucked away in the stuff under “switch”. COD also uses the word “shoot” in the “twig” def for switch.