Comments on: Guardian 23,970/Rover

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BenIngton — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 23:28:35 +0000

If I hadn’t had to read it for ‘O’ Levels, I would have found it most cryptic!

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loonapick — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 23:23:43 +0000

Yes, I got the reference, just didn’t think it was particularly clever or cryptic.

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BenIngton — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 23:20:32 +0000

Yes, my mistake – it is the Shi’ite who are in the majority in Iraq, not the Sunni. That does make the clue ‘dodgy’ but I still enjoyed the puzzle.

Can’t see what was objectionable about 23a – this was alluding to the poem “Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard” by Thomas Gray and having studied it many moons ago for English ‘O’ levels, I got the reference straightaway.

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loonapick — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 22:28:58 +0000

I thought the clue for NUMBER ONE was OK, not spectacular I grant you, but OK, and AVIGNON, ORGANZA and SLEDGES were perfectly acceptable. Didn’t particularly like ELEGIES, but the checked letters made it obvious what the setter wanted put in.

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michod — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:32:48 +0000

The majority are Shia, which is why they’re now running Iraq, and the Sunni minority who held sway under Saddam are unhappy about it. I thought it was a pretty dodgy clue in a very uneven puzzle. Some clues seemed barely cryptic, such as ‘I am always first’ for NUMBER ONE. But maybe it’s just sour grapes because AVIGNON, ORGANZA, SLEDGES and what I can only assume to be ELEGIES made the bottom right a no-go area for me.

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BenIngton — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 16:08:20 +0000

A nice puzzle with some excellent clues.

I think that it is acceptable to think of Iraq as a ‘Sunni’ country given the majority are Sunni just as it is acceptable to think of India, for example, as a Hindu country despite having sizeable Muslim/Sikh/Buddhist minorities.

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ilancaron — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:49:40 +0000

24A: i think if the trapeze artist doesn’t hold on to the trapeze (at the appropriate moment) she’s liable to fall down. made sense to me while i was solving.

You’re SO right about non-Brits and cricket. I know enough by now that if you’re IN you’re batting. But I missed the TALKING POINT allusion. thanks!