Comments on: Guardian 24,131, Taupi: Pun my word

By: Sally

Sally — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 19:12:22 +0000

Really tricky puzzle, this one, but enjoyable. I got useful help from http://www.1across.com – offered me danse macabre, for example, once I’d got a few letters in. Would have had little chance on my own, although I had thought that the desperate guy was likely to be Dan.

By: radchenko

radchenko — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 20:35:18 +0000

Thanks, both Shirley and Mick. I did not know that double meaning of ENSIGN (always pleased to learn).

When broken down correctly I see 17dn. On that basis though 24ac is also OK because to make 17dn work it requires [bent] [nib is instrumental to this] which becomes [bent nib's], just as the [one's] needs to be read as [one has].

Apologies if this is the wrong forum to quibble over abstruse points of syntax. I gues I was just feeling a little bit [Sounds like -- Oh for why! -- swapped in one of 4dn] because I didn’t finish it.

Sorry. That is rubbish. Which is why I’m a settee not a setter.

By: muck

muck — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:53:19 +0000

Very tough puzzle, but we need some challenges.

I didn’t get 4dn (got as far as MARK,S****ERS) but it’s good

By: Mick Hodgkin

Mick Hodgkin — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 09:58:39 +0000

I don’t think there is an extra possessive in 17 down – I read it as: “Bent” = PENCHANT/ “nib’s instrumental to this” = PEN / “song = CHANT. Very neatly worded.
As for 24ac (Rightly inclined to get one’s powder over one”), I think the problem is that “to get” is a legitimate link phrase, and the possessive ‘one’s’ would also be OK to indicate that one (I) ‘has’ “talc over one” (TALIC), but the two don’t work together grammatically because ‘to get’ doesn’t allow you to read “one’s” as “one has”.
Q. Apologies to the casual reader if we seem to be taking crossword syntax a bit too seriously – I’ll go and get on with some real work now!

By: Shirley

Shirley — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 09:41:20 +0000

19 Dn is a double meaning. ENSIGN is a flag (jack)and also a low ranked naval officer. According to the OED it was also historically the lowest rank of commissioned infantry in the British army.
Hope this helps.

By: radchenko

radchenko — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:38:03 +0000

Very tough crossword. Congrats to those who did it. I found the bottom half very hard, and gave up completely on the SE corner. Agree its clever, but too much indirection and misdirection for a simple soul like me (although I did get danse macabre), but got nowhere near eccentric. I guessed it but could not work out the reason. Also extra possessive in 24ac and 17dn, inserted for the surface but were misleading.

In particular I did not get 15dn which a pity because it is a very good and funny clue.

Any explanation of 19dn?

By: Shirley

Shirley — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:50:12 +0000

Whoops – sorry meant to type Desperate but it came out as Dangerous!

By: Simply_simon

Simply_simon — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:57:16 +0000

Dan, but not because he was Dangerous – his name was Desperate Dan.

By: michod

michod — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 11:47:06 +0000

Thanks for the correction -’danse macabre’ makes a lot more sense. I believe that kitten, like calve, can be used as a verb, as in ‘my cat kittened last week – he’s not a tom after all!’So the definition is ‘to produce litter’.

By: Shirley

Shirley — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 11:24:24 +0000

11 Dn – DANse Macabre because DAN was a dangerous man in the comic the Dandy.
26ac don’t see why a kitten “produces” a litter surely it is part of one