Comments on: Guardian 24172/Rufus

By: Rufus

Rufus — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:56:24 +0000

It seems the general opinion is that 29a is not cryptic enough. I suppose that “converse”, although appearing in every one of my dictionaries as a synonym for “conversation”, is rarely used in that connection nowadays. I shall try and avoid clues like this in the future! Thanks for all the comments.

I have pointed out before on this blog that I am asked to provide a straightforward, relatively simple, crossword for the Guardian Monday spot

By: Pasquale

Pasquale — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 21:27:39 +0000

Well, I hope today’s Guardian blogger gets some sleep! Night all!

By: Stan

Stan — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 19:18:04 +0000

Pascale – you weren’t kidding about your crossword being a touch harder ! Great work – enjoyed it a lot.

I would compare Paul (or Bunthorne of old) to JS Bach – deceptively simple on the surface but profound and lyrical.

Seems the Guardian like a simple bit of Chas ‘n’ Dave on a Monday though …

By: eimi

eimi — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 18:00:15 +0000

I think Enigmatist is Brahms and Liszt

By: muck

muck — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:18:56 +0000

A friend told me R is known as Mozart and A as Beethoven. Any other attributions of setters to composers?

By: petebiddlecombe

petebiddlecombe — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 12:03:19 +0000

17D: You could be led astray by reading "tie" as in "cup tie", rather than as in tie=draw.

By: purplerabbits

purplerabbits — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 09:42:16 +0000

I definitely count myself as a weaker solver and I quite liked 29A, though it would have read better as “converse TO friends”. But I though 17D (score draw for ‘football tie with goals’) was purely literal – unless there is something clever about it I’m missing?

By: Pasquale

Pasquale — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 05:13:29 +0000

A solving acquaintance (met on a ramble) who likes A wrote to the crossword ed complaining about R and he told her what I have told you. More than that I do not know!

By: linxit

linxit — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 22:37:43 +0000

Each to his 2 down I suppose. I take each puzzle as it comes. I was full of praise for a first class Rufus puzzle I blogged a couple of months ago. Not a weak clue in it, and filled with excellent surface readings and witty definitions. It wasn’t hard, but it was still good. Actually I’ve just checked back – it was 24088 back in May, and 24124 in July was another. I just think this one was set too easy, and the clueing maybe suffered as a result.

Don, your statistic about popularity is interesting. Rephrasing the question slightly might get a different answer. How many solvers who put Araucaria first would put Rufus second? Or vice versa?

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 22:22:41 +0000

I completely agree with Pasquale’s post.

However, 29 Across really has no place in a cryptic. It doesn’t work except as a straight clue – if the idea was to make us think of conversation then it should be “conversation” or “conversing” (except that would then ruin the definition, obviously – which is why it doesn’t really work). It’s not the easiness that’s the problem – it’s just a poor cryptic clue.