Comments on: Guardian Genius 51/Doc — EMPLOY

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 14:15:17 +0000

Hmm, I’m glad not everyone found it to be a sticking point, but for me my criticisms stand – you can’t use a word in both the anagrind and the anagram, surely? And does this answer mean that an acceptable answer to a clue containing the definition “clothing” would be “nice dress” or “attractive suit”? Just seems weird to me that you can simply make up a phrase like “cute bow” and put it in a crossword.

By: beermagnet

beermagnet — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 14:09:28 +0000

While I will admit that “CUTE BOW” was the last I wrote in, I thought that it was close enough to the definition “hair ribbon”, and clear enough from the construction (CUTE TWO)* , so once I had it I didn’t doubt it – I certainly didn’t go looking it up. The difficulyy with this one (if any) was the anagrind which I took as “How to cube” i.e. cut and mix-up, while also using CUBE in the fodder.

Overall I liked this puzzle a lot – a thrill seeing the “Employ” = “To Use” => “W”=”Double U”=”UU” trick which meant the puzzle was subsequently soon completed (though I suspect this means it will be considered an “easy” Genius).
Kudos to Doc for constructing the grid and getting a W in every answer.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 12:44:29 +0000

I finished this crossword but couldn’t believe that 25 across was really ‘cute bow’ (though that is what I went for in the end). Not even Google seems to show any results that suggest this is a particularly widely used phrase, and I don’t understand why “How to” should mean “Anagram of”. A very weak clue and answer in an otherwise good puzzle, I thought. Does anyone else agree or am I overlooking something with this clue and answer?