Comments on: Guardian 24,220, Paul: Follow the grapes http://www.fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/ Never knowingly undersolved. Fri, 24 May 2013 05:17:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Alan G http://www.fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6609 Alan G Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:36:10 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6609 Hi Rufus,
thanks for the info. I have just finished compiling another one on a Guardian grid, but will delay sending this one. Would be nice to have someone professional to check them over, though. I did have a checker, but unfortunately he died in 2003 (my brother).
A yacht? I think I’m in the wrong job!

]]> By: Rufus http://www.fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6603 Rufus Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:53:17 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6603 Hi Alan G,
You picked an awkward time, I’m afraid. The crossword editor is on the high seas heading for Port Stanley in his yacht – he left in August and left the Canaries a few weeks ago. Sandy Balfour is standing in for him while he is away but, while although doing a great job checking the puzzles, may not have the authority to take on new blood. I think you will have to wait until late January for any response.

]]> By: Alan G http://www.fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6602 Alan G Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:39:21 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6602 Rufus, can I ask you this. I have recently gone back to compiling, after a 15 year gap in which I ran a successful business as a driving instructor. Before that, I compiled about 300 for the News Of The World, and the now defunct Sporting Life. I recently submitted one to the Guardian for the editor to give it the once over. As yet I have had no reply. Should I have sent it by e-mail, and is it usual not to get a reply if the crossword is deemed unsuitable, or should I get a rejection note? I have had a good relationship with editors in the past, so maybe it got lost in the postal strike.

]]> By: Judy Bentley http://www.fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6533 Judy Bentley Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:12:37 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6533 Thank you guys. I’ll get my son on it when the moment’s right.
Best wishes to all.

]]> By: Rufus http://www.fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6526 Rufus Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:33:44 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6526 Hi again Judy!
As Colin says, lack of computer expertise shouldn’t stop you setting puzzles. I compiled crosswords for 37 years without it. But I know it was well worth having this one program – it is very easy to use (it must be if I can do it). Not only do you have great help in setting, it prints the grids, empty and filled, provides a choice of anagrams etc and exports it to be e-mailed to publications.
I follow Colin’s advice – have a go!

]]> By: Colin Blackburn http://www.fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6520 Colin Blackburn Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:48:22 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6520 Judy,

far from it. Using software can save time and for someone with Rufus’s output that’s very helpful. However, it’s still fun to fill a grid by hand. One book that helps a lot with standard blocked grids is Chambers Crossword Completer. This lists words by length and then alphabetically by alternate letters. Thus CROSSWORD will appear under the two 9-letter sections as CrOsSwOrD and cRoSsWoRd.

Start with one of the easier grids, with just two long answers across and down, and give it a go.

]]> By: Judy Bentley http://www.fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6514 Judy Bentley Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:36:16 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6514 Hi Rufus
Wow! I should’ve guessed modern technology would be involved. That rules it out for me then…
Many thanks

]]> By: Rufus http://www.fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6512 Rufus Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:00:04 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6512 Hi Judy! A large choice of grids is usually provided by each publication, mostly designed to have a variation of word lengths and to give fair opportunity for solvers to gain letters from solving other clues. My Telegraph batch, for example, is numbered nearly up to 200 although a few have been dropped.
I think most setters start by entering the longest solutions, especially if these intersect, and then work down to the 3- or 4-letter solutions. I was considering cutting down my output seven years ago on reaching 68 but, for my birthday, my son Michael, a Sheffield vet and IT buff, bought me the Crossword Compiler program and showed me how to use it. With this, I “seed” the selected grid with what I hope are new and interesting clues, then the program instantly gives me all the words or phrases that will fit in the remaining spaces. I scroll down the list until a word I think clueable turns up, which then, with a touch of a key, is inserted. You still may have to chop and change if you come to a sticky corner, say, but the program does this quickly, whereas in the old days I had to skim constantly through dictionaries that, on average, only lasted a year before disintegration.
The more you do, the experience makes it easier. Good luck!

]]> By: Judy Bentley http://www.fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6489 Judy Bentley Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:08:36 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6489 I’m using The Oxford English Reference Dictionary which I find very useful for people and places but I refer to a 1972 Chambers on occasions. The person who recommended me to Chambers was someone I met in the loony bin 3 decades ago. He told me that he and the head of the Art Department quite often won the Listener crossword prize because so few people could complete it. He said it was the hardest crossword in the country. Would others agree?

Rufus, this will probably seem like a silly question but can you tell me how you setters manage to fill the grid. When I’ve tried it I’ve ended up with an impossible combination of letters. Is there a technique? Also, do the grids themselves follow a standard pattern or does anything go? Sorry if this is all elementary stuff to you.

]]> By: bracoman http://www.fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6488 bracoman Mon, 29 Oct 2007 17:52:23 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/2007/10/29/guardian-24220-paul-follow-the-grapes/#comment-6488 9 Across made me smile. An excellent clue! Typical Paul.

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