Comments on: Guardian 24,364 – Paul

By: Peter Owen

Peter Owen — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:45:41 +0000

The following appears in the Corrections and Clarifications column of today's Guardian. There was a mistake in the answers to Cryptic Crossword No 24,364 (page 37, April 17). The clue given for 25 across was "Children manipulate this, said an American philosopher". The answer was Plato, not piano. It did not affect the solutions to the other clues.

By: muck

muck — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:39:10 +0000

I have emailed Hugh Stephenson too, about discrepancies between the online and paper versions, but have had no reply.

By: tuck

tuck — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:17:48 +0000

whoops! 24 across

By: tuck

tuck — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:17:08 +0000

42 across i think it’s because a tart is an easy lay

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:48:58 +0000

the fifth column clue could have been even better if he had played on ‘kim’ as not only a novel but also the name of a well-known spy – Kim Philby…

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:46:05 +0000

what about 24 across? An easy dessert (4) t_r_ Is it turn? tart? neither clearly emerges from the clue

By: Geoff

Geoff — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:16:47 +0000

2, 24 – very clever clue indeed, with highly misleading surface meanings of ‘scoffing’ and ‘conduct’. i recognised ‘six-footer’ = insect immediately but this was still the last one I cracked.

American pronunciation of intervocalic ‘t’ technically described as a ‘flap’ – hence PLATO sounding like ‘play-dough’.

One little quibble: ‘Backward solver married’ is clearly YE WED reversed (9ac). But YE is archaic ‘you plural’ (‘you singular’ would be THOU). So clue should read ‘Backward solvers married’.

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:23:01 +0000

I emailed Hugh Stephenson a few weeks ago about discrepancies between the online and paper versions, though this was related to different clues between the two rather than wrong answers. He stated that two databases were involved and sometimes changes to one were not replicated in the other (my words not his.) I wonder is PIANO v PLATO was a case of the word and the clue being changed late in the day with the online puzzle suffering from the word not being changed?
Perhaps someone with access to tomorrow’s paper could report back here on the printed solution?

By: John McDonald

John McDonald — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:27:23 +0000

Re: Fifth Column

General Mola, during the Spanish Civil War, had four columns surrounding Madrid and remarked that there was a “fifth column” inside the city — meaning an army of spies.

Since then, the term “fifth column” meaning spies has become accepted as a standard figure of speech.

By: Owen Jones

Owen Jones — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:10:57 +0000

I was well chuffed to complete this crossword (along with trusty sidekick Stuart). Had to guess CARNAP. I’m pretty sure it must be PLATO – the online crossword often has been unreliable recently (I am still pissed off about trying to the prize crossword on april 5th and there being no instructions).

If someone could explain the fifth columnist thing that would be good.