Comments on: GUARDIAN 24,540 / PUCK

By: Ingrid

Ingrid — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 16:06:39 +0000

Scene: A River Bank

How did you arrive here?

I got across over this (points) pontoon.

They embrace.

THE END

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 13:53:02 +0000

I don’t think I’ve a problem with this, Don. I’m taking it as across = over this.

My difficulty was with the 21: I’d heard Pontoon called Vingt-et-un but, surprisingly I now realise, not 21.

By: don

don — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 13:16:15 +0000

I’m surprised, Eileen, you seem to accept without comment ‘across over this, perhaps’ as a suitable clue for ‘pontoon’. I’ve tried to put the phrase into a sentence (‘I walked across over the pontoon; I acrossed over the pontoon), but can’t make a sensible sentence. I think ‘pindown’ would have been a much fairer answer.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 08:44:12 +0000

Many thanks, Puck, for taking the trouble to reply: it’s good to hear from you.

By: Puck

Puck — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:43:48 +0000

Eileen, thanks for the blog and I’m glad you enjoyed some of the solution words as well as the puzzle itself!

In reply to your query in regard to 22ac, my intention was two definitions for Pontoon: “21″ as twenty-one, another name for the card game; and “across over this, perhaps” referring to the bridge. Of course,the inclusion of “21 across” in the surface reading of the clue was mischievously intended to mislead solvers to interpret the clue as “Fight over this, perhaps”. As has been suggested above, people have fought over pontoon bridges, but that was not my main intention and I would not consider it fair on its own, as there are doubtless many other things and places fought over that have seven letters.

Apologies to all for the two possible solutions to 1dn. I myself never spotted ‘North Downs’ as a possibility and somehow this also escaped the usual checks and edits.

Finally I would like to add my congrats too to 15squared on its anniversary.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:33:18 +0000

PS: How could I have forgotten to say? – Guardian solvers may not all have picked this up from the Independent crossword thread but today is the second anniversary of the fifteensquared website. Many congratulations and huge thanks to Neil!

By: Eileen

Eileen — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:16:33 +0000

A rather discursive comment to finish [?] with but many thanks to all who helped out today. A week ago, Don talked about ‘do-it-yourselfers’ as opposed to ‘bloggers’. After this, my third blog, I still consider myself in the first category. Blogging is huge fun – but absolutely terrifying! – and it’s great to know that there’s all that support on hand.

On 27th October, Puck [the one with a penchant for 'micturitical' clues] identified himself as a setter who does read the blog. If you’re out there, Puck, I’d be really pleased to hear your definitive explanation of 22ac. I’m grateful for all the suggestions but still can’t quite see how it all hangs together. Many thanks for a really enjoyable puzzle.

I’ve been mentioning some of my favourite words today. My favourite of all is SERENDIPITY, which was, incidentally and quite irrelevantly, the name of the robot dog in Tom Tom [?] which my children watched on children’s television. It’s the word I apply to my discovery of fifteensquared, for which I’m eternally grateful. Thank you, Roger, for your comment: it’s absolutely true that it does get easier – as I have found, after a lifetime of crossword-solving, since contributing to this website.

By: Roger Murray

Roger Murray — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:01:27 +0000

Found this hard to get into but really enjoyed it once I did. Another good week for me, thanks to all on the blog for your commitment to helping those of us who are relative newcomers to this lovely form of entertainment. To other apprentices I say stick with it, the rewards are worth it and it does get easier(well apart from Enigmatist!)

By: C G Rishikesh

C G Rishikesh — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:27:11 +0000

Eileen,

Anent your comment against the solution at 25a:

I too often remember where and when I first came across some of these beautiful words.

Take ‘coruscate’, for example.

That was when I read ‘The Coral Island’ (by R. M. Ballantyne) as a boy of some 16 years.

The prescribed book was a simplified and abridged version that did not have the above-mentioned word but I always went in for the original!

By: Eileen

Eileen — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:29:24 +0000

I was so taken with the surface reading of 2dn that I omitted to include the definition; EPHEMERA are insects that, in their winged state, live only for a day.