Comments on: Guardian 24,545 – Paul

By: Duncan

Duncan — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:48:18 +0000

4ac was such a sublime spoonerism, I’m surprised no one else commented on it …

By: ACP

ACP — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:00:00 +0000

For what it’s worth, I’d heard of only Hirst and only because of a recent auction of his work. None of these artists and the Turner prize are particularly well publicised south of the equator.

Having said that, I discovered all the artists from the helpful clues, so I consider it a pretty good puzzle when setter is able deliver that.

By: muck

muck — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:05:24 +0000

2dn: Crikey, I like your suggestion that the clue should have read “close to penniless”.

By: muck

muck — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:52:30 +0000

2dn: my first thought was TA(S)TE had to be an error. Good to have agreement from Andrew, Mhl et al

By: Fletch

Fletch — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:05:27 +0000

I didn’t do the puzzle but there’s an assumption in Peter’s post that’s it’s only retired old men doing crosswords and if you’re defeated it frees up your time for more pottering in the greenhouse – that’s what got me when Jimbo had implied he was doing it on the train.

By: Smutchin

Smutchin — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:48:20 +0000

This Hirst fellow is a new one on me though – very obscure!

By: Fletch

Fletch — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:42:18 +0000

It doesn’t exactly ‘free up your day a bit’ does it though, if you’re doing it on the train to work.

By: Smutchin

Smutchin — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:38:04 +0000

And Steve McQueen has been in the news recently for his film about hunger striker Bobby Sands.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:25:14 +0000

Nothing wrong with a themed puzzle every now and again. The theme may spark off an interest, as an Araucaria Showboat puzzle did for me a few years back, and even if it doesn’t, at least you can free up your day a bit, and there’s always another one tomorrow.

By: Smutchin

Smutchin — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:23:35 +0000

Jimbo, your comments are mean-spirited and, frankly, wrong. You may not rate contemporary art and that’s fine, your opinion on that matter is unimpeachable. But given the amount of controversy and news coverage the Turner prize generates every year, surely none of the artists in the puzzle should be unknown to anyone who reads the rest of the paper rather than just turning straight to the crossword? They are all general knowledge. Ofili, for example, was the artist whose paintings were shit. Literally. And Rachel Whiteread [in]famously wrote “Fuck Cilla Black” on the cover of G2.