Comments on: Enigmatic Variations — 836 Tribute by Loda

By: rightback

rightback — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:27:29 +0000

One of my favourite puzzles this year. Many thanks to Loda, and thanks for the blog, Colin.

I agree with Geoff that 34ac should probably have read “rail down”.

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:14:17 +0000

Deejay, thanks. I have no idea why I decided to invent a currency unit. I think I should type these things up as soon as I solve them rather than leaving them on the side for several days.

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:11:30 +0000

Beermangent, thanks for the comment. I have corrected the quotation (including ‘that’ for ‘who’ and punctuation.) My ODQ, where I first identified the line, is correct. Then, to save time, I cut and pasted from some Internet source. Big mistake to trust the Internet!

By: deejay

deejay — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:11:29 +0000

I agree with 34a being a faulty clue; I also thought it should have read “rail down”.

Also, I think the wordplay for 28a should be CA+RE+M+E: M after CA+RE(=on) + E.

By: beermagnet

beermagnet — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:56:33 +0000

Mind if I point out that the line is
“They shall grow not old”
rather than “They shall not grow old”
I read a piece recently (either in the G or the Indie) on why it is important to correct this common error and it struck a chord with me. The gist is that “They shall grow” implies growing remembrance despite the fact that they will remain “not old” whereas “They shall not” is too negative.

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:20:32 +0000

Thanks for the corrections and clarifications, Geoff.

You are probably right about 34a. 11d is easy when explained! I think I gave up trying once I knew the grid entry was correct and I’d not come across PATROON before. I thought I had typed crustacean at 41a, it seems not. And, 17a gave away a bit of my light-weight mark-up, now corrected.

By: Geoff Moss

Geoff Moss — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:54:33 +0000

Colin

11d is ‘patroon’ with ‘Pat’ removed. The definition is ‘cox’ and the wordplay is PATRO[l] (cut short perambulation) ON (in progress).

34a I have ‘faulty clue’ written against this one as I am not happy with ‘cut at length’. I think the clue was possibly meant to read ‘rail down’ to which the ‘t’ must be added to define ‘fall’.

41a To suit the clue I think you should have said that a ‘telson’ is a bit of a crustacean (even though it is also a bit of an arachnid).

PS You’ve lost some formatting in 17a.