Comments on: Independent 6,899/Virgilius – It’s all about U

By: Paul B

Paul B — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:12:38 +0000

Bad luck Testy. I’d like to have seen it too!

To return to business, I mean, had the spelling been representative of Greek (with the Greek character set possibly a *bit* beyond some solvers) I’d have bought it. As it wasn’t (the etymology of ‘Menelaus’ is Latin, with ‘Menelaos’ the Greek equivalent, AFAIA), I wondered whether we really could have (in SI) MU as a truly sound representation of the ‘initial’ letter (arbitrary surfaces and all that).

By: Testy

Testy — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:36:51 +0000

I guess not!

By: Testy

Testy — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:36:26 +0000

Paul, I’m not sure I understand. Even in the Greek form wouldn’t Menelaus’s name have begun with M (i.e. the Greek mu). I know it’s not always authoritative but Wikipedia seems to suggest that the Greek spelling would be ???????? (hope these characters come out OK when I submit???) so his initial would have been the Greek letter MU.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:20:15 +0000

(Delete ‘way’ or ‘voice’ above, according to preference.)

By: Paul B

Paul B — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:19:20 +0000

Could I just say in a very small voice way that, though Menelaus was (or is, to all mythological intents and purposes) Greek, ‘Menelaus (as spelt here, i.e. in English, i.e. in the Latin derivation) initially’ should probably not equal MU.

(I am not jealous of this brilliant puzzle or anything.)

By: Mick h

Mick h — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:05:23 +0000

Super puzzle, but surprised about solutions without U – thought U’s ubiquity would result.

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:13:54 +0000

As is often the case with themes like this one, I’m left wondering about the small number of apparently non-thematic entries. Was Virgilius kicking himself at not being able to find 3 more U-words to replace WATTLE, SCRAPER and CROSSPIECE? Or, is there some hidden relevance to these words? I guess U isn’t the easiest vowel to work with.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:03:16 +0000

Great puzzle – I, too, read it as ROUND EL

By: mhl

mhl — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:02:26 +0000

Oh, of course Thanks…

By: neildubya

neildubya — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:37:53 +0000

Snap!