Comments on: Guardian 24,616 – Puck

By: mhl

mhl — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 08:41:12 +0000

Thanks for the post on this one, Ciaran. The word MENHIR will be familiar to anyone who is a fan of the Asterix books - Obelix's occupation is "menhir delivery man"... I thought this was a very good crossword, and the rather bleak theme that Ciaran referred to was quite a nice change.

By: Ian Stark

Ian Stark — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:02:37 +0000

Hmmm . . . I really couldn’t get into this one. Not necessarily because it wasn’t a good puzzle, rather that my mind has been elsewhere the last couple of days. I got about two thirds of the way through before deciding to call it a day. It didn’t help putting in DOWN IN THE GUTTER very early on, reading ‘blue’ as ‘smutty’. I personally found some of the clues a bit fiddly – MENHIR, for example – not sure I’m a fan of using all those abbreviations ME N H IR for a word I have never heard of. My shortcoming, not Pucks.

Many new words for me – EDEL (hmmm), ECONUT (hmmm again), MENHIR, OOLITE, PANTHERINE, LOTHAIR and AI from AILING. Perhaps a few too many for me to comfortably get through this one without the books (which I didn’t have access to anyway, hence my conceding defeat at midninght!).

To add to Smutchin’s comment, yes I use Crossword Compiler and, like Smutchin, I have only just scratched the surface. I try and avoid overuse of the anagram finder but it’s a very useful thing to have up your sleeve in the event of brain death! CC has excellent publishing facilities that make producing printed or online versions very easy. I hadn’t heard of Sympathy until I read about it in the previous post! Click on my name above to see the default (I think) online appearance of CC puzzles. I’ve now published a total of seven and I recommend The Realms of Fantasy (if I may!).

Smutchin – loved your number 7. I got the theme immediately after associating the two most obvious clues with the title – I am not familiar with the theme in it’s original format but I knew the answers from a later rendition (trying not to give anything away to anyone yet to do the puzzle!). The only one I couldn’t get in it’s entirety was the object of the theme. Other clues of note: 16a, lovely; 2d, brilliant! Keep ‘em coming!

By: smutchin

smutchin — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:32:39 +0000

Geoff - thanks, glad you enjoyed it. I use Crossword Compiler, same as Ian Stark, who has used it to put his puzzles online. It's not free but it's extremely powerful and versatile (I've used a small fraction of its features so far) so it's good value. Sympathy is also supposed to be very good and both are available as free downloads for evaluation, so it might be worth trying both to see which you prefer (I got CC before I'd heard of Sympathy, so haven't compared). I think Sympathy is the one favoured by the pros. As for fecundity... writing clues is a good way to relieve the tedium of the daily train journey.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:21:32 +0000

Another slight on ‘Libertarians’ (and presumably ‘Araucarians’) as compared with holy ‘Ximeneans’, this one from Derek, but the closer you look at so-called rules, the harder they get to see. In any case, what are called Ximenean puzzles aren’t always free from ambiguity at the cryptic level, or even – on rare occasions, I admit – fully correct. And the same is true, generally, of non- or un-Ximenean work. But there *are* good and bad puzzles – perhaps that’s an easier, or at least more easily supportable distinction to draw.

You’re probably not going to get a crock from Puck, who seems most conscientious, but there are more reliable sources …

By: don

don — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:18:49 +0000

Having failed to get to Edinburgh today, I also failed to get Auld Reekie, alas.

By: don

don — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:17:41 +0000

I should have thought that AULD REEKIE was ’Old Smoky’ in EGNLISH?

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:48:22 +0000

I initially thought 12ac should be T-MAN, and not G-MAN.
You can read it as: going back somewhat in “Vietnam”, instead of back somewhat in “Vietnam going”.
Because of the word “somewhat”, I decided to write: T + NAM (some of it back)
And the trouble is, a G-Man is an agent, but a T-Man is that as well: a special law-enforcement agent of the United States Treasury, according the Crossword Compiler WordWeb.

By: Dave Ellison

Dave Ellison — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:38:02 +0000

I couldn’t get rid of the feeling of deja vu all through this – has this crossword been given before?

By: Geoff

Geoff — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:25:50 +0000

Thanks for the link, Muck. Tongue was in cheek!

Smutchin (if you’re still there): Have just done your puzzle “The Hidden Code” which I enjoyed a lot. Found 7 linked clues (6 characters and an object!). Will have a go at the others you have posted links to. I admire your fecundity – must be all those oysters…. BTW, what compilation software do you use/recommend?

When Paul gets the interactive part of his website up and running we should be able to have these conversations in a more appropriate place.

By: muck

muck — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 17:50:38 +0000

Geoff#13

See: http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Morton-InSearchOfScotland/

Auld Reekie, or Edinburgh; in the distance the castle, but everywhere there is smoke.

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