Comments on: Guardian 24,642 – Rufus

By: Paul B

Paul B — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:52:38 +0000

Hi MHL – you popped in just before me. See where you’re coming from … but the *past* tense?

By: Paul B

Paul B — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:51:26 +0000

Unless an EMIRATE is an ‘Arab state made’, I think you have a point.

In case we were all wondering, an emir (fem. emira) is an independent ruler or chieftain, a military commander or governor, and/or a descendant of Mohammed. His emirate is his office or rank, goverment, jurisdiction or territory. A state can be the territoty occupied by a sovereign political power or community. So there we are – the UAE is an office block.

By: mhl

mhl — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:45:25 +0000

Barnaby Page: Although it would be fine without, I think the surface reading is better with “made” and it’s a perfectly valid link word (S “made” D)…

By: Barnaby Page

Barnaby Page — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:41:34 +0000

I wasn’t clear what contribution “made” was making in 14ac. Wouldn’t “Government leader in Arab state to leave home” have worked equally as well?

By: Peter Biddlecombe

Peter Biddlecombe — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:52:29 +0000

LIMA: If you’re totally stuck with L?M? and “City doctor and writer (4)”, the appeal of LIMA is that it fits a possible dev – city, and the checking letters. But you’d then really need to explain “doctor and writer” as wordplay. As there are no “indicator words” for clue types like anagram or container, it pretty much has to be a charade or multiple definition – most likey a triple, IF you’re prepared to believe there are both a doctor and writer called Lima, previously unknown to you. Just possible but pretty unlikely. If it’s a charade, L, LI or LIM must be ‘doctor’ and the rest must be ‘writer’ – there’s nothing to indicate a different order. So MA = doctor, even if justifiable (AFAIK, not), shouldn’t be an option. With no recognisable doctor or writer in the possible 1-3 letter components, LIMA has to be an extremely suspect answer.

With a longer word (say 8 letters or more), I might gamble on an answer from the def and all the checking letters, but with four-letter words, there are often so many words to fit the checkers that you really need to be sure of at least part of the wordplay as well as the def.

By: John

John — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:01:02 +0000

Still don’t get why anyone was lured by LIMA.
Not so Rufus says MA = Doctor? I’m not familiar with that one.

By: Agentzero

Agentzero — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:44:55 +0000

Ah, thanks, Peter. Not prepared to give them my money just yet

By: dagnabit

dagnabit — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:16:05 +0000

Congratulations, Han! I’d say three missing after only a week or two of trying is an admirable achievement.

By: Han

Han — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:57:55 +0000

The closest I have come to finishing a cryptic. (Have only been trying for a week or two…) Gave up with banister, rock, and lamb missing. Wasn’t overally happily with ‘inspire’, or with trowel – wanted to put it from the first but didn’t get where correspondent fitted in. Also ‘rearmost’ – I see the anagram but the clue seems messy.

By: Peter Biddlecombe

Peter Biddlecombe — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:23:32 +0000

Agentzero/24: The dictionary on the Chambers website is “Chambers 21st Century Dictionary”. The dictionary known as “Chambers” for crossword purposes is “The Chambers Dictionary” – only available on the internet by subscription.