Comments on: Guardian 24646 / Auster

By: Barnaby Page

Barnaby Page — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:24:31 +0000

Agreed on 5ac – both Chambers (the online version at least) and SOED have it as 3,3.

By: dagnabit

dagnabit — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:23:06 +0000

Thank you so much, Agentzero. I wondered if the name might have something to do with Hirschfeld, so it was good to learn I was on the right track. I’ve actually solved at least one puzzle of this kind.

Have a good weekend, all.

By: Agentzero

Agentzero — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:06:26 +0000

Dagnabit: In the upper right hand corner of the website, under “Categories,” click “Tips for Solvers.” There you will find an article by Pete Biddlecombe. Click on “Comments” at the end of that article and, in the comments, you will find a discussion of Ninas.

By: Han

Han — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:48:32 +0000

I found the first three-quarters of this a nice easy task over breakfast this morning, and then was stuck with the bottom right corner to do this evening. Gave up with ‘pleasure’ and ‘sevens’ missing, which I kicking myself over, particularly being a bit of a rugby nut. 1d was a nice one given that I had been watching Madmen last night.

By: dagnabit

dagnabit — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:30:42 +0000

Thank you for the blog, mhl.

Paul B, may I ask what a Nina is?

By: Paul B

Paul B — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:56:34 +0000

Hi Jamie C.

If you like a challenge that goes beyond the clues, then yes indeed, this grid would certainly contribute to it. And another point might be that, as today’s clues were not generally hard, it didn’t matter anyway. But, while I don’t shirk a tough solve, I’m not into having things made unnecessarily supertough – even in a bad grid it’s possible to arrange for a few double-light answers to ease the swelling. Of the brain, I mean.

The ‘edge word’ situation you refer to can also be annoying, esp where the last letter’s also unchecked, but such grids sure help those who’d entertain a perimetrical Nina, for example.

By: Stumpy

Stumpy — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:44:35 +0000

11ac:I can very easily imagine Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead at Rorke’s Drift saying “Looks like we’re in a bit of a tight spot here chaps.” or maybe “tate spot hyaw cheps.” British understatement eh?

This was a ‘glance at the clue, write in the answer’ kind of puzzle, except, perhaps, substitute ‘look’ for ‘glance’ in the bottom right corner.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:49:56 +0000

Grids in which most initial letters are unchecked do make puzzles more difficult to solve, as it is always easier to come up with an answer if you have the first letter of a word. But that’s just an observation – it’s hardly grounds for a complaint.

Re 11ac: I had thought of ‘tight spot’ as the nearest to a synonym here, but ‘tight’ in this context means ‘difficult’ rather than specifically ‘hazardous’.

By: Mort

Mort — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:05:02 +0000

Overall very nice. It’s a shame about 10ac though. I’ve seen this formulation of RE + definition = ‘do it again’ a few times and always found it very unsatisfying. You can use any word which accepts ‘re’ as a suffix and achieve the same effect.

Apart from that, I can’t complain. There were a lot of charades in here, and a lot of them clued very cleverly to look like something else. The best example of this IMO has to be 16d.

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:31:24 +0000

Oh? People objecting to the grid? I have to say I agree, but I hadn’t said anything because last time I did my quite reasonable observation was jumped on by an idiot hell bent on making trouble out of nothing. I hope you people fare better.