Comments on: Guardian 24,742 (Brummie)

By: Mike Laws

Mike Laws — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:34:45 +0000

Re 12 from Phaedrus – yes it has, by Don Putnam (Logodaedalus), in Games & Puzzles about 30 years ago.

By: Martin Searle

Martin Searle — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:40:41 +0000

Thanks to enitharmon for the comment re the etymology of ‘greyhound’. I knew it was the correct spelling for the bus line, but was, like Bryan, puzzled as to why this was out of step with US ‘gray’ usage. I know now about the ‘grighund’ origin. Wonderful for learning things, crosswords….

By: JohnR

JohnR — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:31:39 +0000

As always, very helpful blog – thanks! Thanks to commenters too, of course.

I still haven’t managed to understand 22ac. Where does the ‘b’ come from? That is, what clues ‘b’ rather than some other letter?

By: Phaedrus

Phaedrus — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:56:56 +0000

Cockney’s Alphabet seems to be a slightly different version of the Fools Alphabet (which, apropos of nothing, was a rather good book by Sebastian Faulks
Could be a whole theme for a xword no? Or has it been done already?

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:33:43 +0000

Many thanks, Enitharmon

When you do these type of Crosswords you never stop learning.

Which is half the fun.

Bryan

By: Hughie

Hughie — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:35:26 +0000

I was pleased to make quite good progress with this. I’ve been struggling a bit with them over the last couple of weeks!

By: Radler

Radler — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:56:26 +0000

revj (8) – The homophone is “new mown” which “precedes one” (I) “getting an” (A) – definition “infection”

By: revj

revj — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:31:51 +0000

I think the ‘A’ at the end of 9 is also part of the homophone – ‘new mown hay’, is it not? Though why it would then ‘precede one’, rather than be ‘around one’, I’m not sure. At least it reminded me of the Cockney alphabet: A for ‘orses, B for mutton, C for miles, D for dumb, etc …, which is always fun to try and remember! There seem to be various versions on the web – e.g. http://www.phespirit.info/cockney/alphabet.htm

By: enitharmon

enitharmon — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:45:08 +0000

Bryan @ 4: Ah yes, but the ‘grey’ in greyhound is nothing to do with the colour (there are no grey greyhounds) but has a completely different etymology.

By: liz

liz — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:54:32 +0000

Thanks for the blog. I missed STYX. Homophones often catch me out! I wondered if there was any significance for all the B’s in the puzzle? Found this enjoyable, but didn’t like HO cropping up twice, or BUS twice.