Comments on: Guardian 24,838 (Pasquale)

By: maarvarq

maarvarq — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:18:22 +0000

Geez, I don’t see a crossword with solutions including “antinomian”, “Achernar”, “gapo”,
“hanap” and “palmyra”, let alone a detailed reference to a performer who died the year after I was born (and I am no spring chicken) to be “straightforward”. I don’t suppose anyone will read this comment anyway.

By: mhl

mhl — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:44:05 +0000

I think I’d agree with those who suggested this was on the difficult side for a daily crossword – I did badly on it because of being stuck on a plane where I couldn’t check my guesses. (e.g. I had ACHERNAR, ANTINOMIAN and RUTHLESS pencilled in, but not much confidence in them.) I’ve never heard of the phrase “in the club” to mean “pregnant” at all – normally with such things I usually have a glint of recognition after finding the answers!

Anyway, a good puzzle – thanks for the post & puzzle…

By: Mr Beaver

Mr Beaver — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:46:41 +0000

Admittedly we started this late, but we gave up after half an hour without having entered a single answer . I did spot ENTS, but didn’t think it could be right. Most dispiriting

By: muck

muck — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:09:45 +0000

I agree with others above: it wasn’t easy!
However it’s Friday, so what should I expect?

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:41:02 +0000

I had to go to London today and I had intended to do it on the train but I had finished it as far as I could over breakfast.

My failures were ACHERNAR & GAPO: I’ve never heard of them.

I guessed HANAP correctly.

Very enjoyable nonetheless.

Many thanks, Diagacht.

By: Speckled Jim

Speckled Jim — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:09:49 +0000

Of course – no offence taken, it’s just galling when that’s the first thing you see after slaving away fruitlessly and finally giving up to look at the solutions! I wasn’t aware that was a ramping-up of difficulty through the week in the Guardian though – yesterday’s seemed the easiest of the week…

I think the main problem today, as much as Pasquale’s style, was the obscurity of some of the words (and the fact that I don’t know any of George Formby’s oeuvre).

By: diagacht

diagacht — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:54:44 +0000

Speckled Jim,
I did not mean to sound arrogant when I baldly stated that I found this crossword ‘straightforward’. First, I meant the comment relatively; Friday crosswords are sometimes very difficult, this was by comparison ‘straightforward’. Second, the ease or otherwise with which one tackles a crossword will depend a great deal on how your mind works. As it happens I very much enjoy the Don (in his various guises) because I find he seems to think in a way that I can latch onto. There are other setters that pose significant challenges for me.

By: Speckled Jim

Speckled Jim — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:37:30 +0000

Straightforward?!

Sometimes I wish that the all-knowing solvers here would at least pretend they found a crossword like this even a tiny bit challenging!

By: Paul B

Paul B — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:44:27 +0000

http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/

Rather too many tough words for my (daily puzzle) taste.

Sure Fridays are allowed to be tough, but using so many recondite entries – especially where there’s no theme, Nina, or other grid-constricting device – seems hard for hard’s sake, which is a bit of a disappointment. Compare Enigmatist for example, where the trickiness (key word alert) tends (alert over) to reside in the SI.

By: Dave Ellison

Dave Ellison — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:31:38 +0000

This was seriously hard today. First run through, 5 mins, 1 answer (20d); 2nd run through 14 mins, 2 more answers; third, 32 mins, 8 more; finally, 15 mins more and 18 done, 11 to go!

8d I only knew Boaz as the name of one of the pillars of Solomon’s temple, but that nugget proved worthless. Ruth means “compassionate”, if I remember correctly, so this is not just a biblical reference, but also a pun. Boaz had to go through some hoops to marry Ruth in the end. This is a seriously good clue, therefore. (Ultimately Boaz wasn’t Ruth less; and, Ruth = wasn’t so unmerciful)