Comments on: Guardian 24,903 (Sat 9 Jan)/Paul – Kinky and quirky

By: Sylvia

Sylvia — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:32:00 +0000

Wonderful entertainment! At least 17 of the solutions were inspired – Paul just gets better and better.

By: Ian

Ian — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:26:27 +0000

THOUSAND was outrageous!!

Superb anagrams and thanks for the blog Rightback.

By: Mr Beaver

Mr Beaver — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:23:56 +0000

CGK – I guess capoeira was picked because of its unfamiliarity. ‘Karate’ might have been too much of a giveaway.
I would have agreed with you about its obscurity, but for my daughter having mentioned (a week or so before the crossword) a friend who was ‘into capoeira’.
We had to look it up then…

By: CGK

CGK — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:13:38 +0000

I’m almost always happy to look up unfamiliar words, but capoeira (13dn) was gratuitously obscure when any example of a martial art would have sufficed. In any case, according to Chambers as quoted by Rightback, it is not actually a martial art, but a combination of a martial art and dance. Was the slavery connection thought irresistible in a puzzle for Guardian readers?

By: rrc

rrc — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 19:37:24 +0000

thoroughly enjoyable and took considerably less time to complete than many prize crosswords I liked many of the clues and would agree with rightback that this was vintage Paul.

By: rightback

rightback — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:30:05 +0000

Thanks for the corrections (Sil was, of course, quite right about the wordplay to THOUSAND: (SOUTH)* + AND, not (SOUTH AND)*) and to Gaufrid for correcting the header.

Bryan, I’d be surprised if the Guardian editor has done any whip-cracking; Paul, like the sorely missed Taupi, always seems to produce highly entertaining crosswords without resorting to obscurities.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:13:03 +0000

Thanks KD. Error corrected.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:07:30 +0000

Just in case people want to reference it in the future, it was actually 24903 and not 24093 as shown in the header.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:35:22 +0000

Thanks, Rightback.

I agree with all the comments except 3.

Grumpy Andrew, have you another pseudonym for commenting when you do like a puzzle? – or does that never happen?

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:12:51 +0000

Many thanks, Rightback, I thoroughly enjoyed this and I found it relatively easy for a Prize Puzzle.

Of course, there were no obscure words or Gruaniad misprints and I wonder if the Editor has cracked the whip.

Well done Paul.