Comments on: Guardian 24,919 – Gordius

By: Gordon

Gordon — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:04:39 +0000

I don’t think any of you noticed the real definition to 17d which I thought was brilliant.

Rid comes from to “free a place of’ Given precedence leads to ‘Put first’. So Put goes before rid. Gordius is much better when you take time to read his clues properly and not just guess what they mean.

By: Neil

Neil — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:49:43 +0000

Nothing to add … or subtract …

By: Barnaby Page

Barnaby Page — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:35:26 +0000

Tim – one of the less common meanings of “light” is to disembark from a vehicle (related, presumably, to “alight”). And ships and planes, of course, need to “land” before one can disembark. Unless I’m missing some further subtlety it is, indeed, not 100% synonymous.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:32:28 +0000

Did not do this puzzle, but to light = land is verb ie to touch ground or similar eg come down.

By: tim

tim — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:37:01 +0000

With this Gordius I completed more of a cryptic crossword than I ever have before, so I was quite pleased.

Though I still don’t understand Light = Land on 25ac, could someone help me out there?
Thanks.

By: Brian Harris

Brian Harris — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:09:49 +0000

@Davy I agree. Having compiled a couple of cryptic crosswords for colleagues at work, I was amazed how long it took to construct the clues. Several weeks in my case. I have nothing but admiration for these compilers who can churn out one or two a week (or in Rufus’s case, several an hour…) It’s extremely difficult to come up with an elegant but misleading surface reading that also functions perfectly as an indicator to the real answer. The best clues like this always make me smile, but they aren’t all that common, in all honesty. As Sil says, we shouldn’t expect every clue to be a masterpiece (and let’s not get into what defines “masterpiece” – that could be very subjective…). Personally, I think Paul and Brendan stand out, but I wouldn’t put Araucaria in the same league these days.

Gordius today was fairly simple, but entirely fair, and a very good example of a straightforward puzzle, with a couple of nice clues. I really enjoyed 25ac and 2 down for example.

By: Dave Ellison

Dave Ellison — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:22:13 +0000

GMJH @ 19: I read it as: if you retire from a situation you back off from it. Not strongly convincing.

By: Ponticello

Ponticello — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:13:45 +0000

25a Surely “Foulness is, say, a light” would be more acceptable?

By: GMJH

GMJH — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:50:53 +0000

Well I suppose it must be obvious as no one else has asked but, after checking with several dictionaries, I find no link between the word ‘retirement’ and ‘backing’. Can you tell me what it is? Thanks.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:16:42 +0000

Dave (& Mr Beaver), I think the criticism was not even that strong today, it could have been much worse – as it was in the recent past.
Solvers on this site don’t like Gordius, and never will, I guess.
I do understand the ones who express their reservations about the blandness of this crossword. There is no sparkle – it is not a Paul or a Brendan – , but most of the clues are completely fair.
Yes, I don’t like some of them at all (24ac, awful homophone ; 21ac, 12ac), but there are nice ones as well: 2d, 8d (though not perfect, there is a smile), 20ac, the clever 25ac and the fine construction of 13ac (natural linking of ‘broken’ and ‘contract’).
Apart from some definitions (for WIRING, ONLINE, UNJUSTLY (=’with criminal intent’?), it was just OK.
As I said on earlier occasions, sometimes it looks that we want each clue to be a little masterpiece.
But not everyone’s a Master.
Paul is, Brendan is, Araucaria is, FT’s Alberich is and (I think) Crucible is, to name a few.
Others are just as much trying to please us, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
But I fear, it’s not enough for the average visitor of this site.

Dont get me wrong, I found this crossword also not very inspiring (though OK), but then, so what?