Comments on: Guardian 24,920 / Enigmatist

By: Neil

Neil — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:53:22 +0000

Late, as usual!
Thanks all for giving this the right hammering it deserved. Not so much ‘Aha!’ moments as ‘Keough’ moments (snort of disgust that’s supposed to represent). Finished it, all but ‘frogman’, which I am proudly smug to have failed on. I do crossword puzzles for enjoyment. This gave me none.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:13:41 +0000

Thank you for that, Eileen.
And even if you have never heard of the name Alphonse Mucha, I can hardly imagine that you never have seen one of his works.
His style is so recognisable.
After he left his home country for Paris, he became instantly famous because of his work with the (then) famous actress Sarah Bernhardt.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:59:59 +0000

Sleeping on it didn’t do any good – so many thanks for that, beermagnet! I don’t think I would ever have got there, never having heard of the artist. [I think you meant RECITED, though.]

[Well done, Sil, too.]

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:40:25 +0000

Re (…!!!…) #55:

Nice to see that there’s still someone out there (apart from Eileen, of course).

I think it is not always easy to find a solution to a clue when there are no crossing letters available.
The clue competition at Cryptica would look very different when Paul wouldn’t give away the answers – which at one point I suggested to him (the answers being revealed somewhere else at the site, or later).

Anyway, as I “said” MUCH APPRECIATED!

BTW, for me Alphonse Mucha is a well-known artist, firstly because I have been many many times to Prague (mainly schooltrips) and secondly because posters of his work were immensely popular during my university years (and maybe they still are). There is a beautiful little museum in Prague dedicated to his work – even if you don’t like the style, it is very attractively done.

By: beermagnet

beermagnet — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:31:02 +0000

Blimey Sil – you had me looking up Wella, Mosta and even Verya before I finally hit on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucha

MUCHA (Czech painter) PP (very softly) CITED (made a statement) about A (the origin of art)

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:13:00 +0000

Hi Sil

You know that I’ve said it several times already!

Thanks for the clue – but I’nm going to have to sleep on it, I think.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:54:03 +0000

Very kind of you all!

Highly valued Czech painter very softly made a statement about the origin of art (4,11)

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:48:19 +0000

Hear, hear!!

By: mhl

mhl — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:45:40 +0000

Sil van den Hoek: to add to what anax said, you should know you have fans who are looking forward to a complete crossword from you, based on the amazing quality of those clues!

By: mhl

mhl — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:43:07 +0000

Eileen: thanks for the helpful post – I found this difficult, and it’s good to know that I wasn’t alone. Some really excellent clues, though: I loved HA-HA, MONTEVIDEO, THE FINAL WHISTLE, ENGLISH and LEEK in particular.

“up” strikes me as a rather good anagrind now, after the explanations from Anax and Alberich. (I’m now trying to think of clue using this whose surface references the wonderful Pixar film.)

(I think the “less-committal” policy about what one thinks of the crossword is best as well, although it’s tough to remain neutral!)