Comments on: Guardian 24,993 (Sat 24 April)/Paul – Fast food

By: crosser

crosser — Tue, 04 May 2010 07:58:55 +0000

@Huw Powell
I hesitate to give an explanation as I’m a relative newcomer, but the clueing of “unfair” is, in fact, very fair. (1) A redhead is not fair-haired (therefore UNfair)and (2)when we think something is not fair, we say “I think that’s a bit thick”. Hope that has helped.

By: Ian

Ian — Mon, 03 May 2010 08:02:48 +0000

Thanks rightback.

This was superb! Easy but richly rewarding. 35′ to complete.

‘Ted Dexter’ was stupendous. ‘Lancashire Hotpot’, ‘Tenderloin’ & ‘Bangers and Mash’ utterly scrumptious.

Only wished you could have used a different, less graphic example for the use of a club rb.

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Mon, 03 May 2010 00:54:49 +0000

interesting and fun… in 75′ I was down to 3 missing answers. Some in depth research into the history of cricket got me 15d, leaving 27a (although I do have “swisher” written next to the clue, I couldn’t prove it to myself either literally or cryptically) and 20d. While I see how one could get 27a “fairly”, 20 makes no sense to me at all. But the rest of the puzzle was very enjoyable, the food theme requiring some odd research. I went to blightynet.co.uk to suss out 3/19, since I knew they had lists of traditional British food!

Thanks for the blog as always.

By: FumbleFingers

FumbleFingers — Sat, 01 May 2010 20:50:27 +0000

Many thanks, rightback, for a few derivations & thematic allusions I didn’t get.

Re ‘White = W’ in 9a ROWAN – interested to see you say “isn’t allowed in The Times, nor advanced/barred cryptics because it isn’t in Chambers”

I wouldn’t want to be dismissive of anyone who solved this puzzle in 5 minutes, but seriously – are you saying Hugh Stephenson, Richard Browne, etc. actually codify such rules? And if they do, that Araucaria, Paul, etc. would feel bound by them?

I’m a great fan of Chambers – great dictionary, and the only credible for an Official Scrabble Wordlist (playing in the UK – it obviously won’t do for international contests).

Apart from proper nouns, Mephisto sticks to Chambers for answer words – but let’s face it, no-one could complete the puzzle without knowing they’re in there somewhere! Mephisto goes out of his way to include the neologisms whenever there’s a new edition!

There have to be some rules in any sport, including cruciverbalism. But setting up one dictionary as the final arbiter of lexical conventions & validity seems to me more than a bit OTT. Valid English is whatever people say – so let the people speak!

By: smutchin

smutchin — Sat, 01 May 2010 20:30:19 +0000

Isn’t a swisher a headmaster’s cane? So called for the sound it makes.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Sat, 01 May 2010 19:29:06 +0000

There are a lot of things that spring to my mind right now.
One would be S (someone?), the other M (me?)?
And what about M&S?

Thanks, Mr Beaver, I get it [btw, I'm no expert either]

By: Mr Beaver

Mr Beaver — Sat, 01 May 2010 19:16:28 +0000

Sil – I think S&M stands for Sadism and Masochism. Arguably more accurate than ‘sado-masochism’ as one participant would be S and the other M. Or so I suppose – I’m no expert, I hasten to say!

By: rrc

rrc — Sat, 01 May 2010 16:19:39 +0000

It takes me more than five minutes to read the clues let alone answer them. Very enjoyable crossword with some great clues.

By: liz

liz — Sat, 01 May 2010 14:09:20 +0000

Thanks, rightback. Fast food, indeed! However did you solve it in five minutes??

I got SWISHER early on and it didn’t particularly bother me. My hold-up was having FAN BELT at 1ac, even tho I thought it was wrong, but I eventually corrected it.

Very enjoyable puzzle and nothing seemed forced. I liked the food theme too.

By: Tokyo Colin

Tokyo Colin — Sat, 01 May 2010 13:50:20 +0000

Thanks rightback. This was an enjoyable solve with a few that took a while. I was very happy to enter Swisher since I didn’t know the author and wasn’t sure where Cornwall was until I checked both. It is only recently that I seem to be consistently able to finish a Prize crossword at one sitting. Fifteensquared must be a good influence (maybe motivator?)

BTW – I think you inadvertently substituted 5dn for 4dn/5ac – BLACK PUDDING.