Comments on: Guardian 25,007 / Rover

By: IanP

IanP — Wed, 12 May 2010 09:14:36 +0000

This crossword was a true pleasure. A setter at the height of his powers, pitching his considerable wit against the solver. How many years of experience, and how many hours of honest toil went into what, frankly, could reasonably be classed a “work of art”?

Particularly impressive, I felt, were the mind-bendingly clever 5d and 6d, surely the apogee of the clue-writer’s craft. How Rover must have batted the various clue types around in his head for these two before settling on the stunning and complex method he did.

Truly a joy to behold. I feel privileged to have been allowed to solve this one.

Yes. I know. It’s the lowest form of wit. But every now and then doesn’t hurt.

By: Another Andrew

Another Andrew — Wed, 12 May 2010 08:08:13 +0000

I can only agree with the comments above. I had assumed 8d had to be TANG from the letters but didn’t see what it had to do with seaweed (or smell, for that matter). Then, later in the afternoon, I was reading “Very Good, Jeeves” and Bertie refers to the tang of the sea breeze, which is close enough for me.

By: FumbleFingers

FumbleFingers — Wed, 12 May 2010 01:44:12 +0000

Quite so, Gaufrid.

Bill Taylor @17 – my housemate (older than me, but not exactly ‘elderly’) assures me that the reason he would never say TA is because he considers it a childish form (somewhat in the same category as, say, TUMMY or BOTTY).

But overall I too thought this was a pretty dismal offering, though like several others I couldn’t complete the SE corner. It started well (I really liked BLUEPENCIL, and LUNCHTIME seemed good to me), but things just went downhill after that. Maybe I couldn’t complete the last corner because my heart wasn’t really in it.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Wed, 12 May 2010 00:40:27 +0000

Hi eimi

I am around and thought about moving your comment to a more suitable location (Tartarus). Please let’s keep this forum free from comments and discussion about politics, religion and football, apart from in the chat room.

By: eimi

eimi — Tue, 11 May 2010 23:10:25 +0000

I won’t comment on the crossword, but if Gaufrid’s not around, I’d like to share D and G’s despair @32. Cameron Lite welcomes our comments, it seems:

Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats wants to hear your views and answer your questions. If you have something you would like to write to Nick about as Leader of the Liberal Democrats, please contact him via the address or email form below:

Write: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

Phone: 0207 219 2371

Fax: 0207 219 0054

By: tupu

tupu — Tue, 11 May 2010 21:44:26 +0000

Hi Eileen. I’m puzzled by your comment re the ‘it’ in tricoteuse. I Had thought that ‘furiously’ signalled the anagram, but perhaps I’ve missed something. Also, if one needs an ‘it’ there is perhaps the ‘knitting table’ also mentioned in Chambers.
I didn’t think much of this puzzle, but I can’t fathom the general anger I sense today.

By: D and G

D and G — Tue, 11 May 2010 21:43:59 +0000

Disappointing day for politics, disappointing day for crosswords. Didn’t realise tang was a smell, but apart from that, sky writing was weak and terrorists lazy.

Let’s hope once the government are slashing cuts left right and centre it doesn’t affect the quality of the guardian crossword further, which might remain the only employment we have!

By: Davy

Davy — Tue, 11 May 2010 20:49:27 +0000

I agree with the previous comments and find that Rover’s clues can be classified as simplistic, poorly constructed or just vague. Having said that, there were one or two reasonable clues such as 22a and 25a but these don’t make up for the shocking clues such as 10a, 11a, 19a, 21a and especially 15d.

All in all, a very poor effort. From memory, Rover’s last puzzle was much better than this.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Tue, 11 May 2010 20:32:15 +0000

This morning, I adopted Andrew’s #12 ‘nil nisi bonum’ approach on this [ but couldn't resist responding [#10] to K’s D’s naughty comment! ]

I’d already tried hard to see some subtle significance in the ‘bizarre sky-writing duplication’, largely because of the symmetry of the answers in the grid – and failed.

I also tried to find some kind of justification of SNORTERS, re snorting heroin [horse] but, again, unlike Delia’s recipes …

And, apart from the undefined ‘it’ in 5dn, what is the ‘it’ that the tricoteuse is furiously securing?

I did try – but this puzzle has done nothing to push Rover up my ladder of favourites.

By: Bill Taylor

Bill Taylor — Tue, 11 May 2010 20:23:01 +0000

It was, of course, Rover who misspelled Cessna in his April 19 cryptic.