Comments on: Guardian 25009 / Paul

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Mon, 17 May 2010 00:00:23 +0000

Thanks, Handel and Paul.

Very enjoyable puzzle, started in a few easy clues, then kept hitting brick walls, but each time I’d attack it again I’d get another 1-3 or so and be remotivated to not give up yet. MULTITASKING finally got me the last five or so. Didn’t get WALL LIZARD, but I do have “wizard” and “alll” written in my notes so I was almost there.

I also appreciated the nice mix and wide range of clue types. 14 was my favorite.

By: tupu

tupu — Fri, 14 May 2010 21:47:30 +0000

Hi Steve Pardoe. Thanks re Fowler. So too does my paper here further south! But quite apart from the spelling – which, as you can see, is not so great a worry for me in itself – the crucial thing is that ‘miniscule’ makes no sense in the context of the clue as far as I can see. Perhaps Paul could comment.

By: Steve Pardoe

Steve Pardoe — Fri, 14 May 2010 13:05:35 +0000

Tupu (20) – our fairly Northern edition of Friday’s paper spells 25a MINISCULE, but Fowler and Burchfield are having none of it (and neither is Fifteensquared’s checker, I see!).

I enjoyed 25009 – perhaps in part because I found it easier than many of Paul’s. Now for The Master…..

By: scarpia

scarpia — Thu, 13 May 2010 22:12:37 +0000

A pretty good puzzle from Paul,not one of his very best but plenty of fun nonetheless.
Particularly liked 18 across and 7 down.
Re 27 across – it seems Pest has not been a city in it’s own right since 1873(see link below),so should clue have read’meeting old city on the Danube’?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pest,_Hungary

By: Dave Ellison

Dave Ellison — Thu, 13 May 2010 21:47:58 +0000

Ooops, sorry, not AMEN

By: Dave Ellison

Dave Ellison — Thu, 13 May 2010 21:46:56 +0000

Instead of EMMA for E?M? there are: ERMA, ELMO, ELMS, EMMY, ESME; and for ?M?A, AMIA, YMCA, AMEN; and probably others, so quite a choice.

I completed half of this in 30′, then ground to a halt. I didn’t find the rest easy.

I must demur to 21a: An axis is not a turning point; an axis is a line.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Thu, 13 May 2010 21:32:46 +0000

Derek (#33), thanks for your efforts.
I do get it now.
‘Take poor clue’ then ‘we will get as a result’ (as): ‘wee’.
So, ‘minus CULE*’, we’ll have ‘wee’.
I don’t like it, though [but that's my problem].

By: Fletch

Fletch — Thu, 13 May 2010 21:19:58 +0000

I did enjoy it though I agree with Sil that it was nothing outstanding. But when you’ve been around so long as a setter and have had such a prolific output in most of the major broadsheets, I don’t expect to see every clue honed to the same kind of perfection as, say, a setter that gets one stab a month at it.

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Thu, 13 May 2010 21:16:36 +0000

Sil, it’s because take, in the remove sense implies a subtraction. E.G. Saying, take 3 cans off the shelf. You wouldn’t say take away because that could imply “and remove from this vicinity” (if you meant that then take away from is correct), but from the point of view of the shelf, the cans are taken away, subtracted. So just saying take in this instance is doing double work, one part of which justifies the clue.

Doh, that wasn’t very good. I always find it hard to be succinct when meanings are intertwined and need explaining. But you asked, and no-one else answered so I had to try.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Thu, 13 May 2010 20:33:51 +0000

Yes, a good puzzle, but we wouldn’t say a very good one.
Just the usual fare [which, admitted, is indeed better than some other's tour de force] – relatively unremarkable on the Paul-scale.

Like cholecyst, we think EMMA should be banned now [though the clue was OK].
ALLIANCE and ENTREE were too obvious, in our opinion [maybe even old chestnuts].
The OBAMA clue was also immediately clear [the s/b trick surely must have been done before], but why such a surface, “Born to replace son in terrorist”? What does that mean?

We weren’t happy with ‘Lenin was’ for the definition of EMBALMED.
There must be more people than just Lenin, and it’s surely not the only ‘thing’ he was.

One question: why is ‘minus’ = ‘take’?
If it has to do with subtracting, well, then I have to say that my pupils say ’8 take away 3′ when I write down ’8-3′. But maybe there’s another explanation?

Best clues probably, 14ac (CROSS-EXAMINE) [and nót because of the 'sex'] and 24d (ISLE – one that we saw yesterday too), both very well constructed.

This was really a quickie today, and in our After-work-session, we even had the time to tackle Alberich in the FT [also easier than usual, and a match to Paul in precision].

Good, not great.