Comments on: Guardian 25,005 (Sat 8 May)/Araucaria – Action stations

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Sat, 22 May 2010 23:16:56 +0000

Thanks, rightback.

I was stumbling along, with a few random clues solved, and fearing the theme would never become clear, when I decided to look up “amersham” because the clue’s mechanics demanded it, and it sounded like it could be a town. Wikipedia told me it indeed was, and also that it was in commuting range of London… about 20 minutes later, after realizing my atlas would be useless, I found a list of Tube stations on WP. Now, since there are hundreds of them, brute force wasn’t going to be much help, but now I had a head start. I started attacking any clue that appeared to be lacking a definition and seeing if I could make something resembling a place name out of them, then checking the list to see if they were. One or two popped out at me off the list because I was immersed enough to remember the numbers of letters. GRANGE HILL was one such.

So, ironically, after a couple of hours I had all the themed answers, but was stuck on four “normal” clues.

Put it aside after banging my head on 1,13,17, and 19, figuring I’d come here and see how stupid I was.

Pulled it out today and had a look before logging on, and BLUNT finally clicked (doh!) and I was able to crank those last four out.

In 19 I didn’t like the superfluous “needing”, and as rightback said, there was a lot of nonsense on the surfaces, although enjoying those is a low priority for me, excepting the occasional truly brilliant one.

Lots of fun, especially since I eventually finished it, although of course without finding a “cheat” resource it would have been hopeless. Haven’t been in London since I was nine…

By: Maarvarq

Maarvarq — Fri, 21 May 2010 03:29:14 +0000

… and if one’s only exposure to the London Underground was a brief visit 20 years ago, the theme was no use whatsoever to getting clues out. Fortunately the clues themselves were much simpler than the usual by this setter, or I would have given up pretty quickly.

By: Daniel Miller

Daniel Miller — Mon, 17 May 2010 13:51:07 +0000

Nice amusing and relatively quick jaunt, a memory jog round the Underground from days of yore (when I lived in London).

By: Mr Beaver

Mr Beaver — Sun, 16 May 2010 22:24:03 +0000

We enjoyed this puzzle. MAIDA VALE was my first themed clue – I’m no opera buff but Aida does seem to keep popping up… Didn’t get AMERSHAM until quite late on, despite having gone to school there!

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Sat, 15 May 2010 19:19:08 +0000

Re comment 13, the definition is ‘wrapping’, I think.

By: Matt.vantage

Matt.vantage — Sat, 15 May 2010 18:37:20 +0000

This was great i thought.
As a novice, managed to do all but two over the weekend, and really enoyed some of the clues.
SWEET PAPER eluded me, though (15d) where is the definition in the clue?

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sat, 15 May 2010 18:31:09 +0000

And yet JG, to be fair, these meaningless surfaces do seem to have gone down quite well with audiences over the decades. And with me, I must say. I couldn’t quite believe what I was reading when I picked up my first Guardian crossword puzzle, written by The Lord John, as compared with the boring ones (an opinion now modified, thanks to becoming more boring myself) found in The Ximenean and other papers.

And, also to be fair, while you might object, Sidey, to clarified butter being described as ‘fat’, that definition is not a mistake. From what I know the GCE doesn’t alter Araucaria’s puzzles in deference to His Greatness, but they are proof-solved by someone in a country vicarage before they’re sent in.

By: john goldthorpe

john goldthorpe — Sat, 15 May 2010 16:36:37 +0000

Well said, Sidey. And Araucaria’s surfaces in general make less sense than those of just about any other Guardian setter.

By: Bill Taylor

Bill Taylor — Sat, 15 May 2010 13:35:56 +0000

I’m with tupu and Tokyo Colin — the arrival counts far more than how you get there. I enjoyed this one immensely. Two good prize crosswords in a row and today’s is shaping up well, too.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 15 May 2010 13:34:20 +0000

Sidey @ 7

I very much doubt if ORANGE HILL is a station on the Underground.

Please always allow for potential Grauniadisms.