Comments on: Guardian 25,071 / Araucaria (24th July)

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:01:13 +0000

I love these, as they add another level of solving to the “conventional” cryptic (as do my beloved puzzlecrypt puzzles).

I missed a few (N, U, H, S, and A – is using made-up words really fair?), but had all my answers locked in place. As a few said, Q was the first to get “inked” in, which forced H’s position, locating F, etc., etc.

Had I known NUM for “miner” I might have also solved N and U.

Anyway, thanks for the fun, Araucaria, and to Gaufrid for the explanations!

By: Biggles A

Biggles A — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 22:35:04 +0000

29. English is not an official language of New Zealand; there are two, Maori and sign language!

By: rightback

rightback — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:24:06 +0000

Many thanks to Gaufrid for blogging this, and many apologies to those who were frustrated by the lateness.

By: Little Dutch Girl

Little Dutch Girl — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 06:45:44 +0000

I usually love Araucaria’s alphabeticals but I found this one really disappointing.
Having got T and C – it was too easy to guess D, E, F, G and I. Thanks Gaufrid for the explanation of German – we were too lazy to try to look!

M had us on the wrong track. I’d insisted on Mulberry but it turns out that there are two other options – Mahogany and the correct one of Magnolia.

To be pedantic, Australasia is more than Australia and in many of the countries within this group English is only one of the official languages eg New Zealand.

By: rrc

rrc — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 15:27:15 +0000

Locating the correct area for the answer was considerably easier on this puzzle than many alphabeticals Ive attempted and thus hastened the completion. Very enjoyable and came totally out of the blue. which made a very surprise on opening the paper.

By: tupu

tupu — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 13:50:41 +0000

Hi Bryan and cholecyst
Thanks for the suggestions re English. I should have thought a little harder. I suspect that the Gibraltar example is marginally the best of the three as it works without a shift of meaning (though that would be no great harm in itself). Continent is in any case a contested term – I tend to think of North America as a sub-continent, but one could think of Europe in that way in relation to the ‘contained’ Europe-Asia land mass. I had acquiesced in the idea that Britain is part of Europe (as ‘a’ rather than ‘the continent’), but then any language within one of the six/seven continents is ‘continental’ on those grounds and the word becomes redundant. English in North America might also be contested because of Mexico. However, Australia will also do if one accepts the shift to ‘official language of a continent’ from ‘on the continent (of Europe)’ which seems OK.

By: Roger

Roger — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 13:35:36 +0000

Thanks Gaufrid, and Araucaria for a fun puzzle.

My two pennyworth re. ENGLISH, for what it’s worth …
The clue in this case does seem to specifically equate continental with European and as such (all other considerations notwithstanding) it works ~ English is after all a European tongue.
And Stella ~ yes I agree, our perception of ‘The Continent’ is probably an island thing !

By: Colin Greenland

Colin Greenland — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 12:58:02 +0000

Thanks, Gaufrid. I finished it without too much difficulty, though with a lot more research than you needed. Mostly, as you say, confirmation, but I was reduced to combing whole herds of wildebeests.

I should never have understood ITALIAN without your explanation. I struggled briefly to make it somehow out of ANTI or even ALIEN, then decided it must be right and would have to do.

I’m pleased to accept cholecyst and Bryan’s justifications of ENGLISH, too.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 12:13:32 +0000

Surely, English is the Official Language in the Continents of North America and Australasia?

By: cholecyst

cholecyst — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 11:59:36 +0000

Thanks, Gaufrid. Like Tupu and Stella, I wondered at English being a continental language, but then I thought of Gibraltar where English is surely the official language. I am reminded of the famous Telegraph headline: Fog in the Channel – Continent cut off.