Comments on: Guardian 25085 – Gordius

By: Uncle Yap

Uncle Yap — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 06:48:04 +0000

Huw Powell at 59
My Chambers defines
perse
adj dark blue or bluish-grey.
n such a colour; a cloth of such colour.
I would normally not give a definition of a definition unless the def is indirect or obscure

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 05:14:50 +0000

PERSE? Thanks, Uncle Yap, but you didn’t explain why it is “dark blue”. It is not included in my version of the internet.

Yeah, fun, slow puzzle, but 12A left me blank and still does. Oh well, every day is different!

By: El Stano

El Stano — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:17:41 +0000

Talking of alternative answers (emits), I had “leg over” for 28 until 24 and 17 spoiled it!

By: Davy

Davy — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:06:32 +0000

Re #53,

Is Bah an abbreviation of ‘Bah, humbug!.’ as often said by Scrooge or does it mean something else ?.
Also, does it relate to my comment which precedes it or does it relate to the puzzle in general ?.
Come on Paul, give us a clue !.

By: tupu

tupu — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 06:57:09 +0000

Hi Paul B
As the old joke about the circus clown has it ‘Now that’s repartee!’ I imagine you chose your word carefully!

By: Bill K

Bill K — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 00:07:13 +0000

I knew “perse”, having attended the Perse School in Cambridge many (blue) moons ago. The school motto is “qui facit per alium facit per se”, an abstruse pun which had us all guffawing into our inedible lunches.

I only mention this because Cambridge is, of course, thoroughly light blue, and I wonder whether Gordius might have been alluding to this in his clue.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:45:46 +0000

Not sure what you mean, Paul, but it’s an anagram of: “Ah! B!”

By: Paul B

Paul B — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:41:35 +0000

Bah.

By: Davy

Davy — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:04:33 +0000

Thanks Uncle Yap,

I totally agree with john (#47) and didn’t think any of the name drops were remotely obscure. An enjoyable puzzle from Gordius which was a reasonable challenge. I didn’t think there were any outstanding clues but if pushed I would nominate 16d (PORTRAYAL) as the best and 28a (LOW GEAR) as the worst.

By: taxiphil

taxiphil — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 21:43:47 +0000

Because I got bogged down in the “names”, and hadn’t read any Tolkien (not my bag at all !), I spoiled an otherwise pleasing performance by anagramming “Wotan” as “Tanwo”. Doh ! !