Comments on: Guardian 25,087 – Brummie

By: Gary

Gary — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 13:44:27 +0000

OKAY, I get this is meant to be “reminisce with every body about our childhoods”, the location where the target group is a variety of twenty-year olds. Thus I won’t criticise the omission with all the different classics. But I am going to point out this really shows exactly how even in its best moments number has really slipped. None worth mentioning songs can assess to “I wanna often be like you” in addition to “The Bare Necessities” (Jungle book)

By: mhl

mhl — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:42:45 +0000

Thanks for the helpful post, Anderew.

Was it just me who didn’t know exactly how many sheets there are in a ream, and ended up with DREAM instead of CREAM? It doesn’t quite work (I was thinking “their dream house”, which couldn’t really be “their finest house”) but an easy mistake to make if you’re trying to solve fast…

By: Roger

Roger — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:24:58 +0000

Thanks Andrew.
I had originally thought of over or perhaps turn for 24d, both of which would have done rather nicely.
But then along came the crossing letters and spoiled it all

By: stiofain

stiofain — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 22:59:18 +0000

Well spotted Scarpia Gil is one of my faves

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 22:52:19 +0000

Thanks Andrew.
Good puzzle from Brummie,with a few smiles along the way.
I always take a while to get into his way of thinking but his clueing is usually fair.Spotted the theme after getting THE SCAFFOLD and even though I work in a record shop I must admit some of the bands dug out here were completely unknown to me.
As cyniccure @23 says the “nutty” part of the clue for MADNESS was very apt.
Probably unitentional but the wording of 27 across reminded me of the Gil Scott-Heron song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b54rB64fXY4

Sil,I much prefer your version of 2 down,a very small change in wording for a much improved clue.

My quibble is with the enumeration for 17 down.As far as I can see(Chambers and a couple of internet dictioary sites) HELL-BENT should be hyphenated.Whilst it is normal in barred puzzles to ignore hyphens in the enumeration,this is not usually the case in blocked puzzles(see 5 across in this puzzle).

By: Gerry

Gerry — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:54:27 +0000

Amazed that I didn’t spot the bands theme.

Surprised I got ‘refulgent’ without difficulty, it’s not a word I use a lot(!)

I laughed, as others did, at 11ac (‘discarded item of dining equipment’). Very good.

Didn’t care much for 19d. Would’ve been surer ‘police’ was correct if I’d cottoned onto the theme.

By: stiofain

stiofain — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:54:20 +0000

I enjoyed this one and see that there were a few music refs in todays quickie too, there was even a dead kennedy (california punk band dead kennedys)

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:52:53 +0000

Hi again, Sil

“But mainly because I feel that it’s right now, nót just because the dictionaries tell me”

I would hope, if you have managed to read me over the last months, that you know of my thoughts re dictionaries! I, too, always go by what I feel to be right but, on this site, there’s always the need to provide lexicographical evidence – even if I don’t always agree with it!

As I said, I personally have no problem with ‘life = biography’, as in the example I quoted.

Or, just a little bit more up to date, how about

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python%27s_Life_of_Brian ?

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:03:37 +0000

OK, Eileen, no problem re ‘life’.
But mainly because I feel that it’s right now, nót just because the dictionaries tell me [even if that's the only criterium, in Crosswordland anyway].
As you know I am not British and my ‘feel’ for words and language finds its origins in 50+ years on the other side of the North Sea.
There are a lot of similarities in these ‘feelings’, but ‘life’='life story’ wasn’t one of them.
However, I do get it now.

By: Little Dutch Girl

Little Dutch Girl — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:47:02 +0000

How embarrassing – despite being children of the 60s we didn’t realise that there was a theme until we read the blog!!

Thanks for pointing it out Andrew!

Most groan-worthy clue was 1a. Lots of good clueing today.