Comments on: Guardian 25,102 / Rufus

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:43:08 +0000

You’re welcome, Paddywack – in both senses [because I don't remember seeing your name before, or not recently, anyway - forgive me if I'm wrong. ]

By: Paddywack

Paddywack — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:33:32 +0000

I found that some clues were quickly and easily solved like 16 but struggled with others like 23a until I realised thet 21d wasn’t cuddle but clinch. Completely stumped by 25. Thanks Eileen for a lovely detailed blog.

By: Dynamic

Dynamic — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:25:12 +0000

Hey, Firefly who set Daily Telegraph Toughie No. 416 wouldn't be Roger Squires a.k.a. Rufus also would it? I only ask because I checked Wikipedia's Firefly (disambiguation) page and found: Rufus T. Firefly, a character played by Groucho Marx in the film Duck Soup Coincidence? Well, yes, quite possibly, but you never know! Anyway, I loved the clever 10a theme (see Big Dave's blog (complete with slightly risque image to accompany 1a), but most particularly 1a just made me fall about, regardless of who set it: 1a Fondle a thicker thong? (5) That Toughie was a tough but highly rewarding solve.

By: Dynamic

Dynamic — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:11:42 +0000

A belated thank you to Rufus and Eileen. I did it with a friend a day late and found it highly entertaining without being overly taxing (and I agree with your brief, Rufus, and believe you execute it superbly), so the pleasure kept flowing. Followed by Firefly’s excellent Tuesday Telegraph Toughie it made for a thoroughly enjoyable morning’s solving.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:04:48 +0000

Hi Roger

Many thanks for that!

I just knew that I had seen that clue before but no amount of googling came up with it – just references to it being an anagram.

It might be better to put it in General Crossword Discussion, as that seems to get more visitors than Trivia.

By: Roger

Roger — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:55:29 +0000

Thanks Eileen.
I know that time’s getting on a bit now with this one but I was interested to see the Llanfair question crop up again (see my post back in May ~ puzzle 24998 # 46).
I wonder if it’s a candidate for the Trivia category on this site which unfortunately doesn’t seem to be getting many customers
What say you ?

By: Davy

Davy — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:03:33 +0000

Paul B,

CARTHORSE is not anagram of ANCESTRAL because the letters don’t match but ORCHESTRA is an anagram of CARTHORSE. Perhaps that is what you were thinking of.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 22:10:13 +0000

I think ANCESTRAL is probably also an anagram of CARTHORSE, but perhaps I’m getting confused with something else: whatever it probably is, it probably isn’t Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

After YOU, sir!

By: Tony Edwards

Tony Edwards — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:05:51 +0000

I never noticed that ANCESTRAL was an anagram of LANCASTER but arrived at the same answer by thinking in terms of the House of Lancaster

By: Daniel Miller

Daniel Miller — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:41:15 +0000

Re: One Across – wouldn’t it have been possible to invert the crossword and make this the first across clue (if not actually clue number 1 (across))?