Comments on: Guardian 25157 Pasquale – Swan of Lichfield to the rescue

By: maarvarq

maarvarq — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 06:34:35 +0000

Dear God, I’m glad for some people that diabolic crosswords like this come up sometimes, but I didn’t even manage to get half out.

By: Samuel

Samuel — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 22:43:47 +0000

Great to see a reference to “The Swan of Lichfield”; I spent my teenage years learning to drink in The Swan in Lichfield, and it’s brought back many great memories.

By: otter

otter — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 10:45:41 +0000

In case anyone thinks I’m calling for fewer obscure/obsolete words or things requiring specialist knowledge – eg Anna Seward in this puzzle – I want to make clear that I’m not. I like learning things while doing crosswords, and it would be a shame if puzzles had to be reduced to items of common knowledge. I just think that where there is obscurity in part of the clue, the other parts of the clue should lead more clearly to a particular solution:
- If the solution is an obscure term or reference, the wordplay should be such that it definitely leads to one solution, so that you can confidently solve the wordplay and enter the solution even without knowing the word: ‘Well, it must be AOUDAD, I suppose.’ In this case, there were many possible ways of interpreting ‘an old man’.
- Conversely, if there is obscurity in the wordplay, the definition should be precise: in the case of LINGAM, at least to have made reference to Hinduism to narrow the options, or something like ‘Indian member’ – I don’t know, but it seemed in many of the definitions and charades, there were far too many options available.

I don’t mind if I’ve been fairly beaten by a clue or crossword – I know I’m still learning, and improving slowly in my solving skills – but I do like to feel that I have been fairly beaten: that I would have had a chance of solving it if I had persevered a bit longer, and so on.

Pasquale, I appreciate you responding to the comments. Hope you don’t find my criticism too off-putting.

By: PaulG

PaulG — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 09:46:24 +0000

Is the Pasquale post @19 a practical joke? If it’s genuine, it says a lot about the gentleman. I too begin to wonder.

By: scarpia

scarpia — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 23:44:24 +0000

Thanks Uncle Yap.
I thought this was an excellent puzzle from which I have learned a couple of new words – surely a plus for anyone who regularly tackles crosswords.I much prefer the “obscurities” on offer here to puzzles themed on TV comedies or soccer!
Any puzzle that contains clues which lead to 2 of the finest pieces of choral music ever written is fine by me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh31j6L95Ok

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c6UYHbNYuA

Keep up the good work Pasquale!

By: FumbleFingers

FumbleFingers — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 23:24:25 +0000

Here’s my second bite at the cherry – hopefully not as a yappy terrier snapping at grandmaster Pasquale’s heels…

The concensus does seem to be this one’s a bit (too) damn hard. Per morpheus @34, maybe not if it had been Saturday. I was amused to see I went up the same blind alleys as Eileen (ANNA SEWELL), tupu (WRISTS), and several others – plus spent as long as Sil on a slow start.

Maybe that’s enough to make a meaningful concensus, and it really WAS too hard. Or maybe we’re just a bunch of wusses lulled into a false sense of security by the Monday pushovers!

Whatever – forewarned, I shall breakfast on brain-boosting fish-oil and shredded encyclopedias before attacking Pasquale’s next offering…

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 22:47:07 +0000

Didn’t do this one, see comment in Quiptic land, but I read all the above anyway to help pass the time, so re sidey @4, hi, given the definition you found, the banker (who is also the dealer (usually)) could be said to be the counter of the money, and hence the one who tallies it and hence tallier, but even that would pretty obsolete too. Having typed that, I’m suddenly not sure it was as helpful as intended. Yup brains addled, see post referenced initially.

By: tupu

tupu — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 22:27:16 +0000

ps re Tarsus

I note that UY does describe it as a dd.

Did anyone else want to try ‘wrists’ here. I searched in vain for some time in the hope that WRI might somehow refer to ‘fame’.

By: tupu

tupu — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 21:41:44 +0000

Thanks Uncle Yap and Pasquale

Like others I found this very hard. It took a while to get started and then I went through a middle period of solving and enjoying the clues/answers especially 17a, 23a, 2d!, 20d and 21d.
I knew lingam but had to check gam.
I got stannous but had to check it.

Eventually, after a pretty stressful day on other things, I got stuck on aoudad (though the idea of ou and dad did cross my mind but I couldn’t be bothered to hunt by then),
and Tarsus which btw is I see also a SET OF LEG BONES! Apologies if I missed this in earlier comments!

As I say – pretty hard. It is good of Pasquale to respond, but he does not endear himself to me when he does – not so much because of his hard puzzles, which are fair enough, and not because he lacks humour – some of his clues are funny – but because of his ungracious and disdainful air if someone complains.

By: morpheus

morpheus — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 21:22:15 +0000

Pasquale, don’t dumb down – just a bit too hard for a Tuesday crossword – that’s all. Would suit a Saturday with more time available and the expectation of a tougher challenge.