Comments on: Guardian 25,162 / Rufus

By: mumfish

mumfish — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:41:16 +0000

I usually finish a Rufus but struggled with this one, especially after putting “rampant” in by error. Thank you for an excellent blog, Duncan. I’d love to see this style used for setters I really have difficulty with!

By: Dynamic

Dynamic — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 19:50:26 +0000

Late to the party, but it seems Minsk, subsequently denoted a soviet Hero City, was the headquarters of the Russian Army’s Western Front in World War 2. I guessed Minsk was somehow synonymous with some specific military build-up, so this seems to tally to some degree. If so, it’s a somewhat loose definition, but could be correct and might be used as a single word in the way that The Somme is used to refer to the Battle of The Somme. I don’t mind admitting I’m somewhat ignorant of such things, but got a loose confirmation via Wikipedia. There’s also the Minsk Offensive – where the Wehrmacht suffered their greatest single defeat of the whole war. I suspect one of these provides the reason this definition as Russian (as opposed to Belorussian) is OK and is thought notable enough that it’s fair.

I found a few pitfalls and needed all the checking letters to get some of these, but enjoyed it. Thanks Rufus and duncanshiell

By: mhl

mhl — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:02:56 +0000

Thanks for the very complete post, Duncan – it’s great to hear that you’ll be blogging the Guardian from now on!

By: judy bentley

judy bentley — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 10:19:41 +0000

Hear, hear, William.

By: William

William — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 09:43:01 +0000

Thank you, Duncan, for a 1st class blog.

Refreshing to see a new, clear way of blogging. I hope you will not take Mr Beaver’s comment @11 too much to heart. There are far more less adanced solvers than most people think, as we hear from them less often. We (I include myself) will find your style very helpful.

Welcome on board.

By: Mr Beaver

Mr Beaver — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 23:34:16 +0000

I’m not one of Rufus’ greatest fans, but I thought this one quite acceptable – none of his trademark quasi-cryptic definitions. Well, apart from 1a maybe.

Nice of Duncan to take such pains over the blog, but I hardly think that level of detail is needed for the majority of the clues. To take a random example, most bloggers would give 5a as simply ESTEEMS = (seem set)*, which would be enough for any readers.
I’m not criticising, just wanted to save you some effort

By: Geoff Chapman

Geoff Chapman — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 22:15:37 +0000

Excellent blog. Thank you.

By: Stella Heath

Stella Heath — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 15:06:10 +0000

Thanks for the detailed and clear blog, Duncan. It’s good to have you on board.

Well, I started this off this morning, and was pretty stuck almost half-way through when I was called away. I’ve just came back, and the distance must have cleared my mind, as I fairly cruised through the words I had left – mainly in the western half. Last in ‘Autumn’, with a little self-kicking

I smiled when I saw the use of ‘outset’, which I read the same way as Duncan did.

I’m another who had ‘rampant’ to start with at 21d., and also rather hastily entered ‘entourage’ for ‘support’, without checking the anagram fodder – oops!

By: otter

otter — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:05:52 +0000

Gosh, what a detailed blog. Thanks, Duncan, and welcome to the Guardian section. I must admit I find the layout a little difficult to read, but no doubt I’ll get used to it.

The usual selection of anagrams, double definitions and one or two others; not my favourite sort of puzzle, but what Rufus does, he does do very well. I too found quite a few of these more tricky than standard Rufus clues, with slightly more cryptic definitions than usual (except for clues in which a cryptic definition is the clue, of course) and more unusual components, eg the acronym REME, which I didn’t know, although it didn’t stop me getting the answer.

I also got RAMPANT for 21d – ‘rant’ seemed perfect for ‘tantrum’, and ‘rampant’ all right for the definition, which scuppered me on 29a. In the end I gave up and used the cheat button, because with Rufus, I find there’s little satisfaction to be gained from struggling with clues for any more than a minute or two: while he does produce elegant surfaces, there are no ‘a-ha!’ or ‘ha-ha!’ moments in these puzzles, so I can’t really be bothered to put that much effort in.

I thought MONASTERY probably the most clever clue, and this is one that defeated me today.

By: Dave Ellison

Dave Ellison — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 11:23:49 +0000

Contrary to the comments above, I found this much simpler than usual, taking 13′ for most of it, with another 5′ for the last two: 15d OBSERVER, then 17a MINSK.

I can’t say I liked BUILD-UP.

Thanks for the detailed explanations, duncanshiell; is this the new Guardian house style?