Comments on: Guardian Quiptic nº 575, by Pan

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 13:01:28 +0000

As one who was once the sort of dissolute student who was more dissolute than student and consequently got ratted with examples of all social origins, I can safely say, never heard of it!

By: Robi

Robi — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 19:11:54 +0000

I thought bladdered was a fairly common expression; at least to dipsos. See: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Bladdered?r=66
Slang Dictionary

bladdered definition

1.mod.
drunk, especially with a full bladder. : I’m really bladdered! Somebody drive me home?

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 13:02:32 +0000

Hello Derek

Good to have you back. BLADDERED is in my active vocabulary, sadly. Round here it’s a pretty common slang word for ‘drunk’ – along with MULLERED, RAT-ARSED and about a million others, of course. In my native north-east, STOTTED or STOTTING were the adjectives of choice when I was young, but I haven’t heard them for a bit.

Keep well.

By: Stella

Stella — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:44:56 +0000

Interesting comment, Derek. Certainly it’s not an adjective that would ever have occurred to me, but one of the things about crosswords is that you use, and learn, a far wider vocabulary than you need in everyday life.

In fact, as we language teachers know, most people don’t use more than 500 words actively, ie. in speech, independently of how many they understand

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:39:29 +0000

Sorry no comments recently, been doing that chemo I mentioned. But I’m back! Did you have to all groan?

Well, I didn’t finish this by about 20%. For me to say that, who has been working his way through the archives with a sub 30 minute expectation, means this clearly was not a Quiptic. Having said that, I might have done better if my brain didn’t feel quite so fuzzy still. Having looked at the blog though, I’m not sure a clear mind would have helped.

Who, for example, ever says BLADDERED? Which little social clique does this come from?

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 22:36:51 +0000

Thank you for an informative blog, Stella.

I liked POPEMOBILE and STRIPOGRAM, but there were other good clues to enjoy. WOOLWORTHS is one you wouldn’t appreciate if you haven’t lived in Blighty for a bit.

PREVENTED is pretty obvious once you’ve got some crossing letters, but I’m not a big fan of the ‘boy’ = ‘ted’ device to indicate an abbreviation of a man’s name. I know some big people that are called Ted.

Overall, a good puzzle for less experienced solvers, I thought.

By: Stella

Stella — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:13:18 +0000

Thanks for that, Dave. I’m still learning.

By: Big Dave

Big Dave — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:28:22 +0000

Thanks for the review Stella

17a is ATE (scoffed) at (by / after) E(astern) and LEV (currency of Bulgaria) – I don’t like hyphens being added just to improve the surface reading

4d I didn’t think this was &Lit (definition described by the whole clue)

Also I think some of your charades are better inicated as insertions of deletions.