Comments on: Guardian 25,183 – Arachne

By: Gordon Roy

Gordon Roy — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 17:49:30 +0000

I’m late again as usual too.

I took ‘elements’ in 24d to be Argon, Carbon and Hydrogen; giving ARCH. Maybe I’m wrong too!

For anyone reading, have a great Christmas

By: Arthur Hay

Arthur Hay — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 05:51:56 +0000

Here I come again, with the _Guardian Weekly_ a week after everyone else.

I took 21D (motet) as whit=mo + tet=religious (festival in Vietnam. Remember the Tet offensive?))

But I’m probably wrong.

By: Roger

Roger — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 12:17:21 +0000

Indeed so K’s D (reservations regarding lateness as above ~ the which may prevent this from being ‘Gaufrided’ …) although I’d certainly have picked someone commanding more respect than Blair to fight my corner in a debate of this sort. Don’t think he stood a chance. The real winners here seem to have been the organisers anyway, who ended up quids in !

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 13:40:56 +0000

Roger, you’re right, of course! But I don’t think there’s much danger of the (oftentimes heated) debate about His influence in our lives disappearing any time soon … Hitchens and Blair was interesting, for example.

By: mhl

mhl — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 13:34:07 +0000

Thanks for the post, Andrew – this was another enjoyable crossword in a strong week, I think.

I’ve never seen the Jeremy Kyle show, but I gather one can get a sense of the programme from this compilation of its guests repeating a particularly irksome cliché:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_531bFsrjA

By: Roger

Roger — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 12:56:16 +0000

Not that happy, K's D @17 (should you or anyone else happen on this late comment). It would, after all, deny him a fair chunk of his livelihood !

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 06:50:10 +0000

I arrived at the same answers as Davy. I thought I detected a theme of removing letters from, usually, the middle of words, so I took 17a to be GODBLESS, drop the B somehow, gives GODLESS; then 18d SENSATIONALIST, drop the ATIONAL somehow, gives SENSIST. It all so nearly worked!
For 12a KYLE I consulted my teenage daughter, who knows about these things.

By: rrc

rrc — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 23:29:18 +0000

I think kyle did a spot on radio before moving to TV – sort of agony uncle I quite enjoyed this and even grinned at times

By: Davy

Davy — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 22:23:12 +0000

Thanks Andrew,

In contrast with some, the first clue I got was KYLE which just seemed so obvious. I have no interest in the man or his dreadful show but he is often referred to by assorted people including comedians and so the name sticks.

I had an interesting answer to 17a which unfortunately was wrong. I put GODLESS which I thought was a poor homophone for godbless. This of course screwed up DENTIST for which I put SENSIST ie a thrill seeker. Hey ho!.

Thanks Arachne for an entertaining puzzle

By: tupu

tupu — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 16:51:37 +0000

Hi Eileen
No harm meant! I know what you are saying, too, and am simply noting it is ultimately a common (and perhaps therefore acceptable) misreading of ‘hull’ (trans. to remove the hull, shell, or husk of; to strip off the outer covering) and ‘calyx’ (in sensu stricto not the stalk but the green outer petals).

Incidentally, and more interestingly I hope, I have just accessed the new OED which came on line yesterday. I understand no printed edition will be produced. I gather from earlier comments that a variety of libraries including local ones can provide home access – in my opinion, at least, it is well worth getting.