Comments on: Guardian 25,213 / Araucaria

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:15:39 +0000

It took me 2 1/2 months to solve this

I had it half-done, with none of the stations, and just gave up and moved on, leaving it in this stack of unfinished puzzles.

Today I looked it over, Charing Cross jumped out at me, and with copious help from the internet, I managed to finish it.

Whew.

Thanks for the blog for some missing parsing Eileen, and of course to the Master for a fun “two part” puzzle!

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 19:55:10 +0000

Hello DavidM

“I expect you’re the only one to read this late post.”

You’re very probably right – but it’s nice to hear from you!

As I said at comment 32, I think we were meant to be looking for a homophone of ‘cricket’ rather than ‘Criccieth’ – both equally dodgy!

[I've always - in my head - pronounced the name of the town in the way that you indicate.]

I don’t remember seeing your name before – please forgive me if I’m wrong – so hope to hear from you again.

By: DavidM

DavidM — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 19:36:39 +0000

Hello Eileen – I expect you’re the only one to read this late post. I live in the next town to Criccieth and it’s simply pronounced “Cricky-eth” by all – English or Welsh. I suspect the Rev John only has a literal knowledge of the name – it’s not really a homophone for Cricket, or even nearly. Still, any mention of cricket this week is worthwhile! Many thanks for your blog – helpful, as ever.
Best regards
David

By: Daniel Miller

Daniel Miller — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 12:33:53 +0000

Another good A. set. Thanks for the blog Eileen.

By: tupu

tupu — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 11:50:10 +0000

Hi Carrots

Thanks. Apologies for the last apostrophe!

By: Carrots

Carrots — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 11:08:20 +0000

Tupu….you`ve made my day! I`ll let you have the last laugh…you deserve it!!

By: tupu

tupu — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 09:20:49 +0000

Hi Carrots
I’m ashamed to say I genuinely missed your point re 7a despite having correctly solved 16d!
Thanks for your kindly tolerance.

Re anomaly – you show remarkable insight. The term was originally ‘an O’Malley’ – and relates to a member of that family who was a merceneray in Tsarist Russia. Were it not for a most unusual late Runic Inscription – the only one ever found in Ulan Bator – his presence in Mongolia (1813-25) would have passed unnoticed. The unusualness of this gave rise to the saying ‘it’s an O’Malley’ and somehow this caught on more generally with it’s current spelling.

By: tupu

tupu — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 09:08:44 +0000

Hi Eileen
The reference to Eglwys (from Ecclesia orig. but no doubt via French eglise as you and PeterO imply) at first defied my deciphering skills. As is my wont, I first went up ‘Goose Creek’ remembering coming upon the Church of St ELVIS in Pembrokeshire. The proximity of the Presely Hills briefly intrigued me at the time!

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 08:11:07 +0000

Thanks, PeterO. I remember being struck by that, many years ago, when we walked round Dinas Head to Cwm yr Eglwys, in Pembrokeshire

And thanks for the reminder about ARABLE. I thought it seemed familiar!

By: PeterO

PeterO — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 00:03:55 +0000

Eileen,
As you pointed out the Auld Alliance is a good enough reason to find words taken from French in Scots; I was a little more surprised to find the Welsh eglwys – fairly obvious once you get past the Welsh w.
Re 25A: Araucaria used arable in #25172 back in November (I know because I blogged it), with a clue differently worded, but the same general idea.