Comments on: Guardian Prize 25,238 / Brummie

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 00:24:58 +0000

Blo…. He…
Did I say Bonxie in #47? Yes I did.
Of course, I meant to say Brummie.

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 00:20:46 +0000

Thanks Eileen for a super blog.Including the clues is very helpful,especially as for me a week old puzzle always seems to go missing.
As usual,I am late catching up with the blog and am only adding my comment after reading the comment @46.
I thought this was a great puzzle and would say that Paul(not Paul) should be more careful with his generalisations;HE may not have heard of the composers but a lot of other people have and also get a lot of pleasure out of their music.
Paul(not Paul),I would recommend you listen to this beautiful piece by Arvo Part,you may find it helps with your stress levels – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtFPdBUl7XQ

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 00:18:43 +0000

Paul (not Paul), surely you may think/say “the most boring prize crossword I can remember”, because that is how you feel.
Qualifying this puzzle as “Rubbish! Absolute rubbish!” is however, I think, one step too far. Even though it probably reflects the way you feel.

Themed crosswords are always a bit tricky.
Either you like the theme or not.
We, for instance, had no problem whatsoever to find the names of the composers – they were all familiar – , but I can imagine when that’s not the case the situation’s different.
But then to bin this (IMO) very well written crossword, is not a very nice thing to do.
“Clever at the expense of being entertaining”?
Well, for you it wasn’t entertaining, but the clueing wasn’t thát clever [from a negative point of view].

We all experience crosswords our own way, but being “astonished at the acclaim Bonxie gets” … well, I think, he deserves it.
But, as I always say, we’re all different, aren’t we?
Yet, I do not like a review being so dismissive.
Sorry.

By: Paul (not Paul)

Paul (not Paul) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 23:43:37 +0000

Astonished, as ever, at the acclaim Brummie gets. Clever at the expense of being entertaining.

And the “theme” of surnames of people that we’ve never heard of is no theme at all. What did we know as we worked our way through… they are surnames…they are also words…oh well that gives it away then! Rubbish! Absolute rubbish! The most boring prize crossword I can remember.

By: Carrots

Carrots — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 23:03:22 +0000

Hello Jan (@35) Charlie “Bird” Parker, (“Yardbird”) was no “Charles” or a “Charlotte” but one of the most influential heralds of The Beat Generation. You remember The Beat Generation…when gals didn`t burn their bras because they didn`t wear them? XX

By: rrc

rrc — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 20:50:19 +0000

On opening the paper I groaned as I looked asthe compiler. However I was pleasantly surprised that a number of answers gave themselves quickly I even had Piston, Bliss, and Parry but still didnot recognise the theme. However with a little internet help managed to complete.

By: sheffieldhatter

sheffieldhatter — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 18:52:52 +0000

Thanks all for your input and research. Glad he wasn’t a figment of my imagination!

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 13:26:11 +0000

Hi tupu

You’re quite right – I didn’t look carefully enough: the archive goes back only as far as 1999 and this puzzle was published on 29.9.73.

By: tupu

tupu — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 13:22:18 +0000

Hi Eileen

How strange. I thought it might be dated because there is a discussion of dated ‘Nimrod’ puzzles in the review. But in any case, why should that number not exist?! I imagine the archive simply does not go that far back.
The garbled title above (btw) is due simply to copy and paste from Amazon’s garbled text.
I had not noticed it was on offer as a prize. One of these days I may have a go.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 12:57:36 +0000

Hi tupu

Very many thanks for that.

I actually have that book [!] but hadn’t thought to look there.

I have found the puzzle in question [supposedly No.13,657] and thought I had cracked it – but the Guardian archive says there is no puzzle with that serial number!

As you say, you can buy this book from Amazon – you could also try to win it as the Guardian Saturday prize!