Comments on: Guardian 25,254 – Pasquale

By: Paul B

Paul B — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 01:14:52 +0000

But that Shakespeare, eh? Think of him as an Elizebethan version of ‘The Sun’ and you’re getting there (an opinion, naturally). His mistress was nothing like it.

By: IanH

IanH — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:12:45 +0000

Thanks Eileen. I skipped that bit of the blog as I was confident that the “e” came from “….th(e) ultimate..”

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 21:52:31 +0000

Hi Ianh

Re MALMSEY: the definition is simply ‘wine’: ‘fine’ is in the wordplay only to provide the E, as Andrew says in his blog.

All I’ve ever known about malmsey is that the Duke of Clarence is supposed to have died in a vat of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Plantagenet,_1st_Duke_of_Clarence

By: Ianh

Ianh — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 21:00:46 +0000

Being a bedtime solver only just got here. A minor quibble, possibly, I’m no expert but I don’t think malmsey is thought of as a fine wine. Tried it in Madeira and it was unpleasantly sweet. I’m sure someone out there will put me straight on this?

By: Joe Pasquale

Joe Pasquale — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 20:52:01 +0000

For me, Pasquale never fails to cross the line from clever to smart Alec.

By: Robi

Robi — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 19:02:03 +0000

Useless fact: Ronald Gordon King-Smith OBE (27 March 1922 – 4 January 2011) better known by his pen name Dick King-Smith, was a prolific English children’s author, best known for writing The Sheep-Pig, retitled in the United States as Babe the Gallant Pig, on which the movie Babe was based.

He also wrote: ‘Beware of the Bull.’

By: Paul B

Paul B — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:54:55 +0000

‘Charming woman’ is one way out, even if I do say so meself.

And there is, as I shall endeavour to add without labouring the point (who, ME?), that there is a bit what they call context vis somewhat tasteless references in the Anagruid. However, if Wolfie makes a subtle point about the Graun’s political awareness in the journalism as opposed to a possible lack of same in the xwds, this is noted.

By: duncan

duncan — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:38:51 +0000

as regards “witch”, I cringed at the time, because as has been pointed out, this is frequent & a tad off, especially if one knows white witches or indeed, attractive witches of the bad kind. could our setter not have said “magical” instead & led us the same way?
I managed all but three (malmsey, adsorbent & irani) without recourse to google/wiki or any dictionaries, which is gratifying. “beware of the…. ” stayed like that until “russia” arrived. I’d always assumed that bunter & co were making a joke on “caveat”, & I’m sure “cave” is used as a cry of warning in one of the beatles films.

By: Stella Heath

Stella Heath — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:22:28 +0000

Hi robi, it’s a little late in the day, as I often post my comment, then go off to do other things, but your second attempt at translating ‘serbal de cazadores’ seems spot on – although I doubt even hunters refer to it by that name. When it comes to flora and fauna, there’s a wide variety of local terminology which would be known to some (older) people in the villages, but the younger ones rarely have occasion to use it, and the professionals tend to go for the scientific (Latin) names.

No doubt there are people who know what a ‘serbal’ is, and I shall now include myself in that category, in case it ever turns up in a crossword here

By: Wolfie

Wolfie — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:37:09 +0000

Hi Pasquale – Thank you for your explanation of 9a. It certainly wasn’t my intention to accuse you (or Gordius) of being deliberately offensive or sexist. My worry is about the thoughtless use of sexist language and I have been moved to express this on fifteen squared only because it seems to me that this type of clueing is becoming more noticeable. In recent puzzles in the Guardian I have seen, for example, terms such as ‘scrubber’, ‘tart’ and ‘trollop’ used with reference to women of ‘loose morals’, and I do find this disconcerting in a newspaper that prides itself on its careful use of language. I accept, however, that I appear to be a lone voice here. (Are any of the regular Guardian setters women, I wonder?)