Comments on: Guardian 25,269 / Rufus

By: Robi

Robi — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 16:25:17 +0000

Huw @44; I won’t mention the homophone again! In Chambers, a sense of acetic as a verb is given as: ‘to make sour,’ so I guess it’s OK in crossword land.

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:07:46 +0000

Hi all… a fun puzzle with lots of lovely surfaces, OPHELIA being a real gem! AFTERS was lovely as well. I never made it to GOOD LOSER but I have no problem with it. Was never able to “confirm” a way to make SPRUCE = “deal”, but I guess the answer to that is above.

Now on to “acetic”. You are barking up the wrong bad homophone – “acetic” does not mean sour, it just means something with an acetyl group in it. Sure, vinegar is acetic acid, but that’s too far of a stretch I think. I went with the far more sensible “acidic” to be the word for “sour”, since that is correct, and, well, it almost sounds like ASCETIC a bit. Acetic doesn’t, really – the long “e” doesn’t work (or that a UK/US pronunciation issue?).

Anyway, lots of fun, thanks Rufus and Eileen!

By: tupu

tupu — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 23:21:39 +0000

Hi
As I said, I thought 27a was a good clue.
It seemed nicely misleading. The first word seemed to be clearly ‘good’ from the clue and the crossing letters. I then spent some minutes going through different sports and it was only when I started mentally going through word possibilities that the penny dropped.

Could one of its dismissive critics explain what is so wrong with it? I can then be gracious in defeat.

By: Martin P

Martin P — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 23:05:14 +0000

Closing time now and time for a straggling post:

Agree with many, tougher than usual!

Loved “afters” hated “good loser”.

Thanks as ever, g’night all x

By: Martin H

Martin H — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:41:50 +0000

I go with the general view that this was harder than the average Rufus, but still contained a couple of duds among some very well-constructed surfaces. 1a was nicely misleading – I discover there are no anagrams of ‘address no’.

‘Genre’ = ‘art form’? Iffy.

By: Roger

Roger — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:31:49 +0000

Hi tupu ... yes I read yours @3 earlier. However, the on-line OD gives the definition of anybody as anyone ... which I guess doesn't really get us anywhere !

By: tupu

tupu — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:03:07 +0000

Hi Roger
See 3. For what it’s worth, my point was more that it’s one of those words like egregious that seem to have two opposite implications.

By: tupu

tupu — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:58:17 +0000

Hi yogdaws
Just to say I don’t see much wrong with ‘indelibly etched’ at least etymologically. Indelible’s Latin root is the verb ‘delere’ meaning to obliterate, destroy (in a general sense), deface, delete etc. An etching is a scratching which may or may not be removable.
OED defines it in general as ‘That cannot be deleted, blotted out, or effaced; ineffaceable, permanent’. It list inks, marks, stains, stamps,and metaphorical uses.

By: Roger

Roger — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:45:14 +0000

This was Rufus on sparkling form ... thank you sir, and Eileen of course. Ophelia as an &lit was pretty good and had a little chuckle at afters and many others. However, agree with tupu @1 that anybody is a bit of a strange one. I see where you're coming from Eileen with 'anybody who is anybody' but am not sure how/if that is supposed to be indicated in the clue ... something to do with the '?' maybe ? “A person of importance” is more likely to be a Somebody not an Anybody I would have thought ... and surely if a murder detective arrives on site, “where's the body ?” would be more appropriate ! Oh well, never mind, just random jottings from one who had Earnest first up closely followed by Bunbury ...

By: duncan

duncan — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:32:45 +0000

I can’t find anything to complain about except possibly deal/spruce, & definitely 27ac.
with those crossing letters, there were quite a few better options.
unless it’s a double-def reference to something I don’t know about…. which is I suppose why we keep doing crosswords!

I paused briefly with the physicists at 2d, then put on my musician’s hat. I have amps, & they go loud.

I have a friend that we call “t” (short for tony), who is very fond of apple crumble, & in particular the version served by the goodfare cafe on parkway, NW1. so he would’ve liked 5d.