Comments on: Guardian 25,278 – Chifonie

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 03:43:57 +0000

This is a classic follow up to the couple previous, hard from the get-go, puzzles.

It almost seemed too easy for a bit – MOIRE jumped out of the clues at me, then I steadily filled in the NW, SW, SE quads… while getting nervous. For even an “easy” puzzle can leave one struggling with parts of it.

Never managed to parse 23A, but I should have – I kept trying to figure out how (after Charlie = CHAS) TENED could mean “urged on”!

Finally cracked most of the NE, IMPUTED came late, and TOPSIDE was past my burnout level to research.

Further evidence that “easy” and “hard” are so relative, and can confound each other in the same puzzle.

I liked the CD at 2D, loved “six-footer” = insect, and I do think I enjoyed the effort put into the surfaces.

So thanks for the blog, Andrew, and the wonderfully light-hearted puzzle, Chifonie!

By: Martin H

Martin H — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 23:07:31 +0000

Hi Sil – we are all different as you say, but it was 3 (TASKS) and not 2 (ASPIRIN) I thought was weak. I should proof-read my posting more carefully.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:48:33 +0000

Not happy with PENDENT, Carrots?

What about the word ‘relevent’ in post #13 …. ?

[Sorry Gaufrid, but I'm sure you see the fun of it]

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:43:37 +0000

As Liz said: 27ac.
As Dave Ellison said: much tougher than the usual Chifonie.
As walruss said: Dull puzzle? [the ? is mine]
As Stella said: My only objection is the repeated use of ‘break’=’rest’ [and, for me, that of 'cure' as well]
As Andrew said: this is another fairly typical specimen, with a large proportion of charade clues.

I agree with you all.

But, although the puzzle as such wasn’t too demanding (no fiendish devices), the surfaces were very good – craftsmanship!

Roger loved ASPIRIN, Martin H found it a weak clue.
We are all different, aren’t we?

Just like Geoff, I was convinced that 24d should be NORMA, until, well, until 26ac made it an impossible option.
I agree with everyone who disliked the definition of ‘amount’ in 6d.
And, Andrew, after you’ve amended the parsing of this clue, please add another A to your explanation of 11ac (A REST in MAIL).

Friendly puzzle.

By: Carrots

Carrots — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:41:54 +0000

Stella: tupu (who is wise and knows of all things) can plait treacle when it comes to words and enjoys nothing more than re-writing history from a purely etymological standpoint. The amazing thing is that his version of events is so much more entertaining than historical fact that several authorities have started to weave his wisdom into records of actual events. So much so, for example, that when Caesar cried “Et tu, Brute” several witness claim what he actually said was “Infamy! Imfamy! You`ve all got it In Fer Me”.

I can`t help thinking of Chifonie as our very own Grayson Perry, so I`m inclined to be tolerence exemplified because (s)he doesn`t wear a suit. One or two laboured clues, devices and definitions didn`t spoil the puzzle, but PENDENT did: it just doesn`t look right!

By: caretman

caretman — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:11:22 +0000

Re: RCWhiting @16

Since if I recall the definition in the clue was an adjective (wasn’t it “hanging”?), then pendEnt would be the preferred spelling, with pendant the variant.

By: tupu

tupu — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 21:27:38 +0000

Stella

As in ‘beware the ideas of March’. When Julius Caesar invaded Britain, the Cambridgeshire ‘ville’ of March was already well known for the icy winds which blow across from the Ural mountains and for its market (hence its name) with its local speciality of frozen orfes or ides. He was warned to make sure these were thoroughly defrosted before consuming them and to use them by the 15th of the month which coincidentally happened to be March as well. The dire results of failing to do so (orfella as opposed to salmonella poisoning which finally attacked his cloaca maxima with sharp stabbing pains in Rome) were misinterpreted by Shakespeare who unfortunately failed to make the proper distinction between the month and the town.

I hope this is a help.

By: Pete

Pete — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 18:59:31 +0000

Stella @ 22
Ide is an alternative name for orfe, best known as the Golden Orfe common in garden ponds.

By: Robi

Robi — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 18:12:42 +0000

Roger @27; nice one, you are obviously more imaginative than me – I just got stuck on thinking of primate=ape, but now I see it!

By: Dave Ellison

Dave Ellison — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 18:00:55 +0000

I am with you, Derek@25. I found this, after an initial flurry, much tougher than the usual Chifonie. I had to puzzle hard about almost every clue, but I think this was in part due to Chifonie employing distracting subterfuge (eg 13a Stir = can, the context fooling me for a good while), and unusual use of words that I don’t remember seeing before. I mean, for example, “proofreader” turned out to be “ed”; “bugs” = “taps”. All for the good!