Comments on: Guardian 25,295 / Arachne

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 19:20:54 +0000

Enjoyable puzzle… I tend not to remember to compile lists of favorites while solving, but I do remember enjoying some wonderfully smooth surfaces. OK, I did mark 28 as one. Lovely!

As far as the “without” imbroglio at 22d… might it be meant to read “lazy” – without posh = backbone??? I don’t know, except that the solution is so certain perhaps a little lumpiness in the parsing to make a nice surface is forgivable?

Oh and may I share a tiny gripe? When people present actual answers to *other* puzzles, they might be spoiling them for those of us who sometimes take days to finish the harder ones. It would have thrilled me to no end to guess that tree in yesterday’s puzzle from the wordplay and look it up to verify. Oh well. If I solved (or gave up on) them all in order there’s be no tribble at all.

Nice puzzle, Spiderwoman, and thanks for the blog, mhl!

By: Arachne

Arachne — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:40:46 +0000

Hi Eileen

And it would be great to come – sounds fun! I’ll watch out for details in due course. Thanks again. TTFN!

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:07:47 +0000

Hi Arachne

Great!

No details yet but a bit of background: there has been an annual ‘Sloggers and Betters’ evening event in London for several years now and, a few months ago, some of us who live north of Watford decided to see if there would be interest in a Midlands / North-based equivalent. There was – and we had a very jolly lunch-time gathering in Derby at the end of January, attended by 40-odd [note the hyphen!] people, including eleven setters: quite staggering, really. People immediately started asking when the next one would be and I think we’ve managed to persuade Kathryn’s Dad, who worked very hard to organise the event, that this would be a good idea! I think we’re probably looking at early Autumn. Venue not decided yet but somewhere in the same region. The Guardian website says you’re Manchester-based, which is why I mentioned it. It would be great to see you!

By: Arachne

Arachne — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 13:48:09 +0000

Hi Eileen – Many thanks, I’d love to come along! Could you let me have more details?

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:50:26 +0000

Hi Arachne – I’m probably too late with this, as we can’t really expect you to keep popping back but, just in case …

“…not really sure what the protocol is for setters (aren’t we expected to be aloof and mysterious?)”

I don’t know who said that! – we’re always delighted when setters drop in, as several of them do, and a number of us were even more delighted to meet eleven of them / you at our gathering in Derby in January. It would be great to see you at our next one!

By: Arachne

Arachne — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:27:18 +0000

Tupu – many thanks for your comments. My philosophy as a setter – and more generally, come to think of it – is that one should try to raise a smile whenever possible (and appropriate!): there should be far more *fun* in the world!
Steve – I’m delighted that mine was the first puzzle you managed to solve. Hope you have a long and happy solving career.
Carrots – I have actually been known to say “George, *don’t* do that”…

…and I’m certainly more Grenfell than Garbo so, although not really sure what the protocol is for setters (aren’t we expected to be aloof and mysterious?), I’ll try to pop in and say hello after my next puzzle. If I don’t it’ll either be because I’m on my travels, or because I’m busy dealing with something squirming in my web…

By: Carrots

Carrots — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:57:45 +0000

Hi Arachne…and many thanks for saying “Hello”. Your geeting has prompted the creation of a new Avatar for you: The “Soopah” Joyce Grenfell In A Gymslip!! Even if, (as it probably is), far wide of the mark, its something of an improvement on your previous one….which was a Tarantula!

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 08:13:14 +0000

Although I’ve attempted cryptics on and off over the years, I’ve only been seriously trying to complete the Guardian puzzles for the last few weeks. As such I found Arachne’s puzzle just right, and the first I’ve managed to (correctly) complete

No problems with ANIME or CARGO, but struggled with PRO TEMPORE and WAR CRIMES (the later I could see it fited, but fitting it to the clue was a challenge). 5D has me stumped for a while, due to not reading Setter as a dog…

I’m obviously all for slightly easier puzzles, but still enjoy bashing my head against my desk with some of the harder grids. I doubt I’ll finish Araucaria today, but will enjoy my brain being tied in knots until I give in and check here to see what I’ve missed!

By: tupu

tupu — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 08:01:23 +0000

Thanks for the visit Arachne. Your comment is very welcome. Clever anmd precise though a crossword may be – and yours typically are – it’s good to have a setter with the ability to raise so many smiles. TTFN.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 00:31:04 +0000

” is IMO too harsh re Arachne.”
Of course, but my comments wern’t re Arachne, but re: Crossword 25295, very different.