Comments on: Guardian Easter Prize No 25304 / Araucaria

By: otter

otter — Mon, 02 May 2011 12:31:02 +0000

Many thanks for the blog, Bridgesong. And thanks to Araucaria for this very enjoyable puzzle.

I surprised myself by completing all of this bar three clues while sunbathing last Saturday afternoon, without looking anything up. Eventually had to look up TILSIT, and then had to admit defeat with 32/47 and 33. Assumed they would probably be pretty simple clues, and it looks as though I was right.

Guessed 47 had to be BEAN, with the B from ‘born’, and the ‘an’ from the clue, but couldn’t find a five-letter word associated with opera apart from [La] Scala, which didn’t work. Have never heard of Snape Maltings – well, I suspect I have, it rings a very faint bell from my childhood, but it’s something I couldn’t have expected to have recalled. I did even wonder about SNAP BEAN as the answer, but didn’t have the confidence in it to look it up.

And then PULLMAN, well, yes, I suppose so…

But a very enjoyable puzzle, and am grateful also to the explanations of EAT [your heart] OUT and SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER (‘suddenly, last night…’ – I do like this).

By: tupu

tupu — Mon, 02 May 2011 11:37:48 +0000

Hi Bridgesong

AS noted at 14, I entirely agree re 2,8. You put the matter extremely well.

By: bridgesong

bridgesong — Mon, 02 May 2011 10:18:35 +0000

MattD@21: I don’t know about criticisms of Gordius, but it seems to me that 14a is in fact a pretty good clue which qualifies as an &lit. Taken as a whole, the clue is the definition and it incorporates the anagram fodder and the anagram indicator. Some might argue that “could be” is a weak anagram indicator, but the brevity of the clue more than compensates.

Reverting to the “eat your heart out” debate, I can now understand the clue, but I still think it defective. The problem is that “eat your heart out” may be a reasonably common phrase but it can only be deduced from the answer, rather than (as good wordplay should) lead the solver to the answer.

By: MattD

MattD — Mon, 02 May 2011 08:24:13 +0000

Enjoyed this, but how can 14a go without comment? When gordius does this kind of double usage of words (definition and anagram element) without a ? or similar, he’s been slated. I’ve been involved in discussions about this before.

Thanks for the blog, could not see 19d parsing at all so am grateful for the explanation. Really should remember censor=Cato as it’s been used before.

By: chas

chas — Sun, 01 May 2011 15:30:51 +0000

Thanks to Araucaria and bridgesong.

I found this one really quite amazingly simple – I suppose because I spotted the theme early on. In fact I finished it on Saturday which is, for me, phenomenally fast for one of Araucaria’s holiday specials.

The main thing I got from this blog was why I had the correct answers in a couple of places.

Once again we see here an example in 23,12 of something I have seen in Araucaria but nobody else. I constructed an answer in 4,6 then wrote it in as 5,5. He is amazing!

My favourite was the anagram at 11d.

By: tupu

tupu — Sun, 01 May 2011 13:24:50 +0000

Hi gaufrid

I didn’t realise what a hare I’d start with Daisy Nook and Crime Lake as an equally odd local pair to Hardwick and Toft. Many thanks for taking the trouble to shift us to Memory Lane!

By: Admin

Admin — Sun, 01 May 2011 10:12:05 +0000

Tupu / Brian / Ian
I have moved the off-topic comments to the General Discussion page. You may continue your reminiscing there.

By: Ian

Ian — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 22:10:47 +0000

Well done bridgesong, an excellent summary of a pretty solid piece of work by the setter.

I had a hunch that there might be a literary theme. Looking at the clues for around 4 minutes, concentrating on the multiple word answers, I looked at the 3,2,1,3,3,4 combination and the TW work came straight away!!!

The rest quite naturally came quickly (as they would).

Top clue was the wonderful Neighbour From Hell anagram.

By: blaise

blaise — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 12:59:29 +0000

Thanks for clearing up 10 down. I saw “pouring” straight away, but the only way I could equate it to cats and dogs was that it sounds a bit like “pawing”. My blind spot might come from living in France, where it rains ropes: “il pleut des cordes“;

By: Stella Heath

Stella Heath — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 10:06:50 +0000

Thanks Bridgesong.

I was pleased to finish this in one session, and found most of it easy to parse, though I.m grateful for the explanation of 48ac – as tupu suggests, too local for me – and the second half of 29ac.

Actually I was quite tickled by 2/8, which I got straight away from the wordplay. ‘Your heart’ may, and often does intervene between ‘eat’ and ‘out’, although the resulting expression has nothing to do with wining and dining