Comments on: Guardian Quiptic No 601 by Moley

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Tue, 24 May 2011 21:54:50 +0000

Late on parade so it’s all been said. But maybe the sheer length of 8 deserves a quick

But appologies for being off air in general for a while. Bleedin’ shingles on top of evrything else! Sigh.

By: Pierre

Pierre — Mon, 23 May 2011 14:38:05 +0000

Moley seems not to have much luck with her Quiptic puzzles. When I blogged her Quiptic no 584 here

http://fifteensquared.net/2011/01/24/guardian-quiptic-584moley/

it was littered with errors.

By: Stella Heath

Stella Heath — Mon, 23 May 2011 13:09:01 +0000

Hi Robi, the last one looks more like it. I googled the phrase for images and came up with a whole load, only a few of which resembled an ibis, and most were in flight, so it was hard to appreciate the colour of their breasts. I gave up. Obviously you know better where to look.

By: Robi

Robi — Mon, 23 May 2011 12:33:13 +0000

P.P.S........ or this one (Madagascan Sacred Ibis.)

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Mon, 23 May 2011 12:22:50 +0000

@Bryan (#6):

You will find exactly the same crossword as Quiptic 591 which appeared (late) on 14 March 2011:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crosswords/quiptic/591

I think we can all work out what happened there.

I agree with others that this was just right for a Quiptic. I agree with Stella Heath (#3 and #4) about 10ac, and share people’s unease with 8dn.

By: Robi

Robi — Mon, 23 May 2011 12:17:13 +0000

P.S. I think it might be the sacred ibis that does live in the East. It is supposed to have a white breast, but at least in this picture, it looks vaguely rose-coloured.

By: Robi

Robi — Mon, 23 May 2011 12:06:54 +0000

I agree with the comments above that this was spot-on for a Quiptic. Thanks PeterO for a good blog - I think Stella might be right in that EAST is directly in the middle of rose-breasted ibis. I'm less convinced about the chat. Although I'm not a twitcher, it doesn't look much like an ibis to me. There is a scarlet ibis though; maybe that is the reference (it does have a red breast)?

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 23 May 2011 12:03:36 +0000

And, according to The Grauniad Archive, she set Cryptic 591 which appeared on 16 May 1932:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crosswords/cryptic/591

I refuse to speculate on her age.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 23 May 2011 11:57:13 +0000

Many thanks Peter you have been a busy bee today.

Reportedly, Moley has been setting Quiptics since 2000!

Many thanks Moley this was very enjoyable.

By: Stella Heath

Stella Heath — Mon, 23 May 2011 09:46:45 +0000

Sorry, I don’t know what happened there, as I didn’t touch the ‘submit’ button.

… and ‘antics’ = LARKS.

For 8d, I think Moley was looking for a phrase where EAST falls exactly in the middle, and which also makes for decent surface reading. I find the bird referred to in Wiki as the rose-breasted chat, but it is among the group of ibises and spoonbills, so I think it’s Ok. Anyway, I don’t know what I’d have made of ‘chat’ as a bird, and ‘ibis’ reads better IMO.

I’m another one who’d never heard of the natterjack, but the answer was obvious even for a beginner, and that’s one of the joys of crosswords, isn’t it, learning new words?