Comments on: Guardian 25,342 – Brummie

By: Roger

Roger — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 08:45:12 +0000

Thanks UY. Unable to get here yesterday but for what it’s worth I got the ‘e’ in 10a from ‘inter’ (between, among) ‘nEt’. Probably just making life difficult for myself ! Wonder whether VESTIBULE (HALL in all but name) prompted the ‘maybe’ in 20d.

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 22:42:44 +0000

8dn loved this surface and ‘say’ not indicating a homophone, spent ages trying to link okra to dragster etc. but my comment is that the aubergine did originate from india (tropical)

Thanks UP and all for helping a beginner!

By: Eileen

Eileen — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:39:09 +0000

Hi caretman

Apologies!

I took the short cut of Wiki-ing, without checking the board.

This is the one I’m familiar with – and maybe you, too.

http://www.motherlandnigeria.com/games/ludo.html

There seem to be some compensations in not having children /grandchildren!

By: Martin P

Martin P — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:47:42 +0000

Eggplants? Tropical? Grew fine in the UK in 1976, 1984, etc. Outdoors too!

By: caretman

caretman — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:16:16 +0000

Thanks, Eileen. Looking at the link, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that board before, although I have certainly heard of Ludo. Maybe my deficiency arises from not having children.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 18:28:06 +0000

Hi caretman

It’s pronounced to rhyme [deliberately, I've always presumed] with ‘Ludo’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludo_%28board_game%29
which I expect you have ‘over there’.

By: caretman

caretman — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 18:00:26 +0000

This was one of those puzzles where I didn’t notice the theme until I got to the gateway clue (in this case 20d). Since I had been making steady progress through the puzzle, by the time I encountered 20d I already had all of the referenced answers other than MISS. As Dave says, Cluedo is known here as Clue. So how is Cluedo pronounced? Does the final ‘o’ have a long o sound or is it oo?

ALIZARIN was new to me, but clearly signposted in the clue. I really appreciated 1d for its @litness, and 17d when I realized what was going on. Thanks, Brummie, for the fun puzzle, and thanks to Uncle Yap for the blog.

By: dave

dave — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:42:35 +0000

Only posting to say that I was a bit confused to the reference to eggplant as a tropical plant. It grows quite well here in Virginia and points north.

Oh, and in the US, Cluedo is known as Clue. It uses the same board and characters, fortunately for us colonial boys.

One more thing, Donovan’s song from the ’60′s, “Wear Your Love Like Heaven”, contains a reference to alizarin or alizarine.

Enjoyed the puzzle.

By: Carrots

Carrots — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 15:39:53 +0000

UY: Whaddya mean “carefree days of yore?” I don`t do much more than play board-games, (do crossie-puzzles) and watch tear-jerkers on TV THESE DAYS!!(Just watched “QUO VADIS” (Hilarious!))

But, a most entertaining puzzle, skilfully contrived and well blogged. Glad to hear you were nimble footed enough to dodge Auntie Eileen`s wrath….but she is right, isn`t she??

By: liz

liz — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:10:16 +0000

Thanks for the blog, Uncle Yap. It took me a while to see the theme, although I did notice the number of clues referring to different rooms. I liked the variety of devices. 18ac was my favourite and 17dn was the last one I got.

Like Robi @10, I also liked the intersection of LOUNGE and LUNGE.