Comments on: Guardian Prize 25,346 / Pasquale

By: Geoff Chapman

Geoff Chapman — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:10:47 +0000

I don’t think it’s a particularly brilliant crossword if the majority of solvers all have the same two clues left to solve at the end (Prees and Sirenian).

By: otter

otter — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 12:56:50 +0000

Many thanks for the blog, Eileen, and many thanks to Pasquale for an enjoyable and pleasantly testing puzzle.

For now have just scanned the blog for answers to the two which defeated me: SIRENIAN and PREES, neither of which I have heard and didn’t manage to get from the wordplay, although as you say the wordplay is fair. (My best guess for 16 was AZREP – Ezra [prophet] reversed + P. Didn’t believe it was likely to be right, though.)

Will read the blog properly later to pick up anything else I’ve missed.

By: retired pleb

retired pleb — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 09:23:22 +0000

Salop villages/towns familiar to roving campanologists who have rung the bells at all of these – and sampled the beers !
Most enjoyable puzzle

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 09:21:44 +0000

Thanks Eileen.

I had PANT as one of the first clues to go in, I used to go climbing at the quarry there many years ago. This made completing the puzzle hard as I was very reluctant to put the much inferior PUMP in its place. A very poor clue IMO. The rest was great though.

Thanks for enlightening me on Simon of Cyrene, never heard of him.

By: liz

liz — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 14:48:59 +0000

Thanks for the blog, Eileen. I enjoyed this very much. 11ac was my way into the theme and PREES was the last to go in. (Google was called for!)

Spelling KEYNESIAN wrong held me up for a time. I also had PORE for a while at 27ac (I think I must have been thinking ‘perspiration’).

19ac made me smile.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 12:10:00 +0000

Thanks Eileen and Don M

Marvellous crossword with just the right amount of difficulty (for me, at any rate). I knew all the non-geographical words, and all the Salop settlements apart from PREES, which was obvious from the crossing letters and easily checked online.

This puzzle is a masterly example of how to set accurate clues with very realistic surface readings without having to use 12 words to do it (cf recent correspondence on this subject). I have always admired and enjoyed Pasquale’s crosswords, although sometimes I have found them a bit po-faced, without that lightness of touch which many of us so enjoy. However this one has plenty of subtle humour: 19a is my favourite. Bravo.

By: Sylvia

Sylvia — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 12:02:58 +0000

I got sirenian as an imagined monster from siMON’S TERritory rather than Simon of Cyrene! And Prees sprang to mind from a memory of my mum long ago talking about Prees Heath (does Prees have a heath, I wonder?)

By: Tokyo Colin

Tokyo Colin — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 11:45:20 +0000

Sorry, that is Don@12. I was 7.

By: Tokyo Colin

Tokyo Colin — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 11:44:21 +0000

To Don@7. Thank you for the enlightenment even though at first I had no idea what you meant. ‘Borderline name’ – is it not quite a name, or chosen by someone with a special personality, or ? But then I checked a map (Google maps of course) and discovered that Shropshire shares a border with Wales. From this distance it all seems like England/Britain/UK, but I am well aware that the Welsh have their own international rugby team and now know that they also have their own unusual way of naming towns.

And if I seemed curmudgeonly before (not for the first time), then all is now forgiven. I just completed today’s Prize puzzle. You won’t hear any whinging from me next week.

By: Davy

Davy — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 11:35:52 +0000

Thanks Eileen,

I quite enjoyed this but failed on PREES although the clue is so so obvious. I even thought of P for power and seer for prophet but somehow failed to put them together. I had also convinced myself that silly clown was a Shakespearean character called Much until I saw the correct interpretation. I think that there should be a character called Much in A Midsummer Night’s Dream but there isn’t.
Strangely enough, there is a man in my village who has a middle name of Wenlock but I don’t know its derivation. Favourite clue was KEYNESIAN. Thanks Pasquale.