Comments on: Independent 7698 Scorpion (Sat 18-Jun-2011)

By: yogdaws

yogdaws — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 16:50:29 +0000

Forget I said that.

Gaufrid has eased my pain…

By: yogdaws

yogdaws — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 15:37:06 +0000

NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS PUZZLE…

CAN ANYONE HELP?

With ref to today’s GUARDIAN ARAUCARIA PRIZE PUZZLE NO 25,358…

Don’t want a solution just clarification re 10, 15 ACROSS:-
a) Is the solution word order 10,15 or 15,10?
b) Has there been a cock-up or is it actually possible to solve this one?

Many thanks for anticipated assistance…

By: sidey

sidey — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 13:37:09 +0000

Funny how we differ. solid as a mediaeval refectory table or wooden.

By: lenny

lenny — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 11:02:38 +0000

This was great fun – eventually. On my first pass I got absolutely zilch and I was contemplating a whitewash. On my second pass, I immediately got Wagner and then most of the other names, one after another. Like beermagnet I had a bit of trouble with the 4-letter words, thinking Sn was the element in Snag. I finished with Neep, which I only knew because I spent a short period working in Glasgow where neeps seemed to be permanently on the menu.

By: crypticsue

crypticsue — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 09:38:21 +0000

I thought this was brilliant. I still had a couple of ‘kings’ left for which I needed the review, thank you beermagnet. Once the penny had dropped regarding the ‘rulers’, it was great fun working out all the solutions, thank you very much Scorpion for the great Saturday fun. I would say let’s have more of the same, but my brain needs to recover first!!

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 07:52:38 +0000

An absolutely brilliant set of across clues from Scorpion! And thanks, beermagnet for the comprehensive blog.

Just to add that it was reading the monarch and his/her regnal number in the usual English fashion, e.g. ‘Richard II’ as ‘Richard the second’ that pointed me to the second (or whatever) letter of ‘England’.
As in Colin’s case, it was 20a, LEAR, that confirmed that that was what was going on. I wasn’t familiar with 22a, DANCE, either, but it was easily got from the wordplay.

In 19d the ‘American’ reference is to the spelling – ‘enameled’ rather than ‘enamelled’

By: Tokyo Colin

Tokyo Colin — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 05:47:39 +0000

Thanks beermagnet. I am a slave to routine and so began attempting the across clues in sequence as I always do. On the iPhone the clues come up one at a time and it took a few to realise there was a consistent pattern and it wasn’t until I got to 20ac that LEAR was obvious that I was able to interpret the structure of the clues. I continued on and through the Downs and when I got back to the Across clues, most fell quickly and enjoyably. As you say, the famous people were all well enough known (except 1 for me, Dance.)

Like you I also had Gates at 15d. Not being a retired colonel, Gad seemed an unikely expression of surprise.

In 6dn “Tar” is the usual reference to a sailor for whom an (ice)berg is dangerous.