Comments on: Guardian 25,383 / Brendan

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:45:41 +0000

Ah, now I read Sil’s comment on ACREAGE and I withdraw my objection, I just wasn’t going one step deep enough to get it right!

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:43:58 +0000

Lots of fun here that I would have barely scratched without OneLook to fill in various blanks, like 1d. The theme slowly grew on me – I noticed the lovely symmetry of ALPHA and OMEGA when I got the latter, then a while later, GROOM paired with BRIDE. TWO PAIRS came slowly, since it’s actually a pretty good hand in real poker – but seeing it paired/mirrored with FOURSOME gave me quite a giggle. The other mirrored clues were just hilarious. I failed to parse ROBERT PEEL because the meaning of “Met” got past me (I was working with the tense of “meet” or the opera house). The only tiny flaw to me was ACREAGE – every other clue turns out to be dead fair once parsed, but the first “A” really has no good explanation I can see.

Favorite clues were 11a’s &lit, 16a’s surface, and the wonderful anagram _and_ surface at 8 dn.

Thanks for the blog, Duncan, and the lovely challenge, Brendan!

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 21:04:50 +0000

…. and in Chambers which gives for “Is.” : “Island(s) or Isle(s)” (as definition #2; #1 refers to the Bible: Isaiah).
Oh, and the Oxford Dictionary of English tells us the same.

Nice Brendan that took a lot more time than usual.
We saw the pairs and the symmetry, but couldn’t explain TWO PAIRS – so, thank you Duncan for helping out.
Best clues (for us): the &Lit of 11ac (HOARDER), its symmetrical counterpart ACREAGE (25ac) [we like these kind of devices: 'to be confined'='in a cage'], 1d (D&C, famously put to music by Debussy – great apt surface) and the other couple at 8d.

By: Duncan Shiell

Duncan Shiell — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:45:06 +0000

Thanks for the comments on the blog.

I have been away from my PC since just after posting the blog and have only just got round to reading the comments.

I agree that 10a is, at its its most basic, simply a hidden word which I failed to spot, but I think there are additional analyses making this a very clever clue.

Abby @ 22, as far as IS for island goes, I don’t have access to my normal reference books this evening, but I have looked up IS in the reference books in the house I am staying in this evening, and can find IS as an abbreviation for Island in both Bradfords and Websters.

By: caretman

caretman — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:44:29 +0000

Re Abby @22: I had the same thought, but decided I could justify that if ‘island’ can clue I (and that is in Chambers), then ‘islands’ can clue IS, i.e., the plural of I. Thus, pair of islands could be ISIS.

By: Abby

Abby — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:26:39 +0000

Who says “IS” is kosher for “island”? Everybody always tells me to check Chambers, so that’s what I do. It’s not there, is it? Says IS is good for Iceland, but, that doesn’t help.

It is a (literal) pair of “ISlands”, but it doesn’t say “two pair of islands”, which, considering, maybe it should have.

I figured ISIS had to be the answer, but all of Ilim, Iril, Iris, and Isis are rivers. I couldn’t make any of those work better, but considering how many ways I’ve seen ISIS clued in the past, I’m not impressed.

By: Carrots

Carrots — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:48:02 +0000

I finished this puzzle with gay abandon (i.e. SIX guesses!) none of which I had any great confidence in until I saw Duncan`s more than welcome blog. It turns out all six were correct and it wasn`t until I put GROOM in (the last one) that I realised Brendan had constructed a clever and diverting theme.

Yes, not a Rufus, but a welcome substitution! Thanks to Brendan and Duncan for their sky-blue thinking: we didn`t have any, depite an optimistic forecast.

By: caretman

caretman — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:23:51 +0000

Thanks, Duncan, for your usual excellent blog and parsing of the clues (although I agree that the main device in 10a was intended to be a hidden answer). Quite an enjoyable puzzle, made a little more challenging here since there was a problem with the Grauniad website that meant that the grid was not displayed, only the clues. However, deducing the grid was fairly easy. There were a lot of good clues, all of which others have pointed out.

I really enjoy the type of theme incorporated into this puzzle; not a list of items in a common category (which always seem obscure to me, such as arias in German operas not by Wagner) but a common idea with variations arising from it. Thus, we had lights that were pure couples (1d and 8d), pairs of lights that were couples (10a/26a, 3d/23d), related wordplay method (12a/24a), etc. And all tied together with 4d/17d, lights that have the same definition and relate directly to the theme. It’s not needed to understand the theme to solve the puzzle, so the theme doesn’t intrude but adds to the depth of the puzzle by making it more than just a collection of words stuck together in a grid.

Thanks Brendan for a well-constructed puzzle and theme!

By: theminx

theminx — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:05:51 +0000

Great blog Duncan…appreciate the time you put into explaining answers…and putting the original clue on…some times I dont look on here because maybe I want help with just one clue…and find the challenge gone when you see all the answers in capitals..its impossible not to read even though you are only looking for help with the one…have not finished yet, but just wanted to say nice one duncan…

By: liz

liz — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:50:13 +0000

Thanks, Duncan. And thanks to Brendan for a lovely puzzle — a nice surprise for Monday! I remembered to look for a theme and gradually cottoned on to the idea of pairs as I solved more clues.

All my favourites have already been singled out. I failed to make the connection between ‘vas’ and ‘vessel’ in the wordplay for 19ac, although I do know ‘vas deferens’.