Comments on: Guardian Cryptic 25386 Pasquale

By: Katherine

Katherine — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:25:17 +0000

Very belatedly I’d like to thank scchua for a very thorough blog.
As I am American, I see nothing wrong with antsier. It is a commonly used word here and is in all my US dictionaries.
At least he didn’t make a word up as Auracaria seems to often do.

I liked 5,23,11,19 but think it could have been made better still if, rather than Keith Richards, Pasquale had used Bill Wyman.

Then we could have had “William couldn’t pick up Kate” – a passing reference to your ‘lovely’ royal couple.

I too don’t like mat as an alternative to matt.

By: Davy

Davy — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 11:22:42 +0000

Thanks scchua for your excellent and comprehensive blog. I think you set the benchmark here.

This belated comment is mainly for the benefit of Pasquale and just to say how much I enjoyed his marvellous puzzle. With my dim, old brain, I rarely finish a crossword on the day which is why I like the Prize one so much. I usually get there in the end but those simple words are so difficult to find. They are locked away in compartments with no path available to them.

I was pleased to get the SAMSON anagram without even knowing the Milton work and just a quick check on Google to confirm. Favourite clues were GO TO THE SCAFFOLD which amused me but obviously would not amuse those on the way. Also the long clue which I thought was brilliant. DOG HANDLERS was also short but effective and the anagram of ‘One decants’ was great. Thanks Pasquale.

By: Gerry

Gerry — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 22:04:34 +0000

Can’t see why ‘antsier’ is any more ‘unnatural’ than any other neologism. ‘Defer’ also nearly got me until I remembered deer grass. I laughed when I got 5,23,11,19.

By: Stella Heath

Stella Heath — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 21:41:22 +0000

Hi Robi@23, I totally agree with you re 10ac, although it was my first in – thanks to what I’ve learnt from this site

As to DEFER, I have to confess that I totally failed, having read the clue the wrong way round. I was trying to fit three letters of ‘farm’ into something to do with ‘grass’, eg. CI (=”confidential informant”, as I learn from US TV series)

By: muck

muck — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:58:39 +0000

Welcome scchua – thanks for the comprehensive & illustrated blog

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:52:17 +0000

Thanks all
scchua
There was a whole programme (R4) recently devoted to the cuckoo.
It dismissed some myths. If I remember correctly it was remarked how the eggs are often quite unlike the host eggs, possibly two or three times as big.
I found the most amazing piece of information was that by the time the chick is ready to fly the parents are already in South Africa!

By: Martin H

Martin H — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:52:06 +0000

Hi scchua – ‘it might help with the explanation to think “naturally” = by its natural,biological parents.’ Well yes, it might, and no doubt that’s what Pasquale intended. The trouble is it doesn’t really mean that. I accept, of course, the distinction between natural and adoptive parents, but isn’t it a bit of a stretch to extend that to ‘raising’?

Interesting about the cuckoo and its eggs. Still, I’d always thought there was a necessary element of choice in adoption, and Chambers gives: ‘to take voluntarily as one’s own child, etc…’ So the cuckoo isn’t an ‘adoptee’ from anyone’s point of view, even if the bird can be said to have such a thing beyond being hungry/fed.

What did you think about C=college in 2d? I thought some other nitpickers might have homed in on that one.

By: scchua

scchua — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:22:43 +0000

Thanks for all your comments (and encouragement).

To add to 25A ADOPTEE, it might help with the explanation to think “naturally” = by its natural,biological parents. Hi Martin H@12, I chose the cuckoo as it’s an interesting illustration of the evolutionary arms race (different cuckoo species target specific foster parent species and their eggs have to look like those of the foster parents in order to deceive them). True the foster parents in this case have no choice, having been deceived, but their treatment of the adoptee is no different from if they did have a choice. And from the adoptee’s point of view, it’s still an adoptee whether or not the choice was there for its foster parents.

By: Robi

Robi — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:55:30 +0000

Good puzzle, although I had to look up SAMSON, of course.

Great blog, scchua; I thought your explanation of ADOPTEE was fine – as you say, the ‘naturally’ here refers to natural parents rather than any slur on bringing up adopted children. I took a while to get 5,23,11,9 because I thought it must relate to ‘kiss-me kate,’ but then the stone dropped! Yes, ANTSY is in Chambers, so I’m with Stella @17 on the comparitive form.

I would always spell the dull MAT with an extra ‘t,’ although I see the former is an acceptable alternative. I failed on the grass in DEFER because I thought the ‘around about’ was the RE reversed and couldn’t think of a farm in which ‘FED’ was 25% of the word! [federations, almost]

By: Stella Heath

Stella Heath — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:51:13 +0000

Now there I must agree with you, gm4hqf, and ugly, too. I don’t see the point in in venting them when there are plenty of perfectly good “natural” words in English, but once they come into existence, they are only likely to be obliterated through lack of use, such is the nature of language. And if a word exists, its use in a crossword is legitimate so long as a reasonable good taste is observed.