Comments on: Guardian Nº 25,387 by Paul

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:33:58 +0000

Amusingly, I went straight from this to this month’s puzzlecrypt offering, and it had a similar theme! But, alas, no cleavage…

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 18:12:22 +0000

Lots of fun, and solvable using only my brain, for a rare once – and I needed something easier after the day before’s brutal Araucaria anyway. I love the sassy rhyming slang which is plausibly deniable! Also that the “flasher: wasn’t cheeky at all…

Ironically, CLEAVAGE was the last word to go in for me (CLAVICLE and EDIFICE were enough to get me the African lake system, which was enough to know where I was headed for THE BRISTOL CHANNEL).

One tiny quibble, which people seem to think was a typo, was “imagining” device – which was pointing me towards CAD MACHINE or PROGRAM, which really is one, as opposed to an “imaging” device. No big deal since the rest of the clue was tight.

Thanks for the blog, PeterO, since I wasn’t able to “prove” Rix to myself, and Paul for the fun!

By: Daniel Miller

Daniel Miller — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 01:17:09 +0000

Thousand & Coca-Cola – excellent clues!

By: Jamie

Jamie — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 10:59:00 +0000

I thought this was quite hard, cf the previous prize puzzle. But then I did put BALLS for 9 ac..

By: caretman

caretman — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 21:59:43 +0000

Found this a quite straightforward and pleasant puzzle. I add my best wishes to Paul tomorrow!

Since I’m from the States, I’m unaware of much of British slang, so after reading the first few comments I had to follow the links to see what all of the discussion around THE BRISTOL CHANNEL was about. I now admire the clue and its link to CLEAVAGE all the more. But it’s hard for me to imagine the circumstance in which I will use this new-found bit of knowledge about the slang meaning of ‘bristols’ save possibly for solving crosswords in the future. At the rate I’m going, I think that the information in my brain that I use solely for solving crosswords will crowd out all of the other information sometime in the next decade. I may not recognize family and friends, I may forget my address and phone number, but at least I’ll be able to parse a clue.

By: Carrots

Carrots — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 21:48:00 +0000

Little left for me to add this late in the day, but thanks, Paul, for providing the very best clue I`ve seen this year: THE BRISTOL CHANNEL had me crying into my beer with laughter!

I wish you and your bride-to-be every happiness tomorrow…and always.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 21:16:23 +0000

Brendan (not that one), in Crosswordland ‘shortly’ usually indicates the deletion of the last letter (unless your name is Araucaria, of course ), therefore ‘bloke’ wasn’t really an option here. ‘Guy’ was, though. Only the ‘y’ had to be removed.

By: Brendan (not that one)

Brendan (not that one) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 21:05:15 +0000

I actually found this a little harder than usual for a Paul.

Also in the ABLE camp, and CLEAVAGE was my last entry!

I must ask Andrew at 5. why if he wouldn’t have liked BL for “bloke shortly” then why was GU any better?!!!

By: Davy

Davy — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 20:27:57 +0000

Thanks PeterO,

I thought this was an excellent example of Paul’s style and humour. Yes, it wasn’t that difficult but there are always problematic clues. It took me an eternity to get MUTE SWAN as I was convinced that SMEW was part of the answer. THE BRISTOL CHANNEL was the last one in and caused much amusement. So many good clues and a big thank you to Paul for the great entertainment.

RCW may think this puzzle was largely dross but who cares what he thinks. He is so smug and I shouldn’t let him get under my skin but he does. Let’s see RCW’s attempt at a crossword.

By: Harry

Harry — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 18:13:00 +0000

2down confused me – I thought ‘able’ was a better fit, and threw me on 8ac.