Comments on: Guardian Prize 25,382 / Paul

By: Jan

Jan — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 10:46:00 +0000

Hi, EB, thanks for confirming my assumption. I do know who Big Dave is although I didn’t meet him in Derby.

By: EB

EB — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 04:34:25 +0000

@Jan #13 & 15.

According to ‘Big Dave’ (q.v.) three of the Johns – Graham (Araucaria), Henderson (Enigmatist) & Young (Shed) set this crossword as a tribute to the fourth – Halpern (Paul) & his bride Taline.

To see who ‘Big Dave’ is click here:

http://www.bestforpuzzles.com/people/b.html#Big-dave

By: Daniel Miller

Daniel Miller — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 01:21:26 +0000

Much too straightforward for a Prize Xword. They tend to be quite awkward for me to fill but this one was one of the easier variants.

By: Jan

Jan — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 23:29:48 +0000

Hi, Liz, I know – but only Cinephile (Araucaria), Dogberry (Shed) and Io (Enigmatist) set today’s (now yesterday’s!) FT Prize puzzle, so I wondered if they’d given Paul the wk/end off.

By: liz

liz — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 23:08:22 +0000

Biggles is WE Johns — all four of them –Araucaria, Paul, Shed and Enigmatist.

Lovely puzzle today — but one clue took me all day! (Sorry Gaufrid!)

By: Jan

Jan — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 22:37:14 +0000

I also wondered if this John had any part to play in the Biggles puzzle today – only three of the Johns composed the FT puzzle.

By: Jan

Jan — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 22:34:18 +0000

It’s a bit echoey in here, but it was a very straightforward puzzle wasn’t it.

I just wanted to add my best wishes for John and Taline tomorrow.

Hi, Eileen, thanks for the blog and the link to the Wedding Site – I’ve had a lovely browse.

By: Biggles A

Biggles A — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 21:55:12 +0000

I’m sure the reason for the muted response to your blog Eileen is that it is so complete and so insightful that there is little room for any further comment.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 21:03:58 +0000

It has been very quiet here, so I thought I’d pop back to say I just cannot imagine how on earth I missed the totally unPaul-like avoidance of the alternative entry at 5dn!

I very nearly commented on the weakness of the clue, since it seems to me that ‘formic = to do with ants’ is so very well known that this solution practically wrote itself in – and then the other possibility totally passed me by!

I knew the plastic laminate FORMICA kitchen surface before I met FORMICA = ant in school and wondered why it was so named but, in those pre-internet days, was never moved to try to find out. It’s not a whole lot easier today: all I’ve managed to find, in an on-line dictionary, is that it’s ‘for mica [a mineral]‘ which, after fifty years of wondering, has left me vaguely disappointed. I think I had had a vague idea that there was some kind of connection with the infestation of ants I once had on my kitchen worktop.

Anyway, that doesn’t answer the more intriguing question as to why Paul opted for such an easy and innocuous solution. Perhaps his mind is on higher things just now – but I wouldn’t mind betting that 16ac in today’s joint effort has his name on it! [But, come to think of it, it could be any of them - a really lovely puzzle, anyway!]

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 13:34:47 +0000

Hi All

Today’s FT crossword indicates that The Wedding is, in fact, tomorrow and, after a little research, I’ve found this irrefutable confirmation:

http://www.johnandtaline.gettingmarried.co.uk/

Sorry, everyone – I’ll change the preamble!