Comments on: Guardian 25,393 – Tramp

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 21:16:25 +0000

Thanks all
I don’t know who Tramp is but bring him/her back soon.
This was a great challenge. I started it on the beach, continued in the beer garden and was still being entertained back in the caravan – excellent value.

By: ernie

ernie — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 07:10:20 +0000

As Kathryn’s Dad says (# 11): Easy, but fun. That’ll do me for a Friday morning (and the rest, and Saturday). Thanks to Tramp and Andrew.

RIBOFLAVIN (Vitamin B2) was particularly good, and there IS some Vitamin B6 in Flora.

By: Euan

Euan — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 19:03:17 +0000

After years of dabbling with cryptics I have been making a diligent effort over the past few months to do the Times most days and check the various blogs to really try to learn each day.

I decided today it was time to branch out and this was my first Guardian Cryptic. It’s been a pleasure – a lively and enjoyable puzzle. I just managed to finish and I particularly liked RIBOFLAVIN, EPITAPH and ESTATE CAR.

This was an excellent blogpost – thanks Andrew. And it was particularly welcome to see the contribution from the setter – thanks for the puzzle. I thought maybe 20d was an idiosyncrasy of the Guardian and so your admission is very helpful!

By: Phil Rose

Phil Rose — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 16:13:10 +0000

Thanks Tramp

It’s good to get confirmation on today’s 20d. I have been bashing my head against a brick wall.

By: Tramp

Tramp — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 14:47:55 +0000

Thanks everyone.

I suspect not many folk are still checking this but it’s an amazing coincidence that my puzzle yestrerday contained a mistake at 20d and the Paul puzzle the day afer seems to contain a mistake too (also at 20d)

By: Sylvia

Sylvia — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 12:23:20 +0000

My first in was the long anagram, purely from the letter count:-) and the last was Blessed.

By: Tom willis

Tom willis — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 20:59:09 +0000

A special day for me: this is the first cryptic outside of everyman that i’ve managed to complete 100% on my own. Kept me entertained on way to/from work, and was delighted when i cracked ‘abraham’s bosom’ as the last clue in. Thanks Tramp!

By: Speckled Jim

Speckled Jim — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:51:37 +0000

Really enjoyed this one. My heart sank when I saw the massive phrase beginning 26a with a reference to another clue, itself containing a reference, but for once I could actually get the film being referenced! I was sure that the ‘divine’ in 5a was going to be the verb rather than the adjective though – surfaces are usually more misleading than this.

I only know Brian Blessed from the sub-standard first series of Blackadder.

3, 8 and 18 I got without understanding why, so thanks for the explanations. Think it possibly a little harsh to use an example of an epitaph – let alone one that doesn’t actually exist in that form!

By: scchua

scchua — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:50:12 +0000

Thanks Andrew and Tramp.

This was quite manageable after getting LIFE OF BRIAN which then led to the long anagram, though I didn’t try, as with most long anagrams, to deconstruct the answer to get the fodder. Favourites were 14A ESTATE CAR, 11A RIBOFLAVIN and 9D ABRAHAM’S BOSOM.

No-one’s mentioned it, but I recall Brian Blessed hollering as Blackadder’s father.

By: otter

otter — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:23:15 +0000

Thanks Andrew, and thanks Tramp. I too found this surprisingly easy, given the several long clues and linked clues.

Some lovely surfaces – those in RIBOFLAVIN and EPITAPH stand out, even though they were easy to get.

22 would have been a lot better, in my view, without ‘In Japan’, which was unnecessary for the definition and made the clue too easy – I wrote it straight in after reading the first three words of the clue.

Anyway, that is a minor quibble in a very enjoyable puzzle. I have really enjoyed Tramp’s first few Guardian puzzles, and look forward to more.

I see a few quibbles above in the construction of ASTRADDLE, given the hidden answer parsing. While this is neater than mine, the way I parsed it does get around the ‘not all of’ quibble someone raised above. I saw it as ELD (‘not all held’) + DARTS + A, all reversed.

All in all, a lovely end to the week, which has quite cheered me up after a somewhat difficult week. Thanks again, Tramp.