Comments on: Guardian N° 25,411 by Gordius

By: Mr Beaver

Mr Beaver — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 07:55:27 +0000

Pie: It’s the ‘he’ at the start of the clue. A bit awkward, though, I agree..

By: Pie Quay

Pie Quay — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 23:44:08 +0000

I didnt much like this one. Where does the ‘man’ come from in 13a?

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 20:50:12 +0000

FTM
But isn’t the point of a cryptic crossword that the cryptic will give you all or at least part of the solution which will then fit the definition. Otherwise it is just a non-cryptic with some redundant cryptic bits added on?

By: FranTom Menace

FranTom Menace — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 20:41:20 +0000

Well 1a was the last one in for us, I got it after looking at the last word and going through the alphabet for the first letter! Got it straight away when I had the TU_A_E_.
We really enjoyed today’s puzzle, every clue a good’un with the possible exception of chairlift (a pretty woolly cd).

Regarding RCWhiting at 13, I often think ‘that’s clever’. Most of the time when I put in the solution and parse the clue afterwards I take that to mean the compiler has actually been cleverer than me!

By: chas

chas — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 18:45:01 +0000

Thanks to PeterO for the blog.

I delayed myself for a while on 10a by insisting that GO was the first two-letter word. Eventually I saw the light.

I liked CHAPL[A]IN and I loved NEIGHED, once I had looked up Incitatus

By: Gail S

Gail S — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 18:01:21 +0000

Interesting to see how you worked out 15ac – mores. I immediately saw that and thought of O tempora! O mores! from Cicero (language of 1ac)- thus it was the second matter in a very famous Latin quotation. In fact, that’s what put me onto the fact that 1ac must be Latin.

Of course, it also works out beautifully from mo and res.

By: PeterO

PeterO — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:34:08 +0000

Two off-beam references to the Urban Dictionary in as many days. I hope I don’t detect a theme. Anyway, who is this “famous Greek eunuch Incitales”? Even Google has not heard of him outside the UD quote.
Derek – I’m not sure why you object to changing sides. L & R are sides, as in “this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side”, even if you are lying down or standing on your head.
MikeC – I agree with you over 1A. It took me quite a while to guess that we might be dealing with a Latin phrase, and then hunt for something suitable. I may have the odd pound coin salted away somewhere, but I’m not sure where, and the edges of dollar coins do not make for very interesting reading. Still, when the penny (or pound) finally dropped, it does make for a neat clue as CDs go.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:16:56 +0000

Thanks all
Not quite up to the high standard of Wed/Thurs but still a good challenge for one’s money.
I liked 17ac (rather Rufusian, I thought), 7 d and 2 d.
Derek, ‘left(L)’ and ‘right(R) are sides irrespective of where they appear so I think 2d is fine.
I have recently decided that the most critical parts of a cryptic crossword are the definitions. One sometimes gets the impression that the setter has spent so much effort on the cryptic and then just thrown in a definition so obvious that all the effort is wasted.
I do not like to write in a solution (especially with crossing letters) from the definition and then read the cryptic and think “that’s clever”. It’s not really!
There were two fine examples of good definitions today in 1ac and 8d.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:12:10 +0000

Many thanks PeterO & Gaufrid

This was too tough for me and I would never have got 1a ever.

Very disappointing!

By: MikeC

MikeC — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:47:39 +0000

Thanks PeterO, and Gordius (mostly). I did eventually manage this one but I was very unenthusiastic about 1a (google struggled with it). A simple cryptic definition of a not very well known non-English phrase seems a touch unfair to me. The same answer with a different type of clue (anagram, charade, . . . ) would be far more acceptable. I think the root of my displeasure is that solving the clue is difficult if you don’t already know the answer – whereas I think most of the pleasure in cryptic crossword solving comes in working one’s way to the solution. I want more play in my word-play!