Comments on: Guardian 25,414 / Brendan

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:29:44 +0000

Not sure if I started this and got stuck or if it just ended up buried, unstarted, in my pile of paper, but WOW. I do remember having about half the South conquered when I got 14,17, which left me underlining the parenthetical advice. I don’t know what RCW’s beef was here, this was a lovely and elegantly themed puzzle. The last few clues I struggled with were helped to an extent – I guessed BROWNING having the checks – and NING from the theme. Took a few sittings to get to the end, leaving BROWNING and SHOTGUN in pencil.

Had SHOTGUN from early on but never sussed which definition of “labour” Brendan was working with. Brilliant clue. Delightful theme. Loved it.

Thanks for the blog, Gaufrid, and for the lovely treat and challenge, Brendan!

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 21:44:55 +0000

RCWhiting, you say that you ‘still don’t get the other rows’ allusion. As you are an experienced solver I am not sure whether what you say means ‘you dó get it but you don’t like it’ or you really don’t get it what’s happening here.

I think PeeDee made it quite clear:

In row 2: WIND[proof][arr]OW
In row 4: F[loorshow][sk]ATE
In row 6: OP[eras][brow]NING
In row 10: GAM[e fish][rab]BLE
In row 12: PRO[be][st]ABILITY
In row 14: RI[fle][multita]SK
All ‘chances’ to be found on the ‘outside’.

Maybe I am making a fool of myself by explaining this so explicitly, but, as I said, I am not sure what your problem is.

And, btw, Araucaria’s theme, yes, fine, “a real theme”(?), but one that has been done before in the Guardian by our friend Crucible.

By: James

James — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 20:00:27 +0000

I forgot to buy a paper yesterday but, following today’s less than taxing offering from Chifonie, decided to do this one online.

I spotted a reference in 5d that appears to have eluded the other commenters. There’s an apocryphal story that Wellington Koo, Chiang Kai Shek’s ambassador in London, was guest at a formal dinner and his neighbour, not realising who he was, turned to him and said “Likee soupee”? Koo kept his silence. At the end of the dinner he gave an eloquent speech in flawless English, then turned to his (by now mortified) neighbour and said “Likee speechee”? I’m pretty sure that “like speech” is an allusion to this story- otherwise “like English” would be more appropriate (we say “broken English” not “broken speech”).

First time comment!

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:04:14 +0000

Thanks all
I missed 5d and 8ac, I was set on ‘spoken’.
PD @16, all I can see is the anagram which I used to solve it but I still don’t get the ‘other rows’ allusion.
There is no theme,if you take any random selection of 30 words it would be amazing if one couldn’t contrive some links.
If you want to see a real theme set by an expert look at Araucaria’s prize puzzle last week.

By: James Droy

James Droy — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:43:30 +0000

For once I got the theme, knew what he was on about and finished. Only Operas held me back, I just couldn’t see it.
After a few days struggling in difficult puzzles on busses and in coffee shops with no reference material, I am in love again with solving.
I can only quibble on Browning. I don’t know his work well but guessing the letters I had to look him up. Proper poets rarely get mentioned in cryptics despite Pound and Ezra having so much potential, Hilda Dolittle giving an endless supply of HDs and Prynne giving JH and Hester. Bob Cobbing, possibly the greatest of them all, has to fit a cryptic clue

By: stiofain

stiofain — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 22:01:11 +0000

Hi Sil
I dug out my Clifford T Ward albums after this clue today, a great talent whose career was sadly cut short by unfortunate illness.
Another great Brendan but i missed the theme and needed here for enlightenment.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:24:29 +0000

Thanks Gaufrid for explainig what ‘other rows’ was about. I missed shotgun too, not really firing on all four today.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:50:23 +0000

Although easier than yesterday’s Orlando, this was another of those fine offerings from Brendan with a very typical thematic work-out. We cracked the theme almost right away, and it certainly helped us to confirm that GAME FISH was the right answer to 20ac.

“Not being well versed in poetry, sorry, BROWNING was an easy guess” (gm4hqf @12).
Well, the same here.

In the early seventies, I bought a record by Clifford T Ward called “Home Thoughts From Abroad”. I didn’t know then (1973) that it was the title of a Robert Browning poem nor did I know today. But I remembered one of the lines of the title track: “and I know how Robert Browning must have felt”. Therefore we decided that the answer to this clue had to be right.

After almost 40 years this particular clue made the penny drop!

” I’ve been reading Browning, Keats and William Wordsworth
And they all seem to be saying the same thing for me
Well I like the words they use, and I like the way they use them
You know, Home Thoughts From Abroad is such a beautiful poem
And I know how Robert Browning must have felt
‘Cause I’m feeling the same way about you
Wondering what you’re doing and if you need some help
Do I still occupy your mind? Am I being so unkind?
Do you find it very lonely, or have you found someone to laugh with?
Oh, and by the way, are you laughing now?
‘Cause I’m not, I miss you
I miss you, I really do”

(by the late and much missed Clifford T Ward, 1973)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsJ8iqS-Kio

By: John H

John H — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:59:25 +0000

Blast it. I convinced myself that 21 was MABBLE, (a tree and also a preservation method… MA + something) which made 20 FARM FISH, and came here to find out why. Well, now I know.

By: FranTom Menace

FranTom Menace — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:37:58 +0000

A very enjoyable crossword! We flew through, which is rare for a Brendan, but were stumped by the shotgun which was a brilliant clue! Thanks very much Brendan, and thanks for the solutions Gaufrid.