Comments on: Guardian 25,426 – Brummie

By: tupu

tupu — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:51:07 +0000

Thanks UY and Brummie

Solved after lunch but have only now got to a computer.

Pretty enjoyable – a mummy bear puzzle neither too easy nor too hard.

I got stuck over ‘spin’ for a time but then it clicked – too used to Campbell, Coulson et al. At one point I was juggling with ‘spotting’ and ‘O.T.T.ing’ but sense prevailed.

Some excellent clues and a manageable theme.

By: Davy

Davy — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:35:12 +0000

Thanks UY,

This was a very enjoyable puzzle from Brummie and considerably easier than some of his previous offerings. I thought the clues were excellent and all gettable without any vagueness in the wording. Took me a while to spell MCCARTHY correctly and also to get the anagram for ‘rationale’.

Just to pick a few clues, I liked ARTHUR, OVERTURN, ALIENATOR, MILLER, LATER and RUDIMENTS(which had a great surface).

Thanks Brummie.

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:09:58 +0000

rrc @23, know what you mean, that’s what usually happens to me, but ye hah, not this time!

By: apiarist

apiarist — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:31:33 +0000

I really got stuck in the NW corner as I was convinced 3 down was “amend” !! Otherwise no real problems although “stench trap” is new to me.

By: Giovanna

Giovanna — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:25:50 +0000

Thanks Uncle Yap and Brummie for the entertainment.

Like Eileen et al, I fell for the teenage + version of well for 1d. I solved Miller before I got Arthur and thought that there may be a Chaucerian theme. The Crucible, with all its layers of meaning, soon made everything fall into place. This made 12ac particularly apt.
The theme is quite topical following a recent showing of the BBC4 programme on the Pendle Witches.

Giovanna

By: Qaos

Qaos — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:01:37 +0000

I thoroughly enjoyed today’s puzzle. A few more “full” anagrams than we normally see from Brummie, but his usual trademark noun/verb misdirection which I always admire (tip, spin, bolts).

MCCARTHYISM had me stumped for a while at the start (before I’d worked on the thematic clues). I couldn’t convince myself that it could be such a long anagram with only 2 vowels!

By: Gervase

Gervase — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:34:13 +0000

smutchin @ 15

Chambers only lists the figurative meaning of WITCH HUNT: the searching out and denouncing of political opponents. The SOED does acknowledge the literal meaning, but the earliest usage is late 19th century. Strangely, ‘witch hunting’ is a much earlier expression – contemporary with the events in Salem. This was an activity carried out by a ‘witch-finder’ – also an old term.

But, as I recall, there wasn’t much ‘hunting’ of witches in pre-revolutionary MA anyway, just a lot of malicious finger-pointing.

By: Jan

Jan — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:27:08 +0000

I played Elizabeth Proctor when we did the play at college so the puzzle brought back many ancient memories.

Thanks Uncle Yap – although OUTING was fairly obvious, I couldn’t think what the longer word was. My brain got stuck on TOUTING.

By: Chaz

Chaz — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:56:08 +0000

Hi all,
Should 21d be venom rather than poison as it is injected and has a zoological context?

By: chas

chas — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:56:56 +0000

Thanks UY for the blog. There were a couple of places where I needed you to explain why I had the right answer!

When I saw Dudley in 5a I thought of Dudley Moore but I was unable to think of any role he had – I’m not a great film watcher. I tried to remember the names that Pete and Dud used for their off-colour act but failed again. However, the clue was well-enough written so I was able to put in ARTHUR without hesitation (or should I say hesitance )

On 19,15,7 once I had spotted the anagram I extracted SALEM WITCH easily enough so that just left HUNT. I was a little bothered by the thought of TRIAL but nothing else would go in.

I also have never heard of STENCH TRAP!