Comments on: Guardian 25424 / Crucible

By: Smoz

Smoz — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:49:55 +0000

Enjoyed this alot and it took a good amount of effort, even when the theme emerged. Unfortunately got 23ac wrong so 20dn was too. Glad to learn about 11ac – must log away for future ref. Loved 10ac although the young person now would surely have no idea what it meant beyond the search engine. Are there other words that have been co-opted and their meaning blurred?

By: Alexlotl

Alexlotl — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 01:42:18 +0000

I enjoyed this one. I’m in New Zealand, so it wasn’t until I solved POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE that I worked out it was Last Night of the Proms themed – I just thought it was a generally musical thing.

Completed the whole grid apart from CLING TO and LANG. I actually guessed the former, but didn’t feel I was allowed to write it in, as I didn’t know why – I’ve not met a compound anagram before! As for Lang, despite presumably having watched Derek Jacobi play him in The King’s Speech, I don’t think I’ve ever heard his name before, and I had no idea who was playing at the Proms that night.

14a was in first. 12a (Palindromes FTW!) and 27a were the most satisfying to solve.

15a involved a bit of Googling of the term “ut”, which has netted me a good bit of trivia, not to mention a bizarre version of The Sound of Music going through my head: “Oot, a word, a Yorkshire word; Ray a drop of golden sun; Me the name I call myself…”

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 16:47:54 +0000

Fair enough Wolfie, as long as you are happy.
To me a ‘puzzle’ must puzzle me, otherwise it has failed its primary function. Of course, wit and elegance can add to the pleasure of the puzzlement; it’s rather like maths. proofs.
C’est la vie.

By: Wolfie

Wolfie — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 08:47:20 +0000

RCW @9
The comments you cite are ‘meaningless to you’ because it seems that your view is that unless a puzzle is difficult there is no pleasure to be had from solving it. I am one of those who enjoys solving cryptic crosswords at all levels. An easy puzzle can entertain and divert providing the clueing is witty and elegant – as in this offering from Crucible.

I enjoy hiking in the high fells of Cumbria; this doesn’t mean that I can’t also enjoy a stroll in the park…

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 15:48:43 +0000

molonglo
I agree entirely; I am also similarly ‘unversed’ but I certainly knew what day it was thanks to the BBC TV trails which have seemed interminable.
“We found this very easy…the quality of clueing was excellent”
“Easiest Crucible so far…delightful”
I know some of you think I shouldn’t say these things but the above quotes are quite meaningless to me.
Roger, I think if you consider both ‘repairs’ and ‘overhaul’ as nouns it makes more sense.

By: chas

chas — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 15:21:42 +0000

Thanks to mhl for the blog. It usually seems to me that there are one or two answers where I think “I am sure that xxx is what’s wanted but why!” and you have cleared up those for me.

I thought about Götter… vs Goetter… and realised that doing it the way that Crucible chose means we are left with Yahoö – which looks odd!

Once I had spotted the theme I was able fairly quickly to spot most of the related answers but there were some where I wanted to check. I turned to the Guardian Guide booklet and found it USELESS. The Radio3 section just listed the composers – not the names of the works. The BBC1 and BBC2 columns added little more. I had to go to the BBC website and fight my way through lots of stuff to get the checks I wanted.

By: r_c_a_d

r_c_a_d — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 14:58:22 +0000

Thanks for the blog. I too got CLING TO but didn’t get the parsing. Took a while to spot the prom theme even with the blatant hints – just me being slow – but that at least made the puzzle last a bit longer. Enjoyable and satisfying to finish (if you count getting 11 without knowing exactly why… At least I know a lot about electric organs now

By: MEB

MEB — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 12:47:18 +0000

Roger is wrong about TLNOTP, I’m afraid. I have in my posession the prospectus for the 64th Season of the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts held in 1958. The last night was held on Saturday, 20 September, even deeper into autumn than this year. The last night has always landed in mid-September.

By: Roger

Roger — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 10:27:37 +0000

Thanks mhl, especially for explaining CLING TO. Didn’t TLNOTP once mark the end of summer ? Now it’s halfway into autumn !

No doodling required so this must have been fairly straightforward. That said, I wasn’t overkeen on ‘repairS’ = OVERHAUL or ‘either way’ as (presumably) the definition at 12a. Just me, probably.

Did like the construction of IGNORANT, enjoyed the CHOPIN and while LANG¹ was familiar, LANG² wasn’t. Knew 27a as CRUMHORN as did Biggles @1 but the clue is still a wonderful (albeit perhaps unkind) &lit.

UT (15a) was new to me when it cropped up recently. Glad I made a note of it.

By: tupu

tupu — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 08:56:18 +0000

Thanks mhl and crucible

As Sil says, welcome back mhl. Very helpful blog, though
like Biggles A, I’m puzzled by the difference between KRUMMHORN and krummhorn!

Very enjoyable with excellent cluing. Although ‘Lang’ is a common ‘archbishop’ I had to check the program to get the answer to 3d.