Comments on: Guardian 25,432 – Bonxie

By: el stano

el stano — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:22:21 +0000

Hi All,
Re 1,5: carnage didn’t occur to me whereas sunrise did (perhaps showing my age) and held me up similarly.
Cheersh!

By: robinwolves

robinwolves — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 09:18:08 +0000

Dear Uncle Yap,
I must demur from your quibble about 4 down; of course there are several words maiden might allude to, however of those you list only one has the requisite 4 letters and it does not fit the crossers. That is why this is a crossword rather than a list of cryptic quiz questions. you have to consider the possibilities and look for one of them to be confirmed.

I do, however have my own quibble, in that, a key is a reef or sea island whereas, as I understand it, an ait or eyot is a small island in a river.

I had my own parsing of this which was that key refers to the Alt key on a keyboard, where the lower case L looks like uppercase I.

Either explanation seems slightly off to me but I would be interested to know which is correct. I dont know if Bonxie is one of those who loks in here from time to time.

All the best
Robert

By: Scouse Tim

Scouse Tim — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:48:25 +0000

Gervase, I am also ashamed not to spot the scouse. In fact I hardly got into the bottom half. Some very tricky combinations there from Bonxie I thought. As for Liverpoliton – this is how I describe myself (as an Evertonian!) and I picked it up from my long dead grandmother.

By: jackkt

jackkt — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 23:09:24 +0000

Gervase @14. I don’t know which edition of SOED you have but this is from mine:

BUSHWHACK: 2 verb trans. Surprise (someone) by attacking them from a hidden place; ambush. N. Amer. M19.

D. Hammett If I get there first I can bushwhack him.

By: apiarist

apiarist — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:44:28 +0000

I’m afraid that took me over three hours. I just can’t seem to tune into Bonxie’s wavelength. On top of that I had to use technology to find ratiocinate so instead of feeling any triumph I just felt guilty ! Never mind, I will now return to my recent gift of 100 Monkey Puzzles. Lovely !

By: Paul B

Paul B — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:34:13 +0000

Well, I don’t know about all that, but as a beer joke I think it’s pretty good!

I guess my point, which for some reason I’m only just about bothered to make, is that while I’m sure we’d all like to preserve as many subtleties and distinctions as possible in a language that’s under fire from meatheadedness generally, where dictionary support is available a compiler is entitled to a little exploitation innit.

By: tupu

tupu — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:38:24 +0000

Hi Paul B and RCW

Thanks. I do not feel all that strongly about it. As Gervase says, the equation of the two is becoming more common. I think the clue is saved by the cryptic element (as RCW suggests) – which I was sorry to have missed. OED gives a nice 18 century quotation ‘All men are agreed to call vinegar sour, honey sweet, and aloes bitter’.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:17:21 +0000

Wrongly guessed rationicate for 14ac

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:16:58 +0000

Perhaps 21ac is an example of why this was so much more enjoyable than yesterday’s with its Cornish dance.
The allusion of bitter for acid did still leave me wavering and not writing it in until I saw the ‘placid’ cryptic. Then it was written in with absolute certainty. The definition must not be too precise,otherwise the cryptic is wasted.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:55:06 +0000

SOUR (the ‘taste that detects acidity’, according to Wiki) and BITTER are shown, in Collins, as interchangeable (each appears under the other’s headword), and I don’t think anyone here would have a problem equating ACID with SOUR. So what’s a compiler to do? Reach for Fowler? Nothing there, I’m afraid, so I wonder whether we might take Bonxie’s side in the matter. Chambers is not as generous, however …