Comments on: Guardian Cryptic 25458 Araucaria

By: stumped

stumped — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:29:38 +0000

RCWhiting @30:

Sorry, what I meant to say about 17d

1. What is a “buil”? For it to be a homophone for anything it should be an actual word not just a collection of letters. I guess it’s in Chambers.

2. For the uninitiated it could as easily be a homophone to “bull”

3. Speed Limits aren’t restricted to built up areas so one can’t just guess the answer.

In short, stumped me.

By: Stella Heath

Stella Heath — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:02:51 +0000

Now we’re back on the subject, good news today: ETA have announced a definitive end to their violence – hooray!

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:41:23 +0000

Doh, of course. I must have been thinking of Pamela S saying “guerrr–illa” and confused the two.

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:41:07 +0000

Doh, of course. I must have been thinking of Pamela S saying “guerrr–illa” and confused the two.

By: Cinculus

Cinculus — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:35:46 +0000

I am a freedom fighter,
You are a guerilla,
He is a terrorist.

(Not The Nine O’Clock News I seem to remember).

I suspect this might be Yes Minister. Bernard Woolley, I imagine.

By: amulk

amulk — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:30:17 +0000

I have to agree with those who thought that there were a few too many liberties taken here, especially in 21dn. Dave Ellison @9, the two cases of the usage of “some” that you talk about are entirely different. Where “some” refers to the whole answer, there would also be a definition, guiding us towards the answer: a generic clue of that sort would be: Some (EXPRESSION) is (DEFINITION). Ie we look for a word or phrase synonymous with (DEFINITION) inside (EXPRESSION), with the tacit assumption that are looking for consecutive letters. In today’s clue we are just looking for a random number of letters within “portraits” with no indication as how many letters or what they mean. Indeed, if we take today’s style of cluing to its logical limit, then there is no obvious reason why “some” should even refer to consecutive letters within the given word or phrase.

By: Martin P

Martin P — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:05:05 +0000

RCWhiting says:

“…the beast with a horn is ‘tup’, a sheep…”

++++++++++

Now steady old chap. If you were going to make it singular you might as well have used the definite article.

By: MattD

MattD — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:01:50 +0000

Mixed bag. Some good, but too many liberties in cryptic structures and definitions. I also don’t think that many of the surfaces make any sense either and that is half the fun for me.

Shame. This is the first time I have posted negatively about a xword – I usually defend clues or setters, so please forgive me.

By: Martin P

Martin P — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:58:25 +0000

If I’m honest, although this diverted me for a while, I think as for enjoyment I preferred “Weatherwatch” to the NE

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:19:09 +0000

stumped @27
I think you have misunderstood 17d.
‘buil’ in ‘buil(t) is a perfect homophone for ‘bill’ which is a beak (as on birds) but the beast with a horn is ‘tup’, a sheep.