Comments on: Guardian Prize Puzzle 25,460 by Bonxie

By: JM

JM — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:50:19 +0000

A bit late, I know, but it appears that no-one has yet suggested that 1d is really
Black + I (1 Roman numeral) inside IS.
“Black” comes before “one” in the clue (the blog suggest the opposite order of these), then the comma (I realise that punctuation sometimes gets added to “confuse” but not so here apparently), and lastly “is” as the “carrier”.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 10:05:06 +0000

Davy@24,

Not “wrong” but just an alternative and equally good interpretation IMHO.

By: Biggles A

Biggles A — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 09:47:22 +0000

The example in your last sentence in 21 is noted Eileen.

By: Davy

Davy — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 09:41:24 +0000

Still not working, see

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crosswords/2011/oct/28/prize-crossword-annotated-solution-25460?newsfeed=true

By: Davy

Davy — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 09:38:37 +0000

Oops, part of the solution has been interpreted as HTML. I’ll try again.

“19 wantonly WAN/TONY”

By: Davy

Davy — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 09:36:13 +0000

Re 19d, I have to admit to being wrong as the annotated solution gives :

19 wantonly WAN/TONY

By: Stella Heath

Stella Heath — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 22:07:11 +0000

Hi Eileen,

Rather than still there, I’m back, and glad you came back to me on this one. I actually thought the “h” had the same origin in all three, and HE with his classical knowledge has never enlightened me.

As for the subjunctive, I’m sure you realise it’s a mode, not a form. There are no subjunctie verb forms in English, true, but how else would you qualify a phrase like “Would I hadn’t said that!” ?

By: stumped

stumped — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 21:39:47 +0000

Ant(h)ony didn’t occur to me. I had White Man as WAN TONY.

Has anyone already pointed out that curses and obscenities are examples of Blue Language?

I retract my original opposition to Mushroom = Boom. The Atom Bomb, of course.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:15:14 +0000

Thanks, PeeDee.

Hi Stella, if you’re still there.

I’m with you on the interpretation of WANTONLY.

I’ve always wondered where we got the H in Anthony, since the name comes from the Latin Antonius. Similarly, ‘Thames’, from the Latin ‘Tamesis’. Thomas is, I find, from the Aramaic, so rather different.

I can’t think, offhand, of any other English examples, so, thus far, can’t fault your husband’s teacher.

BUT: “he was also taught that English has no subjunctive)” ???

As a linguist, you had your tongue in your cheek when you posted that, didn’t you? If I were [but I'm not] willing to pursue this, I could go on all night!

By: Stella Heath

Stella Heath — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:17:17 +0000

Hi Robi, I know it exists, it just feels wrong somehow. You wouldn’t spell Thomas without its “h”.

In fact, my husband, when he was learning English, was taught that there are three English ‘words’ where “th” is pronounced “t”: the aforementioned, and Thames. (There may be others, though – he was also taught that English has no subjunctive)