Comments on: The Guardian No 25,511, by Pasquale

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:23:50 +0000

Thanks for the blog, Stella, and for the pleasant workout (and for dropping by!), Pasquale.

Put me down for one “bit” of a flower, too, not that it’s a big deal but it did make me nervous about inking in PETAL. Also, no one seems to have mentioned a minor glitch in the clue at 12a – the word “admitted” is doing nothing there – I get DEbt from everything through “initially”, followed by ERRING. “Admitted” would seem to imply putting one bit inside the other – “erring” being simply “going wrong”. Couldn’t have been anything else, though, so another “no big deal”.

Thanks for the parsing on a few I couldn’t completely work out – the queen, the lughole, the thole…

By: Davy

Davy — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:05:59 +0000

Thanks Stella,

This was on the easier side for the Don which I was quite grateful for. Last one in was POGROM which I interpreted exactly as you did Stella. It took me ages for some reason to get the anagram at 8a. I finally thought, yes it’s ‘sentimentalist’ but came unstuck crossing out the letters. Once I finally realised it may end in ‘ism’, the answer soon revealed itself.

The word ‘twerp’ is a good word but one that it rarely heard these days. Its modern equivalent is probably something like numpty which is also very expressive. The TV series Merlin has some good examples of similar words which are still in the dictionary today such as clodpole or sometimes clotpole.

My favourite clue was PLUGHOLE but I also liked JULIAN CALENDAR and TRASH which amazingly took me a while to work out.

Thanks Pasquale and all the best Stella. We could do with some Spanish heat now although the weather isn’t as bad as it could be.

By: Wolfie

Wolfie — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:09:01 +0000

Derek @ 18: The on-line OED gives it as two words ‘acid head’. My Encarta Dictionary of World English has ‘acidhead’. I suspect the latter is an Americanism.

Thanks Stella for the blog and to Pasquale for the crossword – entertaining as ever.

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:56:34 +0000

I was unaware that 10a had changed from (4-4) or even (4,4). Anyone know when this happened?

By: tupu

tupu — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:42:22 +0000

Thanks Stella and Pasquale

I came to this after lunch and tired after a morning in the shops so it took a time to solve. A cat nap in the middle helped revive my mind and sense of enjoyment!

Like others I was puzzled by ‘bits’.

I ticked 8a, 25a, 6d, 9d along the way. I vaguely remembered and checked ‘thole’. All my cats have been Toms and I did not know (remember?) queen in this context but thought it might relate to one or other Catherine.

I also liked 22d which reminded me of the old northern commedian, Norman Evans, and his monologue that went something like – He said ‘You’re a twerp’, I said ‘(Wh)o?’, he said ‘You’. I said ‘Me?’, he said ‘Aye’ I said ‘Ohh!’.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:33:37 +0000

Thank you for the blog, Stella.

Good fun puzzle from Pasquale today, with FISH AND CHIPS and PLUGHOLE my favourites. I didn’t stop to think about PETAL, but I can see now that it doesn’t quite work. To err is human …

By: bertandjoyce

bertandjoyce — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:47:02 +0000

Thanks Pasquale and Stella. Another enjoyable lunchtime solve! It took us a while to sort out ‘concordat’ and ‘purchase’ despite having a United Reformed Church just up the road!

Anyway…. Happy Christmas.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:42:28 +0000

Thanks all
That was better.
I was held up by ‘trash’ which I had as ‘heatrash’ but there was an ‘a’ left over!
I guessed 1d almost immediately from the enumeration but delayed entering it for some time until I had sorted out the lengthy parsing.
I liked 18ac and 24ac.

By: Mitz

Mitz — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:26:50 +0000

Thanks Pasquale and Stella. Reasonably challenging today, and educational in parts. Guessed ‘knothole’ from the crossed letters – had never come across ‘thole’ before. ‘Concordat’ also went in without fully parsing – no excuse for me as there have been cats in my family forever (we currently have four). Last in for me was ‘pogrom’ – I read it as OG[re] in PROM, but I would concede that Stella’s version is better. Liked ‘fish and chips’ – is it me or is this and almost Araucarian charade?!

By: Pasquale

Pasquale — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:09:56 +0000

I concede that a PETAL is a single part of a flower — alas alas! Merry Christmas everyone!