Comments on: Guardian 25,524 / Puck

By: Maxine from Oz

Maxine from Oz — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:22:12 +0000

Thanks Eileen… I missed the explanation. And BTW thank you for all your very helpful blogs.

I really enjoy all the comments and find them extremely helpful especially for the more obtuse (for me) clues.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:25:57 +0000

Hi Maxine

The clue is actually 20ac but that’s the one we had, too:

Top biofuel isn’t a sort of petrol (4-4)

Have you read the comments, as well as the blog? It took us a while to get there but NeilW finally explained it at comment 9.

By: Maxine from Oz

Maxine from Oz — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:57:10 +0000

Probably too late again….(This crossword appears in our paper today 18th Jan). I’m guessing from the entries above that the clue in our Canberra Times for 18a which reads ‘Top biofuel isn’t a sort of petrol (4-4)’, is a different clue from the original in your Guardian??

By: Fallowfield

Fallowfield — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:29:20 +0000

The road to L – another puzzle hamstrung on a ‘good idea’. Clues which boiled down to ‘guess what I’m thinking’ as solutions followed by ‘guess which letter to leave out’ – or in this case, guess what letters are supposed to mean – indications.

No doubt clever, but amusing? GSOH on this site – I worry.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 03:00:50 +0000

The thing about LEG, as the setter generously acknowledges, is that it does not equal L in any crossword reference: and, as given here, it has nothing to do with cricket, which as ‘mismanager’ points out is a more subtle beast than ‘Tony’ imagines.

Also, there is no Nina in this puzzle, which instead has some extra information, unfathomable in today’s case, supplied perimetrically. As it turns out, the added info signifies a milestone for Puck, and well done to him for reaching it.

By: Quink

Quink — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:46:39 +0000

Jeez, that was a beast of a puzzle. My lowest solving in a long time. Many thanks for the explanations. From experience, I never had Puck down as such a killer. Man !

By: mismanager

mismanager — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:14:55 +0000

Tony @29

For a left-handed batsman, the leg side is on the right – field positions are defined with reference to the batsman’s normal stance at the crease.

By: Martin P

Martin P — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:05:04 +0000

I’ve been a professional sound engineer for thirty-three years and could not see dB in Lord Byron…

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:08:35 +0000

Surely the leg side is the left side, and left commonly abbreviates to L.

By: Dave Ellison

Dave Ellison — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:23:34 +0000

Thanks, Puck and Eileen. I am looking forward to the C-word one.