Comments on: Guardian Cryptic N° 25,530 by Qaos

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:30:59 +0000

Wolfie @35
“Criticisms from some quarters about it being too easy should be directed to the crossword editor rather than to the setter.”

Since I do not know either setter or editor my criticisms are always directed at the product. I’m sure they’re all lovely people.

By: PeterO

PeterO — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:20:50 +0000

Firstly, thanks to Qaos for the crossword and for visiting the blog. As Gervase @5′s link points out, Qaos has had a Genius published, but as far as I can tell this is his first Cryptic. The Guardian site at the moment seems reluctant even to identify him as a setter!
Ian N14 @4 – I had missed the slogan. Thanks for pointing it out.
I am happy to see several unfamiliar names in the comments – welcome to you all.
Paul B @28 – a quick search in 225 shows that TOODLE-PIP pops up in another three crosswords. As well as Qaos and Paul, Anax clued it as a Spoonerism. Apart from that, the only place I have come across the word before is in the dialogue of some frightfully English caricature in a Hollywood film.
Derek Lazenby @32 – The Eton suit does get an Honourable mention in Wikipedia – in the Uniform section of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eton_college.

By: Gervase

Gervase — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:59:32 +0000

Derek @32: How about a PETAFLOP!

By: Wolfie

Wolfie — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:17:02 +0000

Welcome Qaos – I enjoyed your first Guardian cryptic and hope to see more from you. The PC v Mac theme was clever and amusing, and if you were asked to provide an ‘accessible’ puzzle you certainly fulfilled your remit. Criticisms from some quarters about it being too easy should be directed to the crossword editor rather than to the setter.

Thanks PeterO for the blog.

By: pangapilot

pangapilot — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:57:11 +0000

Safely out of the range of homophones, RP or otherwise, I imagine: How are we to pronounce Qaos?

By: FranTom Menace

FranTom Menace — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:21:43 +0000

Hi all, and welcome Qaos. As others have found, not too taxing this one, but some really nice surfaces and I’m also a fan of a really short clue. In fact, I often get frustrated at clues which ramble on and the solution is (4).

Ignore the rude criticisms, Qaos – yes this was a simple puzzle for many, but we wouldn’t say it was a bad one. I’m looking forward to clues as clever as some of these which take a bit longer to work out!

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:01:30 +0000

And then there is the ambiguous 21. A TERAFLOP would be an even bigger failure and is still a valid computing term.

Presumably Eton Suit is something posh so and so’s know about. Whatever, it’s obscure enough to have not made Wikipedia, which takes some doing. Accessible? Hmm.

By: amulk

amulk — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:01:16 +0000

As the others have said, a nice gentle puzzle. I must be honest though that I did not pick up on the theme. Also did not know that “terraform” was an accepted word in the English language – the online Chambers does not seem to have it and I don’t have anything better than that to refer to. Fortunately, I remembered the word from an old episode of Star Trek (I think) and there was not much else that could have gone in there anyway.

Toodle-pip.

By: DROPO

DROPO — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:03:13 +0000

Thanks, Qaos! I solved this one without enormous delay, but several clues kept me guessing. TOODLE-PIP in particular was one of the last to take shape for me – don’t know if I’ve ever heard anyone say that, even in jest. And yes, 4d is marvelous.

By: ContrapuntalAnt

ContrapuntalAnt — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:05:29 +0000

As someone comparatively new to cryptics (half a year since I started attempting the Guardian cryptics regularly) it was a delightful crossword to solve, at just the right difficulty for me. Some enjoyable clues in there too – thanks Qaos!

I particularly enjoyed 4d [which reminded me of a clue by Paul I saw a month or so ago: Oxygen and another gas, oxygen and another gas, energy individually matched (3-2-3)]. I don’t think I’ve seen many of those types of clues yet, so the novel surface reading of them is a delight. Similarly 1d, which took me far longer to catch onto than 4d.