Comments on: Guardian Prize 25,526 / Araucaria http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/01/14/guardian-prize-25526-araucaria/ Never knowingly undersolved. Thu, 20 Jun 2013 07:34:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: RCWhiting http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/01/14/guardian-prize-25526-araucaria/#comment-180162 RCWhiting Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:07:28 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=39172#comment-180162 Well Thomas, I have never seen Don Giovanni or any opera and I have no idea which film you are referring to…….I still think the clue was not unfair.

]]> By: Thomas99 http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/01/14/guardian-prize-25526-araucaria/#comment-180158 Thomas99 Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:14:33 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=39172#comment-180158 Setters always have to assume a minimum of cultural knowledge – high, low and everything in between – and the most famous event in Don Giovanni, particularly the one alluded to and enacted ad nauseam in a famous oscar-winning film, is hardly too obscure. Or did I miss the world ending?

]]> By: RCWhiting http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/01/14/guardian-prize-25526-araucaria/#comment-180155 RCWhiting Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:16:01 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=39172#comment-180155 PS, I understand your point entirely.
The only thing I would add is that the Guardian cryptic is not the only daily one available.
When I was much younger and exposed daily to a wider range it was generally thought that the G.provided the hardest test.
So learners could maybe try the Torygraph occasionally.

]]> By: PS http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/01/14/guardian-prize-25526-araucaria/#comment-180152 PS Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:41:14 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=39172#comment-180152 Thanks to all for helping me advance another tad up the learning curve. I had to wait for the very helpful blog for an explanation of my guess at COMMENDATORE — thanks Eileen.

As to Eileen’s assessment and RCW @3 and #14, cholecst #12 :-

I know just how very much that I have enjoyed and improved my solving skills by lurking on this blog for some years. The group defined by those using this website may also be improving in a collective way. Also, the use of the Internet, which is becoming more sophisticated, can speed up a solution. The danger of such assessments as that by Eileen and adverse comments on Thursdays crossword set by Qaos may be,as I see it, to influence whatever forces control the difficulty of the crossword to make them much harder. Those of us who have to struggle a little more, the young and other newcomers may be discouraged instead of getting a boost.

]]> By: sidey http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/01/14/guardian-prize-25526-araucaria/#comment-180119 sidey Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:25:33 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=39172#comment-180119 Oh for goodness sake, Shirley and Ian recognised the reference, fine, they know the reference.

I solved the cryptic construction easily, it’s not a difficult clue.

However, “the statue that came to dinner” needs to be looked up somewhere if it is not recognised.

Now, where to start looking for that reference in the average solver’s library? Could it be a quotation? It’s not in the ODQ, a fairly standard work that people may be expected to own. It’s not in my version or the online version I can access through my library membership.

Now, could you please suggest the next book that an average person might have that they should look in? Grove? Not on the average bookshelf I’d bet. And is it indexed as well as the ODQ to find such a reference? I doubt it. Unless you know otherwise.

I am saying no more as it was yet another mistake to criticise Araucaria in the Guardian threads.

]]> By: RCWhiting http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/01/14/guardian-prize-25526-araucaria/#comment-180116 RCWhiting Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:18:51 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=39172#comment-180116 If you were to ask Shirley or Ian W. I am sure they did not find it meaningless because they did know it.
I did not know it but that doesn’t make it unfair.

]]> By: sidey http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/01/14/guardian-prize-25526-araucaria/#comment-180115 sidey Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:01:44 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=39172#comment-180115 BTW, the definition of unfair is not “something I do not know”.

Not at all RCWhiting. I encounter things I don’t know all the time in crosswords, that’s part of the fun. What is not fair about 18 is the reference that is meaningless if you don’t know the opera AND the is not the vaguest hint what sphere of knowledge needs investigating to confirm the reference.

]]> By: Eileen http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/01/14/guardian-prize-25526-araucaria/#comment-180114 Eileen Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:44:24 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=39172#comment-180114 Thanks for the smile, Robi – I love that one, too! ;-)

]]> By: Robi http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/01/14/guardian-prize-25526-araucaria/#comment-180113 Robi Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:28:11 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=39172#comment-180113 r_c_a_d @10; you might find this interesting

Thanks Eileen; as you say, reasonably straightforward apart from ‘the statue that came to dinner.’ I’m better with ‘the tiger who came to tea!’

]]> By: RCWhiting http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/01/14/guardian-prize-25526-araucaria/#comment-180111 RCWhiting Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:53:52 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=39172#comment-180111 cholecyst @12
That paragraph sums up my view exactly.
I think it is partly that as time passes one accumulates general knowledge without any conscious effort.
I enjoy talking to my grandaughter and understanding how her knowledge of much of the world is read or heard whereas “I was there.” (Max Boyce)

BTW, the definition of unfair is not “something I do not know”.

]]>