Comments on: Guardian 25,564 – Brendan

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:25:19 +0000

RCWhiting@33: a multiply palindromic date — 21.2.12, or 21.02.2012, or even 21.ii.12. Marvelous Brendanry all round — the theme did make the crossword a bit less of a challenge, but the elegance is quite brilliant enough to justify it!

By: mersea

mersea — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:34:02 +0000

I completely agree with Derek in that “Rotgut” is something cheap and nasty that one drinks, and that “gutrot” might well be the result – but not the noun – but I am a Yank, and “Rotgut” is a well-known phrase over here, even all these years after Prohibition, where I believe the word gained popularity. I have never heard of “gutrot” on this side of the pond – not that you should care, and Chambers (tugging forelock) notwithstanding. I merely point it out.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:07:48 +0000

Somebody elsewhere has pointed out that the date is (was) 21.2.12.
Possibly more Brendan like than pancakes?

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:39:35 +0000

……………….but I was wrong.

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:32:24 +0000

Thank you Wolfie, that is so much better than a bald, unsupported statement “so and so says”.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:25:51 +0000

I’ve always assumed that ‘gutrot’ referred to both the cause and effect.

By: Wolfie

Wolfie — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:22:35 +0000

Derek – you want evidence? Here it is from OED:

gut-rot n. colloq. unwholesome or unpalatable liquor or food (cf. rotgut n. and adj.).

1916 A. H. Macklin in A. Lansing Endurance (1959) v. vi. 217 ‘Gut Rot, 1916’?served only to turn most of us teetotallers for life.
1938 S. Beckett Murphy 83 The customer?was paying for his gutrot ten times what it cost to produce.
1941 S. J. Baker Pop. Dict. Austral. Slang 33 Gutrot, unhealthy-looking food or strong drink.
1965 F. Sargeson Mem. Peon ii. 32 The garish-looking sweet stuff he made his living from.? ‘I make a dishonest living by trading in gutrot.’

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:50:14 +0000

liz, am I supposed to be impressed by what ivory tower land has to say? I thought you knew that I don’t belong to the gullible band who take the contents of their publication as being unquestionable holy writ. So how would you expect me ever to take their word on anything as final?

Give me quote from somewhere else. In other words, what is the evidence that they are correct, what are their sources, because so far that evidence (on this subject) has passed me (and the people I’ve checked with) by. So I would be happy to be educated, but not by unsupported quotes from the ivory tower.

Note, I’m not discussing them either.

By: g larsen

g larsen — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:48:06 +0000

This was great fun. The clever flipping, once noticed, made the acrosses easier to get but added to the enjoyment. Thanks to Brendan (and UY).

I jibbed at the dd at 19 on the grounds that the plural of skate (the fish) is not skates but skate. But a quick online search does not support this, so perhaps it’s only to my ears that it sounds wrong.

By: liz

liz — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:31:18 +0000

Derek @24 I don’t want to stir up the dictionary debate again, but Chambers defines ‘gutrot’ as ‘rough, cheap alcohol’, so I think the def can be allowed to stand (I remember gutrot from my student days so bad it stained your mouth and teeth blue…)

I think it’s funny that the literal translation in German is ‘good red’.

Also thought it was clever of Brendan to have the puzzle hinge on two words that mean the same but whose parts can be flipped.