Comments on: Everyman crossword No 3,411

By: Robi

Robi — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 09:59:09 +0000

Good crossword, as ever, with a few unknowns, like STIVER and DHL’s KANGAROO. I just about dragged GLINKA out of my memory banks.

Thanks, Stella; obviously a solution and compound are not the same chemically. However, the two are listed as synonyms in my Chambers Xword dic., and in the Oxford Thesaurus, it gives under ‘a solution of ammonia in water’ the word ‘compound,’ so perhaps it is an old usage. Little criticism, therefore, of the setter.

By: Stella Heath

Stella Heath — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 09:23:01 +0000

Hi Bamberger, if you look at the first illustration at 4d, you’ll see it’s the cover of an opuscule by Mr. Lawrence entitled “Kangaroo” – I didn’t know it either, and it took me a while to find a “copy”.

Re 24ac, I’m no chemist, but I too was a little doubtful. Still, the answer was obvious enough, so I didn’t bother myself too much

By: Bamberger

Bamberger — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 09:06:20 +0000

Found this the hardest for a while and couldn’t get a lot of the top. It didn’t help that I’d never heard of Glinka or Stiver.
What has 4d got to do with D H Lawrence , please?

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 08:32:01 +0000

Thanks Stella. As you say, some delightful surfaces this week. MAD COW DISEASE was my favourite clue today.

I’ve always spelled the Dutch coin STUIVER, but I see STIVER is in Collins. If I remember well, the Dutch still use the word today to refer to the 5 cent Euro coin.

Like Miche, I raised an eyebrow at 24ac and SOLUTION, which chemically is not the same as a compound. Sodium chloride, NaCl or common salt, is a compound of the two elements sodium and chlorine. Water, or H2O, is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen. If you dissolve the former in the latter, you’ve got a homogenous blend of the two – a solution.

Many thanks to Everyman as always.

By: crosser

crosser — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 07:26:42 +0000

Thanks, Stella.
I needed your parsing of 27a but I think that “shot” for “chance” is a bit far-fetched. Wouldn’t “go” have been nearer the meaning or am I missing something?

Miche @1 – in chemistry.

By: Miche

Miche — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 01:10:29 +0000

Thanks, Stella.

Just one question (re 24a): in what context does “compound” mean “solution”?