Comments on: Guardian 25,577 / Arachne

By: tupu

tupu — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:27:38 +0000

Hi Huw

I parsed it ‘from Edinburgh, say’ = Scottish > not many = remove ‘c’ > = sottish.

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:18:09 +0000

I’m a bit frowny over “ICEHOUSES” = “old refrigerators” too, though there may be a cultural divide here of course. The icehouse is where those whose business it was to invest in cutting, hauling, and storing ice during the winter then selling it in the summer would store said ice. Then it would be sold to those who needed it, in suitably sized blocks, to place in their “iceboxes”, which were “old refrigerators”. But what the heck, it parses, and I suppose they would certainly be cold, and perhaps the owners also rented out space to act as refrigerators, perhaps to larger customers with bulk goods to preserve…

I had a lot of pencil left at the end of this… and although my notes say “sottish” and “artists”, the uncrossed letters there stayed blank. Although I sort of see how “sottish” is derived, I defy anyone to actually parse it clearly using the exact words in the clue. Not to fret, though, since the Rev does that all the time.

Thanks for the blog, Eileen, and the intricate puzzle, Arachne!

Oh, and a PS, a puzzle I was just working on included “EILEEN” as an answer I found early on and I was hoping, hoping, to see a handful of 225 bloggers represented, to no avail, alas.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 02:02:39 +0000

I had hate for EGOTISTICALLY. Not so much for SCALLY, which to me seems pretty good for monkey (and I’m from Hampshire), but for TITI, which is GK pure and simples. And ‘leading experts’ does not indicate E either. And ‘crossing’ too I thought a bit dodgy. Apart from that though …

By: tupu

tupu — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 23:48:07 +0000

Many thanks for the link Davy! A sort of avian ‘disgusted of Tunbridge Wells’.

By: pennes

pennes — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 23:15:44 +0000

First time ever I’ve tried a Guardian crossword: I have a subscription to the Independent and never ocurred to me that the Guardian crossword was online and free. I printed it off as couldn’t be bothered to work out how to do it online.
I finished the Indy Dac in good time today so had a go at this, this evening. I’ve been slightly peeved with the Indy as i had a 4 hour journey on the train one Saturday recently and the Indy that day was almost entirely themed about one music group about which I knew virtually nothing
I found this a very nice surprise, most clues very clear and inventive 12 ac Thong has to go down as one of my favorite clues.
I got manicured from crossing letters and realising there was an anagram of rude at the end but didn’t fully understand the clue until I got here. Actually I can’t recall coming acros this type of “anagram in the word” clue before, but maybe I just don’t remember.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 23:01:19 +0000

Thanks Eileen, Arachne et al for the explanations of this fine inventive crossword. I'm really made up that bobolinks made an appearance. Until today I did not realise that this is a real bird, I thought it was a name made up by David Kossov in Mouse on the Moon, a classic 1963 film satire of the space race.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:33:50 +0000

Thanks for the link, Davy – lovely!

By: Davy

Davy — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:27:59 +0000

Thanks Eileen,

Great puzzle from Spider Woman which I initially thought was quite easy. How wrong I was. As per other people, I needed explanations for a few answers but not many. One of the last answers was BOBOLINKS but I firstly guessed booblinks and googled it. Unsurprisingly I got loads of porn sites. Hey ho. For anyone interested, here’s a nice little film of the bird :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TXIrXiyW6o

I particularly liked OUSTING, MELTON MOWBRAY and INAUGURAL (loved dilapidated urinal).

Many thanks Arachne.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 21:25:47 +0000

Alan Bleasdale (who is from Liverpool), before his fame as a TV dramatist, wrote plays for Radio 4 and a novel.
The central character, who fitted tupu’s description perfectly, was named Scully.
I never heard Alan explain this but it is likely there was a link.

By: William

William — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:33:07 +0000

Thank you Eileen, what a cracker.

Everyone’s said what I wanted to say, so simply one of the best puzzles this year.

More please, 8 legs.