Comments on: Guardian 25,617 – Orlando http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/04/23/guardian-25617-orlando/ Never knowingly undersolved. Sat, 25 May 2013 13:46:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Uncle Yap http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/04/23/guardian-25617-orlando/#comment-191008 Uncle Yap Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:14:39 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=43280#comment-191008 For some strange reasons, I overlooked this and only got to solve it this afternoon while waiting for the ISP to install my 5M high speed connection. Took me over the hour (meaning very challenging) and what a lovely and enjoyable hour it was.
Thank you Orlando and manehi (I had to check a couple of your excellent parsing) Thank goodness this did not come during my watch (phew!)

]]> By: PeeDee http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/04/23/guardian-25617-orlando/#comment-190871 PeeDee Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:55:09 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=43280#comment-190871 Only just managed to finished this! Quite a different league (on every level) to the normal Guardian weekday puzzle. Great stuff.

]]> By: Sil van den Hoek http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/04/23/guardian-25617-orlando/#comment-190799 Sil van den Hoek Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:38:31 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=43280#comment-190799 RCW @26, don’t worry, I can! [it was probably a rhetorical question :) ]

Calling the usual Monday fare ‘a run of the mill’ is one way to look at it, but one should realise that there are a lot of (inexperienced, but also experienced) solvers who really look forward to Rufus et al.

Indeed, this Orlando puzzle was of a different level compared to what we normally get on a Monday, but for me not a valid reason to take the opportunity to express any discontentment with or even dismiss (between the lines) other setters and Rufus in particular.

Different setters, different styles, different merits.
Which is good.
As was this crossword!

]]> By: Tokyocolin http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/04/23/guardian-25617-orlando/#comment-190724 Tokyocolin Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:57:39 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=43280#comment-190724 This was a delight to solve. I only finished it, unaided, on my commute this morning. Many great clues and no quibbles from me. Themes are OK for a change but we see too many of them and the challenge to adhere to the theme inevitably drags down the quality of the clues. This was masterfully done. Bravo Orlando and thanks Manehi for the blog.

]]> By: RCWhiting http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/04/23/guardian-25617-orlando/#comment-190722 RCWhiting Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:51:56 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=43280#comment-190722 Sil @23
Surely you can appreciate the difference between a really top class cryptic and a run of the mill we usually get on Mondays.

]]> By: Mr Beaver http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/04/23/guardian-25617-orlando/#comment-190721 Mr Beaver Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:28:08 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=43280#comment-190721 Having started late, we gave up with some undone (including 20d and 24a, which I would have been a LONG time getting). It was certainly tough, but good fun – more so than Rufus, pace Sil

]]> By: muck http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/04/23/guardian-25617-orlando/#comment-190720 muck Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:23:28 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=43280#comment-190720 There are 5 Mondays this month, so 2 of them can’t be Rufus’s. Orlando is certainly different!!!

]]> By: Sil van den Hoek http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/04/23/guardian-25617-orlando/#comment-190717 Sil van den Hoek Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:26:50 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=43280#comment-190717 The first time I met Orlando was at the (great) Derby do in January 2011. I behaved a bit clumsily, but I made clear that I like(d) his puzzles but also that his (then) recent Monday crossword was a really tough one. Orlando replied that this was just a coincidence. Sometimes his crosswords are hard, sometimes they’re not – but he’s always Orlando [therefore himself]. Fair enough.

Today, I had to think about this.
Yep, it was really a challenging Monday puzzle.
The editor must have seen/known that this wasn’t the usual Monday fare. What is happening in clues like 18d and 20d is not really stuff for beginners.
A deliberate action? Who knows.

Full marks to Orlando!

BTW, headteacher, I do not like your comment @21.
But then we are all different.

Some final remarks to the puzzle:
- I am pretty sure I have seen the s-tripling trick before. Was it Cincinnus in the FT?
- I/we liked the repetition of things in this puzzle: some clues with “Old’, some with ‘area’, some with ‘spot’, others ending in ‘No!’.
We thought, 3d (ASPERSION) was a gem.

What’s next?
Rufus on a Tuesday ….. :)

]]> By: Colin http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/04/23/guardian-25617-orlando/#comment-190710 Colin Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:08:36 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=43280#comment-190710 I found it mostly impossible, and struggled to parse solutions even when I was sure about the answer. I got a few easy ones this morning, then spent a good deal of time with Chambers and Roget’s on my lap this evening, and ended up with Word Wizard. Thanks for the blog, I come a little closer now to solving the next horror from Orlando. Of course, I enjoyed it with this help.

]]> By: Headteacher http://www.fifteensquared.net/2012/04/23/guardian-25617-orlando/#comment-190709 Headteacher Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:01:04 +0000 http://fifteensquared.net/?p=43280#comment-190709 Happiness is opening the paper on Monday and finding it’s not Rufus.

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