Comments on: Guardian 25630 – Gordius

By: brucew_aus

brucew_aus — Thu, 17 May 2012 22:55:30 +0000

Very late in getting to this one and for me far from straightforward! RACHMANINOV kept me at bay for days until it finally dawned and with more effort to parse – it was clearly the cod.
Found this a good contest – with several not parsed correctly – had gone with Dorset sheep for WOOL rather than the place, missed the clever device for D-IRE although I think that I’ve seen that used before and missed the definition of SAN. provided a challenge and some fresh learning (RACHMAN, Ms WOOD) so it gets a big tick from me. Thanks Gordius.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:45:02 +0000

Like most biblical quotes it adds merely confusion.

By: Brendan (not that one)

Brendan (not that one) — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:45:03 +0000

Thanks RCW.

Only just seen your reply.

No I understood the clue and its solution. I just diddn’t see what the biblical quote added to the explanation.

“cd” was sufficient but anything that the quote provides eludes me! Or am I being “obtuse”? (Again!)

By: Paul B

Paul B — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:41:24 +0000

As long as you don’t mind unfairness, Colin. Afrit’s Injunction has a purpose, which is to make crosswords solvable. And in any case, being wilfully obtuse doesn’t seem at all clever to me, rather it seems cheap: hard just for hard’s sake. Any idiot can do that (and some of them actually do).

By: TokyoColin

TokyoColin — Wed, 09 May 2012 05:13:47 +0000

Well I hope it is late enough that no-one else reads stiofain’s comment. I sometimes disagree with RCW’s opinions and how he expresses them but I think on balance his contributions are worthwhile, if only to stake out one end of the spectrum of solver opinions. I don’t see any reason to resort to that level of abuse.

And to Paul B, I for one think that the use of ruses such as ‘indeed’ meaning ‘contained by DEED’ is indeed clever and adds sparkle to a pursuit which can otherwise be a pedestrian search for synonyms and unravelling of anagrams.

By: stiofain

stiofain — Wed, 09 May 2012 00:59:47 +0000

I usually do the crossword around this time and never get to the comments til late the next day
so most of the spleen has been vented and my parsing problems have been resolved and comments on the excellence or otherwise of individual clues by me most times are irrelevant.
I just want to comment on the bad moods and not tomorrows/todays excellent pangrammatic hidden nina masterpiece by the B man.
RCW u are a cad.
Your complaints are crap and your insight on what you claim to be acceptable clues are – while perhaps, spelt proper and researched occasionally are also crap.
Saying you appreciate the great resource that is 15 squared now and again is like a fat old man kicking his dog for sniffing his dinner.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Tue, 08 May 2012 23:45:00 +0000

RCW today does pass judgement on the whole puzzle, I would argue, since he refers to it as (and these are not my quotation marks) a “puzzle”. That is to say, he thinks it is an excuse for a puzzle rather than a proper one. And as ever, there’s precious little to back his insulting opinions up.

At 4D the device is not clever, but a Guardianism akin to having ‘indeed’ mean ‘contained by DEED’.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Tue, 08 May 2012 23:19:14 +0000

Brendan
Are you seeking enlightenment about the UY biblical quote, if so I am not the person to ask.
If you want an explanation of the clue:
rat-tat is the ‘sound’ you make (on the door-knocker) when you ‘apply’ to enter. Does that help?

By: Brendan (not that one)

Brendan (not that one) — Tue, 08 May 2012 22:38:22 +0000

General concensus seems to be that this was not “a stroll in the park”! Certainly wasn’t for me although I finally finished it.

Now I have to “puzzle” why “cd Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you (Matthew 7:7)” is an explanation of 9 Across!

Anybody help?

By: Colin

Colin — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:09:11 +0000

I could have been here all day, and was for most of it, off and on. A real stinker – I clearly have a long way to go. And cheapo isn’t bog standard.