Comments on: Guardian Genius 106 / Paul

By: Gordon

Gordon — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:44:20 +0000

Thanks Gaufrid for stepping in again.

I have to agree with Jan and Thomas99 that this must have been a bit easier as I managed to finish it with two weeks to spare, so without my normal sweat of hanging on to the last minute as I usually find I need.

I also liked Ghee All Good, and I learned a new word – Nephron.

My favourite clue was 10d. If anyone has not seen the film ‘Motorcycle Diaries’ I can strongly recommend it, whatever your political persuasion.

Good entertainment all round.

By: Robi

Robi — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:23:29 +0000

Thanks Paul & Gaufrid.

Although I got most of this right, the ‘Alberto Granado’s letter opener’ gave, I thought a starting ‘l,’ so I put in legalese. This gave ‘heroes’ for the undefined 19 (doh!)

Never mind, I’m learning.

By: Wanderer

Wanderer — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:18:41 +0000

Thank you for the analysis. I very much enjoy Paul’s playfulness in the Genius slot — for me, GHEE ALL GOOD was the best example of it here. For some reason it reminded me of his exchanged-body-parts puzzle of a few months back where he gave us the RING OF THE NIBELIVER, among other delights.

My first actor was GAY BULL, by which time I had _C_O_S for the unclued 19. The word which came to mind was ACROSS. ‘Roughly speaking, a cross.’ And sure enough, there is such a thing as a gable cross… I then spent some time looking for a Nicholson cross before the penny dropped.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:31:18 +0000

Thomas99
Thanks, typo now corrected. I’m sure I thought of Clark Gable when I solved the puzzle over a month ago but when I was writing this post before breakfast, in somewhat of a rush, my brain was obviously not in gear. I kept thinking that GAY BULL should give Gable, not Grable, but Clark just did not come to mind. Doh!

By: Jan

Jan — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:02:54 +0000

Thanks, Gaufrid.

I agree with what Thomas has said.

Some of the homophones caused a chuckle. ‘Gay bull’ for maccho Rhett Butler and ‘Bran dough’ for the big fat controller of Apocalypse Now. There must have been times when we felt that Peter Ustinov had been ‘used enough’.

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:55:40 +0000

Thanks for stepping in. It was fun, and probably at the easier end of the “Genius” spectrum. I’d say Paul can afford to make them harder – as I think he used to.

You have a small typo in 10d – DEMARCHE – and the wrong actor in 23a – Clark Gable (Gay bull), surely, not Betty Grable?