Comments on: Everyman N° 3,425 (27 May 2012)

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 06:12:46 +0000

I assumed that David and Jonathan were the Dimblebys.

By: Donna

Donna — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 16:55:22 +0000

Thank you, PeterO, as I’ve been waiting all week to understand 12 Across, which was the last word I filled in and only got because of the crossing words. Whenever I see a clue mentioning either athletics or mathematics I start to sweat! Even so, I had never heard of Athlone and I was perplexed by “after 6.” I really shouldn’t have been since the creators of “The Nation” puzzle which I solve every week often refer by number to other clues in the puzzle. So looking at it now, it all makes perfect sense! Other than that the only minor problem I had was with 10 Across because I didn’t know that “RA” referred to an artist. I did get “Niagara” quickly, though, as we used to live in Buffalo and took frquent trips to The Falls. All in all, I enjoyed the puzzle, so thank you, Everyman, and once again, thank you, PeterO. Hope everyone’s having a nice weekend!

By: Robi

Robi — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 11:09:48 +0000

Good puzzle as ever, altough I had to look up the religious stuff.

Blessed is in my Chambers Crossword Dictionary as an anagrind, so I don’t think we can fault the setter for that. Thanks PeterO for a good blog. I looked at 23 for a while thinking that O???O must be an obscure word, but not so!

By: Davy

Davy — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 10:30:13 +0000

Thanks PeterO,

Yes there were some very easy clues this week but, there again, there’s always a few that I struggle with.
It is amazing what people do/don’t know and as an example there was a contestant on a quiz programme recently
who had never heard of the rand as the currency of South Africa. So I’d never heard of ADESTE FIDELIS and this
made it one of the last to go in. I guessed FIDELIS quite quickly but couldn’t find anything sensible for the
first word. Don’t laugh but I came up with ADEETS which obviously proved wrong when I googled ‘hymn fidelis’.

I am a deeply irreligious person but did know David and Jonathan. In fact, there was even a duo of that name in
the sixties. They did a cover of the Beatles’ Michelle.

Favourite clue was SERENADES which had an excellent surface. Thanks Everyman.

By: Wolfie

Wolfie — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 08:54:23 +0000

It has just occurred to me that Everyman might have been using ‘blessed’ in an old sense of the word: Bless: To wound, hurt; to beat, thrash, drub. (OED, on-line edition.) I think this would work ok as an anagram indicator.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 08:45:57 +0000

One person’s easy is another person’s hard, Bamberger, as I know from experience; but I’m with you in finding that there was some uncharacteristically difficult/weak stuff in this one. ‘Popping’ might work as an anagram indicator: if you go to the cinema and you see the popcorn popping about on the counter, then it’s getting all mixed up (okay, I tried …) But ‘blessed’ I agree is hard to fathom, even if it’s meant to have the stress on the second syllable. Same for ‘bottled’.

And although I put in JONATHAN because nothing else would fit, I still don’t know why he’s David’s friend. I’m guessing a biblical reference?

So perhaps a bit of a bad day at the office for Everyman, but as was mentioned in Alan Connor’s Guardian piece this week, his puzzles are still one of the best for beginning and improving solvers. It’s here if you’re interested:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crosswords/crossword-blog/2012/may/31/crosswords-for-beginners-which-papers-are-easiest

By: Wolfie

Wolfie — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 08:30:22 +0000

I didn’t find this any more tricky than usual, and just as enjoyable. As has been pointed out often, one person’s arcane obscurity is another’s piece of common knowledge. ‘Adeste Fideles’ was my first entry – though I share Bamberger’s reservation about ‘blessed’ as an anagram indicator. ‘Jonathan’ also leapt out at me – a result, no doubt, of long-ago RE lessons at my primary school.

Thanks PeterO for the excellent blog.

By: Bamberger

Bamberger — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 07:44:14 +0000

I found that the hardest Everyman I can remember. I got about 3/4 solved slow than usual but then came to a halt.
For 1d I had j?n?t??? and I guessed jonathan but had no idea why. I think that such indepth biblical knowledge is asking too much.
6d I failed to spot composed =serene and s?r?n???s wasn’t enough to enable to be guess it.
For 22d I had b???d and for 25a I had ??a?t?e with the middle letter of 22d beign the first letter of 25a .Couldn’t see either.
For 24a I had p???u?t and couldn’t see that.
For 15d I had ??r?i?? ?n and didn’t spot bottled as being an anagram indicator.
Which leaves 14a and I nominate myself as grumbler in chief. I don’t see why blessed is an anagram indicator and even if you had told me that I had to make an agram out of defeated isles, even with a???t? f???l?s, I wouldn’t have got it after a week. Hard enough when you haven’t heard of certain English words but nigh on impossible when it is Latin.
No doubt someone will now come on and say the whole thing was too easy.
Sorry Everyman, I didn’t like this. Well blogged PeterO