Comments on: Guardian Prize Puzzle 25,652 by Araucaria

By: brucew_aus

brucew_aus — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 12:09:51 +0000

Typically good fun Araucaria crossword which I found quite difficult to move on after getting away to a flier with the 24,19,11 first up. Broke open after getting the WINTER CHERRY and then all of the related clues. As did others, I laughed when BACKLOG went in.

Was very pleased to have parsed GOLDENEYE although had only seen OR = GOLD before and strangely enough 18d was last in

Did need some reference help initially with Physalis and had to check with EMYS as well though it seemed vaguely familiar.

Thanks again A and to PeeDee for the blog – had not parsed STRAW properly having not heard of bricks being made with it – had used the STRAWBERRY (hadn’t heard of bricks made of them either – and settled for it having something to do with the colour red)

By: William

William — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 12:53:42 +0000

RCW @16 You should think yourself lucky. My son once wrote to me thanking me for… “being a Dad and a true fried”!

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 16:58:35 +0000

Thanks Wolfie.
My grandson,a boy of few words,signed my new Chambers “Happy Birthday, thanks for being a grandad”. Spot the missing word.

By: FlutterBy

FlutterBy — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 11:43:02 +0000

Aargh! Brain failure. Ignore the Greek God. It’s from a different (very old) Araucaria I did after completing last Saturday’s. Perils of having to wait so long for the blog to be published on prize crosswords.

My favourite from this (other than BACKLOG) would be WELL BRED – such a clever juxtaposition of “drink and food” which have nothing to do with one another really. The master at work!

Anyway. Thanks for the blog PeeDee.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 20:56:38 +0000

FlutterBy – you are quite right of course, it is not a fair definition. I think that my take was that it was just enough to validate the aircraft refernce without giving away anymore than he had to. Perhaps it would have been better just to use another definition altogether.

What is the GREEK GOD stuff about? Are we talking about the same crossword here?

By: Wolfie

Wolfie — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 19:42:39 +0000

Happy birthday RCWhiting!

I enjoyed this puzzle too – though still fuming about the cock-up with the print edition.

Thank you PeeDee for the blog.

By: FlutterBy

FlutterBy — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 18:38:49 +0000

PeeDee @10. You are very generous, methinks. My Chambers has “to beat (eggs) up and heat to thickness with milk, butter, etc.” The scrambling is essentially the beating up, surely? The butter is a long way down that sentence…

I begin to wonder if the Rev has converted to Islam (secretly) and deliberately includes one dodgy clue per crossword – like the deliberate mistake in Persian carpets – because only Allah is perfect.

My favourite was GREEK GOD. Very clever misdirection with Eros/cupidity. And ‘turn’ to clue ‘go’ was nice, too.

By: tupu

tupu — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 17:12:02 +0000

Thanks Peedee and Araucaria

Another good one from Araucaria. I first thought 29a should end with ‘seal’ with O representing a hole but couldn’t find a suitable word to start it. A very good clue. I also ticked 14a and 6d etc.

I was stumped by ‘or dick’. I had a final ‘think’ on the matter but only managed to wonder briefly if Goldeneye Dick might be a gentlemanly relative of the scurrilous Deadeye.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 14:53:20 +0000

My initial reaction to SCRAMBLE was that it was bit dubious too, but when I looked it up in Chambers it gives ‘cooked in butter’ as a significant part definition, so fair enough.

By: FlutterBy

FlutterBy — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 14:07:40 +0000

A really enjoyable Araucaria. Like others I couldn’t explain GOLDENEYE.

Last two in, a long time after all the rest, were:
(a) BACKLOG – causing a groan and a smile (“Fair enough!”)
(b) SCRAMBLE which I think not fair, sorry to say. They’re not called scrambled eggs because of the butter, are they? Still, I will forgive the Rev because the overall experience was most enjoyable.