Comments on: Guardian Prize No 25,658 by Paul

By: engineerb

engineerb — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 14:10:11 +0000

I know that I’m late to this blog. I did this crossword on a completely internet-free holiday & without any knowledge of Ayckbourn’s plays. I found it great fun & completely fair; the implied anagrinds were particularly good.

I’m actually glad that I did this away from the internet – otherwise I would have been tempted to ‘reverse google’ after I solved ‘Woman in Mind’ & would have missed out on a much more satisfying solve.

By: bridgesong

bridgesong — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 16:21:47 +0000

Rompad @23: it’s just there to enhance the surface reading, I think.

On the broader debate I align myself with RCW@22. A pity that Paul himself hasn’t dropped in to let us have his reaction to the various comments. I am glad however to have helped spark a debate.

By: rompad

rompad — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 11:05:51 +0000

Extraneous word – where does “that’s” fit into the analysis of 13?

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 16:28:51 +0000

Those with views opposing wolfie and me have made a strong case with some interesting examples.
Nevertheless, I remain unconvinced.
Very subjectively, I would say that treating ‘thundered’ as ‘th under ed’ is both clever and admirable; treating ‘woman in mind’ as ‘brashein’ is neither.

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 11:18:12 +0000

matt,NeilW and smokeythebandit -
Yes, thanks for pointing those out. I certainly don’t see why Paul necessarily has to obey a rule that is clearly not well established and doesn’t serve any evident purpose. Brashein being a real word, for instance, would make the clue a bit harder, but so what? As rhotician (17) says, it would also mean it could hypothetically be the solution to a clue, but so what? You can’t say a clue has to be a certain type of clue and then complain when it isn’t. A clue just has to work and to criticise it you surely have to indicate why it doesn’t.

By: NeilW

NeilW — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 14:24:43 +0000

Any port in a storm! Like it! Paul tries his little inventions on a regular basis and I, for one, am all for them.

By: smokeythebandit

smokeythebandit — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 08:27:21 +0000

re “brashein”

the convention of using invented words has been around a long time, I remember as a novice solver back in the early seventies being completely stumped by “Astany Portorm? (3,4,2,1,5)”.

By: matt

matt — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 00:58:52 +0000

re: “brashein”

I can appreciate the point that others (Wolfie, RCW) make, but I don’t mind dingbat clues of this kind once in a blue moon.

Another example would be “edoverth” (for THUNDERED) as clued by the revered reverend, not so long ago.

http://fifteensquared.net/2009/08/15/guardian-24773-sat-8-augaraucaria-whale-of-a-time/http://fifteensquared.net/2009/08/15/guardian-24773-sat-8-augaraucaria-whale-of-a-time/

Otherwise, the theme left me stumped. Like the Alan Plater bank holiday special, my ignorance of the thematic source sent me running to google as soon as I got one of them (the brashein clue, ironically). From there, it was straightforward, but without Wikipedia I would have got nowhere.

By: rhotician

rhotician — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 15:26:16 +0000

All four of the plays are attempts at what might be termed a “reversal”. Personally I like these. Bedroom Farce and Absurd Person Singular both work well enough.

Woman in Mind, as Wolfie and RCW point out, does not. “bedroom farce” in a clue can legitimately indicate “boredom” as the solution. “Brashein” cannot be a legitimate solution to any clue.

Interesting that Brashein has a capital B. If Google had come up with this as a proper name it would have been OK. I’ve tried to repair Woman in Mind by way of including ‘she’ or a girl’s name in a synonym for ‘mind’ to yield a legitimate word, phrase or proper name. Perhaps some one can help out.

Absent Friends is even worse than Woman in mind. ‘pri’ and ‘princi’? Come on! The whole thing is beyond repair.

By: Wolfie

Wolfie — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 14:28:20 +0000

I meant GEGS – the plural of GEG