Comments on: Guardian Cryptic N° 25,669 by Tramp

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 01:44:54 +0000

I loved this puzzle. Started late (last night, with one solution, KENT) and came back to it on and off all day today. So many odd and interesting clues, a few of which I wasn’t certain of, one I had to use onelook to bust open (IMBROGLIO – embarrassed not to get this simple anagram!), and one of which I sort of guessed at but didn’t research (NEXT – transatlantic incognizance). The QI was easy, the GONG was pushing it, and required research. I starred 9, 4, and 19. I rarely star even ONE clue, let alone three. While 4 and 19 were not so hard, they were so delightful! And 9 came late, but when it did I smiled.

This puzzle game would get boring if setters didn’t try to add to the canon of how clues work.

Back to 19. Easy? Yes. But brilliant for the seamless surface.

Jane @ 52 and Yogdaws @ 46 on 9, very interesting indeed. I think you may very well be right, and it’s a better clue/answer combination. Too bad that LOAVES also works, leaving us in a quandary (though surely by now the “correct” solutions have been online for days?).

And a pangram to boot? Not that I noticed or care, but it is now part of the lexicon of what setters can try to accomplish. This may explain the interesting range from very easy to very strange in the cluing. OH, and it proves that 9 is LOAVES! Fascinating.

Come back soon Tramp with your brain twizzlers and PeterO hopefully with a puzzle that hits your groove better.

PS I only skimmed the comments sorry.

By: jane

jane — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 16:43:54 +0000

isn’t 9ac loaded -means wealthy and drugged/drunk (spaced out) ?

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 00:54:17 +0000

chas
See sidey @48 or Dave (Freeview ch19) on almost any evening it seems.

By: Martin P

Martin P — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 19:49:41 +0000

A late one because it took me two evenings in the pub to solve

Well worth it, one of the freshest I’ve done.

Sincere thanks, Tramp.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 08:19:39 +0000

Thanks PeterO.

I really liked this one. I agree with the various comments about the rough edges but I really don’t care about that. There are hundreds of well polished crosswords out there but it is very rare to get one that innovates. Keep it up Tramp!

It was certainly difficult, took several days to finish completely.

My favourite was 2dn which made me laugh out loud.

By: sidey

sidey — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 01:40:29 +0000

chas, QI is available on the BBC’s iplayer quite often http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=qi You don’t need a licence for this.

By: rhotician

rhotician — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 23:36:59 +0000

The real point of the breadhead clue can be found in Chambers, where someone motivated by money alone is the second meaning given. The first meaning given is a drug dealer who is not an an addict. That is why spaced out is so appropriate.

By: yogdaws

yogdaws — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 22:58:36 +0000

Really look forward to Tramp puzzles even though I know skewed thinking will be required…

This was no exception but I ballsed it up by entering LOADED for 9ac. Got it into my head that breadheads are not just money-obsessed folk (which is correct) but also wealthy (‘loaded’) and interpreted ‘spaced out’ as another kind of loaded.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave…

Keep ‘em coming Tramp!

By: Dave Ellison

Dave Ellison — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 22:46:29 +0000

Agree this was hard and with the comments PeterO made. Tramp seems to have got progressively harder for me. I found myself often having the correct answer, but having no idea why.

Whilst I welcome innovation, I didn’t like the L for knight’s advance; it is more knight’s retreat. I also thought the “sign in road” for P in 7d PENPAL was weak. This was one of the clues I got on first run through but didn’t put it in because I wasn’t convinced I was correct, not being able to parse it.

By: rhotician

rhotician — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 19:46:50 +0000

The Times today has pirogue – clued as Tartuffe’s craft?
Didn’t think what I learned yesterday would come in handy so soon.