Comments on: Azed 2091/ Plain Competition Puzzle

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 17:12:55 +0000

Sighers need not be depressed, you may consider, after a quick look at Collins, for example.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 16:54:36 +0000

I think it is just natural emphasis:
He isn’t depressed (sigher is not sire) but ‘he certainly sounds’ so.
14ac you are probably right although his usual double letters are not for anagrams.

By: Bob Sharkey

Bob Sharkey — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 15:13:20 +0000

Re 14A, isn’t it appropriate in the sense of ‘stuttering to a halt?’ There’s always a reason for the oddest thing in an Azed, I find. Nobody has yet mentioned the redundant ‘certainly’ in 26A, but it’s there for a reason.

By: sidey

sidey — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 14:23:47 +0000

Thank you for the blog duncan. Isn’t the stammering extra letter thing simply one of Azed’s little trademarks? He’s used the device for as long as I can remember, certainly caused some head-scratching when I first encountered it.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 11:30:43 +0000

Indeed, see recent contributions to The Guardian letters page.
Thanks Phi @2.

By: duncanshiell

duncanshiell — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 06:00:45 +0000

Phi @ 2

Thanks – I’ve been back to Google and see that if had searched on ‘treacle’ rather than on some combination of ‘E L and T’, I would have found a reference to Elsie, Lacie and Tillie.

RCWhiting @ 1

Interesting cuisine idea – I bet there is a household somewhere that thrives on such a combination.

By: Phi

Phi — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 04:45:36 +0000

E,L and T are Elsie, Lacie and Tillie, the three girls who live in the treacle well in the Dormouse’s story in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which makes the clue & lit.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 00:17:46 +0000

Thanks all
Egg,lettuce and tomato spread with treacle is a favourite sandwich filling in the Azed household.
(no,I have no idea either).

I thought 14d was very odd since I am sure there must be a superior way of indicating the extra R.