Comments on: Guardian Quiptic 660/Arachne

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 19:15:45 +0000

Consistlently? What’s that? The L’s not even next to T or E ….
Also, that “:)” at the end should be one more !
Deservedly so.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 19:11:37 +0000

A brilliant Quiptic? Not sure, more a very good Cryptic.
There’s perhaps not that much trickiness going on as on an average weekday, but, dare I say, are you sure?

In today’s Rufus blog, eimi started a discussion on grids. In this context, I have to say that this Quiptic was one clearly consisting of four separate puzzles, the NE giving me the most trouble. But as I said at that place, I cannot be bothered.
I only care for the quality of cluing.

“En dat zat wel snor” as the Dutch would say.
Particular favourites: 7ac (FEMINISM), 11ac (DEBAUCHERY) and the anagram of 5d (which perhaps is an old chestnut, and if not, full credits to our beloved setter).
BTW, was it Everyman who had Queer Street just recently?
Ah well, it doesn’t make any difference when the quality is so consistlently high.

Many thanks, Pierre.
And Arachne, well, “het viel bepaald niet tegen” ….. :)

By: Arachne

Arachne — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 15:54:46 +0000

Chapeau, Pierre, and merci beaucoup! Greetings from Spider Towers, and many thanks to everyone for kind comments. I’ve really been working hard on getting the Quiptic standard right, and as No2 Daughter has started solving them I am getting particularly ruthless critiques but also lots of helpful suggestions (especially when she wants to borrow a fiver).

I should perhaps add that this nearly proved to be my last ever crossword as Pierre’s Enid Blyton comment at 19dn made me choke on my potted shrimps, catastrophe only being averted by Mr A’s suspiciously enthusiastic Heimlich manoeuvre.

Love & hugs,
Arachne x

By: Pierre

Pierre — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 14:20:58 +0000

Thanks Eileen and Robi. You’re quite right about 7ac, it works perfectly well. My brain was focusing on thrashing the operating system to within an inch of its life rather than parsing a perfectly straightforward clue.

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 14:16:43 +0000

Trying hard not to give a spoiler, but it’s a shame the editor had this crossword so close to another one.

Just for once the Quiptic was actually easier than the Rufus, but not by much as that was pretty simple too today. So good job Spider Lady.

By: Robi

Robi — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 12:53:14 +0000

A brilliant Quiptic; no obscure words, good constructions and lovely surfaces.

Thanks Pierre; like Eileen @1, I thought ‘pusuing’ just meant after. I missed the A=answer in ACCURATE and just assumed there was a Grauniad typo.

So many good clues, it is difficult to pick out favourites, but the simple INCAN gave me a chuckle.

ADVERB, MANGO, REPROACH etc were also noteworthy.

By: crypticsue

crypticsue — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 11:34:04 +0000

A lovely Quiptic thank you Arachne. Thank you Pierre too.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 09:27:15 +0000

Thanks, Pierre, for the blog – and my sympathies: that’s happened to me more than once!

Re 7ac: I’m not sure what you mean by ‘containment indicator’: ‘pursuing’ surely indicates that MS [in retirement] follows ‘scaled down’.

I always thought that ‘sandy’ was a more polite description of ‘ginger’.

I thought this was a gem of a quiptic: what a delight for beginners to find such wit and ingenuity in such an accessible puzzle!

Favourites: 7, 11 [HUE and CRY - brilliant!] 24ac and 19dn.

Many thanks, Arachne, for a fun start to the day.