Comments on: Guardian 25,684 – Philistine

By: rhotician

rhotician — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 21:27:11 +0000

sheffield hatter, I’m glad that at last someone has said they did not find this enjoyable.

The inclusion of vanilla in 15a is just plain wrong. And even if vanilla had anything to do with beans it would be redundant.

molongo @4 says that the definition in 3d, EARS, is elusive. It’s not just elusive it isn’t there.

He also describes 13 as one big tangle and 12 as iffy. These two are at the core of the wordplay with X, a rather neat idea. But the attempt to link the various meanings is far from neat. The parsing is convoluted and the surfaces are a shambles.

PS. My Chambers, 11th edition, does have wedgie defined as a prank. I did happen to know it because not long ago I had to look it up. I forget why.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 21:16:58 +0000

SH @23
The most recent Chambers gives ‘wedgie’ as a prank,as does the first words in your link.
It is a recent usage so would not be in older editions.
Of course in my youth we could not afford underpants so the situation did not arise.

By: sheffield hatter

sheffield hatter — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 20:16:52 +0000

I had to cheat on 4d – only Roger @ 12 has spotted (or mentioned) the fact that the clue ends with an x – the clue was otherwise not a clue as far as I was concerned. I wrote in SISTERS without conviction. I was more confident about BEDPANS, although I associate vanilla with pods rather than beans – a view that Chambers seems to share.

And I wrote in WEDGIES even though my copy of Chambers says nothing about playground pranks. I had to finally Google the word and found this: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wedgie which convinced me that I must have led a very sheltered upbringing. I’m truly astonished that all the other bloggers here have accepted this word without comment. “Prank”??? – seems more like bullying to me!

Unlike most I didn’t find this very enjoyable, though the definition of TRICEPS raised an appreciative smile, the wordplay of CAIRO gained a nod of approval, and the innovative device at 18a at least left one in no doubt of having arrived at the answer.

By: tupu

tupu — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 19:26:14 +0000

Thanks UY and Philistine

A clever puzzle which I managed to complete eventually but only after checking ‘wedgies’ (a new one to me) and ‘guessing ‘generation’ after considering a range of alternatives including ‘veneration’. I did not know ‘generation x’ but decided that ‘making’ was the definition and I also liked the idea of a ‘gene ration’

Like others I too wondered about the second kiss.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:52:11 +0000

It’s written that way to express the plural without being too obvious: ‘many a playground prank’ = more than one wedgie.

By: Mick

Mick — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:25:22 +0000

Great puzzle. 17d last in but still can’t parse many a playground prank!

By: Taco_Belly

Taco_Belly — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 13:13:51 +0000

Good fun today – thanks Uncle Yap and Philistine.

Last ones in were delayed by a strange conviction that KISS just couldn’t be in the puzzle twice! Still not convinced – but balanced by some great clues – particularly RACKET and BEDPANS.

By: Trailman

Trailman — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 13:11:52 +0000

Took three visits but got there. 12ac was last in, from ‘making’; needed the blog to parse it (as a boomer, unaware of my successors!)
At 25ac I had ILL FAVOUR first until my mother’s old knitting patterns came to mind for 23d. Clearly there is no such thing as wasted knowledge.

By: Robi

Robi — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 12:16:49 +0000

I struggled a bit with this one, but some clever clues. Whatever I did in the playground, it was not WEDGIES [anyone else never heard of this?]

Thanks UY and rhotician @14 who explained why the ‘first’ was not redundant in the clue for CHROMOSOME.

I seem to have seen MOPED a lot recently, but I particularly enjoyed BEDPANS, RACKET and IMPASSE (although, again, I feel like I may have seen something similar recently.)

By: crypticsue

crypticsue — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 11:50:10 +0000

The most fun of all today’s cryptics, especially 18a. Thanks to Philistine for keeping me smiling while I was pretending to be working!