Comments on: Everyman 3431/8 July

By: Donna

Donna — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:24:37 +0000

Thank you for your comments, JollySwagman. I understood what you meant by “fair-play” in your first remark. And I would’ve had no idea that it was a cricket term! My knowledge of all sports is absolutely nil and my heart always sinks when I see a sports-related clue in a crossword. It was only 2 years ago that my husband finally got me to realize that in American baseball the guy throwing the ball doesn’t want the guy with the bat to hit it but would prefer that the guy wearing the mask catch it! So I’m sure cricket would be far beyond me! But thanks again for your comments and have a super week!

By: JollySwagman

JollySwagman — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 01:05:41 +0000

Oops – not “fair-play” – “square-dealing” – the other’s for cricket etc.

By: JollySwagman

JollySwagman — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:20:04 +0000

@Donna #10 – your analysis of 15a is entirely sound, as is the clue itself.

It would certainly satisfy the concept of “fair-play” as understood in American cryptics.

By: star-system

star-system — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 11:00:27 +0000

Very enjoyable puzzle. To be honest 15 does look like a mistake, but in the grand scheme of things I’m sure it doesn’t matter!

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 23:31:12 +0000

It sounds to me as if you’re developing your very own terminology right from the off Donna, so good luck with that. I always enjoy a tussle with Everyman, and a good chat about a clue or two too.

By: Donna

Donna — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 22:40:38 +0000

Hi, Paul B! After Pierre and Robi explained the clue I was OK with it and understood the parsing this way: Chap’s (Chap has, or clings to) boldness briefly – so it’s a charade and a deletion, and that takes care of the cryptic part of the clue. Then this entire entity, i.e. man + darin(g), defines the straight clue, which is bureaucrat. At least, that’s the way I understood it to work.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 21:44:21 +0000

At 15 both ‘chap is’ and ‘chap has’ readings lead to problems with parts of speech later on in the clue – as the excitable ‘Donna’ seems to me to have been suggesting.

By: Donna

Donna — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 20:09:38 +0000

Thank you, Pierre and Robi, for your most helpful answers to my inquiry about 15 Down. The penny dropped, I yelled “Eureka!” but did NOT run around town in a bath towel repeating the news of my triumph! ‘Til next week…

By: Robi

Robi — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 19:04:59 +0000

Thanks Everyman and Pierre; I hadn’t heard of BOX THE COMPASS before.

Donna; the surface of 15 would not make much sense without the ‘s. If you think, however, of the possessive ‘boldness of a chap’ maybe that would make the parsing OK.

By: Pierre

Pierre — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 18:57:29 +0000

Hi Donna, nice to hear from you again this week.

In 15dn, you need to read ‘man’s’ as ‘man has’ rather than ‘man is’ – in a sentence like ‘the man’s been thinking about buying a book on cryptic crosswords’. Then you have MAN has DARIN[g] which gives you MANDARIN.

Hope that helps. A la semaine prochaine!