Comments on: Guardian 25,735 / Brummie

By: brucew_aus

brucew_aus — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 13:54:29 +0000

Thanks Brummie and Eileen

Found this one quite enjoyable and although not all that quick on picking up themes / mini themes, this one came to my help.

KING was my last one in this morning (was off to the finals of the our footy – Australian Rules last night)- and it was with the knowledge of the writer KING that I could go back and find the link to MISERY that got it – came here without the clue-based parsing and like William@17 found it weak when it was explained.

By: MikeC

MikeC — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 21:57:59 +0000

Thanks Eileen and Brummie. A good puzzle, though I failed with 27, entering KINE (stock) – yes, I know it doesn’t parse!

By: Toby

Toby — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 20:46:00 +0000

The use of “setter” to refer to a setter other than the one currently setting, is not nice at all. It’s silly and while I love jokes it’s just too in-jokey. And slightly smug!

Cheers
Toby

By: Dave Ellison

Dave Ellison — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 20:31:19 +0000

I must agree with RC Whiting @15, today. It’s a pity the Snow title were not “The Two Cultures”.

Thanks, Eileen; I failed on She and had KIND instead of KING

By: Norman L in France

Norman L in France — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 18:41:30 +0000

trailman@20
I had the same thought for Louis XIV and managed for a long time (well, a couple of minutes) to convince myself that it parsed. Diddly squat it was, though.

By: sppaul

sppaul — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:35:40 +0000

Thanks for the blog. I enjoyed this but never spotted the theme. If I had I might have got 27 down. I had Kind – ie £1,000 in old pennies K in d. Which I would definitely check if someone gave them to me!

By: Eileen

Eileen — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 14:42:27 +0000

Funny, I never see the word ‘haggard’ without mentally adding the Rider [pun not intended ]. I was just about to write, in my comment on 19ac, that there could have been a cross-reference to 22ac, when my eye was drawn to Joyce / Ulysses and the penny dropped! By then, time was getting on and I wanted to get the blog posted. If I’d spent a few more minutes, I’d surely have seen the 1dn / 24ac link but can’t say I’d have got the King connection, because he’s not my cup of tea at all.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 14:30:39 +0000

Like William I failed to see the theme but like him I never look for one,just get on with solving each clue.
I know every writer/work in today’s so it must be a total lack of lateral thinking. It is a strange phenomenon since time after time I come here to find avid discussions about something which completely passed me by.

By: grandpuzzler

grandpuzzler — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 14:28:09 +0000

Thanks Brummie and Eileen. Charles the squat – great visual Trailman! PHLOGISTON? I remember asking my High School Science teacher if knowing this theory was really necessary. 55 years later he was right. Apologies, Mr. Jorgenson, wherever you are.

Cheers…

By: chas

chas — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 13:35:05 +0000

I might add that I totally failed to spot any mini-theme even though I enjoyed Rider Haggard’s She. I have heard of the other book&author instances but have never read them.