Comments on: Guardian 25,810 – Pasquale

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:19:50 +0000

See NeilW @5.

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 09:42:26 +0000

NB “u/s” means “unserviceable” (Chambers), hence the “useless” in 11a. The other parsing really wouldn’t be like Pasquale!

By: Gascon

Gascon — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 18:44:51 +0000

Enjoyed this one:difficult to finish, but full of original word-play.

By: Mitz

Mitz — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 17:43:11 +0000

Thanks Pasquale and Uncle Yap.

Busy day for me today, so I’ve only been able to tackle the Don in fits and starts. Pleasing to finish and I enjoyed the wide variety of clueing – some straightforward and some playful. Last in for me was the ADEPT / EJECTA cross – thought the latter very good indeed.

By: chas

chas — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:40:33 +0000

Thanks to UY for the blog. You explained why I was right with HABITAT.

On 2d I thought of JETSAM but refrained from entering it because I was quite unable to say why. In due course I managed EJECTA which I did write in.

By: Giovanna

Giovanna — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:19:18 +0000

Thanks, Pasquale – I enjoyed your puzzle x

Thanks, too to Uncle Yap and hope you enjoy your journey into nostalgia at the weekend. x

I don’t usually enjoy Spoonerisms but this one made me smile. I also liked image of meeting a carp that was useless!

Giovanna x

By: John Appleton

John Appleton — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:17:22 +0000

13d, very good. Didn’t manage to finish (rarely do with Pasquale), but I wasn’t helped by having JETSAM, and AGAPE along from it (reading the clue properly would have helped).

By: Robi

Robi — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:52:05 +0000

Thanks, Don – we crossed, and I did enjoy the crossword!

By: tupu

tupu — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:48:56 +0000

Hi Pasquale

Many thanks for stopping by and for the explanation.

By: Robi

Robi — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:47:34 +0000

Thanks Pasquale; as RCW says, the top half was fairly straightforward but the bottom, especially the SW corner gave me some problems. I, too, think that a simple synonym for ‘cope’ would have improved the surface of 10.

Thanks UY; I think 15 [&lit?] may be a reference to Catherine of Aragon: ‘Catherine went to live at The More castle in the winter of 1531/32; In 1535 she was transferred to Kimbolton Castle.’

I especially liked PATIENT and also enjoyed HABITAT, SHELTIE, SMARMY and EJECTA.