Comments on: Guardian 25,821 / Rufus

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 03:01:06 +0000

1D. That’s it? That’s not a cryptic clue. Got most of this, didn’t like much of it. Oh well.

25 – HALFBACK was so truly cryptic and wonderful (I didn’t get it, in this environment) it belonged in a real cryptic puzzle.

Thanks Eileen and everyone else for the blog, and thanks to Rufus for the predictably confusing Monday puzzle.

By: Brendan (not that one)

Brendan (not that one) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:00:41 +0000

orandum est ut sit …….

studying the writings of the long dead, falling of horses and chewing sand?

Just the way to go about it

By: rhotician

rhotician — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:15:38 +0000

Lit.Hum. and riding school. Mens sana in corpore sano.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 02:02:46 +0000

When I was young people seemed to talk of ‘stopping’ teeth, now it is almost always ‘filling’,I wonder why.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 23:40:08 +0000

Apparently, nobody had any trouble with 10ac (GRATES). It was our last non-entry i.e. we entered it without knowing why.

On average an easy solve, but.
25ac (HALFBACK) is worth a Paul.
Rufus said it many times before, the editors [Guardian, FT, DT] want him to produce a gentle starter of the week.
But he is perfectly capable of writing clues that are on the next level.
IOI (in our opinion), COCKTAIL (16ac) is another example of that.

We found INTER (1d) a bit macabre, but, with both of us being teachers, we “liked” the surface very much. Daily routine!

MANEGE (24ac) was a new word to some of you. For me, it was a write-in. In the country where I come from (The Netherlands) MANEGE is a very common word for a place where people ride horses. Not the first time, when solving crosswords, that I encountered a word that is ‘very normal’ on the other side of the North Sea while being ‘obscure’ here.

Thank you, Eileen, for the blog.

By: Giovanna

Giovanna — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 23:02:18 +0000

Thanks, Rufus and Eileen – as you say, just right for this busy time of year.

Rowland @ 14, I like Rufus because of the old-fashioned expressions, which take one back to childhood listening to the radio.

ANGELUS evokes the sound of church bells floating over the vineyards…

Giovanna x

By: Brendan (not that one)

Brendan (not that one) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 22:05:35 +0000

Typical Rufus Monday fare. Dull to be honest. Unlike Rowland @14 I’m a bit of a Scrooge. However I did agree wholeheartedly with his other comments.

I’ve never heard of manege, like many others it would seem although the word play did lead me to the dictionary.

Sorry DL @18 it’s obvious I didn’t get out enough! It would appear that you didn’t spit out quite enough sand yourself

Thanks to Eileen for the blog.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 17:59:49 +0000

Sorry,Robi,emoticons pass me by. I use old-fashioned words.

By: Robi

Robi — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 17:30:13 +0000

RCW @19; what I wrote @13 was supposed to indicate that I MISTAKENLY (hence my sad emoticon) thought it was a homophone – but as Eileen and you state: say=eg in this clue.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 17:16:43 +0000

Thanks all
ToniL @6
“A ‘game of two halves’

A lot of write-ins then some more serious thinking
to solve and parse.”

Absolutely perfect description for me too, and quite unusual for a Monday.
Robi @13
I might be wrong but I do not think that the ‘say’ is an homophone indicator for the whole word ‘manege’. Rather it stands for ‘eg’ after the ‘man’ = ‘staff’.
I liked ‘halfback’, an unusual clue for Rufus.