Comments on: Guardian 25,825 – Puck

By: brucew_aus

brucew_aus — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 10:49:28 +0000

Thanks Puck and Andrew

This was one of several puzzles that I printed off before Christmas and have slowly worked my way through in the New Year. And what a cracker that this one was !!!

A typical Puck with his exquisite clues, interesting theme / play on a theme and as much work to do in working out why your answer was right. Was able to get the answer to 25,16 quite early on (also through 7d) and cursed Puck as it hummed in my head all day. As with others, there was still plenty of challenges to get it finished.

Finally cracked why Lady Gaga was the key to the song that was a hit eight years before she was born … and ‘smiled loudly’. Similarly appreciated the misdirection with Pink at 17.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 14:07:43 +0000

Thanks all
I was lucky that yesterday (Friday) I had to spend the day in the angiography department at the local hospital. It is a long procedure with lots of rest periods. Thankfully, The Guardian provided the perfect distraction which lasted all day and satisfactorily finally collapsed before I was discharged.
I thought the Gaga clue was lovely.

By: fearsome

fearsome — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 05:17:23 +0000

thanks Puck and Andrew
Did finish it but had several I couldn’t parse completely

By: Brendan (not that one)

Brendan (not that one) — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 01:17:24 +0000

Slow start like a few others. But 27a gave hints that 26a was a number. So Eight, Seven & Three were obvious candidates.

Solving 7d from the wordplay gave “three” leading to the answer to 26,16. then it was all fun until the SE corner which was hard to crack.

Got there in the end but another tough challenge. Enjoyable though.

Thanks to Puck and Andrew.

By: iam

iam — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 23:32:20 +0000

27ac IBIS – me again

By: Giovanna

Giovanna — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 23:02:59 +0000

Thanks, Puck for the workout and Andrew for the parsing.

This took some getting in to but was worth the effort. Didn’t know the film, Beetlejuice but worked it out anyway.Thanks for the explanation, Andrew.

Like Eileen, I searched for a theme to no avail.

Giovanna x

By: Sylvia

Sylvia — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 22:14:12 +0000

Phew! Tough but very enjoyable. Failed in SE corner due to trying to get ‘tern’ for 27a, so didn’t get 21 or 25d, 24a .or 29a

By: Dave Ellison

Dave Ellison — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 21:59:09 +0000

For what it is worth, this site gives pronunciations of such as demesne.

By: tupu

tupu — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 21:02:46 +0000

Thanks Andrew and Puck

I only came to this this evening and found it very slow going at first, but a catnap bucked me up and I finished it at a reasonable pace, especially after I caught on to the ‘triple letter’ device. I can’t say I like this use of multiple constructions of single letters as much as Eileen seems to, but it was an extremely enjoyable solve on the whole.

I missed the explanation of ‘dropping by’ which I lazily assumed referred to the insertion of ‘trio’ though the answer itself was clear enough.

By: Aztobesed

Aztobesed — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:57:46 +0000

Yes, I checked the phonetics in Chambers and my instincts were right first time. The app I have (for Advanced English Dictionary) has it as ‘dee-mez’ with an American twang – presumably their choice of pronunciation. (How they must tire of our mainwarisms.)