Comments on: AZED No. 2,117 Plain

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 19:29:44 +0000

Thomas99:

I didn’t know that, not being a cricket fan.

Now, re-reading the clue, yes it does work very well – but surely it is a very specialised clue that should appear in a ‘cricket fan mag’ and not a newspaper.

Where does it all stop with ‘ungeneral’ knowledge?

Nick

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:55:05 +0000

The Durham ground is at Chester-le-Street (perhaps it’s obvious but nobody actually mentioned it at the time). That’s the joke in 11d. It’s a partial &lit. – all definition, but not all wordplay. I liked it.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 14:32:34 +0000

Thanks all
I,too, thought this was on the tough side.
I found the top half, particularly the NW corner, especially hard.
Despite that my last in was ‘neve’.

By: Norman Hall

Norman Hall — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 11:40:21 +0000

Thanks for the blog, and thanks to Azed for the puzzle.

re 11 down
“Board of a sort at fringes of Chester ground?” would be an excellent &lit as it is.
Adding “The Durham one, anyway” seems to turn it into one of those clues where the crypic and definition parts overlap.

Azed may have done it because Durham is a County Championship side and Chester/Cheshire is not, and the reference to cricket becomes more obvious. However, there are obviously sightscreens on Chester grounds, so it was unnecessary.