Comments on: Guardian 25,848 – Tramp

By: Edward

Edward — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 12:05:07 +0000

I too fell for BAIT. I also tried OMAR for 23d as the poet Virgil’s last name is MARO and then we get Omar Khayyám. LEAR is better.

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 21:07:08 +0000

What a treat! I was lucky to get NATION early on, pre-empting getting 7 wrong. This was a perfect difficulty level for me – slow going, but getting another answer every ten or twenty minutes, maintaining my optimism. ARSON was last in, once I realized what was going on. Andrew parsing of it is a tiny bit off – it’s not an anagram of Anderson less “end”, it’s Anderson less an anagram of end.

As to the comments on solving style and strategy, Eileen’s method is very good for making sure one catches the “easy” clues right up front, but I can never seem to be disciplined enough to do it. I often look at the shorter word clues first, and just sort of bounce around, trying to take advantage of checks to make progress, looking randomly at clues to see if anything jumps out (obvious anagrams, etc.). The downside of my “method” is that I can be deep into a long struggle before even looking at some of the clues, some of which might have helped a lot.

Thanks for the blog, Andrew, and for the corking exercise in fun, Tramp.

PS, I would argue that Penelope is in here – twice, at 15 and 18.

By: Graham H

Graham H — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 12:06:23 +0000

I’ve come a tad late to this one, but I’d just like to add my appreciation of the puzzle.

My only slight reservation is that it lacked Penelope.

By: brucew_aus

brucew_aus — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 10:53:38 +0000

Thanks Tramp and Andrew

Always have a smile of anticipation when I see Tramp served up – and as has been expressed, this certainly didn’t let us down ! Didn’t know about tOo much about the Thunderbirds and now I know a little more!!

Many fine clues with the last in NATION because I too had confidently written in BAIT – both 5 and 7 kept me scratching for the parsing for a while after they were written in.

Also had written in ACCIDENCE (with the AC current) until Mario insisted it was wrong and had written in WARDLY at the end of 4 which created delays there as well. A good struggle and pleased to get him finished.

By: Lancastrian Bluenose

Lancastrian Bluenose — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 08:56:32 +0000

I was very pleased to solve this very enjoyable crossword.

By: Tramp

Tramp — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 08:37:15 +0000

Many thanks for all the unbelievably kind words. It means a lot to me.

Tramp

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 00:30:19 +0000

Tramp’s crosswords are nearly always ‘themed’. There were some of his puzzles that I solved and thought “is this it?”, only to find out that there was so much more to them.
The Thunderbirds (woven into a very good surface at 11d) are more my brother’s thing perhaps, but all these people (Scott, Brains, Parker ans so on) did ring a bell.

In my opinion, Tramp is a master in making the most of a theme – one has only to bring back to mind his superb debut (Fawlty Towers) or the Indy’s ‘Spinal Tap’ crossword.

In the meantime, his clueing is inventive and of a Paul-like finesse.
Our last entry today was ARSON (21d). Couldn’t be anything else, but what a nice construction – apt too.

Enormously enjoyable.
Thanks Neil!
And Andrew, of course!

By: Martin P

Martin P — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 23:35:32 +0000

Sue and I enjoyed this down at the pub.

I’ve some sympathy with anyone who thought it was a bit ageist, but for those who were around at the time but didn’t watch the shows, I’d remind that there are plenty of puzzles with, say, Greek myths as themes, and I’ve not read them.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 22:37:27 +0000

I’ve just come in [battling through the snow] from a parish quiz where the picture round was children’s TV programmes – including Thunderbirds. Aah!

By: rhotician

rhotician — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:55:26 +0000

The construction and clueing well reflect the endearing contrivance, albeit somewhat clumsy, of Thunderbirds.

And they say nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.