Comments on: Guardian Quiptic N° 689 by Orlando

By: Robi

Robi — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 17:13:09 +0000

Thanks Orlando – just right for a Quiptic, I thought.

Thanks PeterO; 16d and 21a took as long as the rest of the puzzle, and I still failed to parse KISS [got stuck on 'runners' as athletes!]

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 16:41:55 +0000

KD, ’twas indeed my comment, well remembered! I agree, this one simply reinforces the sentiment. So well done Orlando and PeterO.

By: michelle

michelle — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:04:15 +0000

Kathryn’ s Dad@2 – thanks for the explanation. I know nothing at all about football (in any country) so I will store away this information about “hearts” and not get so frightened about clues that mention “footballers in Scotland” in future crossword puzzles.

I always find the football or rugby clues the most frightening! Give me a cricket-related clue any day….

By: crosser

crosser — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:17:07 +0000

Thanks Orlando and Peter.
I thought the clueing of 8d was rather weak but I really liked the construction of 3d!

By: jezza

jezza — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:47:06 +0000

A gentle, but enjoyable bit of fun. I liked 14a, and 16d.
Thanks to Orlando, and to Peter.

By: Colin

Colin — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:39:58 +0000

Thanks Peter and Orlando.

For me, this was more varied and therefore more enjoyable than the Rufus puzzle.

I completely failed to parse 21 and kicked myself when I read the blog.

“Rissole” is a lovely word. I haven’t seen or heard it for ages.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:04:39 +0000

Thanks, Peter. Your blog is showing fine, btw.

I think it was Derek L who said of Orlando’s last Quiptic something along the lines of ‘he’s got the hang of this Quiptic stuff’, and I agree. This was a delight to solve, with nothing too tricky but some lovely, elegant, clueing. LARKSPUR, LA SCALA and ALL THE RAGE, just to name three, were cleverly constructed.

Tiny point: the footie team is HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN, commonly known as HEARTS with an S. It’s also the name of a mosaic on the pavement in the centre of Edinburgh.

Lovely Quiptic, thanks to Orlando.

By: michelle

michelle — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 04:56:10 +0000

I found the top half easier and quicker to solve, then I really slowed down in the lower half, especially SE. As a beginner cum improving solver, it is encouraging to be able to fill in some answers quite quickly rather than having to totally struggle for every answer from the start. So I think this puzzle was very well-designed for its target audience (ie, people like me).

My favourites were 11a, 18a, 27a, 16d.

I found 12a difficult but pleasing to get after I had the crossing letters ?o?o

New words or definitions for me were found in 23d: coy = arch as well as ‘coypu’

Although I solved them, I could not parse 17d, 21a or 19d (last one in) so I am very happy to read your blog.

Thanks to you, Peter and all the other bloggers as I am now beginning to be able to solve and parse more clues than previously.