Comments on: Guardian Cryptic 25865 Orlando

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 22:34:36 +0000

Delightful crossword.
Precise and fair.
Not hard, but full of clues that raised a smile.

Orlando’s clueing seems to be so effortless, so natural.
“Finesse” is the key word my PinC used today.

Very satisfying solve.
My CoD: 5d (LEAD KINDLY LIGHT).

Thanks, scchua, and Orlando!!! (yes, three exclamation marks)

By: brucew_aus

brucew_aus — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:33:44 +0000

Thanks Orlando and scchua

Haha Anne@30 … I tried to justify YELL OW! as well and couldn’t … came here to find out why. Also was fixated on parsing ORGANIST and groaned to see my error!

Actually made the SW corner much harder for myself by writing in BARD at 13 and RAT’S TAIL at 17 and then had to repair that damage. Didn’t have the problem with LORIKEETS though thankfully.

By: Brendan (not that one)

Brendan (not that one) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:24:46 +0000

Really nice crossword as ever from Orlando.

I personally don’t see the quibble about 10a. No need to confuse a specialised meaning of class with it’s general meaning. The clue is flawless!

Chambers agrees:

genus
…
2 a class divided into several subordinate classes.

Thanks to Scchua and Orlando

By: MDatta

MDatta — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 19:09:45 +0000

‘ parakeets’ too. Grrr. Fools rush in………

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 18:54:04 +0000

This is the first time I’ve left a comment but really appreciate the help with parsing on this site. I thought 26a was a parallel with the ‘duck or grouse’ favoured by pub landlords as a warning on low beams- hence chicken or yell ‘ow’!

By: george

george — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:13:24 +0000

On my own today and I surprised myself by filling in quite a few answers on the first read through, kept going pretty well to complete over half and then started to struggle.

As a biologist I like Gervase@12 would not have clued 10a genera as classes, but I also can see why they are classed as such.

I sat there for ages staring at 18a which was my last one in, thinking about the film, marmots etc and when the penny finally dropped I felt so stupid and had to laugh!

Did enjoy the puzzle and love some of the illustrations you’ve chosen sschua.

By: MisterSawyer

MisterSawyer — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:01:22 +0000

John Appletong @2, you’re not alone! I confidently entered PARAKEETS for 3d then and missed out on BELLOC as a result. . .

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:03:40 +0000

I forgot to mention the micro-theme: noseband and kiss-curl are both nouns.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:59:29 +0000

Thanks all
Not too bad although over rather too quickly.
This was illustrated by 18ac, I had –S- and so it was a write-in but that did not stop me admiring a wicked bit of lateral thinking.
Last in was 12d.
It is always intriguing and satisfying to write in, with conviction (and no attempt to verify), a previously unknown word.
If the cryptic is good then words like ‘grenache’ are such solutions.

By: chas

chas — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:10:09 +0000

Thanks to scchua for the blog. On 26 I had YELLOW fitting chicken but had totally forgotten the heraldry use of or=yellow (should that be gold?).

[[For picture 2 I half remember at the 2010 election some people dressed up in top hats etc trying to embarass an old Etonian candidate.
For picture 5 I recognised the Muppets but forgot that one was named Elmo ]]