Comments on: Guardian 25,886 – Brendan

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 01:48:09 +0000

What a delightful workout! I started last night, rather into the Scotch, and got a few, among them DOUBLE CAT and SCATTACO [sic]. The double double theme theme was so much fun! Using DOUBLE ACT in at least three different ways (as part of anagrams three times, and the DODO and DUETS) would have been enough, but when I got LAUREL it gave me HARDY. Which is also how I solved WISE and CROSBY. Missed L & L, but I have heard of them. And then having TWO dead center? Sheer bloody poetry.

Loved the difficulty level – I can see how one of you smarter people could have banged this out in a twelve minute train ride, but I just had to set to it and keep working. Couldn’t have done it without the double use of the theme. The explanation for WISE is sublime.

I also spent some time about 3/4 of the way along musing about 2 as the “only even prime”. This is only interesting because the only number we have a special word for being divisible by is 2. Every other prime is also unique in being the only number divisible by it. The concept of evens and odds isn’t even interesting or useful in mathematics. What’s more fun is that all the numbers divisible by 3 have digits that add up to a number divisible by 3 (this is also true of 9). To makes things even more fun, the captcha I got today is two + 4 = ? A thematic captcha!!!

Thanks to Andrew and the rest of you for the blog and double thanks to Brendan for a gem of a puzzle.

PS – the bloggers can email posters. Would it be possible to drop R C W a brief note mentioning our concern for his well-being?

By: matt

matt — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 12:52:56 +0000

Agree with the above – been checking back through the days to see if Mr Whiting has been around. I hope he’s back soon.

By: rhotician

rhotician — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 02:51:08 +0000

Marcus du Sautoy likes to refer to two as the odd prime.

By: rhotician

rhotician — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 02:13:17 +0000

RCW has never been unfriendly to me, certainly. Here he has recently mentioned hospital visits, connected apparently with heart problems. Bit of a worry that.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 01:34:48 +0000

Has not RCW been a friend of yours, Betty?

By: rhotician

rhotician — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:51:37 +0000

This rang bells.

Brendan has used the same grid in four of his last five puzzles. This is because he starts with a theme and has to find a grid to accommodate the theme words. In these cases the 4′s and 5′s in the grid come in handy.

Brummie, not long ago in 25878, plays with ‘double’ and clues DOUBLE ACT as E.g. Laurel and Hardy’s “dodo”.

Brendan in 24206 from 2007 has “It could be folded once or twice – it’s ambiguous” for DOUBLE MEANING. This both describes and exemplifies the theme, which is double definitions which are more or less contradictory.

Firmly secured or escaped – BOLTED
Disappeared or remaining – LEFT
Show or hide – SCREEN
Of highest qualty or worst – BEST
Tangles or untangles – RAVELS
Permitted or penalized – SANCTIONED
Approach or pull away – DRAW
Added fine particles to or removed fine particles from – DUSTED
Become attached or separate – CLEAVE
Careful checking or careless mistake – OVERSIGHT

By: otleyeagle

otleyeagle — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:50:36 +0000

Hmm…I managed to get CHAS (Dickens) for 8down, ‘n’ DAVE (Cameron) for 24d….

By: slipstream

slipstream — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:49:36 +0000

Good one Morpheus.

I have to confess that I solved the puzzle but completely missed the theme. Never connected HOPE and CROSBY, nor LAUREL and HARDY. Must be Monday again.

By: Morpheus

Morpheus — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:07:04 +0000

Really enjoyable. Nice for a Monday puzzle to rise above the usual basic workout. And is “embryo” also an example of a double act?…

By: Brendan (not that one)

Brendan (not that one) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:04:46 +0000

What a pleasant surprise to have a Rufus free Monday. And a cracking crossword as well.

I saw the theme early on before I had any of the names in the grid. This led quite quickly to MORECAMBE and WISE.

However due to an interruption I managed to forget all about this which made completing the grid pleasantly difficult.

Thanks to Andrew and Brendan.