Genius 177 / Picaroon

22 comments on “Genius 177 / Picaroon”

1. I enjoyed this thoroughly and take my hat off to Picaroon for being able to get all 26 letters doubled.  For a long time I thought he had managed only 22 or 23 or so, but then saw the triple double of 3d.  I had not noticed the doubles being removed as part of the clues though; well spotted.  I particularly liked the surface and answer for 16d.  Someone else called the sport a few years ago as being nothing but  “Housework on Ice”.  Nibelung was a new word for me.

   The answer of OPPO in 30d reminds me of a brilliant clue from some years back in the Guardian.  I cannot recall the setter.  The clue was “Oppo of CaesarJ”

   Thanks to Dunanshiell and Picaroon

2. First one I have finished since I don’t know when. Very impressive construction. I also did not cotton on to all 26 letters being used for some time and spent an hour trying to pars bookkeeper without individual double letters before realising the multiple content.

3. Going back to the AA, EE and OO referenced in the intro, I would agree that these are reasonable real words.  Not if you are Merriam Webster though, here in USA where I am currently exiled.  The ‘Official Scrabble Dictionary” only has AA.  Neither OO nor EE is included.  Now EF is in as the pronunciation of the letter ‘F’, so how do they think the letter ‘E’ is pronounced?  The only other double repeated letter word they have is MM, which sort of makes sense.  I hate that dictionary though as it goes against the grain for what I consider to be real words.  As further examples, ZA is included as a ‘commonly used word for PIZZA’.  Oh yeah?  Also ET is the ‘Past tense of EAT in Scotland’.  Of course it is!  The list goes on.  I used to refuse using any that seemed so obviously made up that I constantly got beaten at scrabble by my American wife.  Now I just use the words and grit my teeth so I can occasionally win.  It feels like cheating though.  Considering their view on what are two letters words how could they exclude EE and OO?  Who knows?  Don’t even get me started on the so-called 3 letter words.

   Nice to have another Gordon around @2.  Here in Connecticut people constantly think my name is GOLDEN when I introduce myself.  Americans are weird, including ‘her indoors’.

4. Thanks all – I thought this an excellent puzzle – not the hardest Genius but wonderfully constructed and a pleasure to solve.

   I don’t really have much else to say but thought I’d try to balance the ratio of Duncans to Gordons.

5. Doh! I never even noticed that all the letters of the alphabet had been used. In fact, I was thinking, “I bet Picaroon started off by trying to do a double letter deletion for all the clues but couldn’t manage it”. What a stupid thought! Picaroon seems to be able to do anything he wants with a grid. I wish I had noticed though, as I would have felt more confident about HAWAII, my LOI, which I couldn’t fully parse for not knowing are or its abbreviation. Still, all present and correct by the end. I got in via RAQQA as well.

   Btw, I don’t think BONNY means cheerful, Duncan. The meaning of winsome which corresponds is “attractive” (Chambers).

   Sayyid just means “Mister” in Arabic, as in the expression As-sayyid fulan (Mr So-and-so). Its original meaning is “master, one who rules” (just as mister). That’s why El Cid was so called. On its own it means “a gentleman”, or in address, “sir”. That’s why kids in Arabic-speaking countries run after you saying “Hello mister”: they mean “Hello sir”. With the first-person possessive suffix it can also mean something like “my dear fellow”.

   Very clearly written blog. Thanks, Duncan.

6. Tony @ 5

   I think you’ll find that in Scotland, where I was brought up and now live again, you’ll find that describing someone as a BONNY LASSIE means you think they are an attractive lady.  In Scotland we might spell it BONNIE but it’s the same word.

7. Hawaii also our last one in as not convinced about the a. However, pleased that we could finish a genius…our third attempt when previously wouldn’t have known where to start. The daily cryptic and the blog on here are obviously honing our skills and confidence. Thanks, all.

8. Duncan @6

   Yes, but you’ve written “cheerful” (another sense of “winsome”) in the blog, not “attractive”. Not being Scottish, I don’t use “bonny/bonnie” (or winsome, indeed), but I don’t think it means “cheerful”. Or does it? Chambers has missed a trick if it does (although it has “gay” as obsolete usage).

   That word always reminds me of where I think I first heard it, in the air:

   “My bonnie lies over the ocean
   My bonnie lies over the sea”

   (and I’ve heard a version which continues:

   “My daddy lay over my mummy
   And that is how I came to be”)

9. Perhaps not the most difficult Genius of all time but certainly very enjoyable, and that’ll do me.  Thanks Picaroon and Duncan.

10. I thought this one had defeated me. My first pass delivered only JOY (but no joy). The rest stubbornly refused to budge. Ove the next few weeks I’d occasionally pick it up, stare at it a while, then put it down again. Finally, the day before the deadline, I had one last concerted go. The J of JOY led me to deducing that 1d had to be either HADJ or HAJJ. The double J tripped a switch and everything clicked into place. Expecting a pangram, I fairly whiZZed through the rest with the help of an alphabetical checklist.

    I’m always amazed by the magical feeling of the PDM and the way it intensifies the fun that follows. If only I could bottle it and sell it.

11. Gordon @1
    From the trivia department: the clue
    “Friend of Caesar, J? The opposite (7)”
    appeared in the Independent on 10 March 2016 in a crossword by Klingsor.
    This may not be the original that you remember, as it is not The Guardian, but I think it is the one that I vaguely recalled when I read your comment.

12. Hi Alan @11

    Actually this is the puzzle I recalled, by Auracaria as it happens from 2009.  He had also done virtually the same clue in a 2007 puzzle.  Interestingly this blog confirms my recall that the clue is as I had it.  The Guardian website however has it slightly differently with it reading “Oppo of CaesarJ, or the opposite”.  I prefer what was originally printed though, as it is more succinct and pithier.  The slightly twisted if not incorrect meaning of Oppo, as short for opposite fits right in with Auracaria’s style.  I can never understand why the Guardian would put a version of a clue on its website that was different from the printed version without referencing the change.   [I was in England at the time and had done the crossword in the paper itself].

    http://www.fifteensquared.net/2009/06/04/guardian-24717-araucaria/

13. Thanks, Alan. Now at least I have a way of finding out the answer. Anyone else hate it when people post clever clues without the answer? Especially when they don’t even bother giving the enumeration (@Gordon!).

14. Sorry, Gordon, comments crossed. Thanks for the link (eventually — why not with the original posting?)

15. Interestingly, Colin Blackburn @3 in that post points out that Punk (aka Paul) also clued that same word in a similar way in the same day’s Indy:

    http://www.fifteensquared.net/2009/06/04/independent-7062-by-punk/

    Unfortunately, 225 bloggers didn’t use to write out the clues in those days

16. In fact, looking again, he says: “The breakdown was the same but the clue very different”, so maybe not similar really.

17. Gordon and Tony
    Thank you for finding those antecedents of the clue that I found when I did a quick search of this site. Very interesting.

18. Hi Tony@13

    You are correct, I should have at least given the enumeration.  I always thought people liked the challenge first of doing another clue.

19. Gordon, I like trying, but I also like having a route to the answer. As isolated clues don’t give the opportunity of gaining extra help from crossers, they are harder than when they form part of a puzzle. Usually the point of posting is (as here?) to offer them up for admiration — but I can’t admire what I don’t understand.

20. OK Tony@19

    Jilted John hit unusual indoor sonogram (6,2,1,5)

    You won’t find this online as I just made it up.

21. Fantastic grid construction and good fun to solve.

    Thanks to S&B.

22. Gordon@20

    Heh!Heh! Don’t be too hard on yourself, Gordon. (Hope your namesake here isn’t offended).

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