I enjoyed this very much. Thank you Gozo.
No theme this time but instead a double alphabetical jigsaw.
Normally at this point I would try to give some useful advice to beginners about how to get started filling the blank grids; there would be a method that shows unambiguously where each word must go. Unfortunately this time a lot of of guesswork was involved. Nevertheless, for those still looking for some pointers on how to start filling the grid without having solved all of the clues here are some hopefully useful techniques and observations.
Firstly it helps a lot to list the answers that you have (and the missing answers) in order of their letter counts:
| 4 | ELUL CROC OATH IRAQ ???N ???A |
| 5 | NEGEV SPOOF ????Q ????W |
| 6 | ZAGREB SUPERB PUNISH RECESS BELIEF ?????X |
| … | etc… |
| 10 | MASQUERADE FALSEALARM PENMANSHIP SPORTSCAST ?????????K ?????????K |
| 11 | EX-DIRECTORY DISOBEDIENT ??????????W ??????????R |
With this table and the two grids there are a few things to notice:
- the longest words make good starters as they have to cross other words in many places
- in each grid the 11 letter words cross each other so they are in two pairs with a matching middle letter
- there are only four choices for 11 letter words, these will be the best to place to start
- the 10 and 9 letter words look like the next best bet, long words and not too many choices
- any words placings that result in a crossing letter of say X, Q, or Z are more promising than combinations crossing with say T, R or E
Armed with this information I made a guess at BORDEAUX and EX-DIRECTORY crossing in the first grid (because of the X) and IRAQ and MASQUERADE crossing in the second grid (because of the Q). From this I guess DISOBEDIENT goes in the same grid as EX-DIRECTORY because they share a middle letter. After that I tried each of the other long words I had solved in places where they had a possible crossing letter with the words I already had in place. I wrote each of these in very faintly, only inking them in properly when more and more guesses at crossing words started to match.
Finally, maybe it seems obvious, but guesses that will allow you to put in more crossing words are more likely to be correct. It may turn out that some of these crossers are mistaken, but the fact that they were possible makes the word placing more likely. Again, a choice that crosses at an X, Q or J is more probable than one that crosses at with common letter such as E or T. In other words: making an educated guess is better than a random guess, any information at all you have that might support a possible placement is better than a guess with no information. Go with those guesses first.
UPDATE: another tip is you don’t need to wait until you have solved all the clues before starting to fill the grid. If you have solved half of the clues there will almost certainly be some way to make start. Make some educated guesses and write faintly or use a pencil. I started writing answers as soon as I saw BORDEAUX and EX-DIRECTORY, I had only a handful of clues solved at this point.
In the end I had only a few misplaced words that had to be overwritten. The final grids look like this:
| A | Meal which side has to consume, cycling to The Frog Prince (4-3; 4) | |
| MEAT TEA | TEAM (side) with EAT (consume) with letters cycling so that T, A, E and then M move onto the front | |
| RANA | double definition | |
| B | Top-class sporting event drops hooter from unknown barge out in European capital (6; 6) | |
| SUPERB | SUPERBowl missing OWL (a hooter) | |
| ZAGREB | Z (unknown, in equations) than anagram (out) of BARGE | |
| C | Microcosm reveals small reptile for Louis, maybe, generally known as Tom, Dick and Harry (4; 3,6) | |
| CROC | found inside miCROCosm | |
| JOE PUBLIC | JOE (Joe Louis maybe, boxer) then PUBLIC (generally known) | |
| D | Spotted the cake decorator hasn’t been at work, so get ahead and take another’s place (7; 7) | |
| NOTICED | NOT ICED (the cake decorator hasn’t been at work) | |
| SUCCEED | double definition | |
| E | She’s been given a ring and ball made square, oddly (7; 10) | |
| FIANCEE | cryptic definition | |
| MASQUERADE | anagram (oddly) of MADE SQUARE | |
| F | Disguise fellow’s trust of bogus dandies turning up holding ring (6; 5) | |
| BELIEF | BELIE (disguise) then F (fellow) | |
| SPOOF | FOPS (dandies) reversed (turning up) containing O (a ring) | |
| G | Still working for the artist again at impressive down-tools situation? (8; 8) | |
| REPOSING | RE-POSING (working for the artist again) | |
| STRIKING | double definition | |
| H | Swear about a hot batter from backward youths in uproar (4; 6) | |
| OATH | anagram (about) of A HOT | |
| PUNISH | found reversed (backward) inside youtHS IN UProar | |
| I | The writing’s on the wall for Steffi, appropriate with one capital letter on steel bangle (8; 7) | |
| GRAFFITI | GRAF (Steffi Graf, tennis player) with FIT (appropriate) I (one) | |
| KARACHI | CHI (a Greek letter) following on KARA (a Sikh’s steel bangle) | |
| J | Indian tennis player disturbed trim raja and pop singer with strap that is jangling a tad (8; 6,1) | |
| AMRITRAJ | anagram (disturbed) of TRIM RAJA | |
| JESSIE J | JESS (a strap) IE (that is) then Jangling (first letter, a tad, just a bit of) | |
| K | It may shed light on bedding material business, after drill that is pupils’ responsibility (10, 10) | |
| CANDLEWICK | double definition | |
| SCHOOLWORK | WORK (business) following SCHOOL (drill) | |
| L | Month when English lectures start – mid-July – for Archangel artist (4; 7) | |
| ELUL | first letters (when…start) of English Lectures then jULy (mid section) | |
| RAPHAEL | double definition | |
| M | Ignore this warning on river — “Closure by Member” — the more unusual that it has to be proven (5,5; 7) | |
| FALSE ALARM | FAL (river in Cornwall) SEAL (closure) and ARM (member) | |
| THEOREM | THE then anagram (unusual) of MORE | |
| N | Chief mayor at eastern inn treating hormone for waterfowl (4; 7) | |
| KHAN | triple definition – title for a chief, Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, a caravanserai | |
| MOORHEN | anagram (treating) of HORMONE | |
| O | Hors d’oeuvre for Venetian artist, conquistador, prior and Azed getting served (9; 7) | |
| CARPACCIO | double definition | |
| PIZARRO | anagram (getting served) of PRIOR with A and Z (zed) | |
| P | Poet’s daughter stumbled about noon at terminus in Malta — happens to turn out handwriting (3-4; 10) | |
| END-STOP | anagram (stumbled) of POET’S D (daughter) containing (about) N (noon) | |
| PENMANSHIP | anagram (to turn out) of IN with M (Malta) and HAPPENS | |
| Q | Emirate resident returns thanklessly to country distressed by query about independent mayor N (4; 5) | |
| IRAQ | QAtaRI (emirate resident) reversed (returns) missing TA (thanklessly, without ta) | |
| SADIQ | SAD (distressed) by Q (query) containing (about) I (independent) – Sadiq Khan, mayor of London | |
| R | Book artist will endlessly maltreat heartless disloyal fellow’s poor melody that may be experienced on mountain top (11; 4,3) | |
| ILLUSTRATOR | ILL-USe (maltreat, endless) then TRAiTOR (disloyal fellow, heartless) | |
| THIN AIR | THIN (poor) AIR (melody) | |
| S | Eyes pastries at niche adjournment (5,4; 6) | |
| MINCE PIES | double definition – Cockney rhyming slang for eyes | |
| RECESS | double definition | |
| T | Ignoring rules, got undressed right away around 1.10, left on board with actors on football transmission (11; 10) | |
| DISOBEDIENT | DISRObED (got undressed) missing (with…away) R (right) then anagram (around) of I TEN (1 and 10) | |
| SPORTSCAST | PORT (left) in SS (on board, in a Steam Ship) with CAST (actors) | |
| U | Euripides almost broke prayer-desk at end of matins, hiatus affected healing process (4-4; 7) | |
| PRIE-DIEU | anagram (broke) of EURIPIDEs (almost all of) | |
| SHIATSU | matinS (end of) then anagram (affected) of HIATUS | |
| V | Novelist will steal fine old volume and The Wasteland back in archive generally (7; 5) | |
| NABOKOV | NAB (steal) OK (fine) O (old) V (volume) | |
| NEGEV | found reversed (back) inside archiVE GENerally – a desert region, wasteland | |
| W | Contemptuous expression from cat’s-eye inventor, in short, providing diverse entertainment? (5; 7,4) | |
| PSHAW | P SHAW (Percy Shaw, inventor of the cat’s-eye lane marker on roads) – in short indicates forename is initial only | |
| VARIETY SHOW | cryptic definition | |
| X | Wine — a red, perhaps top-class — in crate having hen as dodgy classical figure (8; 6) | |
| BORDEAUX | anagram (perhaps) of A RED with U (top class, aristocratic) in BOX (crate) | |
| SUSSEX | SUS (suspect, dodgy) with SEX (six Latin, a classical figure, number) – a breed of hen | |
| Y | Poor Rory, excited, but not listed for a call sign by railway depository (2-9; 7) | |
| EX-DIRECTORY | anagram (poor) of RORY EXCITED | |
| LIBRARY | LIBRA (a sign of the zodiac) by RY (railway) | |
| Z | Composer from capital — not northern Australia — will take note of pom Olympic swimming champion (7; 4,5) | |
| BERLIOZ | BERLIn (capital) missing N (northern) then OZ (Australia) | |
| MARK SPITZ | MARK (take note of) SPITZ (pom, a type of dog) | |
Many thanks Maskarade and to PeeDee for explaining it all.
I found the clues a bit ‘different’ – a lot of double definitions, and general knowledge needed more than facility with wordplay. I needed a search engine to find the spelling of the Indian tennis player’s name, to confirm that a KHAN is an eastern inn and that RANA is a genus of frogs (I kind of knew the prince association already).
I’m sure there will be many other comments on the cluing, and at a guess not all will be favourable ! But personally it seemed consistent within the puzzle and I felt informed as well as entertained at the end. There are a few longeurs – for instance the JOE PUBLIC clue, the KHAN triple-definition is strangely worded (I only felt happy with this once the supporting SADIQ one cross-reffed it), and the CARPACCIO – I had heard of the foodstuff but not the artist, who I thought was part of the second solution (PIZARRO is an alternate spelling for PISSARRO I believe)
Anyway, the real challenge in this puzzle was fitting in the solved clues. I like the logical approach of PeeDee, my own method was similar if a little simpler :
– As I solved each clue I made a little table showing (e.g.) A : MEAT-TEA, RANA, … Z : BERLIOZ, MARK SPITZ. ( say table — this was actually scribbled into a spare piece of the paper. Later, each succesful entry to grid was ticked.
– Next, having spotted the 4 x 11 letter clues I focused on those and fitted them in, broadly as per PEEDEE, having also taken a flier on BORDEAUX providing the X for EXDIRECTORY.
– Some other crossers dropped out then; to make further progress I made another table (i.e. more scrawlings in the margins of the paper). Like the one PeeDee shows but simpler. I focused on the word length and the corresponding last letters. In making this table, I ignored the 7-letter solutions as too numerous.
– That method seemed to work and progress accelerated.
– My final clues in were KARACHI (once the internet had confirmed KARA as a kind of bangle – didn’t know that before !) and that gave me the crosser I neede to write in THIN AIR. Had earlier got an idee fixe that this was OPEN AIR, hard to shake of once one gets this in the head.
One point I’d be interested in other solvers opinion – the rubric :: “One from each pair of solutions is to be fitted in to one or other of the two grids jigsaw-wise” It quickly became apparent that if the first solution went in the LH grid then the second solution went in the RH grid. That did help in the later stages of filling the grid. But I think the condition need not have applied – in which case things could have got ugly.
Think this has come up before on this type of puzzle – is there a way to write the rubric so it is clear and unambiguous (+ concise !).
Happy Easter everyone, and thanks again Masquerade and PeeDee.
Despite my initial reservations (“I do crosswords to solve clues not play games fitting them in a grid” harrumph) I ended up enjoying this, although not completing it with MEAT TEA, RANA, KARACHI and THIN AIR outstanding at the end – although why I didn’t think of THIN air or MEAT tea is beyond me now. I looked up The Frog Prince and can’t recall seeing RANA and I’ll forgive myself for not finding KARA as a bangle, although KARACHI is well within grasp. It seems to be difficult to set great clues with smooth surfaces and the constraints of puzzles like this. The ones that stood out for me were NOTICED, REPOSING, CANDLEWICK and MINCE PIES.
Epee Sharkey@1 – I didn’t notice the first half went in left hand grid, and the second in the right hand – it would have made life much easier if I had! And having it made clear in the rubric would clearly have been a big help. I used the same scribbled alphabetic list approach as you rather than ordering them by letter count – although I did write the letter count against each one as well.
Thanks to Pee Dee for the missing solutions and some parsings that escaped me, and to Maskarade for the Easter time entertainement.
Thanks PeeDee. I agree with all your comments, and my approach was the same as yours. This was an excellent and rewarding challenge involving brain-wracking, guessing and googling in equal measure and sometimes concurrently. I failed only on JOE PUBLIC, missing the boxer, thinking French and opting for ‘nom public.’ The J clue: hadn’t heard of her, and needed you for the strap; the KARA STEEL BANGLE; and for the cycling explanation for how MEAT TEA matched the clue. Strangely, since the clue was in one sense as straightforward as could be, PUNISH was last in. Thanks of course to Mr Johnson, AKA ….
Thanks Peedee and Maskarade.
Also, all 5 and 9 letter words belonged to just one grid. That was helpful.
Didn’t get SUSSEX even though nothing else would fit.
Also 9 letter ANTIPASTO screwed up the filling of the grid, till I found CARPACCIO!
Re the rubric…if each grid has to have all 26 alphabets then there’s no choice but to enter only one solution of each letter to one grid..I just assumed it to be so.
On the rubric, yes, if one of the answers went in the first grid (as shown above), the other part went in the second. I thought that this was obvious from the instructions. But unlike some of these jigsaw puzzles, it was not the case that the first part of each clue was always for the same grid. For example, the first answer at C CROC went in the second grid (as shown above) and JOE PUBLIC went in the first. But the position is reversed for D where NOTICED went in the first grid and SUCCEED in the second. So I am not sure how far the instructions could have been improved.
As for the initial approach, I started with the 4 11-letter clues. There was a middle letter of T or E which made them into two pairs, and I went from there, more or less as others have suggested. PRIE-DIEU and BORDEAUX gave some early confirmation.
l
Failed frustratingly on four. Raja is a prince so that seemed to work but I couldn’t parse the clue and the J was awkward. Karachi I could have got from looking for 7 letter capital cities but I’d never heard of a Kara. Never heard of meat tea and guessed …. air but didn’t think of thin air and the link with a mountain top seems a bit weak.
I managed to finish this, but it took a very long time. Mr PB helped with some of the clues but wasn’t interested in trying to fill in the grids. I struggled wanting Sussex to be sphynx but got there in the end. My first ever double gridder!
Why oh why does our “Ed” continue with these Maskarade Bank Holiday puzzles. They are almost too dull for words.
I thought I’d give him one more try but after solving all the clues bar 5 I stopped wasting my time.
Sadly I find the cluing without merit or humour. I was filling in the grid to help with the outstanding clues as I had all the 11s, 10s and 8s. However this was so tedious that I decided not to bother. Not worth the effort as the whole thing was just a “grind”.
I advise M to take a look at a few of Araucaria’s Bank Holiday masterpieces and learn from the master. Isn’t the idea of a bank holiday to relax and enjoy oneself?
That was certainly the last time I will look at a Maskarade. 🙁
For me the hardest part of this was remembering that the alphabetical part of the instructions referred to the last letter of the solution rather than the first!
There were some obscure (to me) solutions, like KARA, ELUL, JESSIE J (ty Mr. Crossbar). However most were not at all difficult, and in fact both I and Miss Crossbar who was helping found we were over thinking the answers.
I used a method similar to Peedee for filling the grid, using a 3 column Excel spreadsheet, with the letter of the alphabet, the solution and its length, and then sorting on the length. (You can take the girl out of IT but etc…..)
Thank you MASKARADE for some holiday fun, and Peedee for the blog. I’m sure your advice to beginners is very helpful.
That’s very grumpy lurkio @10, but I do agree that Araucaria was the master. However even for him the clueing lost out to the difficulty of constructing an alphabetical puzzle, and making it solvable.
Thanks both. You have a tiny typo in “M” with the spelling of THEOREM
From the School of Pedantic Pedantry, the inventor of the catseye was Percy, rather than Peter Shaw.
I astounded myself by remembering rather than looking this up.
Growing up in the ’70s in Ireland cateyes were a real novelty – we used to look out for them on the few long car journeys we made. My dad amazed us by telling how the inventor had become immensely rich and built a house with a radio and colour TV in every room. How our innocent young selves were awestruck.
I was prepared for a real slog but – probably benefiting from huge slices of luck with the occasional bits of guesswork – this fell out relatively painlessly.
Was held up at the end with RAPHAEL (and thereby KHAN) because there seems to be a painter called GABRIEL. Doh!
Such technical brilliance in crossword-setting really should be exempt from criticism, IMO, but each to his own.
Thanks, Maskerade and PeeDee.
Thanks Maskarade and PeeDee.
I thought I’d been oh-so-clever coming up with PIEBALD as the D-ending answer to ‘Spotted the cake decorator hasn’t been at work’. Only very late in the day did I deduce the more obvious answer, after many wasted hours… Enjoyable over all, despite that!
I always enjoy alphabetical jigsaws but this looked quite daunting at first. I don’t like to put anything in until I am sure of its location and here the 9 letter clues had to come first as one of the four included the last letter of another (candlewick and Mark Spitz). This then facilitated positioning the 11 letter clues. But I still failed to get Jessie J and Karachi, which surely was replaced by Islamabad as the capital may years ago. Thanks anyway to Maskerade and PeeDee
This was a hugely enjoyable challenge which entertained me all week. I, too, had continual difficulty remembering it was the final letter, and not the first, which was indicated. Failed only with khan.
Thanks Maskarade and PeeDee.
I found this very difficult because I kept forgetting that I was looking for word endings rather than beginnings. Despite this , I managed to bumble my way to a successful solution.
My only criticism is the definition of Karachi as CAPITAL. OK, Karachi is the capital of Sindh Province but Pakistan’s capital is, of course, Islamabad.
Thanks to Shirl and Epee for the corrections, and my apologies to Mr Shaw.
I had not noticed that each grid is an alphabetical jigsaw in its own right. I had just assumed that each solution could go anywhere in either grid.
I was surprised so many people did not know Karachi. I had always thought of it as a very well known place: it is the largest city in Pakistan and the major hub for international airlines flying to the region. It is the capital of Sindh rather than the capital of Pakistan.
Finally it amuses me when people on a rant hold up Araucaria as a paragon of virtue. Back in the day Araucaria received exactly the same sort of flak for his then flagrantly libertarian style that is now directed against the current incumbents of the position for various other reasons. I think these comments speak more about the commenter than the persons being commented on.
I absolutely agree with Lurkio, as do all of my normal crossword solving acquaintances, that these bank holiday puzzles by maskerade are dire. We have swung from “themes” such as ‘any name in the world’ or a list of the most obscure operas ever written, to simplistic clueing of the most boring kind followed by a pointless requirement to fit all the solutions into a grid.
There is no humour, interest or wit in the wordplay.
I noticed while writing this that the blogger has chosen to attack anyone who dares to criticise the crossword with that tired old trope that it reflects badly on the critic. I always think that anyone who tries to close down discussions with ad hominem attacks is on a very sticky wicket.
I am sure PeeDee @20 that people know Karachi well enough, but from the clue it was reasonable to expect the answer to be the capital of a country, and I wonder if Maskerade was mistaken about this
I thought this rather good. It certainly took rather a long time but,frankly, I didn’t mind that. Yes, there were a few obscenities in the puzzle but this setter usually includes a couple,and this didn’t phase me at all. I think I’d be disappointed if we didn’t get an alphabetical from time to time.
No doubt some don’t care for them but solving them isn’t compulsory!
Thanks Maskarade.
Whoops, for OBSCENITIES read OBSCURITIES.
Sorry!
Hi brownphel – my mistake, I misunderstood the comments. I think of Karachi as a capital the same way that Edinburgh and Cardiff are capitals. I had thought with Karachi being about 15 times the size of Islamabad it might have been the better known of the two to an international audience.
Our home is now in New Zealand where more than a third of the population live in Auckland, but there is a fierce rivalry with the capital in Wellington. At least there is in Wellington; Jaffas (from Auckland) are probably unaware of it!
The very first sentence of the Wikipedia entry for Karachi is “Karachi is the capital of the Pakistani province of Sindh”. Like others I initially expected it to be country capital, but cryptics are meant to confound expectations.
I also have great memories of Araucaria’s specials, but can remember on occasion leaving them unfinished as I couldn’t be bothered trawling through the dictionary to find the obscure X and Z words.
Thank you Maskerade for providing diversion over a miserable weekend, and PeeDee for an excellent blog.
(Peter@24 – I received an email yesterday that ended “apologies for any incontinence this may cause”)
Nolu @21 – you are right, my final comment about reflecting on the commenter was uncalled for, I take that back.
What I want to reply to lurkio’s comment is that it is of the form “why does our editor go on publishing the crosswords I don’t like?”. Crosswords come in all shapes and sizes, some will suit individual solver’s tastes more than others. Araucaria also used to have people who ranted against his style back then and he didn’t suit everyone’s taste either.
A bit of tolerance and one can enjoy all of them.
Bullhassocks@16 – I too had PIEBALD for the D answer and completed both grids before I found I had to fit it into -O-I-E- and had to re-think! I was mighty relieved to find that the mistake was in that one answer and not elsewhere and requiring a radical re-jig of the whole damned thing!
I greatly enjoyed the challenge. Thanks to Maskerade and PeeDee.
Not to my taste this one and surprised to see so many enjoyed it. Good on you.
Looking at the grids there was no apparent way to get started unless you got the 4 11 letter answers which I didn’t. I therefore lost the incentive to find the elusive obscurities.
If I had spotted where Bordeaux and Ex-directory could go (as Pee Dee did,) it might have ben a different story.
I’ve waited since Christmas hoping for a challenge I could get my teeth into and now I shall have to hope for something penetrable next Christmas.
Pee Dee @29
I really don’t understand your objection to my post. I am merely expressing my own opinion, based on what is now a good selection of Maslarade puzzles.
I am also amazed that so many people seem to enjoy these puzzles but it’s also encouraging to see that my opinions are shared.
I’m not being vindicative in my comments nor asking for a change. I simply wont waste any more of my time on a Maskarade Bank Holiday offering. (There are plenty more puzzles to have a go at.)
It is a pity though as I remember looking forward with anticipation to the next Araucaria holiday offering.
Hi lurkio – rest assured I don’t object to your post, and whether you should like the puzzle is your own business. I did end my comments clumsily, which Nolu quite rightly calls me out on.
My comment is relating to Araucaria, who you say you do like and admire, who used to get the same sort of “why does the editor allow this stuff” too. At the time there were people who didn’t like Araucaria’s style and would have found themselves then in exactly the same position as you find yourself now. Swapping holiday puzzles from Maskarade’s style to another setter’s style doesn’t get rid of disgruntled solvers, it just swaps one lot for another. The editor is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
Thanks to Maskarade and PeeDee. A bit of a slog for me but in view of my past experiences with Maskarade, very pleased with what I achieved. I got most of the clues but struggled to fit them in even though I used the method PeeDee suggested. One grid fully complete but on the other as with Chris in France @15 I went for Gabriel and obviously failed on Khan. I also missed out on Dana and Karachi, therefore must have had an Indian blind spot. Overall an enjoyable challenge and thanks again to Maskarade and PeeDee.
Sorry typo I meant rana.
Thanks to Maskarade for a real Easter workout, and PeeDee for an exemplary blog.
A double, end-word alphabetical, with different grids, is a real feat of setting. I was daunted at first, but some of the wordplay was gentle enough to make a start, especially on the all important 11 letter clues. I tripped up at the end with putting “thin air” in the wrong place, but that was solved by swapping final clues with a fellow gooner at the Arsenal match the next day.
Obscure double definitions like rana are reliably in Bradford’s.
Reassuring to find myself with company in choosing GABRIEL rather than the much better known RAPHAEL and then failing on KHAN.
One advantage of the final letter alphabeticals is that the setter isn’t so limited with the X and Z, though the same problem will soon arise with Q, I suspect.
I enjoy most of the crosswords and if, now an again, I think one is a stinker, there are always others who enjoyed it. I see no point in venting my spleen here.
Thanks to the setter, the blogger and all the commentators.
Enjoyed this and found it challenging without being impossible.
Equally challenging was writing my name and address on the tiniest of entry forms but don’t think we can blame the setter for that!
Thanks to all involved.
I am glad I am not the only one to find these crosswords unenjoyable. It is having to solve almost all the clues before any can be entered into the grid that makes them boring – the whole point of a crossword is to have crossing words to help with solving the other clues. I didn’t like the Christmas special or this Easter one – very disappointing. Obviously some people did like it but perhaps a different setter for the Bank Holiday special sometimes?
One of the longest battles I had; on and off for a few day before finally killing it with Sussex (Sphinx misled me for a long time). Quite a tour de force to come up with the two grids. Bravo, Maskarade!!
Yes this was quite challenging but much easier than the last Christmas one. Can’t believe how long it took to see MEAT TEA – not the most familiar phrase but the signposting was clear. My approach to the jigsaw was like PeeDee’s and because I had a list of solutions for each word length I didn’t notice that the left hand clues appeared first.
Thanks to Maskarade and PeeDee
My thoughts on this are perfectly summed up by Chris in France’s first sentence in post 15. In the past I have found some of these holiday puzzles to be a real slog, most notably the one with groups of consecutive letters. This one was relatively straightforward, probably because there was only a limited number of combinations of the 11-letter answers and it all fell into place with a bit of trial and error. I still haven’t really got used to last letter alphabeticals, and find myself instinctively looking at initial letters when solving the clues. I fell for the RAPHAEL/GABRIEL trap too.
I enjoyed this and am surprised that it has provoked some strong negative reactions.
I’m with Pam here – although these puzzles give me a lot of enjoyment they can’t really be called crosswords. Maskarade’s penchant for grids which hide all the first (or in this case, last) letters in jigsaw means that around 75% of the clues must be solved before the grid can be attempted – it’s two separate exercises. Nevertheless thanks to Maskarade and Peedee for their efforts.
Those holding up Auracaria as a paragon of virtue would do well to recall the bank holiday puzzle he set many years back on a vague theme of bell-ringing where all the answers had to be entered minus their vowels! However he was the true master of writing a rubric which was totally unambiguous, even if it needed to be re-read several times before it sank in fully.
JohnB @43 makes a very pertinent observation here.
The Guardian Holiday Specials are not just bigger versions of the normal weekly puzzle, they are a brief foray into the world of Advanced Cryptics.
Most of the weekend newspapers produce at least one advanced cryptic every weekend: The Guardian (and Observer) has AZED and Genius, The Times has The Listener, The Telegraph has Enigmatic Variations, The i has The Inquisitor. There must be others I have forgotten. If you don’t do these on a regular basis they do look strange and may seem impossible. Much the same could be said about someone coming to a normal cryptic for the first time: they looked obscure and impossible at first too, but after a while one got into the mindset of how to solve them and what once seemed impossibly obscure becomes just another puzzle.
I think many of the negative comments make much sense when viewed in this light: people wanted a Guardian Cryptic and they just didn’t get one.
I would suggest that this is not a bad puzzle, Maskarade is certainly no novice setter and there are plenty of people here who liked it. I think that the strong feelings arise is because for some this type puzzle is out of place: it doesn’t meet the expectations of what a Guardian Cryptic should be. Perhaps in form and style it has more in common with the Sunday-supplement advanced cryptics than the Guardian’s weekday/prize puzzle. It is just too different from what people expect in the Guardian weekday paper.
A minor point, but still worth correcting: You’ve got the number of the puzzle wrong in the title for this post: it’s 27,471, not 24,471.
I often end up doing prize puzzles long after the fact, and then I have to search this site for the old post explaining how the clues worked, so it’s important to get the numbers right.
Thanks!
Thanks Ted, corrections are always welcome.
I entered a long comment here, but when I hit POST, I got “Error: Please enter a valid CAPTCHA value. Click the BACK button on your browser, and try again.”, which I did to find that my work had disappeared. (9-8 is 1, isn’t it?). Main point: use Crossword Compiler.
Tony @47
The Captcha plugin does occasionally have a glitch and I’ve not been able to find the reason for this. When returning from the error message, some browsers simply go back so the original comment is still there but others refresh the page so the comment is lost.
My advice for long comments is to either prepare the comment in Notepad, or similar, so that you have a copy on your pc, or to select all (right click or Ctrl+A) and then copy (right click or Ctrl+C) before completing the Captcha. If the Captcha fails you can then paste the copy back in (right click or Ctrl+V) when you return to the comment editor.
@41 beery hiker::”I didn’t notice that the left hand clues appeared first.”
(Not true?)
@7 Ian Weldon::”For example, the first answer at C CROC went in the second grid (as shown above) and JOE PUBLIC went in the first. But the position is reversed for D where NOTICED went in the first grid and SUCCEED in the second. So I am not sure how far the instructions could have been improved.”
@6 ilippu::”Re the rubric…if each grid has to have all 26 alphabets then there’s no choice but to enter only one solution of each letter to one grid..I just assumed it to be so.”
So, stating, “only one solution from each pair goes to each of the grids” would have been clearer for this puzzle.
I have “vented” against Maskarade before….but I have always respected his ability to set these puzzles; they are not easy to set. Over the years, of course, I always try them, but rarely do I complete them. This was one of the completed ones, without SUSSEX of course. They are just a couple (?) of them per year, and well worth the change to routine.
Also, I enjoy the logic process for filling the grid more than solving the clues (notwithstanding the non-availability of crossers for solving clues)!
In this puzzle, all 5-letter and 9-letter answers were directed to one grid…that is 8 solutions could be entered with more certainty (subject to jigsaw of course);
that also meant the other Q, W, V and F -ending solutions were directed to the other grid; that specified VARIETY SHOW has to be on the other grid; (vertically or horizontally was determined by jigsaw);
the same logic applied to the 9-letter words.
Together, that meant 16 of the 52 solutions had definite direction to grid.
As solving strategy for jigsaw puzzles, one should not wait to “solve_all_first_and_fill_grid_later”.
It is more fun to seek some certainties early on, so one can also get the advantage of crossers!
PeeDee @44
I refer you to my original post @10
I was not expecting a normal Guardian Prize Puzzle. What I was expecting was an interesting, challenging fun Bank Holiday puzzle.
What we got was a dull puzzle (IMHO), clued without humour or even the odd interesting clue. The prospect of grinding in the completed solutions was also pretty tedious hence I didn’t bother having filled in all the 11s and most of the longer words.
My complaint was about the entertainment value of the puzzle rather than it’s design.
As I am a regular Listener and Azed solver I was not in the least daunted by the design. (quite the opposite in fact). I believe that a lot of the other “unhappy” solvers had similar views and expectations.
lurkio @51 – perhaps my idea at @44 doesn’t have any legs then. There does seem to be quite a disparity in attitudes to the puzzle. Do you have any ideas yourself why this would be so?
Hmm…interesting mix of posts. This type of challenge is clearly Marmitey.
We flogged our way through to the end and were helped by the use different coloured highlight pens representing the respective word lengths.
After all the effort we felt obliged to send it in and will be one of a gerzillion correct entries, no doubt.
It’s a hell of an achievement by the setter but, purely personally you understand, I find with these things the cluing lacks any great merit and the puzzle becomes more a measure of staying power and patience than wit.
Having said all that, I’m grateful to Maskarade for deflecting the memsahib’s attention away from a tedious chore I was supposed to be doing.
Many thanks for the excellent blog, PeeDee.
I agree with Lurkio #51 that it was mostly a drab grind.
I ruined my chances of making quick progress by choosing the wrong Archangel artist and had (Dante) GABRIEL (Rosetti) instead of the obvious RAPHAEL.
The one moment of delight was spotting Sadiq Khan, very neat setting killing two awkward birds with one stone.
I recall Araucaria producing a last letter alphabetical jigsaw but this was made difficult by there being very few last latters that were cross-checked. The X in BORDEAUX must have been everyone’s starter but sixteen seven-letter words with only the even letters chacked was a bit much!
ilippu @49 – quite right, it isn’t true. I was responding to an earlier comment without checking the facts!
I’d like to join the ranks of those who enjoy these a lot, the logic-puzzle aspect very appealing and satisfying. Other setters maybe sparkle a little more in the clueing than Maskarade but they are usually neat and fair, and I had very few quibbles which is not bad for 52 clues.
Like others I fell for GABRIEL/RAPHAEL which I think is arguably too ambiguous. It shot my confidence on what I thought was sterling progress filling the grid – I went back and restarted before realising I should instead rethink that answer. Also had RAJA for a bit but was never happy with it – Wikipedia says the Crab-eating frog has been referred to as Fejervarya raja, but that’s a stretch. Much better the one in Chambers that I eventually pulled from the memory banks.
Thanks PeeDee and Maskarade!
I thought this was a masterpiece by Maskerade, which entertained me for several days. Initially drafted the 4 10-letter words in 2 versions, which didn’t work,then tried again with solutions vertical instead of horizontal. then finally stumbled on correct placement. Only finally completed but missing Elul and Khan. Love these holiday puzzles.
I always enjoy an alphabetical and this was no exception, although shifting to last-letters took some getting used to. I came here for the parsing of FALSE ALARM, and am aghast to realise I didn’t spot the Fal since I’m in Cornwall. Poor show.
PeeDee, your grid-fill tip that “making an educated guess [with a pencil] is better than a random guess” is the best advice, I think. From my experience with sudoku I’m loath to enter anything that isn’t definite (a good sudoku shouldn’t have you chasing different paths until you find the right one), but for alphabeticals I make an exception.
I suppose a setter might set a trap and lead a solver towards an almost-complete grid-fill that isn’t right (it would take a lot of effort but isn’t completely implausible) but in my experience, the setter tends to be generous to make up for the fact it’s an alphabetical. If you can make a few things fit, they’re often right. (Not always, but that’s what the pencil’s for!)
Thanks PeeDee and Maskarade.
Steve @58 – yes, I think that a setter would try to avoid having alternate grid-fill possibilities that almost work. In barred puzzles such as the Inquisitor or The Listener setters will deliberately set out send solvers up the wrong track, but I don’t think this would be the case in puzzles such as The Guardian.