Guardian Prize Crossword 29572 / Maskarade

70 comments on “Guardian Prize Crossword 29572 / Maskarade”

1. 

   Torontonian

   #1 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 00:46

   
   

   Maskarade must be feeling very pleased with himself. What an intellectual giant! Seriously, though, who has time for this sort of pretentious “aren’t I clever” nonsense? A crossword? No, not even close.

2. 

   khayyam

   #2 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 00:56

   
   

   I almost never remember to come back to the blog for a prize, the delay is just too long. But this one was more memorable!

   I loved the idea but found the composers too obscure tbh. At first I thought we’d know them, but then even resorting to “cheating” by looking at the list in chambers wasn’t enough!

3. 

   ilippu

   #3 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 01:32

   
   

   Thanks duncanshiell and Maskarade.

   Completed but didn’t have these full answers:
   Across: Anna Clyne, Corelli
   Down: Tenures, Vedalia, Sallee and Notion

   Still, it was satisfying to complete the grid…on and off over four days.

   Clues for NIELSEN and MESSIAEN stood out among the composers; and SUDANESE, TRANSCRIBE and BACARDI among the rest.

   Maskarade has done it again!

4. 

   matt w

   #4 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 01:37

   
   

   I’ve had unfinished grids, I’ve had finished grids where I didn’t know the parsing, but this is the first time I’ve had a finished grid where I didn’t know what some of the words were! As often with the Christmas prize, I was doing this on a long car ride, and this was chewy enough to keep me occupied till dark. I despaired somewhat at the theme, especially with limited internet access, but was able to hack through it, having heard of maybe 18 or 19 of the 39 (?) composers. Thought the last one in 9ac could be COLLIER (I’d like to claim I remembered Graham Collier, the great British progressive jazz composers, but I was just going on “eh it’s a common name”), but the crosser had to be ORACHE and eventually came up with Corelli.

   I will say that I don’t feel at all bad about the ones I didn’t parse. Both parts of sallee, etrennes, and vedalia are all reasons I don’t like Chambers, and Norn seems awfully strained. It helped that every single letter was crossed. Some nice ones too with TRANSCRIBE and BERIO particular standouts (I had bunged BERTE till I realized what was up, and Berio is one of the ones I’ve heard of! There does seem to be a Heinrich Berté.)

   Thanks to Maskarade for an enjoyable challenge for the ride, and extra thanks to duncanshiell for an extraordinarily strenuous blog!

5. 

   Nick

   #5 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 01:41

   
   

   For me personally this puzzle was more difficult than fun. I thought I was fairly knowledgeable in classical music but I only knew maybe 70% of these composers! Vowelless crosswords I’ve solved in the past have been more focused on really long answers which wouldn’t fit in a normal grid.

   Still, it was nice to have a big challenge in the prize slot, and they’re giving out more prizes than they normally do.

   I was also very impressed with the variety in the composers, covering a huge number of time periods and mostly including less famous names.

   Thanks to Maskarade and Duncan for the blog.

6. 

   Dr. WhatsOn

   #6 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 03:48

   
   

   I was predisposed to love this, because I usually do love Maskarade’s holiday offerings. When I saw, through several obvious anagram fodders, that the answers were lesser-known classical composers (not my strong point), I switched to hating it. On persevering a bit, I realized that a puzzle full of Mozarts and Bachs would be too easy, and the engineering of the puzzle made it just doable, so I was back to liking it. Didn’t love it, because the obscurity of most of the across answers removed one dimension from the solving process, but liked it well enough to continue to completion.

   I ended up not parsing RENNES or TENURES, but since every letter was cross-checked, that ended up hurting my pride but not the grid.

   Tx M&D

7. 

   Dave Ellison

   #7 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 04:50

   
   

   Like matt w@4, I completed the grid but didn’t have all the answers – the first two of 10d defeated me.

   Thanks duncanshiell and maskerade for gargantuan efforts from both

8. 

   Oofyprosser

   #8 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 06:41

   
   

   I’m with Torontonian on this. What percentage of Guardian solvers actually want these Maskarade cake-dances? Something more chewy for the holidays is a good idea of course, but if like me the attitude is “can’t be arsed” surely it’s disappointing for the majority?

9. 

   Infdesign

   #9 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 07:16

   
   

   I hated this. I made one error (transcript for transcribe) – having already made the error of Period for Bullet, but been able to recover due to getting the right composer. The clues were not witty and there was never a sense of satisfaction. I accept perhaps four items of esoteric knowledge but this was ridiculous.

10. 

    Charles

    #10 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 07:31

    
    

    I managed to finish this but I did write some code to scrape the names of a few thousand composers from the web and then used the list with a program I wrote for helping with crosswords (one thing it can do is find words of a given length in a list containing certain letters in the given order – this helped enormously with the puzzle).

11. 

    The Other Mark

    #11 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 07:49

    
    

    As usual, M’s holiday offer was more a test of stamina and willpower than an enjoyable solve for me. I had a full grid, but was irritated by some of the obscurities – certainly not confined to the composers, with NORN, VEDALIA and the swaying, rocking sense of SALLY all new to me ( for a long time I assumed that solution was ‘wattle’, being a ‘loose’ homophone for ‘waddle’, until the crossers and the numeration told me to think again.

    Another irritant was that the Hungarian in 9a could equally well have been Arpad, giving the composer (Atal) Arad .

    Grudging respect to M for the grid, though, and thanks to the blogger. And HNY to all.

12. 

    Dave F

    #12 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 08:27

    
    

    I’m another who found this contrived and pretentious. The combination of the convoluted special instructions and the obscure subject matter must have very much reduced the number of people who even tried this. Charles @10, I salute your dedication. You would probably get on very well with my son.

13. 

    Tim C

    #13 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 08:29

    
    

    What a slog. I finished it but wished I hadn’t. Plenty of more satisfying barred crosswords out there.

14. 

    Crispy

    #14 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 08:33

    
    

    Congratulations to anyone who completed this without recourse to online lists. As a Philistine, I needed one of those lists. Even then, the list I used didn’t include Anna Clyne.

15. 

    Yoakam

    #15 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 08:52

    
    

    Agree with Torontian. A waste of time and energy better used in other pursuits.

16. 

    sheffield hatter

    #16 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 09:10

    
    

    I completed the grid, though with several clues not solved, but given the nature of the crossword and the obscurity of some of the answers, I call that a victory. Never heard of SALLEE the acacia species or SALLY the nautical swaying, and I’ve read all of Hornblower and Ransome, so it must be pretty obscure. Got all the composers without resort to any lists, with the exception of LALO and HOVHANESS, and I gave up on those because I already had all the letters.

    I thought this was one of Maskarade’s better specials and found it challenging, innovative and enjoyable. Well done to Duncan for the blog – most impressive.

17. 

    sheffield hatter

    #17 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 09:28

    
    

    I had a different composer at 5 (i) – NOON is “a contemporary classical composer born 1946” or even “a pseudonym of Polish electronic musician and producer Mikołaj Bugajak”, and seems to fit the clue just as well as NONO. Though having found the name(s) via Google after “solving” the clue, perhaps it’s a case of Google being accommodating rather than accurate.

18. 

    ravenrider

    #18 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 10:02

    
    

    Another hater here, I’m afraid. I’ve never attempted barred crosswords and it seems unfair to use one as a special when they have always been standard grids before (or for at least 50 years to my knowledge). Requiring solvers unfamiliar to the concept to add the bars themselves as well as dropping the vowels was a double challenge that I felt was adding insult to injury.

    I had never heard of at least half of the composers, though to be fair when I ran a few of them past my mother she did recognise them. In my opinion this went well into special knowledge rather than general knowledge.

    The down clues seemed fair I suppose, with a few obscurities but well scattered. I completed most with the aid of the wikipedia list of composers but gave up in the end at the bottom right.

    Larked was my favourite in retrospect even though it beat me.

    Did anybody else have think of (S)ore instead of (S)tye? It works on it’s own but the crosser proved it wrong and Stye fits the definition better.

19. 

    ravenrider

    #19 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 10:07

    
    

    Trigger warning for non IT geeks
    Charles @10
    I used the wikipedia list of composers, pasted it into Notepad++, then used regular expression searches to first remove everything but the surnames then remove all the vowels, then finally regular expressions again to find matches with half completed clues. Writing code would have felt literally too much like work.

20. 

    KeithS

    #20 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 10:23

    
    

    Well, that was a challenge. I spent a while wondering what I’d consider ‘solving’ this: a) just filling the grid, b) filling the grid and actually knowing all the answers, across and down, or c) all of that and having parsed them all. In the end, I decided I’d be happy to have the grid filled and to have identified all the composers. I did manage that, but had to find Max ReGeR by searching a list of composers (all the others I’d worked out from wordplay then checked by Googling ‘X composer’ – sometimes if you’re only close, often from one of the rather many anagrams, Google will suggest the right answer, and by then I didn’t feel this was cheating). I still failed to see the wordplay for Max; I didn’t know ‘register’ as a group of organ pipes – and hadn’t even spotted that in the Wikipedia ‘Organ (Music)’ entry. At that point I quit. I’d enjoyed the challenge, but to me a grid full of apparently random consonants somehow doesn’t have the satisfying elegance of a group of interlocking words, and I felt I’d done enough. Thanks, Maskarade, and thanks and congratulations to duncanshiell for completely completing this on our behalf!

21. 

    DuncT

    #21 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 10:29

    
    

    I enjoyed picking away at this over the Christmas break.
    I had no qualms about using the Wikipedia list of composers to check the names I’d never heard of (which was most of them). Doing a bit of reference work and gaining some new knowledge along the way is no bad thing.
    Thanks to Maskarade for the innovative challenge and to Duncan for the comprehensive blog.

22. 

    WynnD

    #22 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 10:41

    
    

    We, my wife and I, gave up on this – a rare happening as we nearly always carry on even if struggling and generally get very close to finishing the crosswords.

    I had never seen a grid where we had to miss out certain letters before – though that was fair enough and would be a pleasing and novel idea with an “ordinary” set of clues. However to then combine it with a set of composers that most people, it seems, had never heard of was too much.

    How on earth did the crossword editor think it was acceptable?

    Generally I object to themed clues with many obscure answers where we have to rely on Mr Google to check them. There was a similar very obscure one with little known Scottish Islands a while ago.

23. 

    Caroline

    #23 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 10:46

    
    

    We are among that percentage of Guardian readers who love Maskarade and look forward with great pleasure to his Bank Holiday offerings, especially as Bank Holidays often mean visits from other crossword fans and these crosswords are so much fun to do together.
    Yes, it was not a crossword as we know them and a bit of a lookup fest but it kept us happily entertained and I was delighted to learn about (among other things) the ‚Spanish Mozart‘ ARRIAGA whose music I found here
    here.

    Thank you so much Maskarade and also Duncan – what a blog!

24. 

    Gloria

    #24 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 12:25

    
    

    ‘It would increase the difficulty significantly if the answers had to be entered jigsaw style in each row or column.’
    Indeed it would. I bet I’m the only muppet who spent Christmas writing out the answers on bits of squared paper and getting increasingly frustrated trying to weave them together. It took a while for the penny to drop. Took me ages to almost solve, I’ll happily admit, and in my book that’s a really Good Thing.

25. 

    Tigger

    #25 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 12:25

    
    

    ravenrider@12 – Very similar idea of using regular expressions in Notepad++. My last one in was Anna Clyne, because she was not in the Wikipedia list. I found her by deducing that the first name was likely to be Anna or Anne and then Googling for possible composers. Google soon corrected my slightly wayward search.

    I only knew a third of the composers and so would not have finished this without consider effort and my IT skills.

    Thank you, I think, to Maskerade and big thank you to Duncan for the blog.

26. 

    duncanshiell

    #26 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 13:04

    
    

    Well, this is clearly a ‘marmite’ crossword, with many solvers expressing strong views against the use of a grid without blocks or bars, filled by the names of individuals from a niche subject area, with a similar number of views being more supportive in some way. The most recent comments seemed to have tipped the balance slightly in favour of the puzzle.

    I was surprised by the number of composers of Organ music that appeared in the grid as I checked names when writing the blog. I wonder whether Maskarade has a background in such music.

    After I solved the puzzle, after three or four days, I think, I did look at comments on other crossword sites many of which were equally strong in the negative opinions expressed, so I was aware this blog would probably generate similar views.

    I don’t really understand a comment that says this puzzle was not a crossword. Every single letter in the grid was checked; that’s something you rarely see even in barred crosswords such as Inquisitor, Enigmatic Variations and the Listener. I found the checking was a significant help in deducing some of the lesser known composers. The bars were not 100% necessary when solving the puzzle, although I admit I did draw some in just to indicate where entries began or ended.

27. 

    sjshart

    #27 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 14:28

    
    

    Thanks, duncanshiell, for clarifying so much.
    At 3d, MSSNT would be the entry for Massenet, a composer, which is an anagram of TAMENESS, hence the reference to the theme in the clue., and ‘somehow’ as an anagrind.
    I got there after several days, but I have never completed a puzzle I enjoyed so little. So I am one of the naysayers. I suppose an advantage of the layout is that one can complete the grid correctly while still lacking the answers to several clues, but that is not really the objective, is it? It does not justify the approach in this one. I look forward to more standard puzzles on future Saturdays, and indeed we got one last Saturday.

28. 

    sheffield hatter

    #28 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 16:37

    
    

    Thanks to sjshart@27 for unlocking the mystery of MSSNT, which has been bugging me since two days before Christmas. Sorry to hear that, nevertheless, you didn’t enjoy the puzzle.

    I’m impressed, but a little surprised, at the lengths some people have gone to when solving this, to obtain a list of composers. I took the opposite view, of trying to solve the clues and then see if the answers turned out to be – by any chance – the names of composers. This worked particularly well for the never heard of ANNA CLYNE.

    As previously mentioned, I found this to be quite enjoyable, probably helped by having woken up to Radio 3 through most of the 1970s and 80s, with the likes of DOHNANYI, IBERT, CORELLI and MESSIAEN playing as I dozed. But apparently not MASSENET.

29. 

    Zoot

    #29 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 16:52

    
    

    I seem to be in the minority here. It was almost a write-in. The only composer I didn’t know was TOURNEMIRE. I have recordings of half of them. As a result I needed to solve only a few down clues to fill the grid. I might have done so on the day of issue but for the fact that there were two plants that fitted the wordplay for 8d – ORACHE and orpine, and I chose the wrong one.
    It just depends on what you know or are interested in. I knew nothing about the Supertramp puzzle a while ago and had to use the internet.
    .

30. 

    NB

    #30 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 16:58

    
    

    Although we finished the grid 2D and 3D had me completely baffled. I see it’s because I had Donatoni for 1 across (a composer whose music I’ve actually played!). Do – note :a ton – some inside NI!!
    Anna Clyne I’ve also played quite a lot – worth a listen (especially Glass lands).

    Thanks duncanshiell for the clarification.

31. 

    bridgesong

    #31 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 17:14

    
    

    As Duncan has pointed out, with every cell checked, there was a way of solving the puzzle without knowing anything about the theme. And indeed starting with the down clues was the obvious way into the puzzle. I wonder why Maskarade decided to omit all the vowels? It made for a more compact grid, whereas in the past some of his Bank Holiday specials have needed a grid significantly larger than usual. Let’s hope it doesn’t become standard practice!

32. 

    jkb_ing

    #32 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 18:12

    
    

    Many thanks to Maskarade and Duncan. I rather enjoyed it, and actually completed it slightly more speedily than is usual for the holiday specials (for the record, about 3 hours). There were a few composers I hadn’t heard of, but the clues for these were fair, and the names found reasonably easily via Wikipedia. I thought the vowel removal device was an interesting variation. As Zoot @29 says, preferable to a Supertramp theme! But pleased it wasn’t a jigsaw (although I really like alphabetical jigsaw puzzles) – that might have been too much.

33. 

    Grannybee

    #33 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 19:20

    
    

    Well I really enjoyed it, an amusing change. Only four wrong letters, so very pleased. Various words and a few composers I didn’t know, but that is no basis for a complaint especially with the internet on hand. It was fun running them to earth without having to make a trip to the library as my dad used to have to do. Ignore the moaners dear Maskarade and have a happy New Year.

34. 

    matt w

    #34 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 19:33

    
    

    sjshart@27: Thanks for the explanation of MSSNT. I was a bit cranky about what seemed to be a nonsensical sequence of letters but that makes sense.

    I am still a bit cranky about the nonsensical sequence of letters “Gergar” unless someone has an explanation for that. Perhaps the legendary punter who keeps suggesting “Gegs?” as a clue will have his day.

35. 

    Bob Davis

    #35 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 19:34

    
    

    No fun. I recall Araucaria’s lovely xmas puzzle – with gid rest you merry round the perimeter. That was fun!

36. 

    HoagyM

    #36 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 21:50

    
    

    Definitely in the “hate it” camp for this marmite crossword. Ground my way through this and managed to fill the grid correctly, though not fully parsed. Not an experience I enjoyed and not one I’d want again. Quite a shame, as had been looking forward to a more standard xmas crossword.

37. 

    nametab

    #37 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 23:10

    
    

    First of all, many thanks to duncanshiell for the assiduous blog and analysis. And to Maskarade for the effort taken in compiling. I solved it bar one single letter error, but found it bit of a slog. So many composers, I’d never heard of. Even knowing all the likely consonants from the down clues didn’t necessarily help. Nonetheless, it was satisfying when parsing yielded words that did turn out to be actual names.
    New meaning / word for me: SALLY / TENUE.
    I had ARRUGA at 2(ii), albeit unparsed.
    Agree with Sheffield hatter @17 that NOON is as valid as NONO.
    As with Zoot @29, I juggled with ORPINE for a while.

38. 

    Cineraria

    #38 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 23:24

    
    

    I almost passed on attempting this, but ultimately managed to complete the grid in a couple of determined sessions, with the help of an alphabetical list of composers on Wikipedia. Not easy, but doable. Guessing 1D was a big help. I parsed everything except TENURES, which I simply forgot to go back to check when it was lost among my tiny handwriting crammed in among the clues. Very nice job on the blog.

39. 

    Ian W Pettigrew

    #39 - Fri 3rd Jan 25, 23:57

    
    

    Lots of contributions here from unhappy solvers. Count me in. Pretentious and boring.
    Can we PLEASE just have a crossword?

40. 

    George23

    #40 - Sat 4th Jan 25, 06:52

    
    

    I thought this was great, and fun to have a different challenge for the Bank Holiday crossword. NHO etrennes, or sallee (or sally), but I have now, so that’s good.

    Thanks Maskerade and Duncan

41. 

    Bogdan

    #41 - Sat 4th Jan 25, 07:54

    
    

    Hard to understand why so many were repelled or confused by the format. As a one-off, it seemed fine and straightforward. But in my view, solving the Guardian crossword should not depend on using Wikipedia. Ridiculously obscure composers.

42. 

    giobuon

    #42 - Sat 4th Jan 25, 09:10

    
    

    Add me to the haters. Pretentious, obscure, infuriating. I always look forward to the big holiday crosswords and I was gutted to see this farce of a grid.

    Attempted it anyway and eventually gave up with about a dozen letters missing from the grid. The gimmick wasn’t confusing, just annoying. I get it that barred crosswords are an accepted format. If I wanted to do them, I would. I don’t, and I only persevered with this one in the hope that I would eventually find myself enjoying it. I didn’t.

    So far about 1 in 4 posts in this blog are in the hater camp, and we’re the ones who bothered to try the puzzle. How many holiday crossword fans just threw it in the bin? I’m hoping the Guardian’s crossword editor is reading this blog and deciding to stick to the standard crossword format in future. If not, I’ll be following the BBC’s disclaimer that “other suppliers are available”.

43. 

    Nascotwoodfrog

    #43 - Sat 4th Jan 25, 10:12

    
    

    Giobuon @42 sums it up quite nicely for me. The people I like doing crosswords with, especially at holiday time, had no time for this at all, so I struggled on alone, like Sheffieldhatter@28 only checking once I had an inkling of an idea. I had four or five empty squares and several completed words that I couldn’t parse. I accept that this is a sort of crossword, but don’t do crosswords in French for this reason ( they all seem to be this format). I did wonder if Maskarade was reacting to some of us finding his previous themes too easy. I’m not against not having an alphabetical, or a double, and I like a change and a challenge, but this find-the-obscure-composer mixed with take out the vowels, no thank you. But to end on a positive, many of the clues were enjoyable and Duncan’s blog is an absolute triumph .

44. 

    Choldunk2

    #44 - Sat 4th Jan 25, 10:53

    
    

    Great thanks to Maskarade and duncanshiell. This was absolutely to my taste.

    Yes, it was important to recognise that the clues were in order of entry along/down the line. Yes, DINGDONG etc at 1D was an enormous reassurance and help.

    It was a relief to realise that internet lists of composers were needed. So I felt no guilt!

    I started with the composers and slightly lost the energy to parse three of the down clues. But I knew the grid had been correctly filled, and hung my boots up relatively early for a Maskarade special.

    It’s nice to have a new formulation rather than just another test of vocabulary and crossword-ese. ARRIAGA and BACARDI were my favourite across and down clues. Never knew that ONER was an expert … until this crossword. You are a one, Maskarade.

45. 

    Donald

    #45 - Sat 4th Jan 25, 11:37

    
    

    I gave up on this long ago but wanted to find out the composers I’d missed so many thanks duncanshiell for the comprehensive blog.

    I decided to give this a go, despite reservations on the format as being a musician I have a very good knowledge of composers and have played the music of many in this grid. Even so, there are a few here that I’d never come across so I’m glad I abandoned this at when I did, with about 20% of the grid left to fill. I was never going to solve the anagram for TOURNEMIRE or figure out HOVHANESS, without resorting to Wikipedia as many clearly did. I’m not averse to looking stuff up but this did become a slog so I put it aside.

    To begin with, the extra element of figuring out where the bars went was a new challenge but ultimately, when the solution is just a jumble of letters it is not very appealing.

    I’m happy the Caroline @23 discovered Arriaga – I agree his quartets are very attractive to listen to and play. But I’m not going to explore any of Hovhaness’s symphonies based on reading up about him. But he was certainly prolific!

46. 

    Woody

    #46 - Sat 4th Jan 25, 12:04

    
    

    Yeah, thought I’d give it a go and hope to be finished by New Year.
    I did complete it but had never heard of plenty of these composers.
    Getting 1 down straightaway was a big help in making the grid look a bit less terrifying.
    Also getting the charming NIELSEN/Spaniels clue early on made me feel this puzzle would at least have heart and humour.
    I have posted my completed grid to the Guardian for the first time as I damn well deserve a prize for this.

47. 

    GrahamH

    #47 - Sat 4th Jan 25, 12:42

    
    

    In MESSAIEN the EN comes from the alternate letters of EiN, after dismissing the even-numbered letter(s).

48. 

    GrahamH

    #48 - Sat 4th Jan 25, 13:12

    
    

    Me@47 continued: … or, better still, alternate letters of EiNs.

49. 

    Balfour

    #49 - Sat 4th Jan 25, 13:21

    
    

    Seldom have I been more grateful for not having a printer. ‘Nuff said.

50. 

    Mick Norman

    #50 - Sat 4th Jan 25, 13:47

    
    

    matt w @4: I managed to convince myself that Berte was correct, as I thought it was a hidden solution, being half of ‘number ten’. But now I’ve rechecked my arithmetic! A fatal slip that left me four short of a completed grid despite spending more time on this excellent puzzle than I ought to have done. Schoolboy error. As the Australian cricket commentators would put it: I’m filthy with myself!

51. 

    EleanorK

    #51 - Sat 4th Jan 25, 15:18

    
    

    A challenge to be sure, but not as wearing as many of Maskarade’s puzzles (for me). I just chipped away at it in little bits throughout the week. Like others, never heard of Sallee/sally or tenues, or etrennes, so I’ve learned something new. Huge kudos to duncanshiell for the epic blog.

52. 

    Gervase

    #52 - Sat 4th Jan 25, 16:24

    
    

    Well, I enjoyed the challenge a lot, much helped by knowing the names of all but a handful of the composers. It did take longer than the usual cryptic , to be sure, but I completed it in a sitting, apart from HOVHANESS, whom I had to search for – and VDL remained a mystery.

    Highbrow, yes, but it what way does that make it pretentious? If it wasn’t for you, so be it, but this cleverly designed puzzle doesn’t deserve the vitriol thrown at it by some of the posters.

    Many thanks to Maskarade and duncanshiell for your sterling efforts

53. 

    pianola

    #53 - Sat 4th Jan 25, 17:50

    
    

    Took us down a peg after thinking we’d likely know all these composers. We didn’t finish, but we got pretty far. The completed grid doesn’t have the same satisfaction of the usual kind, though it was probably good for our brains to have to work with the vowel-less entries.

54. 

    Marser

    #54 - Sat 4th Jan 25, 21:00

    
    

    Once again, late to the party after a long journey yesterday, but able to read the comments.
    Remember that a puzzle is a puzzle ‘fer aw that’ and Maskarade is a master of ‘puzzles of the unexpected’!

    We were daunted, but with some resource, did manage a ‘compleat’ solution in two long sessions with a little further ‘penny-dropping’ time!

    Many thanks to Duncanshiell for what may be ‘the most wonderful blog of the year’ and, of course, to MSKRD! I half expected a nod to fellow puzzler MSLNK!

55. 

    Fougasse

    #55 - Sun 5th Jan 25, 11:21

    
    

    Thanks to Maskarade, and to Duncanshiell for the superbly detailed blog. As others have noted, it’s sometimes a case of what you know – this was our area of expertise, leaving us feeling that several Christmases had come at once! It’s not often that classical music gets any attention (pop, rock etc are far more usual), so it was a novel experience to know all the composers: the acrosses were completed before the downs here. Favourite clue was for HOVHANESS, and also enjoyed the mental image of Ena Sharples juxtaposed with XENAKIS. NHO SALLEE, and didn’t spot it despite resorting to a (very long) list of acacia species.
    Didn’t find the grid especially onerous, once the instructions had been absorbed and understood. A very enjoyable seasonal challenge all round.

56. 

    Phil

    #56 - Sun 5th Jan 25, 14:22

    
    

    The construction of a Maskarade puzzle is something to beho,d and admir Unfortunately, for me, solving his puzzles is often more tedious than pleasurable. Unlike Araucaris a holiday puzzle from Maskarade is not something to anticipate. Something to endure rather than enjoy.

    The 54 earlier comments suggest quite a few people agree with me. Maskarade may have his place in the Guradian but not every Christmas and every holiday. Going g back to the Christmas puzzle on Christmas Eve would also be good

57. 

    Pino

    #57 - Sun 5th Jan 25, 15:37

    
    

    According to wikipedia there are 1085 species of acacia and sallee isn’t one of them. Didn’t know this meaning of sally either. One other down clue filled in correctly but wrongly worked out. So only 2 misses and the grid would have been accepted as a Prize entry so I suppose I should rest content.
    Thanks to Maskarade and duncanshiell. How you bloggers must cross your fingers when a Maskarade is scheduled!

58. 

    Zoot

    #58 - Sun 5th Jan 25, 16:59

    
    

    Fougasse@55 Agree completely with your comment on classical music. It would also be nice for jazz to have a day in the sun. 🤞

59. 

    Albert

    #59 - Mon 6th Jan 25, 01:47

    
    

    I’ve not attempted one of these barred crosswords, let alone one with strange non-standard [to me] clues, in many many years. (My cryptic solving usually only runs to Everyman in the Observer on Sundays.) But when I got that day’s paper, I glanced at this out of interest; the instructions re missing vowels, etc, seemed perfectly intelligible; and I thought [wrongly as it turned out] that I might know most of the composers’ names.
    So I gave it a go, battling away with it on and off over a week or more, and was pleased with myself for getting a majority of the grid filled in (albeit not being able to parse both A and D clues for some letters, hence feeling I hadn’t “really” solved it).
    Looking at the solution in this amazingly helpful blog, I find that most of what I did manage was right, so was quite pleased with myself.
    Yes – it was difficult (except perhaps for a very experienced cryptic solver who knows every minor composer going), but surely that’s the idea? An unusual, and harder than usual, challenge to entertain people for some time over the holiday. I was extremely frustrated during some of the time I spent working on it, but I do find mental effort “entertaining”. A crossword where I could just put in the answers straight off, with little effort, would be a waste of time in my book. I don’t really understand those saying how they hated it – so just don’t do it!

60. 

    Jch48

    #60 - Mon 6th Jan 25, 09:51

    
    

    Getting 1 down immediately sucked me in. My composer knowledge have me a head start, but I still failed to find the anagrams for Tournemire, Stockhausen and Enescu.

    If remotely interested, search YouTube for Litanies by Jehan Alain. One of the most exciting organ pieces I know

61. 

    beery hiker

    #61 - Mon 6th Jan 25, 14:43

    
    

    Well I enjoyed it and it actually took me less time than most holiday specials – about 4 hours. I will admit to using a list. I feel rather sorry for Maskarade, whose task of following Araucaria is such a thankless one. Some of the great man’s holiday specials were pretty obscure and impenetrable too.

62. 

    cwt

    #62 - Mon 6th Jan 25, 15:09

    
    

    Thank you, Maskarade. My family enjoyed this over several days as a joint enterprise. We learnt the names of a few composers new to us (thanks to internet lists) in the process but still found that fun. Our grid was correct but we wrongly identified 14 across’s T as Ito and we never found Sallee as the answer for 10 down’s first clue.

63. 

    Trish

    #63 - Mon 6th Jan 25, 16:54

    
    

    Has anyone made a playlist with extracts from all the composers yet? Should keep somebody going for the next month.

    I hope that Wikepedia’s funds were given a Christmas boost from this puzzle. I wonder whether the Guardian would have printed this pre the internet?

64. 

    Sagittarius

    #64 - Mon 6th Jan 25, 18:16

    
    

    Trish@63: I am quite sure that Maskarade wouldn’t have set this, and the Guardian wouldn’t have run it, pre-internet in general and Wikipedia in particular. Which I think is the point; it is now no longer hard to get at extremely obscure information extremely quickly, provided you know what you are looking for. So a compiler can reasonably invite you to look for things you didn’t know you didn’t know, because it takes 20 seconds to check a name via Google, which means the compiler can set a much wider range of clues. For anyone who thinks it is in some sense cheating to look things up when solving a crossword, then this puzzle was certainly not for them. Others, and I am one, positively enjoy working out the possible existence of a composer named Hovhaness, and finding that such a being did indeed exist. So I am happy to thank Maskarade!

65. 

    JohnB

    #65 - Mon 6th Jan 25, 18:57

    
    

    Normally I won’t touch barred crosswords with a 20-foot pole, but I was happy enough to give this one a try if only because of a lack of anything else to divert my attention to except maybe the King WIlliam’s Quiz. I must say the the choice of theme took me back to my early crossword-solving days 50 or more years ago, when most puzzles appeared (to my youthful brain) to be compiled by octogenarian Classics teachers whose general knowledge references were exactly what you might expect of such learned persons. On the other hand the instruction to enter all the solutions without vowels held no particular terrors as I distinctly remember Araucaria asking precisely the same of us in one of his bank holiday specials. Much to my surprise I finished the puzzle, but this was mainly thanks to solving the majority of the “Down” clues. Everyone’s experience varied as these comments prove, but for me many of the composers were far too obscure for the wordplay to be of any assistance. There is something vaguely unsatisfying about completing a puzzle without needing to solve a number of the clues, but that’s how this one panned out. I do expect to have to use Google, Word Wizard and other aids with Maskarade’s specials, he has established that precedent over several years, but this was a level beyond any previous experience. At least I’m not complaining this year about him using a large grid but without any long solutions, like I normally do ! Thanks to Maskarade and huge kudos to duncanshiell for the blog !

66. 

    rusty

    #66 - Wed 8th Jan 25, 04:17

    
    

    I’m with Albert @59: the tougher the mental challenge, the bigger the payoff when you finish. This was indeed tough, and commensurately rewarding to finally fill in all the blanks. And I’ve learnt a tad about some obscure composers, to boot. Huge kudos to Maskarade and big thanks to duncanshiell for the blog, which unravelled both of the answers I couldn’t nut out for myself (the Aussie ladybird and the acacia).

67. 

    Mike S

    #67 - Wed 8th Jan 25, 11:27

    
    

    Another cleverly constructed crossword. Hats off to Maskerade, but I got about 80% there when I became bored of trawling lists of obscure composers and gave up. Well done to anyone who finished.

    Thanks so much to duncanshiell for all the explanations.

68. 

    epeesharkey

    #68 - Sat 11th Jan 25, 18:17

    
    

    I’m late but just for the record, I really liked this.

    List-based challenges that essentially require use of “wikipedia” (other sources of info are available) either before or after the fact are to me a delight – you learn something while being challenged. The no-vowels, all-crosser grid is somewhat familiar as I occasionally try the Observer Azed, it looks daunting at first but rapidly becomes a pleasant change.

    Bravo Maskarade, keep them inventing, disregard the begrudgers. And thanks to duncanshiell for an epic blog.

69. 

    matt

    #69 - Sun 12th Jan 25, 21:46

    
    

    I didn’t fully complete this, but really enjoyed the novelty (as someone who doesn’t venture into barred puzzles very often).

70. 

    Smiley Dhove

    #70 - Mon 20th Jan 25, 22:39

    
    

    Well I managed to complete the grid within the calendar month so I feel quite pleased with myself (!). I had heard of approximately one in three of the composers, so the Wikipedia list of composers, that a previous contributor alluded to, did come in handy. It is, however, a very long list. Enjoyed it, even though it was tough, as it gave me a nice challenge in the cold, dark, post-Christmas, January slump! Thanks for the puzzle and the blog & a belated Happy New Year to all!

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