Welcome from me too.
Lots of people find crosswords set by Ray T (Thursday’s setter who does roughly alternate Thursdays) really difficult.
As Gazza says, stick around here and you’ll learn lots – if you don’t understand something you only have to ask and someone will reply, usually very quickly.
Keep going and good luck.
Welcome to the blog, Simon. Stick with us and you’ll come on in leaps and bounds.
]]>Nevertheless, I managed to get within six or seven clues before resorting to these (magnificent) hints.
My heartfelt thanks to all those providing hints by the way – you really are responsible for me not giving up on cryptic crosswords altogether.
Interestingly, I got all the anagrams fairly easily, even 1a, which was the first one I got. My favorite clue had to be 2d. Very clever!
]]>Welcome to the blog
]]>In yesterday’s crossword, the clue to 28 across implied that the answer meant “clear”. The answer was ”translucent”, which has an almost opposite meaning – frosted glass is translucent, whereas clear glass is not. It would have been better if the clue had started with a word such as “cloudy” or “frosted”, rather than “clear”.
I know that some dictionaries may give “clear” or “transparent” as a synonym for translucent, but this merely means that they are wrong. The usage has arisen because people have tended to use a less common word thinking that it sounds somehow more important, or (mistakenly) that it shows them to be well – educated. ]]>
Liked the Corssowrd a lot and liked the blog – thanks to both. Now, back to that examination of the inside of my eyelids!
]]>Maybe
How odd… so did I momentarily. Could of been the MacCallan though.
]]>However you hint, fast or slow, up or down or inside out, it is much appreciated. Btw, you graded this as a ** for difficulty. Ulp! Thanks Kath.
]]>You do a wonderful job! I don’t know how you manage to sleep when it is your ‘turn’. But thank you for adding so much enjoyment to a favourite pastime.
]]>The tick, that is, not our GSD!
]]>Gosh yes, of course! Acrostic. Le mot juste.
And, curiously, I removed one (homophone) from our German Shepherd today. It died happily though from a good dousing of vodka.
No favourite, thanks Kath. ]]>
Umm – maybe not, but I bet you’re delighted that someone else did!
]]>I wasn’t going to mention that…
Thank you, sir, for calling in – it is, as always, much appreciated by all.
]]>Thank you for your last sentence – much appreciated.
I don’t know what other ‘hinty people’ do but I do the crossword when it’s available i.e. at midnight – then I play ‘hunt the pictures’ which takes me for ever because it’s such fun. Then I go to bed.
In the morning when I get up all I need to do is the hints and the tidying up stuff.
I am very much slower than the other ‘hinty people’ – I do know that, but it’s not a race.
The Quickie pun really did for me – how on earth do you think them up! ]]>
RayT
]]>That was a fascinating read, Silvanus – many thanks for that.
It would seem that the actual wording used to describe the particular device that Ray T and other setters use is null ciphers but I agree with you that acrostics has a far more pleasing ring to it.
Can’t help but align it to a children’s game though!
Thanks RayT and Kath. ]]>
This might explain its origins, Jane. The term has been around long before cryptic crosswords.
I’ve also seen them referred to as “initialisms”, but acrostics is a much nicer word, don’t you think?
]]>I’ll obviously take your word for that, Silvanus, but – why acrostics?
]]>Setters tend to refer to them as acrostics.
]]>Who could forget that one, Kath. I’ll never live it down!
]]>More like terminal abbreviation/acronym?
]]>You always say that your memory is terrible – you don’t seem to have forgotten that!
]]>Absolutely right Kath, my tick for 9d covered my anagram-indicating dot!
]]>Jane’s the expert on ‘at it’.
]]>Many thanks to setter and to Kath for the blog. ]]>
16a – I was thinking ‘it’ as in ‘at it’ maybe – does that work?
]]>Oh dear!
Oooh – I made it five anagrams but I still don’t think that’s very many.
]]>Agree – 20a also excellent. Michael is right – there should be a word for this type of clue. Leading lurker?
]]>We nominate 20a as our favourite. It’s similar to 2d, granted, but altogether slicker we thought.
Thanks to Kath and Ray T.
]]>I thought 2d was cleverly done, but my three podium places were occupied by 5d, 9d and 25d. The old repetition radar bleeped for the second day running, with “beginning” used twice as a first letter indicator.
Many thanks to Mr Terrell and to Kath.
]]>If four anagrams constitutes too many, you’ll do well to find a backpager with fewer, Beaver!
P.S. A lovely picture of you on Page 7 of today’s paper by the way
26a was my favourite; it took a while for the penny to drop I have to admit!
3/4* overall.
Thanks to RayT, and to Kath for her review. ]]>
Favourite – 18a – I liked the shared letter and how it was clued and explained in the hint (plus, of course, the reference to HM).
Thanks to the Ray T and Kath.
]]>Thanks to Ray T and Kath . ]]>
Glad that Kath confirmed the overlapping T in 18a,as I can’t recall seeing this before and I thought that the T on T might be the solution.
There were too many anagrams for my liking but some fine charades like 12a, no real stand out clue today. ]]>
Thanks to Kath and RayT ]]>
Thanks to Ray and Kath for an entertaining blog.
]]>The 27a/25d combo were my last ones in – fortunately that unusual middle letter meant I got them both at virtually the same time.
I had ticks alongside 16&26a plus 7,9,17&22d but I think the star of the show has to be the Quickie pun.
Devotions to Mr. T and many thanks to Kath for occupying the big red chair again – I think you must have plenty of IOUs to call in from your fellow Thursday bloggers!
]]>Many thanks to the setter and to Kath. Am in awe of the hinters who not only solve the puzzle but also produce a comprehensive set of hints with accompanying pictures – and all before I have had my second cup of tea. ]]>
Thanks for that, CS!
]]>And for some stupid reason I was convinced that 20a was a tennis player that I hadn’t heard of. Even when the answer popped into my head it took me a short while to parse it, and then banged my head against a wall for a while to make myself feel better.
My dear departed co-solver mate Geoff would have called this a real Thursday Thatcher, because it was a right £$%^&* (insert epithet of choice).
Many thanks to Ray and Kath.
]]>Thanks to Ray for the fun and Kath for the explanations
People solving today’s Toughie using the paper version may wish to note that the enumeration for 20a is 4,5 not 9 as shown, and then they won’t be held up as much as I was trying to work out whether I had the correct solution. The online version is correct.
]]>