it'll come to you...
― kinder, Tuesday, 6 May 2014 11:49 (ten years ago) link
haha got it
― wins, Tuesday, 6 May 2014 12:05 (ten years ago) link
couldn't see it earlier and no sooner have i got home than it clicked, before i lucked at the letters again.
conclusion: being at work is bad for my brain
― nostalgie de couilles (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 6 May 2014 14:49 (ten years ago) link
looked at the letters
okay let's call it 50/50
Comedian in lace factory heading off for Wigan (5, 8)
― koogs, Tuesday, 6 May 2014 14:55 (ten years ago) link
Where do we stand on setters using old clues? That ballet one has been around for years.
― pick it up for ripple laser (onimo), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 07:24 (ten years ago) link
i guess it's quite possible for separate setters to come up with near-identical clues ove time, or maybe they see it as a nod to the classics?
― nostalgie de couilles (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 07:30 (ten years ago) link
Still can't get koogs' last one, any pointers?
― goth colouring book (anagram), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 07:57 (ten years ago) link
Think lace as in drink
― pick it up for ripple laser (onimo), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 08:52 (ten years ago) link
nice
― nostalgie de couilles (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 08:59 (ten years ago) link
ha got it now, thx
― goth colouring book (anagram), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 09:09 (ten years ago) link
you'd need to be of a certain age to get it though
― goth colouring book (anagram), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 09:10 (ten years ago) link
i thought the 'igan' thing was a bit clumsy, tbh. but i liked 'lace' for 'spike'.
spoilers, btw 8)
― koogs, Wednesday, 7 May 2014 09:11 (ten years ago) link
(do you need to be of a certain age to know charlie chaplin?)
― koogs, Wednesday, 7 May 2014 09:12 (ten years ago) link
Well I would say Chaplin has more cultural resonance. I can't imagine many people below say 30 knowing who Spike Milligan was. But then again I can't imagine many people below say 30 doing the Observer cryptic crossword, so that's fine.
― goth colouring book (anagram), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 09:17 (ten years ago) link
My plan was to think of a comedian that fitted the letters and I discovered the correct answer by clumsily attempting to reverse engineer Sarah Millican!
― pick it up for ripple laser (onimo), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 09:42 (ten years ago) link
I figured out the 'head off Wigan' and worked backwards, still couldn't figure out why lace = spike until it was just explained.
― A Perfect Ratio of Choogle to Jam (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 7 May 2014 11:42 (ten years ago) link
(it's actually 'heading' which is usually N, S, E or W. but head works here also)
― koogs, Wednesday, 7 May 2014 11:52 (ten years ago) link
Thanks to the Guardian cryptic, this American now knows the meaning of to 'play gooseberry.'
― wild-eyed, high-volume bursts of pious indignation (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 13 May 2014 17:16 (ten years ago) link
Also, can anyone parse this one for me? (It's outstrip.)
Run faster in striking football kit (8)
― wild-eyed, high-volume bursts of pious indignation (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 15 May 2014 18:19 (ten years ago) link
run faster = definitionstriking = out (as in on strike)football kit = strip
― koogs, Thursday, 15 May 2014 18:52 (ten years ago) link
Ah, uniform. Knew about kit, strip is totally new to me.
― wild-eyed, high-volume bursts of pious indignation (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 15 May 2014 19:06 (ten years ago) link
And I was looking at striking as in baseball. USA-centric brain.
― wild-eyed, high-volume bursts of pious indignation (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 15 May 2014 19:14 (ten years ago) link
I just completed the Guardian cryptic crossword for the first time in my life, and I am feeling really pleased with myself
― paolo, Monday, 26 May 2014 13:56 (ten years ago) link
Grauniad today
Where St Augustine was at university, being something of a brain? (11)
― Angkor Waht (Neil S), Wednesday, 4 June 2014 12:14 (ten years ago) link
vg
― I Miss You(tube embeds) (onimo), Wednesday, 4 June 2014 12:17 (ten years ago) link
i think i've solved the hardest clue of this sunday's observer crossword, but virtually nothing else.
Carved ornament from southern UK pocketed by naughty teen (7)
(as an aside there are lots of good anagrams for 'money laundering')
― koogs, Tuesday, 10 June 2014 15:22 (ten years ago) link
am reduced to grepping through lexicons...
Fine quality - for example, in eastern cavalry weapon (8)
they seem to be all like this, what i think of as ledge specials 8)
(was netsuke btw)
― koogs, Friday, 13 June 2014 10:08 (ten years ago) link
i've solved that one today if you need a clue. no lexicon required imo
― arid banter (Noodle Vague), Friday, 13 June 2014 10:25 (ten years ago) link
those clues just lack a little elegance, that's all 8) and the more bits there are to them the harder it is to split the definition from the other bits. that's why i have trouble with those.
that said, i also had trouble with 14A which is blatantly obvious anagram for an everyday phrase but i just couldn't see it.
it's about 50% done now, but a lot of that is in pencil.
― koogs, Friday, 13 June 2014 11:14 (ten years ago) link
Had to help the folks with the guardian today, with references to x-men and rickrolling.
― ledge, Tuesday, 17 June 2014 20:28 (ten years ago) link
How do people feel about 'in' as a separator? I always feel that it's not quite okay, but some compilers use it a lot.
― Gravel Puzzleworth, Tuesday, 17 June 2014 22:37 (ten years ago) link
fine by me - definition (found) in wordplay. wordplay (found) in definition maybe a bit more awkward but still sound i think.
― ledge, Wednesday, 18 June 2014 10:55 (ten years ago) link
Grauniad, as per
Smarty-pants reports missing partition (4-3)
― Barry Gordy (Neil S), Friday, 27 June 2014 12:30 (ten years ago) link
Abbreviations will be the death of me. As many times as I seen caught for C or dead for D, when I'm doing a new puzzle I don't recognize them at work. And there are always crazy new ones I've never seen: distinction = OM, maiden = M (HATE the cricket ones!)...
And here are two more I just had today: Edward can just be E? And "corps' soldiers" can be CRE?
― Both jaunty and authentic (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 10 July 2014 14:52 (ten years ago) link
http://www.acronymfinder.com/Chief-Royal-Engineer-%28Corps-of-Royal-Engineers,-British-Army%29-%28CRE%29.html
E for edward the same way E is for elizabeth on post boxes EIIR etc
― koogs, Thursday, 10 July 2014 14:56 (ten years ago) link
Wow, never seen EIIR either!
― Both jaunty and authentic (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 10 July 2014 15:00 (ten years ago) link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillar_Box_War
― koogs, Thursday, 10 July 2014 15:02 (ten years ago) link
Again, wow. It is a strange and beautiful world...
― Both jaunty and authentic (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 10 July 2014 15:06 (ten years ago) link
this week's Everyman (which seems easy based on the first half dozen clues i looked at)
How Alfie ends is unimaginitive (5)
― koogs, Monday, 21 July 2014 09:12 (ten years ago) link
Ha, I just got that one. Here's one I made up today:
Steed and partner never sag in galloping. (8)
― Both jaunty and authentic (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 22 July 2014 19:42 (ten years ago) link
Dammit I screwed that up:
Steed and partner never sag, galloping. (8)
― Both jaunty and authentic (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 22 July 2014 22:02 (ten years ago) link
Ah, OK. I was on the right line but then still struggled with the anagram, somehow.
― koogs, Wednesday, 23 July 2014 02:19 (ten years ago) link
Avengers!
― a butt of a duck, Wednesday, 23 July 2014 08:50 (ten years ago) link
today's Graun
Ketamine for breakfast? (7,1)
― Barry Gordy (Neil S), Wednesday, 23 July 2014 12:22 (ten years ago) link
edgy
― koogs, Wednesday, 23 July 2014 12:25 (ten years ago) link
That is so fuckin lame
― wins, Wednesday, 23 July 2014 12:41 (ten years ago) link
i gave up the crossword after that one, there were a few dodgy clues already but that was like "fuck you"
― Daphnis Celesta, Wednesday, 23 July 2014 20:22 (ten years ago) link
it's barely even cryptic
so two thumbs up for that clue then
― Barry Gordy (Neil S), Wednesday, 23 July 2014 22:13 (ten years ago) link