The official bored-at-work cryptic crossword pass it on thread.

"He never solved a crossword in his life" !!

and a sample, if you like

http://www.irishtimes.com/games/crosswords/index.cfm?fuseaction=showsample&xwtype=C?via=rel

guinness clerk sent to zimbabwe in the '40's, made up crosswords for a living, died at work aged 92.

i mean, this is how you do it.

hang on it ain't cryptic!

wait there's no way that's a crosaire

(xp)

http://www.irishtimes.com/games/crosswords/index.cfm?fuseaction=showsample&xwtype=C

Tomb opening for Irish compiler of crosswords (7)

cryptic

yo. rip btw.

Footballer in an unusual position (4)

if it's a footballer, then <shrug>

bent

Footballer in an unusual position (4)

nani

hmph

out of shape footballer (4) would be a good one for Bent maybe? Dunno. I'm not v good at this.

nah i had a good idea the solution wasn't ever going to be bent, much like capello

Joker starts to bum Two-Face (5)

janus

you know it

I've started doing the guardian cryptic again after a looong break and am not finding it too bad (Brendan the other day was Daily Telegraph levels of easiness), although Araucaria seems to have got much harder than he used to be (GR much stupider obv). You know you're in trouble when you don't even understand the answers, or why they're the answers.

And those reverse clues w' anagram indicators in Wednesday's really got me confused.

Bacon and eggs etc as clue to RAF basket (6,9) = cooked breafast
Square clue for a padre? (6,6) = parade ground

That latter in particular drove me nuts.

― Remember me, but o! forget my feet (GamalielRatsey), Sunday, 18 April 2010 13:46 (Yesterday) Permalink

GamalielRatsey, this thread should really be called "This is the US crossword puzzle thread." For UK puzzles go here The official bored-at-work cryptic crossword pass it on thread. , although it has been relatively dead in recent times.

― Blecch Generation (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 18 April 2010 21:34 (Yesterday) Permalink

Ah, balls. Sorry. Saw the mention of the grauniad crossword upthread and got my wires crossed. Shall hie me away to the other thread. Thanks James.

― Remember me, but o! forget my feet (GamalielRatsey), Monday, 19 April 2010 06:42 (4 hours ago) Permalink

i actually felt well clever when i worked out what araucaria was doing there. and then only managed to work out two of those clues.

i feel like i do better with the harder guardian setters (as in: sometimes i get all of halfway through the grid) because at least they're sort of funny/interesting. i've filled in four clues in rufus today and i'm just wondering why i'd care

There was some Araucaria chat upthread a few months ago:
The official bored-at-work cryptic crossword pass it on thread.

in which I sheepishly hinted that I find Araucarias massively offputting to get started on - obviously a v. smart guy, but I don't care for so many crossreferential clues limiting yr starting points, or for tricksy alphabetical themes which are his other schtick iirc, and as you've noted bad pun answers or impenetrable reverse clues for not particularly crosswordy phrases, most of which I don't get even from seeing the answer

(I have a book of his crosswords and I really like the 10 or so easy ones at the start before these things kick in. Probably just bitter that it's all way over my head)

i like easy araucarias. the U.S. states one the other week was good. i could actually do it. this was novel.

so today is actually Rover, not Rufus, which now I'm not looking for it to work like a Rufus I'm doing better. But it's kind of bad. 'A quarter of the year gone yellow with age' seems to be NO SPRING CHICKEN, which I guess is meant to be a cryptic def.? But seems to just work on some kind of approximate resemblance of meaning that I can't actually parse? Plus also 10a 'Cruel followers of a so-called marquis' - is this really just SADISTS? I kind of don't want to put it in because I want to be wrong.

Argh. Don't like those either.

OK, I put a few answers in the grid and then just hit the reveal button for some others. Was also disappointed in "Familiar object of contemplation."

The no spring chicken one, I can sort of parse as "a quarter of the year gone" - one season has disappeared = No Spring. Chicken could conceivably be a shade of yellow (not one that would immediately spring to mind). Thus No Spring Chicken = with age (again, terrible phrasing).

The sadists one is just shit. Unless it's something else which I can't get.

http://fifteensquared.net/2010/04/19/guardian-24988-rover/#more-16737

I guess "chicken" is yellow as in cowardly but I didn't get that clue earlier and I don't like it now.

"Where directors get on together?" = boardrooms; "get on" -> "board", but (how) does "together" -> "rooms"?

Oops, sorry, now I look at Mr Blecch's link it explains that. Doesn't explain my query, but maybe it's obvious to everyone else...

Weak cryptic definitions are something of the guardian's forte iirc.

Thanks for linking me over thomp. Agree with you about Rover yesterday - well, I was busy at work as well, which never helps for work avoidance, but I went through about half and it began to feel more like clerical work, which was the very thing I was trying to avoid!

Still by turns find Araucaria amazing, slightly dodgy, and occasionally unrewardingly irritating. And agree with what ledge said above about occasionally weak clueing as well. What was that Morally wrong, far from fair one last week? Answer was 'ugly'.

"Special instructions: Unfortunately the answer to clue 21 across is a misspelling. We said that the flying machine made from canes was a CESNA. This should have been CESSNA. Our apologies."

" Results 1 - 10 of about 182,000 for cesna. (0.37 seconds) "

i do not think 'with age' or 'age' reasonably define NO SPRING CHICKEN. you can sort of see what they were going for but no. TUMMY BUTTON is just awful. today's looks better.

i think the weak-cryptic is just a tic for Rufus and Rover and one other.

Glanced at today's Guardian but didn't get anywhere.

It's ok. Bit dull tbh. Pasquale is a nice clear setter, but a bit square.

does 1d refer to a particular person or is it a o_O ref to 'boss' in an SA accent?

(black SA that is, not afrikaans)

Having a look at it every ten minutes or so, done about half. Nothing massively inspiring. But that may just be because I haven't got the hard ones.

baas is afrikaans iirc?

does 1d refer to a particular person or is it a o_O ref to 'boss' in an SA accent?

The latter, but it's a dictionary word (so it's double definition).

I had slow start on it, then it fell p quickly

thomp is correct.

Managed about half tho was severely pressed for time today, so I'm letting myself off (I'm always finding reasons to let myself off - I'd forgotten this until I started them again recently.)

REALLY didn't get 16, even when it was clear what the answer was. Quite a good one tho... (I realised once I'd gone on to 15 squared)

'Maybe disco gate's sealed off at ten' (DANCE)

And, oh the shame, didn't get the ice poetry one, which rather hobbled me for the whole thing.

After struggling pathetically and making no headway at all with the Araucaria yesterday (even tho, looking at the answers today, it clearly wasn't him at his hardest), did 90% today's occasionally barely cryptic, Telegraph-style Logodaedalus in 15 minutes, in my head, while having a muffin and a cup of tea.

Example of level of clue - Chief criminal makes dog turn on priest (9)

Goodfellas?

Father Ted?

godfather