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

one thing I wd say, Dan, as a serial non-finisher of crosswords, an awful lot of clues from most setters don't require impossible knowledge (although you'll fear that each one you can't get does) and that with a bit of momentum in a puzzle, you'll probably surprise yourself with how much you can do. And well, when I see the next day that the clue needed some knowledge I didn't have, then I tend to shrug my shoulders. The worst ones are the ones you know you should have got and cause you to shout damn you all to hell in public. What I'm saying is that a good deal of satisfaction is to be gained from just getting a lot of clues - completion is immensely satisfying, but rather like cricket (wtf that Roy Fredericks clue?) the process can be enjoyed without there being a decisive ending.

^^^ gradually getting this, yes. I'm used to US crosswords, where even if a solution is ridiculously arcane, a dictionary or some googling for the name of an obscure actor or athlete can help me complete the puzzle. I realize from online comments re: the Everyman puzzle that there are certain clues/solutions/bits of wordplay that have puzzlers far more experienced than I unable to solve, or arguing why an answer is what it is.

Of course I say that, but not being able to get a couple of clues can also drive you to the verge of madness.

> (wtf that Roy Fredericks clue?)

yes, was a bit of a stinker. but there are always two parts to every clue and you often have some of the letters from other solutions. had i known that an arroyo was a gutter then i wouldn't've needed to know the history of west indian cricket.

have started the last two guardian crosswords online (only buy paper on friday and that's usually beyond me). not doing too well. few cricket questions on those as well. Dicky Bird etc.

yeah wasn't really happy with that use of dickie bird. a dickie-bird is, traditionally, a small bird. so what's a great small bird? just doesn't work, imo.

great tit? (tit also being small bird, great tit being a kind of tit)

doing these online using the guardian's applet thing i've realised you can brute force it using the 'Check' button - just fill it all in with As and press check - all the correct As will remain in place...

tit would work, but it's not the answer.

bring it to the relationship probs thread son

was a blatant attempt for quoted-out-of-context glory tbh

could have made it a little more graceful in deference to thread imo

stick a bit of that lubricant up your bum backwards, you fruit (7)

didnt solve it, lol'd anyway

--L-A--

sultana

^

utter rubbish tbh, booo etc

I don't quite get all of that.

I thought of this on the train this morning and liked it.
Scope of anger management (5)

ha i rly want to set that as a clue now.

xp range

xxp that lubricant in anus, reversed. you may quibble with the extraneous 'your'.

ok with slight amendments tbf

future rubbish, boo etc tbh - 5,2,2

Ah, I was looking for anal rather than anus.

(out of context bait right there)

(calling your own out of context postings stops it happening, right?)

range is correct.

That sultana v nice, I got stuck repeatedly trying to get KY or a bit of oil in ass.
'botch to be'?

ya, throwaway effort, and prob ought to have been hyphenated now i look again

3 away from finishing the big easter saturday guardian crossword.

Galloway's people profess no other partiality (7,2,7)

R E S P E C T | O . | P . . . O . S

(is that last bit an anagram of 'professno'?)

Organs for the crowd (5)

P . E . .

(plebs?)

Flowers in the shade (4-4)

. . . . | P . N .

respect of persons

which makes that R . . . | P . N .

RIVE PINS?

(Groping guess based on the painting Pins sur la rive by Georges Lacombe.)

rose pink, something like that?

and press

Tried to download Easter Guardian, forgetting that it would break my iPhone

thankyou. not sure i understand either entirely but...

(and if anyone else needs a solution just let me know)

I think: roses & pinks both kinds of flower, 'rose pink' a shade. Nice, I think. organs = 'organs of the press', press = crowd. Not as sold on that one.

is 'pink' a kind of flower? that's the bit i'm iffy with.

yeah it is

[citation needed]

pink1 noun 1 a light or pale-red colour, between red and white. 2 an annual or perennial plant, eg a carnation or sweet william, which has stems with swollen nodes, grass-like bluish-green leaves and flowers with a tubular calyx and five spreading toothed or slightly frilled pink, red, white, purple, yellow, orange or variegated petals

thanks

was looking for yesterday's on the guardian site and a search for april 2011 gave me this, from 1932!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crosswords/cryptic/597

(did they reprint it?)

actually,

25 Website for domestic servant? (4,4)

did they have websites in 1932?

there are also clues referring to the "Fab Four" and "Nixon" so i suspect the date's wrong

still stuck on four in the lower regions of saturday's araucaria.

PIG EON

pod, train, town, and bird, are the problems here.

the pod is odd - 2nd half of it's easy

town i still can't figure out, but wikipedia gives you the answer. i wonder whether you can spell it a different way that matches the clue better.

american bird. you will kick yourself.

is the train the writer one? think that's another kicker.

-NE- BEAN, i figure. not up on my opera centres though.

American bird - as in a broad? A dame?

OH IT'S A FUCKING HIDDEN WORD

PULLMAN

snap bean? idgi

These (including koogs' post yesterday) are not really convincing me of Araucaria's genius, which iirc everyone else itt was quite determined of

just sayin etc

Intermittent genius, I would say. It can be hard to see the genius in a well-written and totally legit clue when you've been banging your head against it for hours. Otoh I'm not so impressed with convoluted 20+ letter anagrams, especially when there's no definition part in the clue. That "six clues are of a kind and not further defined" thing can fuck off imo.

snap bean is a thing, and american thing. SNAPE being a place they do opera, B from born, AN from AN.

yes, tinamou? who knew!

i got the theme by pure luck, just thought of something that fit, the (1, 9, 5, 6) one.