the liberian/malaysian one was hilariously obscure
― lex pretend, Wednesday, 6 February 2013 14:31 (eleven years ago) link
Safeguard of present containing gold and silver hidden in vault (7)
---r-g-
― ledge, Friday, 8 February 2013 12:57 (eleven years ago) link
Storage
― ailsa, Friday, 8 February 2013 13:32 (eleven years ago) link
"or" being gold "ag" being silver, etc.
and the other 3 letters?
― koogs, Friday, 8 February 2013 13:33 (eleven years ago) link
Ach, trifling things like accuracy matter not (i.e. was skimming and not reading properly).
― ailsa, Friday, 8 February 2013 13:35 (eleven years ago) link
ah, ok, stage + or AND store = ag
― koogs, Friday, 8 February 2013 13:35 (eleven years ago) link
store + ag
yep two wordplays for price of one, this clue is value for money.
― ledge, Friday, 8 February 2013 13:36 (eleven years ago) link
"Ag" in "store", and "or" in "stage". how's that?
bah, xposts while I got my reasoning straight.
― ailsa, Friday, 8 February 2013 13:43 (eleven years ago) link
Not sure I like that very much. "Safeguard of present containing gold" would have been fine on its own. Never heard of two subsidiary indicators in one clue before.
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Friday, 8 February 2013 13:45 (eleven years ago) link
it happens from time to time. i just liked the gold + silver connection although doubtless could have worded it more elegantly.
― ledge, Friday, 8 February 2013 13:50 (eleven years ago) link
oh sorry, did you make it up yourself? wouldn't have criticized it if I'd known. thought it was from a newspaper.
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Friday, 8 February 2013 13:53 (eleven years ago) link
no need for kid gloves here.
― ledge, Friday, 8 February 2013 13:53 (eleven years ago) link
A bad time for gulls? (5,5,3)
Checking letters if you need them, with which I got the answer fairly easily, but I don't understand it.
― Nataly Dawn's echoey swamp sound (Dan Peterson), Friday, 8 February 2013 15:01 (eleven years ago) link
April Fool's Day. Gull = a gullible person.
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Friday, 8 February 2013 15:18 (eleven years ago) link
Never heard that in my life.
― Nataly Dawn's echoey swamp sound (Dan Peterson), Friday, 8 February 2013 15:25 (eleven years ago) link
it's the dictionary definition of gull
― Stop Gerrying Me! (onimo), Friday, 8 February 2013 15:54 (eleven years ago) link
Well, yeah, I see that now and I get it, just saying a usage like "that multimillionaire is enough of a gull to believe that it's his personality that attracts women" is one that I have never encountered in a book, movie, daily conversation or crossword. Which is great; I also learned that Handel wrote oratorios based on Saul and Samson.
― Nataly Dawn's echoey swamp sound (Dan Peterson), Friday, 8 February 2013 16:05 (eleven years ago) link
Using an obscure secondary definition like that is a classic way crossword setters use to throw people off the scent.
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Friday, 8 February 2013 16:10 (eleven years ago) link
christ the prize crossword today is DOING MY HEAD IN
i think i hate bonxie quite a lot
― lex pretend, Saturday, 9 February 2013 12:54 (eleven years ago) link
very enjoyable from y'day's indy crossword, which i turned to after yelling "fucking bonxie" a few too many times:
Somewhat Kiplingesque! (5)
― lex pretend, Sunday, 10 February 2013 10:30 (eleven years ago) link
What's the answer to that one then Lex?
I liked this one in today's Guardian:
1,000-1 betting slip? (7)
― Neil S, Monday, 11 February 2013 13:46 (eleven years ago) link
Slang and other names for the exclamation mark
This punctuation mark is called, in the printing world, "a screamer, a gasper, a startler, or ... a dog's cock".[11]
In hacker culture, the exclamation mark is called "bang", "shriek", or, in the British slang known as Commonwealth Hackish, "pling". For example, "Your password is em-zero-pee-aitch-pling-en-three."
― lex pretend, Monday, 11 February 2013 13:52 (eleven years ago) link
nice!
― Neil S, Monday, 11 February 2013 13:53 (eleven years ago) link
It's not easy to be mostly shy and also appealing to a small group of devotees (9)
― ledge, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 09:02 (eleven years ago) link
Hilarious friend hugging Jim Morrison's woman and half weeping at a music festival (wotd 12)
― ledge, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 09:45 (eleven years ago) link
did you get my one Ledge?
― Neil S, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 10:46 (eleven years ago) link
Mistake?
― ledge, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 10:46 (eleven years ago) link
knew you'd get it!
― Neil S, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 10:48 (eleven years ago) link
-----c---
--------o--a
― ledge, Wednesday, 13 February 2013 14:19 (eleven years ago) link
difficult
― Eyeball Kicks, Wednesday, 13 February 2013 15:20 (eleven years ago) link
The other's Lollaplooza, right? Lol +LA + pal +ooz(ing). Or something.
― Tim, Wednesday, 13 February 2013 15:35 (eleven years ago) link
ooz + a, yup. and yup to difficult too.
― ledge, Wednesday, 13 February 2013 15:40 (eleven years ago) link
admittedly i didn't have that much time to spend on it, but yesterday's guardian crossword continued my tradition of being unable to get even one single arachne clue - think this is the 3rd arachne crossword i've tried, and the 3rd time i've been left with a completely blank grid
weirdly i really like the way her clues are written, she's just obviously way too smart for me (contra bonxie, who i don't get along with either but who just annoys me)
― lex pretend, Saturday, 16 February 2013 11:17 (eleven years ago) link
unusually I was able to do some of Arachne yesterday. I enjoyed this clue:
Spooner's to kill writer and collect £200! (4, 2)
― Neil S, Saturday, 16 February 2013 11:42 (eleven years ago) link
that was the one i felt most close to getting, but...nope, no idea
already got about a third of today's araucaria though :)
― lex pretend, Saturday, 16 February 2013 11:52 (eleven years ago) link
think of a certain board game
― Neil S, Saturday, 16 February 2013 11:57 (eleven years ago) link
spoilers (written backwards)
(eoP saG)
― koogs, Saturday, 16 February 2013 18:43 (eleven years ago) link
I got that one! Unlike all others posted here recently :(
― kinder, Saturday, 16 February 2013 19:16 (eleven years ago) link
Todays newbie report:
Can't tell you how long it took me to understand "If this place grew corn, it might be a good sign" (5) even after I had the answer. Way too long. Sometimes punny/jokey solutions just lose me. Alas and alack.
Also, the only way I have ever heard that phrase is as I just typed it. "Alack and alas" is not a thing, is it?
― Nataly Dawn's echoey swamp sound (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 19 February 2013 18:57 (eleven years ago) link
google says "alack and alas" is more popular, which confirms what i kind of felt
― tochter tochter, please (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 19 February 2013 19:06 (eleven years ago) link
Following the recent Beyonce ref, another one for Lex in today's Guardian (took a while to realise how good this one is):
In foyer, a chair - American diva's reclining, is she? (6,5)
― jlgt, Tuesday, 19 February 2013 22:24 (eleven years ago) link
that's gotta take some chutzpah to even think about trying to make any kind of hidden word out of such a combination of letters.
― ledge, Tuesday, 19 February 2013 23:07 (eleven years ago) link
got it but not sure I get it completely
― kinder, Tuesday, 19 February 2013 23:47 (eleven years ago) link
'In'=hidden word, 'reclining'=backwards, 'she'=definition (ie american diva).
― ledge, Wednesday, 20 February 2013 07:35 (eleven years ago) link
Cheers
― kinder, Wednesday, 20 February 2013 08:14 (eleven years ago) link
Oh, that's nice.
― ailsa, Wednesday, 20 February 2013 10:19 (eleven years ago) link
heh, i got that one immediately. it perfectly captures her essence, too <3
― lex pretend, Wednesday, 20 February 2013 10:33 (eleven years ago) link
Her essence is a person who LOVES dolphins iirc, don't see that in the clue...
― kinder, Wednesday, 20 February 2013 13:02 (eleven years ago) link