I had a cheerful lunchtime a while ago with a pub copy of the Telegraph, going "if THIS was the right answer it'd be a bit of a shit clue, but it fits, so I'm putting it down!" with the first word to spring to mind for each clue, and then finding that after 20 of these everything actually still fitted together and therefore presumably was right (or I was even more pissed than I thought)
― a passing spacecadet, Monday, 21 September 2009 11:44 (fourteen years ago) link
Played in the round = Music of the Spheres.
I've never tried cluing, so will also pass, or postpone.
New to this thread. I've given up almost all crosswords now (I sometimes do Azed, just because I like the insane vocab/nicely clued way it works) but used to try the Guardian most days. I enjoyed its wild variability in difficulty. Just spending hours with a friend staring at Enigmatist clues, crawling towards some kind of answer.
Love Araucaria (between him and Paul for my favourite setter), but the surface sense of that clue is hideous, and the phrase in my head would be 'get you everywhere'.
Spacecadet otm with the Telegraph solving experience.
― woofwoofwoof, Monday, 21 September 2009 12:21 (fourteen years ago) link
Yes, "Music of the Spheres".
Yes, love Araucaria and the mechanics of the clue are excellent but strained surface sense = bad clue.
Telegraph has always been the easiest broadsheet as far as I remember, tho the early weekdays in the Graun used to be pretty dull too.
― Halt! Fergiezeit (Noodle Vague), Monday, 21 September 2009 16:38 (fourteen years ago) link
"tyre problem - the same" = tyre problem tyre problem = flat tery = flattery
i.e. I took "the same" to mean "tyre problem" is repeated, the first time as flat the second as an anagram of tyre.
― krakow, Monday, 21 September 2009 20:47 (fourteen years ago) link
i missed that detail krakow, nice one.
ailsa i was close to agreeing with you, but it didn't sound right with 'everywhere'
Results 1 - 10 of about 1,360,000 for flattery will get you anywhereResults 1 - 10 of about 219,000 for flattery will get you everywhere
― do you want to be happier? (whatever), Monday, 21 September 2009 20:56 (fourteen years ago) link
Is that different from what I posted because you didn't use quote marks, therefore not searching for the quote? Which was by Mae West, and quite famous?
― ailsa, Monday, 21 September 2009 21:03 (fourteen years ago) link
could be. i didn't use quotes and my browser fills up with suggestions along the way. everywhere comes in way below anywhere. but 'everything' comes in at only slightly less than anywhere.
didn't know it was a mae west quote.
― do you want to be happier? (whatever), Monday, 21 September 2009 21:11 (fourteen years ago) link
Should read your google results then :-)
(also where I mentioned it already upthread)
― ailsa, Monday, 21 September 2009 21:12 (fourteen years ago) link
I think we're getting bogged down with this and need to move on. More clues!
― krakow, Monday, 21 September 2009 21:22 (fourteen years ago) link
Detective without hesitation takes a year to find moneylender (7)
― this must be what FAIL is really like (ledge), Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:07 (fourteen years ago) link
investor
― thomp, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:09 (fourteen years ago) link
sorry, that's totally wrong, isn't it
― thomp, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:10 (fourteen years ago) link
you didn't think it through
― this must be what FAIL is really like (ledge), Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:11 (fourteen years ago) link
Shylock
― Jimenez, Jio, Giovannagetti, and Doug (onimo), Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:18 (fourteen years ago) link
ok if that's right i'm completely nonplussed.
― What are the benefits of dating a younger guy, better erections? (darraghmac), Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:20 (fourteen years ago) link
sherlock less 'er' plus y
i was too hung up on trying to make investigator -> investor work : |
― thomp, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:21 (fourteen years ago) link
One day i'll write a tough clue.
― this must be what FAIL is really like (ledge), Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:23 (fourteen years ago) link
is mine so bad no one's going to attempt it? :(
― thomp, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:24 (fourteen years ago) link
repost pls thomp
― What are the benefits of dating a younger guy, better erections? (darraghmac), Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:26 (fourteen years ago) link
single father (spooner's) used to be horse made of fruitcake (4,3,1,6,5)
― thomp, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:27 (fourteen years ago) link
jeez sorry i asked
― What are the benefits of dating a younger guy, better erections? (darraghmac), Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:30 (fourteen years ago) link
papa was a rollin stone, on a whim
― What are the benefits of dating a younger guy, better erections? (darraghmac), Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:31 (fourteen years ago) link
yerp
― thomp, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:35 (fourteen years ago) link
BUT I DON'T KNOW WHY
― What are the benefits of dating a younger guy, better erections? (darraghmac), Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:36 (fourteen years ago) link
it's stollen roan, isn't it
― this must be what FAIL is really like (ledge), Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:42 (fourteen years ago) link
o_O
― this must be what FAIL is really like (ledge), Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:43 (fourteen years ago) link
:D
yeah sometimes genius is very close to just bein a smartarse imo, so there.
― What are the benefits of dating a younger guy, better erections? (darraghmac), Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:43 (fourteen years ago) link
you are both correct. whose turn is it?
― thomp, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Sold stolen goods electronically around protection system (7)
― Jimenez, Jio, Giovannagetti, and Doug (onimo), Tuesday, 22 September 2009 13:53 (fourteen years ago) link
defence? e-fenced?
― thomp, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 14:01 (fourteen years ago) link
got as far as fence.
― What are the benefits of dating a younger guy, better erections? (darraghmac), Tuesday, 22 September 2009 14:02 (fourteen years ago) link
defence is correct - anagram of e-fenced. Figured you could say electronically and add an e onto any transaction in this day and age.
― Jimenez, Jio, Giovannagetti, and Doug (onimo), Tuesday, 22 September 2009 14:30 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah no problem with that.
― What are the benefits of dating a younger guy, better erections? (darraghmac), Tuesday, 22 September 2009 14:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Connected to onimo's, from Azed on Sunday:
Abandoned electrical equipment sat decomposing in sheep's gut (1-5)
― woofwoofwoof, Wednesday, 23 September 2009 10:36 (fourteen years ago) link
e-haggis
― What are the benefits of dating a younger guy, better erections? (darraghmac), Wednesday, 23 September 2009 10:43 (fourteen years ago) link
First letter CORRECT
― woofwoofwoof, Wednesday, 23 September 2009 10:45 (fourteen years ago) link
derren brown method is working
― What are the benefits of dating a younger guy, better erections? (darraghmac), Wednesday, 23 September 2009 10:50 (fourteen years ago) link
e-waste
i should give more azeds a go but they always look so daunting.
― this must be what FAIL is really like (ledge), Wednesday, 23 September 2009 11:00 (fourteen years ago) link
E-waste correct.
Azed isn't as hard as it looks. I mean some part of it tends to involve sitting around making up words ('rusa?') and then looking them up in the dictionary ('It is a horse!'), but this is pretty much my ideal bedtime activity tbh.
It's v. fairly clued. The barred grid is a bit of a psychological obstacle at first, but it means you get masses of checked letters to make up for the obscure words.
― woofwoofwoof, Wednesday, 23 September 2009 11:17 (fourteen years ago) link
just looking at this weeks, first three (and others) are all 'unclued answer', thanks a bunch.
― this must be what FAIL is really like (ledge), Wednesday, 23 September 2009 11:19 (fourteen years ago) link
Haha. Yeah. Plain weeks are a better intro. It was a bit of a slog till I got one of the unclued ones, which gave the rest almost immediately.
― woofwoofwoof, Wednesday, 23 September 2009 11:22 (fourteen years ago) link
My university alumni magazine (quarterly, only ever look at the crossword and skim the obituaries for anyone my age) includes a barred-grid crossword with several unclued answers and a twist, e.g. ignore one word of each clue or remove one letter from each answer, use these to spell unclued answers, that kind of thing.
I can never get anywhere with them, except one time when I got the whole thing except one letter and thought "now I am elite crossword demon and am tuned into the art of these things and will demolish the next one", only to find next issue that, uh, I wasn't.
Azeds seem much the same.
― a passing spacecadet, Wednesday, 23 September 2009 11:26 (fourteen years ago) link
Nah, Azed only pulls something weird (like this one) once every couple of months. It's not like The Listener (king of insane rubrics).
― woofwoofwoof, Wednesday, 23 September 2009 11:36 (fourteen years ago) link
i am a noob: what on earth is an 'unclued answer'?
― thomp, Wednesday, 23 September 2009 11:36 (fourteen years ago) link
Space in the grid for which there's no clue at all. So 1ac will be marked, and take up seven squares, but there's no clue. They turn up in barred grid crosswords mostly, and are gettable via checked letters and/or a theme and/or jammy stab in the dark.
― woofwoofwoof, Wednesday, 23 September 2009 11:44 (fourteen years ago) link
what's the point of that, then?
― thomp, Wednesday, 23 September 2009 12:18 (fourteen years ago) link
Beast chasing loud predator (3)NEA head after delinquent Op Art supporter (6)
― Garnet Memes (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 23 September 2009 12:32 (fourteen years ago) link
(although y'all probably don't know what the NEA is)
― Garnet Memes (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 23 September 2009 12:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Naughty Erotic Adventures.
First is FOX
― this must be what FAIL is really like (ledge), Wednesday, 23 September 2009 12:46 (fourteen years ago) link