Rookie Corner – 228

29 comments on “Rookie Corner – 228”

1. We could not resist stating the obvious, so “Rags to Riches” it is.
   We thoroughly enjoyed solving this one. Penny drop moments all over the show.
   Sorting out which ones we especially liked was a real problem as there were so many good ones.
   An un-reserved thumbs up from us.
   Thanks Rags.

2. Thumbs up from me too – lots to enjoy and only one question mark

   Thanks Rags – I would imagine you’ll be promoted to Saturdays soon – and, in advance, to Prolixic

3. Having failed to spot the Nina in Rags’ previous puzzle I had a good look round this time – still couldn’t find anything!
   This was really enjoyable and pitched at just the right level. My only queries concern the abbreviation for winter in 16d and whether ‘downfall’ (which is a noun) in 25a matches the answer which is a verbal phrase.
   I liked 17a and 13d but my favourite clue is the excellent 1a.
   Thanks to Rags – more like this please!

   1. Gazza, I wondered about “winter”, too, but it’s in Chambers (7th Ed, anyway).

      1. Though not in the 13th edition. Not in Collins either.

         1. As I said, I only have access to the online version of Chambers, which lists it here .

            1. Rags, while it’s good that you were conscientious enough to verify your abbreviation with available resources (many Rookies don’t!), you may find Prolixic will point you to other dictionaries as preferred sources. The Sunday Times, for example, requires words and abbreviations to be in either Collins or the Concise Oxford, as editor Peter Biddlecombe holds that Chambers is more suited to barred, and other more difficult crosswords. Even if Chambers is accepted, it would have to be the latest edition. Chambers online is in fact the (superceded) ’21st Century Dictionary’. Collins online at https://www.collinsdictionary.com/ is the best source to rely on for general crosswords.

4. Very good – thanks Rags. More details below of my clue-by-clue notes as I solved. Must be your best, I think.

   -Encota-

   Notes:

   Wordplay is pretty accurate throughout – nice!

   11a vg clue
   4d good clue
   12a good clue
   15a ok
   22a wordplay fine; surface a little vague
   25a wordplay fine; surface a little quirky
   26a good clue
   21d good clue
   9d ok
   6d ok
   10a ok
   5d def ok?
   7d ok
   24d ok
   23a good
   16d w=winter?
   19a surface ~ok, a bit wordy?
   14a surface ok but feel there’s probably better.
   13d a little bit too samebothsidesy?
   3d ok
   1a good clue
   2d I can see what the answer must be but I don’t get this one yet
   17a ok. Surface might be improvable
   8d I can see what the answer must be but I can’t fully parse this one yet
   18d good clue, tho there may be some English speakers for whom this doesn’t quite work. Works for me!

   High quality generally. Scope for a little surface polishing though much to be proud of!

   1. ‘Same-both-sidesiness’ is something you mention a lot (and I’ve commented on this before), but I only see it really applying to double-def clues (where the root of both defs is the same). I think 13d is a good clue, splitting the answer into a charade which is the opposite of the whole.

      Btw, in 8d, the first word of the answer is where you find a berth in a slightly different sense (but same root — is this, then, ‘same-both-sidesy’?) to the obvious ‘place to moor a boat’ suggested by the surface.

5. Welcome back, Rags.

   It’s so gratifying to see you improve with each of your puzzles, and I agree with CS that a promotion can’t be too far away. There was a nice sprinkling of humour, a good range of clue types, and my only quibbles matched the two that Gazza raised. I did think that 18d would have been much improved if you had put the definition at the beginning of the clue, rather than its uncomfortable position at the end.

   My printed page showed plenty of ticks, with the superb 11a just edging out 1a as my favourite.

   Very well done indeed, and congratulations on an excellent crossword.

   1. I think the way to improve 18d would be to use a different indicator which could come before the phrase “most dismal writer”. Maybe “allegedly” (or maybe something better not just off the top of my head).

6. Thanks folks – w for winter is in Chambers, I did check

   1. It’s not in the latest (13th) edition.

      1. I have to rely on the online version, which gives: W abbreviation – 1 watt. 2 Welsh. 3 West. 4 Western. 5 winter. 6 women. 7 said of clothing size: women’s. 8 won, the Korean currency unit. 9 physics work.

7. What an enjoyable solve this was, Rags, and I am very much in agreement with all the foregoing comments.

   I too had lots of ticks on my page and, like Silvanus, 11a was the pick of the bunch for me.

   Yes, a few of your surfaces could benefit from a bit of polishing. Regarding your cryptic definitions, I thought that 20d was excellent but I’m not sure that 8d really works as it is a bit too transparent. I agree with Silvanus about the word order in 18d and I don’t fully understand the parsing for 2d. However these are all relatively minor points and overall this was an outstandingly good puzzle.

   Very well done, Rags, and thank you.

   1. Thank you. In 2d, the ‘one’s’ refers to 1a

      1. Ah, yes! Very good

      2. Ha! I didn’t get the parsing either. Very good. Maybe “Reaching standard” would be even better?

      3. 

8. Excellent puzzle! Not too difficult, but very enjoyable. I think Gazza’s criticism of a grammar mismatch in 25a is well-founded, though it didn’t stop me (or him, presumably!) getting it. I did resort to Word Wizard at the end to find a suitable word matching _A_I_ for 8d, which also unlocked my LOI, 17a.

   Favourites were:1a, 11a, 19a, 13d and (best) 20d.

   Good job, Rags!

9. An enjoyable solve with only one or two little niggles – such as ‘w’ for ‘winter’. It can be a problem if something is in one (edition of a) dictionary but not another. I wasn’t too happy about 2dn but seeing Rags’s explanation made it all clear. Nice penny-drop moments on getting 1ac and 20dn and I liked the misdirection in the latter; a penny-drop moment also with 12ac after resorting to Word Wizard.

10. I would echo the comments above – a very enjoyable and high class puzzle. Congratulations, Rags. 11a is brilliant.

    Only one query from me. The birds at 26a were only known to me without the Y, although I have since learnt that the answer is an older version of the name.

    Some really good stuff here – quite envious! Promotion to the NTSPP surely beckons!

    1. Thanks Shabbo

11. Marvellous.
    I would say ‘A star is born’ or some such, except I can’t remember Rags’ earlier puzzles, which might well have been just as good!
    No problems with W for winter or Stormy petrel rather than Storm petrel which both seemed fine to me… I wonder sometimes if newer setters get a greater level of scrutiny from the blogging community than do established setters – hardly fair, perhaps, but one can see why.

12. NIce puzzle Rags – solvewise (the way it went for me at least) easy to get started but the thumbscrews tightened a bit as it went on.

    No quibbles.

    12a was my favourite.

13. Thanks for all your comments, much appreciated. Thanks also to Prolixic for a favourable review.

14. Thanks Rags, well done. 11, 12, 22a I liked, 20d was my favourite.
    I still don’t understand 2d despite all the hints above. I don’t get the reference to 1a, and think the adjectival solution doesn’t match the definition. Can anyone kindly spell it out for me?

    1. Sorry Mucky, can’t get any closer than you’ve done – sort of an ‘impressionistic’ clue I think, playing with the idea of Queen’s English/ Standard English, rather than strictly pinned down in every detail, perhaps. Maybe someone else can illuminate…

    2. The standard of the Queen’s English (one’s grammar) would be at least ‘up to par’

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