Rookie Corner – 309

43 comments on “Rookie Corner – 309”

1. We really struggled with this and were finally beaten by 19d which was new to us.
   A real head banging moment when the penny dropped for 18d.
   Still a couple where we’re not sure of the wordplay.
   Certainly a very clever puzzle from an accomplished setter but we do prefer them a little more solver friendly in the Rookie slot.
   Thanks DMS.

   1. Thanks for taking the time, 2Kiwis – much appreciated!

2. My main concern, DMS, is why has it been so long since your previous Rookie Corner puzzle?

   This was very accomplished with accurate, and mostly commendably brief, wordplay with some cleverly disguised definitions. The smooth surfaces were the icing on the cake.

   I was sorry to see the vague girl’s name used in 11a (especially when combined with removing a letter) and I’m not convinced by 16d even with the question mark.

   19d was new to me and presumably a grid filler. I played around with the anagram fodder and checking letters before Googling the only feasible combination to confirm it existed.

   I had lots of ticks on my page with 9a, 23a, 25a & 24d making it onto the podium.

   Many thanks, DMS, for a very enjoyable puzzle and please don’t leave it too long before your next one.

   1. I’ve no idea whether 19d was a grid filler, but possibly it only seems that way if the word is new to you?

      In Northumberland and Newcastle, a 19d — a hefty yet soft type of bread, baked on the bottom of an oven — is often the default type of bread roll used for sandwiches. At school dinners in the 90s we could choose from that day’s hot option or ‘a 19d’.

      In that usage it gets used, like ‘roll’, to refer to the finished filled sandwich, not just the bread component. So you can have ‘a tuna 19d’ or ‘a cheese 19d’. I miss them!

      Thanks, DMS — well done on such an acclaimed puzzle.

      1. I’d heard of 19d – I think if, like me, you read anything and everything, then the majority of lesser-known bread products turn up somewhere!

   2. Thanks RabbitDave.

      I know two Amelias, so presumed it a relatively common name!

3. A very enjoyable breakfast time solve, although I will admit that the last inch or so of my cup of tea went cold while I was trying to finish off the SW corner.

   Lots of great clues, my particular favourites being 20a, 23a, 7d, and 18d. I only have one ? where I’m not sure about the parsing

   Thanks to DMS – I agree with RD that it was far too long between crosswords – and, in advance, to Prolixic

   1. Cheers crypticsue – glad you enjoyed it!

4. Thanks DMS
   Very enjoyable and polished. I liked among others 8 9 & 11a. Of your CDs, I liked 6d & 7d but thought 16d weak. Also 1d (not quite sure how to classify it) didn’t quite pull it off – while the clue conjures up an image of muddy puddles, the solution was a little disappointing being so closely related to what’s in the clue.
   The solution to 23a is rather odd; while it might be a phrase one would use as a description, I wonder if it’s really a standalone thing? Your grid is very setter-friendly, so you shouldn’t have been compelled to make up a term unless there’s something going on in the grid that I can’t spot.

   1. There is something going on that nobody has yet spotted, but point taken. I should probably concentrate on just setting a good crossword without trying to be too clever! Thanks!

      1. So there is – how clever, even though I now have the ‘must go to a sweet shop worm’

         1. Ha!

            Probably a bit too clever as it forced some of the crossword.

            I’m learning, though!

      2. Oh! So sorry for not looking harder – that’s a great trick

5. I thought that this was pretty tough but very enjoyable – thanks DMS.
   I initially had the last three letters of 6d wrong which held me up in the right-hand side.
   I can’t see a proper definition in 17a and I can’t parse 13d.
   My ticks went to 8a, 1d, 4d and 18d.
   More like this would be welcome.

   1. Gazza, I think 13d is a little weak; I took it to be IM + a synonym of perfection.

      1. Thanks, RD.

   2. Thanks Gazza.

6. This was an enjoyable puzzle, generally well crafted
   There are a few chin-rubbers though, which I’m a little surprised made it to final draft given the quality of the rest of the clues
   Last hurdle is to spot these and rethink them
   A fair challenge all the same, so well done and thank you DMS

   1. Hmm – one round of editing is probably not enough for me! Thanks LetterboxRoxy!

7. Welcome back, DMS.

   I felt your previous puzzle was superior to this one, even though you have reined in the anagrams this time, although not quite to the level Prolixic previously suggested.

   The first thing I noticed about the clues was just how many question marks and exclamation marks they contained, so I started counting them. Nineteen of the twenty-eight clues contained one or the other and 1d had both. Fifteen question marks in a single crossword possibly constitutes some sort of record, but quite a lot of them are entirely superfluous as far as I can see.

   If the definition to 17a is “in London” I think it’s a poor clue, and I wasn’t that enamoured with 1d or 13d either. The bottom half was much harder than the top half I thought, my ticks went to 8a and 7d.

   Although I enjoyed the solve and welcomed the reduced number of anagrams, I personally didn’t feel that this puzzle maintained your upward momentum as a setter, but I would certainly be keen to see your next one.

   Many thanks, DMS.

   1. Point(s) taken, silvanus! The original clue for 17a (which went down well on Twitter!) was, “Learns about a different side of London” but ti was felt that the anagram indicator didn’t work in that position (after the fodder)

8. Following on from an excellent outing in Rookie corner last time, I have to admit to being rather disappointed by this one. It didn’t help when an anagram of 8a produces ‘macerate’ and I know from experience that’s a good way to shift ‘the expletives’!
   Eventually revealed a lot of letters to complete the puzzle and still wound up with plenty of ‘umms’ so I guess that I simply never found the setter’s wavelength – more competent solvers apparently found it very enjoyable.

   Apologies, DMS, I really preferred your previous style.

   1. Thanks jane – I only wish I had a ‘style’!

9. I thought this was packed with great stuff. I happen to know DMS was considering “a side of London”, pity that was hard to work seamlessly into a final clue.

   Well done DMS

   1. Perhaps, “A side of London where one learns juggling (7)”? (Without the ? in the clue itself!)

      1. good thinking. i’m not super keen on where as a link, but i think it works. or “One learns to juggle in this side of London”. i like the dual surface of juggle, literal and figurative. i think DMS wanted a side=aspect surface, but maybe that works here too. sorry, i’m just playing / thinking out loud here, but hey, that’s fun.

         i loved Blue Nun – oh dear, do you have to be a certain age, or is it still available?

         1. Blue Nun is horrible stuff!!

            1. agreed – i meant of course i loved the clue!

      2. A criminal learns in one side of London (7)

         I wouldn’t be happy with ‘juggling’ *after* the fodder, it would have to be ‘juggled’ – the fodder isn’t juggling, the solver has to juggle the fodder

         Looking forward to your next submission, RD!

         PS Dutch – Blue Nun = disgusting stuff that tastes like it’s been drunk once already, pah!

         1. I’m with you LbR regarding Blue Nun – yuk!

            1. And me – it’s disgusting!

   2. Thanks very much, dutch!

10. Well done DMS – a fair mix of toughies and rather easier clues. I have several comments: hope you don’t mind my going through it point-by-point.
    First of all, like several others I had to look up 19d – had a vague recollection of the word but I’m not from that part of the country. Yes I can see it must be a filler – trying the crossers in CC almost nothing came up! And perhaps the wordplay grammar doesn’t quite work, with ‘go off’ as the anagrind.
    I’m not sure about 12a – rather colloquial maybe and does the definition fit? At least the clueing was fair.
    In 10a the surface looks a bit contrived.
    In 14a I’m not convinced about “court appearances” – that can only apply to law or tennis courts surely!? How about ‘assignations’ or something like that?
    in 15a I think ‘mistaken’ is better than ‘mistake’.
    In 26a – excellent wordplay but again the surface doesn’t quite work.
    In 5d perhaps “review for referee”?
    7d: excellent, very funny!
    13d: clever idea, not sure what Prolix will make of it though!
    18d: excellent; have seen this idea used recently in the Guardian but very good nonetheless.
    21d: possibly ‘thug’ is too strong a word?

    Hope this helps. L.

    1. It helps very much Laccaria! And all will be taken on board. Thankyou!

11. Thanks DMS, comments absent reading others’:
    I got most of the across clues on the first pass and thought they were good, then things got a little looser/simple on the downs.
    Ticks against 8,14 for the cheekiness,23,26,4,6,7. Favourite 6 for the aha moment.
    18 is a bit hardware specific and doesn’t have a definition really.
    I dislike 21 for the prejudice in the definition – and the wordplay is stretching ‘essentially’ imo.
    Thanks for the entertainment DMS.

    1. Thanks Gonzo – points taken.

12. Thanks for Prolixic for the analysis, but I see that we disagree on some points! Particularly 21d where I agree with Gonzo, and what I posted earlier: I think THUG is not an appropriate definition for HOODIE. According to Wiki, “Hoodie” refers to the garment, not the wearer. Moreover, many people, of all ages, wear hoodies, mostly for warmth, and they’re certainly not thugs! It’s a shame that such a useful item of clothing has such negative connotations.

    But let that pass. I’m told I offended a number of people with one of my clues last week (though I don’t see it as particularly offensive, myself). I suppose this is bound to happen sometimes, in crossword-setting!

    But apart from HOODIE, and the few other minor points, an excellent piece of work, DMS. Keep them coming!

    1. ‘Hoodies’ definitely gets used to refer to a group of people associated with the garments (and Oxford defines it as such); the political discussions over whether to hug a hoodie (a phrase David Cameron didn’t actually use) weren’t about people snuggling up to the item of clothing!

       It’s equivalent to ‘suits’, used pejoratively to refer to upper-management or a group of decision-makers or bureaucrats with power over others, distinct from ordinary people or lower-level staff.

       Not everybody who wears a suit is in a position of power, and not everybody who wears a hoodie is a youth roaming the streets — language isn’t fair!

       (Declaration of interest: I own one hoodie — purple, with ‘Geek’ emblazoned across the front of it— and one suit, which I pretty much only wear for weddings and funerals.)

       1. Early Rap Music (c1973, Lightnin’ Rod, aka Grandmaster Flash, and later Gansta Rap, ie Boys From The Hood) referred to Hoodies as neighbourhood people, ie local gang members, similar to Jamaican Yardies
          It may well be that the wearing of hooded tops to conceal their identity is coincidental to the term

    2. Hoodie has been synonymous with thug for the past 20 years. I’m not saying I agree with this, though!!

13. Thanks everyone for your kind and encouraging comments.

    I too felt that this was slightly weaker than my last, but choosing to hide chocolate bars in all the rows forced some issues for me! My next crossword (almost completed) is more about the clueing than trying to be too clever witht he grid fill!

    Thanks also to dutch for the encouragemnet and help, and to Prolixic for the comprehensive review!

    For what it’s worth, my favourite was the simple 24d

    Cheers!

    1. Good heavens, I hadn’t spotted the chocolate bars – and nobody else has mentioned them so perhaps it was rather a waste of effort?
       Look forward to your next one, DMS, hope it’s not quite as tough!

14. Many thanks for the review, Prolixic, and your usual common sense analysis.

Comments are closed.