Comment – Jan-Apr 2012 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Comment – Jan-Apr 2012

by Big Dave  

Archived Comments – Jan-Apr 2012

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70 comments on “Comment – Jan-Apr 2012”

  1. Just like to say thanks and well done to Gnomey and Sue who regularly write the reviews for the prize weekend crosswords, well done you two :-D

  2. What an exciting day, a new blogger, now who will it be??? Is it external maybe? andddddd will we reach 5,000,000??? and at what time My guess is around 6.30 ish, hopefully the blog will be up before I have to leave for art at 11.30 if not see you all later :-) Good luck and welcome to the new blogger

  5. May I ask if I am correct in my interpretation of a clue in a DT puzzle?

    Rash to show up giving support to king in ancient city (9)
    I have (R) for king, UTICA for the city,followed by a reversal of a 3-letter synonym for ‘to show’.

    It’s a prize puzzle for this week, so I have not typed the full answer.

      1. Thanks Gazza – yes, it’s a Down clue.
        Not the ancient city I would expect to see in a DT cryptic.

    2. That was my take on it Jezza. Agree a bit of an obscure old city!
      R inserted in UTICA followed bty the reversal of ‘show’.

      I quite like these online prize puzzles. Not usually too hard but nearly always with one obscure clue – that was today’s (both the rash and the old city took me to Wiki)! I’d volunteer to do a review of them each week but pommette would kill me (hope she doesn’t read this!).

      1. I’ve just had a look at the puzzle, intrigued by Jezza’s clue. As you say, Pommers, all very straightforward except for the one clue. I wonder who sets them.

        1. No idea who the setter is and I think it changes because there are some distinct stypes which show up every now and then. I’ve been doing them for about 9 months now as they come out on Monday’s when there’s no Toughie. Gives me something to do over breakfast (along with the Grauniad Quiptic) as the normal DT back pager has to wait until lunch to share with pommette. As I said, they’re always fairly benign, as this one, but usually with a little sting in the tail! Bit of fun anyway and you never know – you might win £50!

    2. Sorry about the Caps in that comment! I’ll never ever get used to the 3/4 size netbook keyboard which don’t work well with short fat hairy fingers! :grin:

  9. Last comment then will wait patiently, honest, surely 9a, is a no no! The object of a crossword, surely is to put letters in the squares not numbers!!!

  10. First of all new to your site and would like to say thanks. Only use your tips when completely stuck. Like to look at clues even when I’ve done it. Sometimes put answers in when not absolutely sure why!! Again your clues help. Your comment today 15th Feb for 27A about online dictionaries – I like OneLook which also has a reverse definition is really useful and does have rigger as someone who works on oil rig. Thanks again

    2. Hi Sharyn and welcome from me too.

      Please comment again now you’ve ‘come out’, we’d be glad to hear from you. Your first comment would just have to be about the one I got wrong :oops: – is that what they call sod’s law? Happens fairly regularly but not usually as spectacularly wrong as today :grin: (Note to self – must do better!)

  11. Can any onr help me parse this clue?

    Dance enthusiast going round with energy (8)

    The answer’s FANDANGO. FAN = enthusiast and GO = energy, but I can’t see where the middle DAN comes from unless it’s a secondary anagram. WITH = AND anagramed (going round).

    Or am I being a bit thick here?

        1. ‘and’ being with, so it’s enthusiast – fan, going round ‘with’ – and , then ‘go’

  12. Morning all, hopefully have time for the crossword later, its a day of soccer, got to watch no 3 grandson this morning playing Port Talbot in the under 12s, then the final this afternoon, hopefully its not too hard and I can do it in between! Laters :-D

  13. Ooh it’s a day for a few quibbles today :-) , unfortunately out most of the day :-D , be interesting to see if anyone else put what I did for 7d, see you later

  14. Evening Peeps. I am doing a quiz for charity that is all DITLOIDS. There are a 100 of the little rascals and I now have all but 5.
    A few examples to get you into the swing of it are as follows:
    20 20 V = 20 20 vision
    168 H I A W = 168 hours in a week
    260 C I A M B = 260 calories in a Mars Bar
    P 23 – T L I M S = Psalm 23 – The Lord is my Shepherd

    So as you can see wide and varied. These are the 5 that me & pommers have ground to a halt on They all have numbers in.

    0T . . . it’s a zero at the beginning
    TANOOI8 . . . all letters apart from the 8 at the end
    21 – MATDAB
    22 M – GPOTAE
    603 MFLETJOG

    PS a DITLOID comes from 1DITLOID = 1 Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
    which was supposedly where it all started.

    1. Like the new avatar :lol:

      Any help gratefully accepted. There’s no money involved so we can’t split the spoils unfortunately but it would be nice to crack them.

    5. Oh Peeps – you are so good – and kind! I’d spent a few hours cogitating over these and could just not see them! Thank you so much.

      I’ve found another one that I hadn’t done thoug so here it is T A 1 R F L T E

      If anyone would actually like a copy of the quiz it is just £1 each. You can pay via the Just Giving Site.
      My friend is doing a trek in Nepal for charity so every £1 helps

      PS Also worked out how to log in again to WordPress so I have my furry girl back!

        2. Nice one Gazza! I too am impressed!

          Pommette sends her thanks again and will no doubt do so in person. We had no internet yesterday, I think possibly due to having 3 inches of rain in 12 hours – that’s a hell of a lot of water!

        3. And thanks from me to. I’m finally back on line. 2 days without email and internet is just too much for a girl. Add to that a whole day sorting out yet more issues at our apartment complex meant I’ve been away for 3 days! Definite withdrawal symptoms.

  16. Hi, i am doing a charity quiz on ditloids and am really stuck on a couple, was wondering if i could get some help. I don’t win anything if i win, just would like to know the answers. The ones i’m stuck on are:
    1. T 3 D
    2. 3 S Y A 10
    3. H M B M 5
    4. 7 P I A Q T
    5. T R N F 10 I X
    6. Y S F 10
    7. J C C B I 54 B C

    Thanks in advance

  18. Today’s toughie – 758; is this the one that was printed in error a while back? It seems to be different to the one reviewed following Tilsit’s link.
    The one I have just printed off starts with: 1a Low rugby kick, dislodging head protection (6)

    1. Your one is the version that appears in the paper set by Ozymandias.

      Earlier today the link to the Toughie on-line took you to the Osmosis crossword that was published early.

      1. Thanks Prolixic. When I looked last night, the toughie setter was showing as Osmosis (that has now been changed). It is also currently showing as 0 plays.

  19. Hi, I am new to the cryptic crossword community and struggled for a couple of weeks until I hit on this site. I just wanted to take the time to say thank you for all the effort that goes into it, I am now getting a little better, although it can be a bit disheartening when I pore over a puzzle for 4 hours before checking my answers only to be told it was ‘easy’!!! Oh well, I’ll get there eventually…. : ) Thanks again

    1. Welcome Howard. Don’t get disheartened by people saying it is easy. We didn’t find them easy when we started either. And I started solving long before the web had been invented so had no helpful blogs like this one to assist me. I am sure ‘eventually’ will come sooner than you think.

    2. Hi Howard, I have been doing these for almost three years now and have with the help of this marvellous blog and the people on it improved more than I ever thought possible, it used to take me all day on and off to finish one with all the books and machines and help going, I still need these most days but on a few occasions now have been known to finish ‘unaided’ (not more than half a dozen in three years!) keep ‘perservating’ as I have done and keep popping in to chat, everyone is very helpful and encouraging :-D

  20. We seem to be having a few negative comments recently. Now, if you don’t like a puzzle or a clue I’ve no problem with that, as we all have our own opinions, but you should remember that a lot (or all?) of the setters read these comments so just saying the thing is crap isn’t very helpful, merely insulting to someone who’s put a lot of effort into creating the puzzle. Please, if you’re going to say it’s bad (in your opinion), say why you think that – it may help the setter to do something more to your taste next time.

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