Rookie Corner 455

30 comments on “Rookie Corner 455”

1. Good clues and a good level of difficulty. Not sure that 25a quite works but not much else that we could fault. !4d and 18d appealed most to us.
   Thanks Hopping Rhino.

2. Thanks Hopping Rhino, definitely better than your previous Rookies

   But, I do have one pet peeve that you have included in the puzzle. The three letter (actually indirect) anagram (in the wrong order) in 15a would, in my opinion, be better clued as the reversal that it actually is.

   Smiles for 9a, 27a, 2d, 5d, and 21d.

   Thanks again and thanks in advance to Prolixic.

   1. Thanks Senf. I take your point re 15a. I’d had reversal in mind, but looking at it again I see it reads like an anagrind

      1. When I woke up this morning, I did have a second thought about ‘in the wrong order’ being a reversal indicator (not a very good one) but plenty of opportunity for ambiguity.

         Much simpler (and lower word count) to, say, write the clue as ‘Belted out recalled tune. Drink!’

         Thanks again

         1. Ah yes, much better

3. I found the RH side a lot friendlier than the left but I’m not sure why now I look at the solved grid again

   I agree with the 2Ks and Senf about 25a. I also have a couple of clues I can’t parse

   Thanks very much Hopping Rhino and, in advance, to Prolixic

4. There is plenty of inventive thinking here – thanks Hopping Rhino.
   There’s a redundant ‘the’ in the 15a clue.
   I very much liked ‘prelude to conversion’ in 8d (although I don’t think that E is an abbreviation for England).
   The clues I liked best were 19a, 2d and 18d.

   1. 15a: Gah! You think you’ve proof-read …
      8d: Thanks, that’s useful, I see the dictionaries have E for English but not England. With hindsight, ‘earl’ might have been better with the surface anyway

      Thanks Gazza

5. Hi Hopping Rhino and well done for a big improvement on your last puzzle with some incentive clueing.
   The main thing I noticed was that one or two of the surface reads were a tad bizarre and not grammatically correct (17d for example should be “Korean”).
   Without going through it with a fine tooth comb….
   Why is Pops capitalised in 12a?
   I think “and” is better than “at” in 28a
   Pate as an anagram indicator at 6d?
   Some editors would consider SOB offensive at 18d though I do like the clue.
   I wouldn’t have used “short” in 26d, especially as you’ve used it in 20a.

   A couple I haven’t parsed but I liked 2,18&22d in particular with my favourite being the excellent 19a. Many thanks.
   I look forward to Prolixic’s review so thanks in advance to him

   1. Thanks Stephen, I appreciate the encouragement.

      12a: I had in mind Pops=Dad, so the surface reads as an imperative – but I may have committed an Americanism
      28a: Ah, agreed
      26d: I wrestled with this – I wasn’t sure if I was obliged to indicate the answer was a shortened word. But either way, I certainly should have avoided the duplication, as you say

      1. HR, 12a. I took Pops (the definition) to be false capitalisation of pops, as in nips/pops down to the corner shop – which would be fine in my book.

         1. I realise you used Pops (=Dad) to smoothen the surface and that may be an unindicated Americanism (though very well-known) and it could be frowned upon here.

         2. Yes, exactly

6. Hi Hopping Rhino. As others have already said, more tightly clued than your last. I thought 2d and 3d were delightful clues and they came early in the solve, putting me in a decidedly positive mood. I haven’t encountered paté as anagrind before; used as you have with ‘of’ I feel it works (as well as ‘cocktail’ or ‘stew’ for example) and it’s a lovely anagram spot making a neat surface. Like Gazza, I also gave a thumbs up to ‘prelude to conversion’ and I share Stephen L’s views on SOB – dodgy for some audiences but nicely misdirectional.

   Thanks for the puzzle and in advance to Prolixic.

7. Thanks HR, lots to enjoy here. A few minor quibbles that have already been raised I think, so just some favourites to highlight: 1a, 20a, 27a, 1d, 2d & 21d, and overall fave 5d (I wonder if “u- boat” could actually be omitted, though?) Thanks again and in advance to Prolixic.

8. Welcome back, Hopping Rhino.

   Unlike most others, I felt this puzzle was a case of “one step forward, two steps back”, unfortunately. I have as many crosses as ticks on my printed page and, in addition to some of the quibbles already mentioned, I did notice an overuse of “and” to connect wordplay and definition – in fact it crops up in three consecutive clues at one point (4a, 9a and 10a). I certainly warmed to the anagram in 6d as I had it the other way round in one of my own Telegraph puzzles (“Type of sea food with crispbread crackers”). My favourite clue was 2d.

   Many thanks, Hopping Rhino.

   1. Thanks Silvanus, particularly re overuse of ‘and’ – another thing to put on my watch list.

      I am happy to find I am following in illustrious spidercrab footsteps!

9. Can’t say I found this particularly easy but have it all sorted other than think I’m missing something in the parsing of 5d. I did notice some of the points that the experts have picked up on & while there were a few clues I wasn’t so keen on there was also plenty to like – 1,2,6,14&18d along with 19&20a the ones that stood out for me. Like pate as an anagram indicator & SOB which had me (doesn’t take much) down a blind alley.
   Thanks Hopping Rhino

   1. H, 5d. You may well already know but if you don’t, and for the benefit of anyone else who dosen’t, a “wolfpack” was a U boat convoy attack tactic in WW2. And I think that’s why Fez is wondering if U boat could be omitted.

      1. Thanks Jose. To Fez’s question, ‘u-boat’ is redundant IF you’re familiar with wolfpack in the WW2 sense. However, it seemed to me that the clue “Components of wolfpacks”, while a tighter double definition, would have been impossible for someone who didn’t know that sense of wolfpack. I was also conscious of feedback on my previous puzzles that they were too hard in places. So, rightly or wrongly, that was my logic for including ‘u-boat’

         1. Absolutely agree, I DO think wolfpack is, on the whole, a good inclusion for the reasons given. Perhaps not if a Toughie puzzle, though …

            1. Sorry, I meant “U-boat” is a good inclusion.

      2. No I didn’t know that Jose but I do now thanks. Knew there was something about wolfpack I was missing but too lazy to investigoogle. Agree with HR’s thinking.

         1. I know it from an old war film that features U boat wolfpacks. Can’t recall its title.

10. School day for me where the god of violence and the wolfpacks were concerned – I was certainly glad of the inclusion of U-boat in the clue for the latter.
    Can’t abide that use of ‘eats’ for food but it does seem to be quite popular these days.
    Not very convinced by 12&25a but there were some goodies to be found elsewhere in the grid.

    Many thanks for the puzzle, Hopping Rhino, keep an eye on those surface reads!

    1. I even knew eats = food wasn’t universally loved. At the time an alternative didn’t occur to me, but it just as easily could have been “Consumes a portion of meat stew”, which would have been a better surface too. Oh well.

       Thanks Jane

11. Thank you very much Prolixic, I appreciate the comments. Apologies for the second offence(s) re abbreviations – I’ll dictionary-check each of these henceforth. Link words are clearly another area to watch.

    Re 17d, I had in mind ‘Korea vet’ as ‘veteran of the war in Korea’ (analagous to ‘Vietnam vet’) but perhaps that’s not right.

    1. Late to this and not much to add to what others have already said, but on the business of abbreviations, the important thing to remember is that solvers (well, most solvers) don’t just complain about these things to be pedantic for pedantry’s sake, but because deviating from the accepted standards makes clues MUCH harder to solve. Not that solvers object to puzzles being hard per se, but they have to be hard for the right reasons. I’m sure you know this as a solver yourself, though I am only too well aware that it’s hard to evaluate clues objectively when you’re the setter.

       25a is a case in point – a clue that should have been easy but the non-standard abbreviations made it unnecessarily difficult to unravel. I got the right solution from the definition and crossing letters but the wordplay was far from obvious – OK, so it didn’t take too long to work out what you intended in that case but having to get there by guesswork isn’t very satisfying.

       When your clues are accurate and precise, solvers can be sure they have found the right answer because the wordplay confirms it for them. But if your clues have too many inaccuracies, solvers will decide the reward of solving them isn’t worth the effort, so they give up on your puzzles and the whole endeavour becomes a waste of time. So pay attention to the sage advice of Prolixic, Silvanus and others, if only for your own sake. But do stick at it, because as others have said, you have some fun ideas.

       1. Thank you Widdersbel, I am genuinely appreciative of the time everyone here takes to coach my stumbling steps towards a better crossword. The next puzzle is already under way.

12. Many thanks for the review, Prolixic, greatly appreciated as always.

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