Comments on: Guardian 24,360 - Paul : “Excuses, excuses”

By: owenjonesuk

owenjonesuk — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 08:40:40 +0000

Ditto with putting LEFT for 10ac. It didn’t hold me up for too long though.

By: manehi

manehi — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:40:44 +0000

Managed RETORTS easily enough thanks to a vague memory of (I think) a Terry Pratchett pun.
The rest of the puzzle didn’t go so well after I put LEFT for 10ac, which seemed to make sense even after getting 9.. and LEARNERS for 18dn which seems a little stupid in retrospect. Eventually did see the light, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle on the whole.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:06:21 +0000

Well, I AM a chemist - so RETORT leapt out at me as almost the first clue I solved (even though the retort - a primitive one-piece apparatus for distillation - went out of regular use in the 19th century. But retort stands are still alive and well!). From then I got THE WRONG KIND OF SNOW, and the rest fell out easily.

Not one of Paul’s more difficult puzzles, but great fun and some terrific clues. ‘On drugs’ for UP was the only liberty that I spotted in this one; Chambers gives ‘in an excited state’ as one def, which is the nearest I could find, but the stretch isn’t great and it made for a good surface reading. I loved 8a!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:18:28 +0000

(re: “Retort stand”) Yes, I believe so (but IANAChemist).

By: stan

stan — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:11:37 +0000

THanks Andrew - just proves I’m solving the puzzle without online aids (except where admitted). Am I thinking of a “retort stand” as being the stand on which you place retorts ?

By: stan

stan — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:08:50 +0000

Wow - were you lot hitting “refresh” waiting for the post to arrive ? Incredible speed of response - thanks for the help on (m)A(N)NUAL.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:07:44 +0000

A retort is actually a particular type of glass container, not a stand - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retort

By: Dave Ellison

Dave Ellison — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:03:52 +0000

Oh, I see now - the hyphen in STOP-OVER is just indicating the origin of the two parts.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:00:34 +0000

7dn: manual - one kind of book -’skimmed’[top taken off] + name gives mAN[N]UAL - another kind of book.

Another lovely puzzle!

By: Dave Ellison

Dave Ellison — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:59:41 +0000

7d I think this must be MANUAL with M removed, + N

Didn’t get 16d; shouldn’t it be (4-4) and not (8)?

Great puzzle otherwise.