Category Archives: General Cryptic Talk

Looks like we’ll be made redundant soon enough, although brute-force solving with words that fit is kinda cheating:

http://bostonglobe.com/ideas/2012/03/11/rise-crossword-robots/xK4TRBW2MfhqAwnj6tMv3H/story.html?camp

Megan Garrett-Jones has asked for an experienced cruciverbalist, which I would say everyone here could be counted as, to make a presentation in Sydney on cryptics.

In her own words:

I am urgently looking for a Sydney-based ‘expert’ (self-confessed of otherwise) to lead a short presentation on cryptic crossword solving at the Surry Hills Library this Thursday (1st March). Format is open – can be the practical basics, or about their personal passion.

It is for the final installation in a series called ‘Your Better Life’, organised by a group of artists called ‘Bake Sale’ in associated with the City of Sydney and the Surry Hills Library’s ‘Late Night at the Library’ program. Past events have been courses on LOVE, CULTURE, ENTERTAINING, and this one will be SMARTS. It is a 20 minute presentation at 9pm preceding a demonstration from some dapper fashion aficionados. The remuneration is $200 and an extreme amount of gratitude for the presenter’s time and wisdom.

Anyone interested should contact Megan megan.garrett.jones[at]gmail.com

If you’re willing to join in on what looks to be a lot of fun, contact her directly.

This adorns my wall:

It’s from here: http://www.bytelevel.com/eyechart/.

Frequent contributor Rupert is also a frequent compiler over at his own blog.

Rupert’s latest has a special theme — and is one well worth doing.

Enjoy.

Every so often, the question of ranking the other Fairfax cryptic crossword compilers crops up. It’s been discussed twice before, here and here, and prompted by an email be frequent contributor Robin, I ask the question again: how do you rate the other Fairfax compilers?

Robin’s ratings seem to concur with the general impression:

1. DA – say no more…

<  Insert daylight here >

2. DS (Saturday) but agree about the lack of DA’s wicked sense of humour

3 and 4. DP (Wednesday) and NS (Thursday) – comments from previous posts still apply. DP is all puns usually!

5. DH (Tuesday) comments from previous posts still apply. Only ranked 5 as many odd topics are thrown up but it’s all research I find.

6. RM or EP (Monday) Only on a Monday can I match Rupert’s PBs for DA.

Is there some heretofore unnoticed genius in other setters? Or does the general impression still stand?

Were you unable to make it to the DA Trippers Tripleversary Powwow?    Is this week’s DA cryptic just too far away to bear? Do you have trouble getting through the day until Letters and Numbers starts?

A salve to these irritations might be looking at the short doco that a team from RMIT made about DA and his fans, featuring interviews with DA, AS, RC and scenes from the powwow!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4GurqnVAF4

Should a documentary about cryptic tragics be a “crocumentary”?

Spoiler warning: you may find out what we look like, leading to great disappointment.

As was revealed recently, Robin has dedicated himself to the craft of solving crosswords by making detailed daily notes on the crosswords he worked on in a scrapbook.

I was intrigued, and Robin was kind enough to send through some scanned copies of a few pages from his scrapbook. They’re really quite impressive:

Before knowing anything of DA as a person, I expected him to be a lot more like the master palindromist, who is truly exceptional (which is not to say that DA isn’t).

K/BW kindly posted the Q and A that appeared in glossy mag that comes with The Age on Friday once a month, which I repost here if you missed it:

Best things about Melbourne?
Giddy mix of quaint and Avant-garde, with a conversation around the corner.

Worst Thing?
Remote surf, fractured cycleways.

Best takeaway?
Bala’s in Fitzroy.

Best Coffee?
Proud Mary, Collingwood.

Best Restaurant?
Miss Chu, Exhibition St

Where do you get your hair cut?
Lestat in Kew — and some people reckon I should go there more often.

Where do you live and why?
Kew — it sounds like a letter!

Tram or train?
Bus is nearest to home, tram to the heart.

What do you do for fun?
Galumph in a Sunday park, playing touch rugby with other tragics.

Who do you barrack for?
Roos, Rebels, Storm.

Where did you go to school?
Barker (College) in Sydney, which ditched boaters and imported girls the year I arrived.

Labor or Liberal?
My Labor vote’s a protest squeak round these parts.

Neil Mitchell or Jon Faine?
If Radio National isn’t firing I’ll give Jon a go.

Portsea or Lorne?
PROTEAS or LONER?

I’ll pick the flowers.

Drop punt or torpedo?
I envy a deadeye wormburner.

Top three apps?
Appetite, Appenines, apparel.

Describe Melbourne in three words?
Zaftig, loquacious, sanguine.

I’ve only started reading what is proving to be a very good book called Reading in the Brain, and I thought I’d include one of the jokes it references that I thought hilarious:

The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).

In the first year, “s” will be used instead of the soft “c”. Sertainly, sivil servants will resieve this news with joy.

Also, the hard “c” will be replaced with “k”. Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome “ph” will be replaced by “f”. This will make words like “fotograf” 20 per sent shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent “e”s in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing “th” by “z” and “w” by ” v”.

During ze fifz year, ze unesesary “o” kan be dropd from vords kontaining “ou”, and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst place….