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Harvey Van Sickle
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:56 pm
Post subject: Re: Daily free cryptic crosswords, RIP |
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On 14 Sep 2004, Dena Jo wrote
| Quote: | On 13 Sep 2004, Harvey Van Sickle posted thus:
It had to happen: my reliable free, dailiy cryptic crossword from
the Globe and Mail has turned subscription.
What's a cryptic crossword?
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Seriously? (I'd have assumed you knew from your stay in England.)
One in which the clues use word-games, anagrams and such-like instead
of word substitution. You're given the length of the answer (including
the length of individual words if the answer is a phrase).
An example would be "Crazy American projection system ( . [Cinerama -
anagram of "American".]
In my view, they're by a long shot the best kind of crossword; YMMV...
(I always liked the clue which supposedly got past the crossword editor
of The Times in the late 1960s -- probably apochryphal: "Listen
closely for a sexual perversion (5,2,4,4)".)
--
Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for the past 22 years.
(for e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van)
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Harvey Van Sickle
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:59 pm
Post subject: Re: Daily free cryptic crosswords, RIP |
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On 13 Sep 2004, Dylan Nicholson wrote
--
Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for the past 22 years.
(for e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van) |
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Dylan Nicholson
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:06 pm
Post subject: Re: Daily free cryptic crosswords, RIP |
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"Harvey Van Sickle" <harvey.news@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:Xns956451390EE5Ewhhvans@62.253.162.206...
| Quote: | On 13 Sep 2004, Dylan Nicholson wrote
"Harvey Van Sickle" <harvey.news@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9563E1DCA4264whhvans@194.168.222.123...
Aw, poop: unless I'm missing a link, it's not cryptic. :(
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/puzzles/cryptic.html
Many thanks; I'll check that out.
Going by how easy the first few clues are, I'm not sure it'd be much of a |
replacement.
It used to be more challenging - certainly the print edition is.
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Chris Kern
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:24 pm
Post subject: Re: Daily free cryptic crosswords, RIP |
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On Tue, 14 Sep 2004 06:36:16 GMT, Harvey Van Sickle
<harvey.news@ntlworld.com> posted the following:
| Quote: | I do the Guardian crossword each day -- the Telegraph's fair, but not
really difficult enough.  (The web ones are an extra -- my
equivalent of a bit of reading before falling asleep.)
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How's the weekly one in the Times Literary Supplement?
-Chris |
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Alan Jones
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:40 pm
Post subject: Re: Daily free cryptic crosswords, RIP |
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"Dylan Nicholson" <wizofaus@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2qnjjbFvmjfkU1@uni-berlin.de...
| Quote: | "Harvey Van Sickle" <harvey.news@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:Xns956451390EE5Ewhhvans@62.253.162.206...
On 13 Sep 2004, Dylan Nicholson wrote
"Harvey Van Sickle" <harvey.news@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9563E1DCA4264whhvans@194.168.222.123...
Aw, poop: unless I'm missing a link, it's not cryptic. :(
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/puzzles/cryptic.html
Many thanks; I'll check that out.
Going by how easy the first few clues are, I'm not sure it'd be much of a
replacement.
It used to be more challenging - certainly the print edition is.
|
There are apparently "expert" crosswords on that site for devotees willing
to pay an annual subscription.
What I like about the Australian puzzles is that the letters can be filled
in, deleted or changed on screen - no need to print out the "grid". Are
there any other sites where cryptic crosswords are presented in this way?
Alan Jones |
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Harvey Van Sickle
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:46 pm
Post subject: Re: Daily free cryptic crosswords, RIP |
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On 14 Sep 2004, Alan Jones wrote
| Quote: |
"Dylan Nicholson" <wizofaus@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2qnjjbFvmjfkU1@uni-berlin.de...
"Harvey Van Sickle" <harvey.news@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:Xns956451390EE5Ewhhvans@62.253.162.206...
On 13 Sep 2004, Dylan Nicholson wrote
"Harvey Van Sickle" <harvey.news@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9563E1DCA4264whhvans@194.168.222.123...
Aw, poop: unless I'm missing a link, it's not cryptic. :(
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/puzzles/cryptic.html
Many thanks; I'll check that out.
Going by how easy the first few clues are, I'm not sure it'd be
much of a replacement.
It used to be more challenging - certainly the print edition is.
There are apparently "expert" crosswords on that site for devotees
willing to pay an annual subscription.
What I like about the Australian puzzles is that the letters can
be filled in, deleted or changed on screen - no need to print out
the "grid". Are there any other sites where cryptic crosswords
are presented in this way?
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I thought most of them were -- the Globe and Mail was interactive, but
had a link to a printable version. (Horses and courses; I very much
want them to be printable.)
--
Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for the past 22 years.
(for e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van) |
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Sean O'Leathlobhair
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 2:23 pm
Post subject: Re: Daily free cryptic crosswords, RIP |
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Harvey Van Sickle <harvey.news@ntlworld.com> wrote in message news:<Xns9563DD743F552whhvans@62.253.162.203>...
| Quote: | It had to happen: my reliable free, dailiy cryptic crossword from the
Globe and Mail has turned subscription.
["Alas", said this bloody cheap bastard who liked free crosswords.]
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I was about to recommend the Guardian (UK national paper) crossword.
Here's their home page: http://www.guardian.co.uk/ The crossword link
is in the left hand column about two thirds of the way down.
I do the crossword in the real paper from time to time and
occasionally on-line. Unfortunately, since I last looked at the
website, it has also ceased to be free. They now want £25 a year
which seems too much to me.
Seán O'Leathlóbhair |
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Dylan Nicholson
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 2:33 pm
Post subject: Re: Daily free cryptic crosswords, RIP |
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"Harvey Van Sickle" <harvey.news@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9564595ECF2D7whhvans@194.168.222.125...
| Quote: |
I thought most of them were -- the Globe and Mail was interactive, but
had a link to a printable version. (Horses and courses; I very much
want them to be printable.)
Never tried printing them, but I guess it would be possible (unfortunately |
you have to scroll to see all the clues, so not sure how that works). There
is a utility you can download to do the crossword with offline, which may
have a print function - apparently though you can now only do this with
archived crosswords.
The only thing I can imagine might make the Age crossword reasonably
challenging for you is that they do rely on a few Australianisms here and
there, but not enough to be likely showstoppers. They very rarely seem to
rely on recent news items. |
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Peter Duncanson
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 5:55 pm
Post subject: Re: Daily free cryptic crosswords, RIP |
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On 14 Sep 2004 02:13:08 GMT, Dena Jo <me@privacy.net> wrote:
| Quote: | On 13 Sep 2004, Harvey Van Sickle posted thus:
It had to happen: my reliable free, dailiy cryptic crossword from
the Globe and Mail has turned subscription.
What's a cryptic crossword?
|
There is a description at
http://www.home.gil.com.au/~vburton/cryptics/cryptics.htm
A cryptic clue embodies two parts. One gives the meaning of the solution.
The other shows how to derive the solution. Sometimes these two parts
overlap. Rarely they totally overlap.
It is for the solver of the clue to figure out which part of the clue is
which part.
A properly formed cryptic clue leads unambiguously to the correct solution.
I'm not a crossword compiler so the following clue could doubtless be
better:
Clue: "As a horse Dena Jo is lively"
Solution: "No jade"
--
Peter Duncanson
UK (posting from a.e.u) |
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nycram
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 6:27 pm
Post subject: Re: Daily free cryptic crosswords, RIP |
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In article <Xns95644DB765124whhvans@62.253.162.205>,
harvey.news@ntlworld.com says...
| Quote: | On 14 Sep 2004, nycram wrote
In article <Xns9563E5C86A119whhvans@194.168.222.123>,
harvey.news@ntlworld.com says...
On 13 Sep 2004, Harvey Van Sickle wrote
It had to happen: my reliable free, dailiy cryptic crossword
from the Globe and Mail has turned subscription.
["Alas", said this bloody cheap bastard who liked free
crosswords.]
Whew....I've found one.... (The one in "The Scotsman" still
appears to be OK. Gawd bless the Scots, I say. For now...)
Where do they hide it on their site?
Under "Games": http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/games.cfm (I found it
by googling.)
Thanks. I googled too, but apparently my faith in Google's abilities was |
insufficient.
Gary |
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John Dean
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:00 pm
Post subject: Re: Daily free cryptic crosswords, RIP |
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Dena Jo wrote:
| Quote: | On 13 Sep 2004, Harvey Van Sickle posted thus:
It had to happen: my reliable free, dailiy cryptic crossword from
the Globe and Mail has turned subscription.
What's a cryptic crossword?
|
Angry element of speech goes with grotto in charge of prize puzzle?
(7,10)
--
John Dean
Oxford |
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david56
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:22 pm
Post subject: Re: Daily free cryptic crosswords, RIP |
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John Dean typed thus:
| Quote: | Dena Jo wrote:
On 13 Sep 2004, Harvey Van Sickle posted thus:
It had to happen: my reliable free, dailiy cryptic crossword from
the Globe and Mail has turned subscription.
What's a cryptic crossword?
Angry element of speech goes with grotto in charge of prize puzzle?
(7,10)
|
"cryptic crossword"
Nope, that can't be it. Wrong number of letters.
--
David
===== |
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meirman
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:38 pm
Post subject: Re: Daily free cryptic crosswords, RIP |
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In alt.english.usage on Mon, 13 Sep 2004 21:11:24 GMT Harvey Van
Sickle <harvey.news@ntlworld.com> posted:
| Quote: | On 13 Sep 2004, Harvey Van Sickle wrote
On 13 Sep 2004, meirman wrote
In alt.english.usage on Mon, 13 Sep 2004 20:46:03 GMT Harvey Van
Sickle <harvey.news@ntlworld.com> posted:
It had to happen: my reliable free, dailiy cryptic crossword
from the Globe and Mail has turned subscription.
["Alas", said this bloody cheap bastard who liked free
crosswords.]
You can do the Baltimore Sun for a while. The one I saw was not
very hard, although the ones that are actually in the paper start
easy on Monday and get hard by Friday.
www.sunspot.net will take you threre.
Many thanks -- I'll give that a go!
Aw, poop: unless I'm missing a link, it's not cryptic. 
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Sorry. I forgot that you said cryptic. Mostly I forgot because I
don't know what it means.
s/ meirman If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis, 7 years
Chicago, 6 years
Brooklyn NY 12 years
Baltimore 20 years |
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Harvey Van Sickle
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 8:01 pm
Post subject: Re: Daily free cryptic crosswords, RIP |
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On 14 Sep 2004, meirman wrote
| Quote: | In alt.english.usage on Mon, 13 Sep 2004 21:11:24 GMT Harvey Van
Sickle <harvey.news@ntlworld.com> posted:
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-snip-
| Quote: | Aw, poop: unless I'm missing a link, it's not cryptic. :(
Sorry. I forgot that you said cryptic. Mostly I forgot because I
don't know what it means.
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A crossword where the clues consist of word-games -- anagrams,
puns, etc. -- rather than synonyms; it's being discussed elsethread...
--
Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for the past 22 years.
(for e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van) |
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graham
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 8:07 pm
Post subject: Re: Daily free cryptic crosswords, RIP |
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"Harvey Van Sickle" <harvey.news@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:Xns95644D56FD0ACwhhvans@62.253.162.205...
| Quote: | On 13 Sep 2004, graham wrote
I do the Guardian crossword each day -- the Telegraph's fair, but not
really difficult enough. (The web ones are an extra -- my
equivalent of a bit of reading before falling asleep.)
--
Cheers, Harvey
When I was a student, I used to do the Sunday Times and/or Observer X-words |
every week and send them in the vain hope of winning the fiver. Did you
hear of the chap who sent his in religiously for close to 50 years without
ever winning? He won with his last entry - notification arriving 3 days
after he died:-(
Graham |
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