I love cryptic crosswords. There is extreme satisfaction is completing a cryptic, especially if the clues are clever. I do The Age cryptic nearly every day but the one I look forward to, sometimes with dread, is the friday puzzle. David Astle composes these teasers and his clues are either very clever or sometimes ridiculous. Last friday appeared the following clue. The brackets indicate two words, 6 letters and 4 letters.
2330 + 3418 = 2880 (6,4).
This had me stumped for more than a day. Being mathematically minded I knew that the sum was wrong, so maybe it involved roman numerals or you typed the numbers into a calculator and see if they spelled an upsidedown word. None of this worked. Sometimes answers come at the strangest moments. I worked it out while jogging around an athletics track. The answer was Broken Hill. Why? 2330 = postcode for Broke in NSW, 3418 = postcode for Nhill in Victoria, put together spell BrokeNhill, 2880 = postcode for Broken Hill. I liked this clue.
Another clue that I like was the following which I saw years ago.
__ (8). Answer: Clueless.
I'll have to add to this when I can remember some more favourites.
I've found the following blog that also talks about the infamous David Astle.
Friday the thirteen
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3 comments:
On this blog ... how'd you figure that out? postcodes ... superb
I'm happy to see you're back in the swing of things ... here's a link I thought you'd be interested in, it's a review of a book written by Richard Dawkins that expounds the benefits of atheism, or more precisely the scourge of religion.
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7939629
A religiously minded person might call it the atheists' bible, but that would be missing the point completely.
Stallion,
I have heard of the Richard Dawkins book and I have just downloaded his TV show, The Root of All Evil, which is about the same thing. I'll be watching it shortly.
Now there's a coincidence. The day you link to my blog is the day I watch Network. (Albeit again.)
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