I've created another venue here for the convenience of the few who might need it. Ask (and answer) questions in the Comments section of this post.
p.s. - the embedded grid is for the May 2011 puzzle.
Update: The first 8 comments apply to the June puzzle; the next 12 are for the July one, then a couple for the August one
Second update: Commenting now open for the September puzzle.
Third update: Post queries and hints for the October "New Words" puzzle.
Fourth update: Post queries and hints for the November acrostic-type "Taking Steps" puzzle.
Fifth update: Post queries and hints for the December "3 Down and Counting" puzzle. (p.s. I've stopped boosting this post to the top of the blog each month because so few people use it; those who want to share queries and answers can find this post with a quick search).
Sixth update: Arrived today - anyone need hints?
I need help with 32 down: "Bob's lost his head getting some shells (6)." The only entries that seem to fit are "eights" and "ergots", and I can't seem to derive either of those words from the clue.
ReplyDeleteAnswer or hints appreciated...
Eights are shells as in rowing. Bob is presumably a weight. -head +s
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kniffler!
ReplyDeleteanyone have 1 down?
ReplyDelete"Appeach" is constructed by combining ("a") + a duet of "pianos" (pp) + "for one"= "each".
ReplyDeleteExcellent! How about 1 across?
ReplyDeletehaving trouble with 1 across-any help welcome
ReplyDeleteI'm away from my desk now, where I left the solved puzzle. As best I can remember on 1-across, the construction is "A" + "U" (the "initiation" of U-niversity) + a "translation" (anagram) of "based" to yield a word meaning poetry by a troubadour - but I can't remember the word, which was quite unfamiliar to me before I worked it out. I think it was "aubades."
ReplyDeleteIn the July Puzzle, "Coordination", I'm stuck on Clues 4 and 21. I think I have the rest of the puzzle, but there may be some crossing errors throwing me off. Or the answers may be words unknown to me
ReplyDeleteNot positive until I get crossing words, but 21 looks like record (EP) in sperm (SEED) to create SEEPED ("gradually got through"). "One on one with female" probably puts it at F-11 across.
ReplyDeleteFor #4, SIRE ("king's address") is held backwards inside C-E ("decentralized commune") to generate CERISE (a "red"). Located at "to be" = 2B (across).
ReplyDelete:.)
I need help with two entries so I can get started blogging.
ReplyDelete#18 seems to be "wart" (flaw, start of "wart"ime), but I can't see how the "8-A" starting point is cued from "hate G.I. organization."
#29 I have as "debt" with T-bill and BED going backwards. But how is the "1-A" starting point indicated?
Thanks in advance.
As to #4 & #21, slap my forehead, and thx. I had the locations of the answers shifted one square over. E.g., for #4 I had a_eri_ instead of_eri_e.
ReplyDeleteI like the blog, and this is the only part of it I've looked at yet.
And as to #18, "organized it's" is a tip that "hate gi" anagrams to eight; "a" follows. In #29, "so near" embeds "one a" (it's out of bounds). "bill" is the definition, "debt" comes from taking the love, "o" out of "to bed" and reading it back(wards).
ReplyDeleteFor years I've worked these and submitted correct solutions to Harper's. 2 or 3 time I've won subscriptions. I wouldn't have got this one without ur help, so I won't submit it
ReplyDeleteAh, thank you! And my other blog readers thank you, for allowing me to get done with the puzzle and back to blogging! I'm never happy until the puzzle is done.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't the clue at #34 end with ". . . withOUT diplomacy"?
ReplyDeleteI guess you could look at it either way - it's "i-con" when you take OFF the "tact", but it makes "eye contact" WITH the addition of "tact."
ReplyDeleteHello. This is my first time trying one of these puzzles, so I'm glad I found this page. You two seem good at this. "HEDONISM" seems to go at F5, but I don't understand how "loud quintet" leads to that placement. Any explanation?
ReplyDelete"Loud" is often used in cryptic puzzles as a marker for the letter "f" because the musical notation for loudness is expressed with that letter.
ReplyDeleteThe "quintet" refers to the number 5, so HEDONISM starts (downward) at F5.
Enjoy. Harper's provides one of the best (and most challenging) cryptic puzzles available in this country.
:.)
Here begin the questions/answers for the August puzzle.
ReplyDeleteI need help on one. For the seven-letter clues, "e" ["Going back and forth inside, saw the front off wood] is I believe 13 across, and the _wa_ing seems best filled in with "swaying."
The definition works fine, but I can't quite "construct" the answer using "inside, saw the front off wood." What's the "wood" that needs a first letter dropped?
I think it's using "saw" as a definition for "saying", so "Inside 'saying', the front off wood".
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have any idea how many responses they get each month? I'd have to think it's a relatively small group, but I've submitted answers for years (going back to when The Atlantic had them too) without winning.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eric!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I have no idea how many responses they get; I also used to submit, but gave up when I decided I was spending too much on postage.
Here beginneth the questions/answers for September's "Fill in the Blanks." I thought 41D was a particularly clever clue.
ReplyDeleteThis one took me longer to make any headway in than last month's. Finally down to my last clue: 38D. "Pool holdings to accommodate a bit of backgammon or dice, e.g. (5)." I have C_RES but I don't understand how any of the words I could make with that would address the clue.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Minnesotan -- it was interesting to see the last tip you gave me (loud = F) show up in this puzzle again. Thanks for your help.
Oh, nevermind, I see my mistake.
ReplyDeleteJeremiah - here's a real present for you to enhance your enjoyment of cryptic puzzles.
ReplyDeletehttp://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2010/01/clues-for-building-words-in-cryptic.html
Enjoy!
Begin here for questions, hints etc. for the October "New Words" puzzle.
ReplyDelete(11 across I thought was a rather weak clue.)
No one needed help with the October puzzle, so now it's time to tackle the acrostic-style November one.
ReplyDeleteIt's a clever matrix, but you won't get much feedback from it in tackling the clues until you get it about halfway full, at which point everything will tumble into place quickly.
Just finished the December puzzle. It's a pretty routine puzzle with standard constructions; for me the hardest entries were 31D (the answer is NOT the name of a city) and 22A (which taught me something about bullfighting).
ReplyDeleteIs this still going? Seems to have ended with 2011. I'm stuck on 38D of September 2012; I need the god, or a hint, or -- I have no pride -- the answer.
ReplyDeleteIt's still going in the sense that I'm still figuring out the puzzles; but I haven't bumped it to the front page for a long time because it seemed that interest declined.
Delete38D was one of the last ones for me too. Obviously the "in as an" had to be "broken" for anagramming, but I couldn't figure out the other 3 letters.
I got the rest after I finally saw in 42 across that D_A_A had to be "Diana." That gave the 5 missing letters from 38D. Even then I still had trouble.
STOP HERE or see more clues below...
It took more fiddling to figure out that the scrambled "inasan" were "under"lying "elected" (IN) Demorat (D).
Now I think you can reassemble who the states-men are.
btw, I thought 10A Write [to wel]come, but "come off" = drier was a very cleverly designed clue.
Thanks. I see you're right, but for 42A I had __D_A.. So I guess I'm now stuck on 27D and 2D.
DeleteI agree with you on 10A.
27D was also one of the last ones I got. I figured it had to be an anagram of "grantee" (wrongly), and it was, but I think the definition part "ruler out" is rather weak.
DeleteI can give you the answer, or you can fill in from your crossing clues that a person who "rules things out" is a _ _ _ _ _ _ _.
For 2D, "trial" and "i.e." are anagrammed ("crooked"), then put between A and Z. The tricky thing is that for "Z" he wants you to use "zed." Then in front of that is a three-letter abbreviation for one of the two major US political parties. So, _ _ _ A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Z E D. The definition of "disappeared without a trace" is straightforward.
I bet you can get it now.
btw, if you want to briefly post an email address here (or send an email to my email address in the bio sketch in the right sidebar), I'll send you some useful stuff I've compiled over the past about 25 years of working these puzzles.
Then I'll delete your comment with the email.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThe material is in the (e)mail to you. Enjoy.
Delete