Sunday, May 6, 2018

Every cryptic crossword composer has his or her own "style" in setting clues, and, as solvers, we get used to the style of a particular composer, like Caroline Andrews. It is very difficult to adapt to the "style" of another composer, like the one who made up today's Guardian cryptic. As well, the "Britishisms" involved may be very unfamiliar to Canadians, an example being today's 9 Across involving FI driver James Hunt (who died in 1993) and British MP Jeremy Hunt, with the further convolution of asking which (witch reported)  Hunt that it is. 16 Across has "evening wear" = dj, which few here would recognize as "dinner jacket". And a large number of very complex clues, like 20 Down, which parses as

ruler = SATRAP
predecessor of Sun...the day before Sunday is Saturday = SAT
King                                                                              =   R
one                                                                                =   A
with power                                                                     =   P

I did submit to the Star the list of names of those who would like to see the return of Caroline, but have received no answer. Will query them again today.