Retriever's First Setting
◆ · By Retriever · Published 5 days ago
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- Connor D 30:19 · 5 days agoThis was an interesting puzzle. I really enjoyed it! But there are certainly some issues.First, my absolute favourite thing is 4d. That's a hell of a clue and you should be proud of it.4a is less good - the wordplay looks to be "as shelter, anagrammed" but that leaves out an "s". "sleathers"? Maybe "hides as a shelter is damaged" might make this clue better.9a: I'm not sure how "popular" becomes "IT".27a: I assume "galas" is an anagram of some gangster's name? Anagramming a word that's not given is a no-no, it's not a fair clue.31a: I don't see what "jumpers, of a kind" is doing in the clue. I see that "our group" is "we", and "Spain" - at a stretch - could be "es", but that means you've got a lot of extraneous words mucking up your clue.32a: "Frightfully little" isn't synonymous with "pettier" - it should be "petty".12d: Try as I might, I can't figure out what word meaning "Appearance" can be made out of "camo" and "e".15d: I get that you're finding the difference between sweatshop and sweetshop, but that can't be figured out from the clue.24d: is "upstanding example" meant to give "ge"? I just don't see how.That's a lot of nit-picking. BUT any clue I didn't mention there is a clue I thought was great!
- Retriever constructor · 4 days agoThank you so much, Connor - this is all incredibly helpful feedback. If I may:4a - An embarrassing error on my part! Mea culpa.9a: Think about fashion trends and crowds.27a: The definition isn't 'gangster'...31a: That isn't the whole definition, which I concede is a bit of a reach (hence 'of a kind'). I had thought top-level domain codes and the like would be fair for countries.32a: 'Frightfully little' isn't clueing 'pettier' - one word is a wordplay indicator for a synonym for another12d: There is one, I assure you!15d: That's fair - I realised I was doing something a little unconventional with this clue. Perhaps 'Letter asking for replacement greatly improves this workplace' would be a better indication?24d: The clue is going down. So if the example were to be 'upstanding'...I hope that all makes sense. Again, I really value this feedback on this first 15x15. I wanted to put it out there for advice and a constructively critical audience, and you've given me exactly that!
- Connor D 30:19 · 4 days agoFair enough!4a: I can show you about fifty clues I've set with the same mistake, so don't take it too much to heart :D9a I can understand a bit better, and I guess that's just a cultural difference in language.27a I know that "parties" is the definition, making "gangster, unfortunately" the wordplay - but "unfortunately" is an anagram indicator, and "gangster" isn't an anagram of "galas".31a: I wasn't thinking about TLDs at all, though that's an interesting way of putting it, only that Spanish tends to change a leading "s" to "es", enough that it can be considered a linguistic touchstone. The definition is "wooly jumpers, of a kind", yes? But while ewes can jump, they're not known for it, so it's not really fair to call them wooly jumpers.32a: That's a different problem then. It's unfair to include an anagram of a word that isn't given. If you're going to anagram a word you have to give the actual word in your clues.12d: Found it now :D I'll blame a full workday's damage to my brain for not spotting that.15d: The problem is that there's no way to get "sweatshop" or "sweetshop" from the clue without working backwards. The clue is only understandable from a solved position.24d: I see, "standing example" is a way of saying "E.G". Solid.Still a very enjoyable puzzle, I'm looking forward to your next one :D
- Retriever constructor · 4 days agoThank you. Yes - I think there are a few linguistic/cultural nuances I'll try to iron out for the future. 'Wooly jumper' was a common way of referring to a sheep in my childhood... but perhaps it's best to leave that strange bit of the countryside out of clues that are supposed to be solvable globally!27a: 'unfortunately' isn't doing what you think it's doing! Think about synonyms, and the phrase 'OG'.I already have some other little 5x5 grids up to try - no more mistakes like 4a, hopefully!