Fearful Symmetry
◆ · By Normal · Published 10 months ago
Constructor's Note
Fair warning: in keeping with the idiomatic style of the theme subject, some clues are eccentric and not strictly Ximenean!
A Cryptic Crossword in a Cage
Puts all Crosshare in a Rage
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- Aaron Riccio 6:41 · 10 months agoReally tough one for me; the subject matter alone was already tough since I didn't study poetry, but the wordplay takes some big swings:
- 1A: I like the idea of [A after B] to say that the charade is B+A, but [years gone by], while it sounds nice, doesn't feel grammatically correct as a cryptic deletion. To begin with, Y is generally just year, not years. Also, Y is [going from] BY; [gone] is the wrong tense.
- 4A: No idea what's going on here. The typo seems intentional, but then what's getting rid of the [Ma-]?
- 5A: I was trying to make this LLAMA for Nash, but once I stopped looking for DANKE, TY+GER played fair.
- 1D: Solid.
- 2D: No clue. I don't see the definitional part at all; AGING seems like it's in a different tense.
- 3D: I don't know enough about ELGAR but [poem] seems as if it should at the very least be [poet] if not [composer]. I would think, too, that you'd need to indicate an article: [The fish in Spain], for instance.
- Normal constructor · 10 months agoAll fair comments from a Ximenean standpoint, but that wasn’t my goal in constructing the clues for this specific puzzle. The theme is the key here, really—a slight familiarity with Blake is helpful, as all the clues either refer directly to him or use elements of his style. Thanks for playing though! Perhaps it’s worth my tagging cryptics to indicate whether the clues are traditional or more formally playful?
- Aaron Riccio 6:41 · 10 months agoThanks, Normal! And yes, of course, whatever your intent is should always supersede any feedback. I agree that the prevailing notion by most setters will be a Ximenean one, so definitely helpful to note (as you've done) when that's not the case. I think TY+GER was a really nice way to have your poetical cake and eat it too.
- Gem 🤓1:53 · 9 months agoTickled silly by these more playful minis. Will gladly take the strange thrill of a surface resolved through impressionistic, mystical means over the satisfaction of a watertight parsing any day!