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Generalist March Issue (last month)

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taize | 23:59 Thu 27th Mar 2008 | Crosswords
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Has Prospect magazine acknowledged the error in their puzzle?

the answers to last month's puzzle are printed with this month's ....

13a) is given as Goban SAor

10d) is given as ..... AnOnaceae

the capital letters intersect in the puzzle .... BUT the letters are not the same !

How can their be a winner, with such an error?
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Yes I posted the same information on a previous thread regarding March Generalist. A fault like that would mean a null and void competition with the daily and weekend papers.

Funnily enough the winner is from Quorn (or Quornden) which is near the river Soar !!!!

At least there are no Irish names this month.
Google the spelling Goban SOar and seemingly convincing references can be found quite easily. (AnAnaceae is out there, too, btw). I'm not surprised everyone's confused, Prospect magazine included.

The Generalist is a good challenge (as a past winner, I'm biased) but its very nature means there's no single source of reference to determine what's right, wrong or open to debate.

I'd also question what's 'right 'and 'wrong' in relation to Irish names. Orthography and pronunciation vary even within families and communities, which is unsurprising for a language that was brought back from the edge of extinction in the 20th century. It's also had the misfortune to get entangled with English, which is as strange if not stranger.
Well, knock me down with a feather! That's my cover blown - I am that man from Quorn(don), which is indeed on the river Soar. I can't enlighten taize about the apparent clash as I didn't keep a copy of my entry, though it was a topic of debate hereabouts at the time.

There is such a thing as beginner's luck. Many thanks to sarumite for posting the link in the first place. It was a crossword I'd not been aware of before. The prize certainly puts the mini edition of the Times Atlas of the World (recently received from the Times Crossword Club as compensation for all their online access problems) in the shade.

I love you all!
Many congratulations, greyfox..always good to hear of an AB win!

I've been sitting here thinking the only person who can enlighten us is the man from Quorn!

I spent ages on this and decided all the alternative spellings of gob�n saor were misprints, or the names of pubs.

By the way, Ernest Shackleton was born in Kilkea Co. Kildare, not Kilkee Co. Clare...can you remember what you put, greyfox?
Well done on the win greyfox. I'm about 8 miles away from you!
I think most of us puzzled long and hard last month, as to the correct entries for 13a and 10d.

The printed solution was my first "port of call" yesterday, and I was not surprised to see that there had been an error, but was mildly surprised to see that it had not been acknowledged by Prospect Magazine.

Congratulations on your win greyfox ... several past winners have been members of Answerbank, and it's good to see the tradition being upheld.

Just a minor point on this month's puzzle, should the clue for 47a perhaps read "silence heaves" ?
I think it should sarumite ..and I wasn't going to mention the date in 22d!
Quite so slaney, that one caused me grief initially! ;O)
Question Author
the above comments are fine, BUT ...

how can the Prospect Magazine PRINT answers which cannot be fitted into the grid?

Prospect have printed -

sAor and anOnaceae

I am not stating what is the corrrect answer, nor whether there are alternative irish spellings (especially when words are anglicised .... all that is known) .... how can the PRINTED answer be incorrect?

those spellings printed by Prospect clash .... so, it is a nonsense .... how can there be a winner?

either:
the printed answers are inaccurately printed and the answer used by Prospect was sOAR;
or:
Prospect have made an error in compiling the puzzle .... AND, should acknowledge so ....

greyfox .... as you are the 'winner' would you like to tell us the spellings you entered?
taize, if you read the above post from greyfox it clearly states ..
" I can't enlighten taize about the apparent clash as I didn't keep a copy of my entry".

You may wish to e-mail Prospect Magazine concerning their faux pas, their reply should make interesting reading.
Thanks for your kind words slaney, mazie and sarumite.

Just to reiterate, I didn't keep a copy of my solution. My powers of recall are of no use in answering such distant arcane queries. I shan't be putting in a letter of complaint myself. Perhaps it's the luck of this Anglo-Irishman?
Question Author
sarumite greyfox is able to respond for himself (as he did after your 'butting'-in comment .... are you a moderator?) ..... do you remember what answer you sent in?

(these two clues were debated ad nauseam on this site over many days ..... kind of makes 'your answer' stick n the mind?)

I say again .... how can there be a 'genuine' winner to an incorrect crossword?
taize, you ask .... how can there be a 'genuine' winner to an incorrect crossword?

I say again "you may wish to e-mail Prospect Magazine concerning this faux pas".

It appears that you are the only one making an issue of it, so go to the source of the problem, we are unable to give you an answer!


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sarumite you seem keen to follow this thread .....
and respond, but not to the following ......

are you a moderator on this site?

what was your answer - or can't you remember, too?
Looks to me .... that sarumite is trying to closedown discussion on an interesting thread ..... why?

.... �we are unable to give you an answer� .....
are you a spokesman for ABers, sarumite? or a moderator? .... why the use of the 'royal' we word?

Not surprising there are 'AB wins' ..... after all so many answers are posted (normally the hardest) and like this month within 'hours' of the xword being issued .....
I think you're now looking for conspiracies where none exists!

Congrats Greyfox, you followed on from me as the winner and I didn't (for the record) glean any answers from AB tho' I would shamelessly have done so if necessary. I would chalk it up as an AB win, however, because like you I wouldn't have known about it but for the link on here. As for beginner's luck, it was my second entry... so I guess that counts, too.

All crosswords make mistakes or throw up clues or solutions which are open to question now and then - why is this such a big deal?

The simple answer to why/how there can be a winner is that a great many people will have entered, giving the solution their best shot, and it wouldn't have been good enough to declare the comp null and void.

Sarumite is right: ask the magazine if you want clarification. But bear in mind that the editor's decision is, as they always say, final and that it's possible no correspondence will be entered into.

I can remember my answers to this one, btw - they were Goban Soar (knowing it was a probably incorrect variant) and Kilkea.
..and belated congratulations to you bathtub ...it really is encouraging to hear of these wins ...
so much so that this time I am actually going to put my entry in an envelope and post it!
Slaney - just one last point about 35 across

Kilkee is a valid town in atlases and Wikipedia , Kilkea is a typo in Wikiipedia section on Shackleton.

I never totally trust Wikipedia by itself as there are several inaccuracies caused by the ability for almost anyone to change articles.
I think you have made a good point taize -
'sarumite non-response' speaks volumes.

interesting comment bathtub .....
�All crosswords make mistakes or throw up clues or solutions which are open to question now and then - why is this such a big deal?

The simple answer to why/how there can be a winner is that a great many people will have entered, giving the solution their best shot, and it wouldn't have been good enough to declare the comp null and void. �

.... and WHY wouldn't it have been �good enough�to declare the comp null and void? .... in other words for Prospect to have 'owned up' to a mistake

Prospect has printed an inaccurate set of answers, BUT without acknowledging that they have printed two answers which 'intersect' with different letters .... seemingly sly and underhand ......

... and , now at least TWO further errors in the clues for this month -

47a) 'silence Leaves' should be 'silence Heaves'

22d) '1835' should be '1855'

some very shoddy workmanship
Hi Kulatron..I didn't use Wikipedia, but my encyclopedias and my Irish Brewer's, as well as several
more authoratative net sources such as this..
.http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9067041/S ir-Ernest-Henry-Shackleton
they all gave Kilkea Castle..Kilkea as his birthplace.



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