January 30 2012

Salon 13

index Halfway through reading The Sleepers Almanac No 7, a collection of stories from local writers on the make. Some gems among the navel-gazing, including yarns from Jane Dickenson and Susan McCreery (outback angst and suburban veggies respectively), and belly laughs from Ryan O'Neill and Brad Bryant. Though in Brad’s story I came across this puzzle:

‘The [funeral] prayers began and soon my niece started giggling. She was seven and a repeated phrase in Latin sounded like soup and sandwiches.’

My Latin is fair, but not so adept as to know what phrase mimics soup and sandwiches. Do we have a scholar, or high-church Catholic in da house?

Speaking of Latin, you need to carpe Paul’s Prize crossword from last Saturday – a genuine sweetmeat, with a godless 1-Across my pick among many, including a sly Python cameo. Compare this to the Sunday Times, which looked too breezy to bother. (Look forward to a thorny Loroso approaching.)

In toto, carpe what crosswords you can, good people. And share your hosannas and egads here, with a spoiler-cap prior to your lunchtime soup & sandwiches.

Comments

One Wheel — 30 January at 09:34AM

SUPER is Latin for UPON which could be the first word.

RK — 30 January at 09:45AM

'Super semitas' is found in the 23rd Psalm which would no doubt be read at a funeral. It wouldn't be a repeated phrase though.

RK — 30 January at 09:58AM

And speaking of the Times, 9225 on Saturday had the following clue:

Why I see tea, say, ordered differently in Tokyo, for example (4)

Is this bordering on indirect? It's in the Times, so I figure it must be ok, but I was surprised to see a clue like this there.

DA — 30 January at 10:48AM

You could argue the clue as an indirect anagram, but the innovation is my cup of tea.

I'm sure the renegade approach incited debate in the edit suite - but the solution was clear and the formulaic departure refreshing for mine.

Anthony — 30 January at 11:18AM

@RK - I'm more surprised by how lame the clue is. Aside from being blindingly obvious, why pick Tokyo, instead of a city more known for its tea drinkers??! Hello Beijing? Colombo? Anyone home?

Mr X — 30 January at 05:16PM

The weekend Paul was indeed a pleasure although I can't quite get the wordplay underpinning 1 ac.

DA — 30 January at 05:36PM

I have it here:

God is filling a noted hole - thinking to the contrary? = ATHEISM

HE IS in ATM [noted hole!] - and the definition inverts the wordplay, where no god fills that spiritual maw. It's sumptuous.

And thanks too RK for your soup & sandwich serving. Most ecclesiastical of you.

DA — 30 January at 07:01PM

If not too late, pounce on Times 9226 - an exacting delight.

Love the surface story of 22: One blooming break, doctor, and no end of pain (10)

And I did need a Wiki-fillip to confirm 15, which seems a novel extension of the potboiler, once you dig out the derivation.

Tough but satisfying, like a self-respecting crossword should be.

Mr X — 31 January at 09:51AM

Paul's ATHEISM - ah, I was on the way but rejected He = God. Note to self, be prepared to put aside feminist mindset when cracking cryptics.

Mr X — 31 January at 12:51PM

Today's Araucaria is both a joy & remarkably solvable.

Sam — 31 January at 01:41PM

There is part one of an interesting interview with Will Shortz over in Dictionary.com today.

Mr X — 02 February at 01:05PM

Brummie's been impressing me lately, tdoay's effort maintains his recent standard.

DA2 — 03 February at 02:13PM

Playful theme in today's Paul, with 8dn a hoot, and a luscious def in 23.

Two queries - is there an overlooked I in 3dn? And how does the sandwich operate in 18? Lotza fun

Mr X — 03 February at 03:46PM

18 - apparently the amoeba is a member of the Protist Kingdom

3 - "In Court primarily" gives you the i & c, which get mixed in.

Agreed - another top notch Paul.

Boniface — 03 February at 10:23PM

Got the Times out today 9230. Enjoyed 12A and 13A but you'll see the same device used to clue NAY which was a tad disappointing. In all a good puzzle.

Brad Bryant — 04 February at 03:15PM

Hi David. All I know about Latin, if Professor J Lo is any authority, is that floor is pronounced flooooowah. RK might be right about the phrase in question being 'super semitas'. I'd assumed it started with some Latin pronunciation of 'Jesus' -- maybe something that meant 'Jesus our Lord' or something, since it came near the end of the prayer, like some kind of sign-off. Confusion might have sprung by the ambiguity of 'repeated phrase'. A bit of lazy writing on my part. Rather, the prayer (or maybe prayers) containing the words was repeated, with the 'soup and sandwiches' bit appearing towards the end. At the real funeral on which this anecdote is based, my neice started giggling and whispered "he keeps saying sandwiches". After that, we were all listening out for it, and, perhaps with the notion of food already in our minds, heard 'soup and sandwiches'. After a while we were helplessly giggling, mostly because we knew it wasn't even really that funny. I actually did pinch my nephhew to make him cry, and we went outside and laughed ourselves stupid. My nephew was a bit pissed off, and after we returned for the rest of the funeral, there were prayers in English, which I felt obliged to pretend to know. So as I was giving my best performance with 'Our father, mumble murmur murmer...' my nephew stood up on his pew and pointed at me while shouting "You're not saying it!" That set us off again, and we had to go outside and wait for the service to finish so we could join the others for funeral snacks. Naturally, there were sandwiches, and the kids spent the whole time walking up to people with sandwiches in their hands, asking where the soup was, then running away laughing. Anyway, I hope that clears up some confusion. If the story is republished I'll edit that bit to make it clearer.

DA2 — 04 February at 06:25PM

Nice surprise to hear from you Brad - The Author no less. The soup and sandwich stuff wasn't meant as pedantic, just a tasty enigma for the regular gang to solve. And your story was a refreshing trundle through Melbourne life.

(Loved your previous tale too - about the family's trivia fixations. A fine yarn that one.)

DA2 — 04 February at 06:30PM

Meanwhile, back at the B&W coalface, I found today's Crucible a grueller, though rewarding, once you crack the all-important 23dn. Still 6 to get, but found 1dn the key to unlock the whole....

G'luck. How's the Times today?

RobT — 04 February at 07:41PM

Both Times are hard today. Even the easy prize one...