Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

If quietest is the answer - 18a in DT 25,799 - how does it tie in with the clue?

The Quietest is the one making least sound!

I can see that, but what is the question mark doing at the end of the clue? Also, the \'least sound\' - at least the \'sound\' part of it - is a noun whereas quietest is an adjective. The quietest is of course a noun but the \'quietest\' is not the \'least sound\', unless, as you suggest, you introduce thwe word \'making\'. I feel there must be, or ought to be, a deeper level of subtlety involved which I have not yet spotted. Otherwise I think it is a poor clue. Any thoughts? Hector

Fi,
My opening words \"I can see that\" in reply to your response look like a put-down which it was not meant to be. I should have put in the word \'bit\' or \'much\' after \'that\' or written it differently, or phrased my original question a bit more fulsomely. Apologies. Thank you for replying anyway. Someone in another thread implied that he thought this Saturday\'s DT clues were not as good as usual, and I too feel that some of the clues could have been more interesting. Perhaps he or she was in a hurry; eg 11a and 12a have dots at the end of one and the beginning of the next as though they are connected, whereas the only connection I can see is the word \'ship\'. In the traditions of crossword compiling shouldn\'t the connection be a little firmer than that? Anyway, although I\'ve been at them on and off for forty years there are very few I have ever finished, until, that is, I discovered this site! Regards, Hector

Hector. You are quite at liberty to query the validity of some clues, but I find, like life in general, that not all things are exactly as we would wish to find them. I personally am extremely grateful that crossword compilers are out there: it is not something to which I could readily turn my hand. The solutions are either to shun those publications which dissatisfy you, and/or to shrug off the occasional iffy clue. Try to be positive about the enormous amount of pleasure you hopefully and generally derive from this pastime.

Doctor,

One of the drawbacks of this site is that I have yet to find a way to view the message I am replying to whilst replying to it - I have to remember what you wrote whilst writing this and I have such a poor memory. Done it - I have opened a second window and can now see what you have written. Yes, I can easily forget to be grateful for what is there. Although I would like to I cannot do The Times crosswords for the clues are too obscure so I will be sticking to the Telegraph which over the years - along with the Sunday Times as I knew it thirty years ago - has the sort of clues I like. I felt some of Saturday's clues were out of character. However I still feel sure that there is more to Least sound? = quietest than the suggestion put forward by Fi that the quietest is the one who makes least sound. There has to be, I believe, another level of meaning there to tie it all together. As someone who has spent most of his adult life as a maths teacher I have been immersed in something which is not like life in general insofar that it is perfect and everything does fit together, so I expect that of real life too and of course you are right to point out that life in general is not perfect. Thank you. Regards, Hector