The Times 28248

[TioMateo]

2Dn :- Add extra material to half of Wagner's Ring, perhaps (7) L?R?N?R.

Having received no response to my question re The Week 1304 (wrongly cited as The Week 1234) at 18.29 this evening, I am concerned that I may have unwittingly broken some form of protocol or unwritten rule by having made a mild criticism of the setter of The Week crossword. If that is the case, I want to apologise profusely - it won't happen again.

I would still be grateful for help in being able to parse 12Ac to which the answer may be STRONG SUIT, but I can't see why.

[JimF]

Lardner

[JimF]

12a

You seem to have omitted a very important part here...

[Neveracrossword]

2 D is Lard, add extra material to (speech or writing) + Ner, half of Wagner .Ring Lardner was a famous writer( I think!)

[TioMateo]

Thank you JimF for both your responses. I confess to feeling a bit lost about both of them : I don't understand LARDNER, and I don't understand what "You seem to have omitted a very important part here ...." means, with reference to 12Ac. I am trying to apologise, but seem to be digging a deeper hole for myself in doing so. PLease could you explain what I have done/omitted to do.

[JimF]

Well, you've asked for help in parsing the answer to a clue, but you have not said what the clue is!

[JimF]

Neveracrossword has already parsed 2d for you.

[Captain2]

Jim, Tim refers to his earlier post at 18.29, which has full details of the clue and his query.

[JimF]

How was anyone supposed to know that?

[TioMateo]

Thanks for your support Captain 2. After all the heat rather than light, it would still be good to get the parsing of STRONG SUIT in The Week 1304 as the answer to "Good case for protective clothing in clubs perhaps". (6,4) S???N? S?I?

[JimF]

Good = strong
Case = suit(case)
Protective clothing = strong suit
Clubs = strong suit (in bridge)

[TioMateo]

Thank you Jim F for trying to resolve my query.

Clubs, in bridge, is actually the WEAKEST of the four suits (Spades, Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs in descending order), which means "clubs perhaps" should not be identified as the Definition. I believe the intended Definition is actually "Good case" and that Strong Suit is poor wordplay. I also don't think it is reasonable to suggest "suit" is synonymous with case.

All in all, I just think it's a poor clue - but thank you for at least for eventually attempting to answer my question.

[Neveracrossword]

I hope Lardner went down well....

[TioMateo]

Thank you, Neveracrossword. I would never have got that on my own. I have to say that an American sports columnist and short story writer who died in 1933 is pretty obscure and arcane. How come you have heard of him - or did you just crack the wordplay and thought the answer might be a writer?

[Neveracrossword]

TioMateo, sorry - I have just seen your post. Yes, the parsing (Lard+(Wag)Ner) meant Ring in the clue must have been there for a reason...so I researched/Googled that.