A Q&P whinge

[Answerprancer]

What is the point of doing a crossword/quiz then asking other people for the answers ?
I thought the whole point of completing crosswords/quizzes was just that - you complete it, alone, as a personal test of your own knowledge. I feel the same about cheating with dictionaries and thesauruses.
I would understand if the Q&A section was used mostly by people setting questions for us to puzzle over, but when I come here and see that little side bar absolutely crammed with unanswered newspaper crossword or quiz clues, my heart does a mini-sink.
IMO it dilutes all the 'proper' questions or fun and shinanigans in CB.

[mike11111]

Using a dictionary is not cheating. Some crosswords have solutions containing arcane words so having worked out a possible answer it is necessary to check if such a word exists. Often setters wil recommend a particular dictionary, usually Chambers.

[askyourgran]

Not always AP sometimes you have a good idea of the answer so you look it up or if you are online you ask. That is what Answerbank is for, apart from the other topics i.e chatterbank where it is general chat. Hence your requirement to put your grievance with the topic you are referring to.

[bibblebub]

It always gets me when someone asks for a clue to the answer rather than the answer itself - they can't solve the original clue and they want a dumbed-down version so that they can solve that. Any satisfaction from getting an answer that way, thinking that it means that they have solved the clue, is undeserved.

[cazzz1975]

they moan about cbers quite a bit as well..

[gen2]

Wow!
A deep and serious discussion in 'Chaterbank'!
Whatever next?

Maybe we'll even get adverts in the advert section!

[shaneystar2]

Lots of these easy crosswords in the papers ( Mail ,Express etc ) ,the answers can be Googled quite easily but when it comes to the really brain power cryptic ones lots of people have no idea where to begin or fathom out the word play in the clues .Some of them are quite hard ,The Speccie ;The Listener,Guardian, EV and so on .
So those of us that can do them are only too happy to help others .
I'd defy you to complete the one I'm doing at the moment (Azed) without resorting to a dictionary.
Put this to the Q&P mob and see what response you get :-)

[hc4361]

You've obviously never been unable to sleep thinking about that flipping clue.
Quizzers can be obsessives and resorting to asking for the answer is bittersweet - relief at knowing the answer, and kicking yourself for not getting it on your own. It's sooooooo obvious when you know the answer.
Rarely you can feel immense rage at the compiler because the answer is so outrageous how can you be expected to get that!

[askyourgran]

Know the feeling hc, before the advent of Pcs and google I had large reference books out every weekend for the different crosswords.