Thursday, 20 March 2014

knowledge - On a puzzling spree


This puzzle is part 18 of Gladys' journey across the globe. Each part can be solved independently. Nevertheless, if you are new to the series, feel free to start at the beginning: Introducing Gladys.







Dear Puzzling,


I had a big, history-themed tour today. There are so many fascinating things to see that it can get pretty overwhelming.


I have to admit that lately I've been spending a lot of time on a relatively small area. I have to pick up the pace a little for the rest of the trip. The final destination is still far away.


The answer to this one consists of two common 6-letter words. Have fun!


Wish you were here!
Love, Gladys.






enter image description here


Across
1. Required for shooting
5. Webpage styling
8. Elementary's Watson
9. Where Europe ends
10. Not least
11. A long-legged Australian

12. Spoken in Southern China
14. King of tragedy
16. Not Unix
18. Gandalf actor and 007 creator
21. Between ready and fire
22. Dracula heroine
23. Knife strike
24. Parental Arabic letter


Down
1. The enemy of my enemy

2. Disappeared soldier
3. Personified inspiration
4. Not closeted
5. A First Nation
6. Halfling gardener
7. Insult
13. A foot or a stone
14. A foot or a hand
15. Fell for Vronsky
16. Type of astronomical giant

17. Danced with John to Chuck Berry
19. – and abet
20. Unhappy Arabic letter





Gladys will return in "Drums and punctuation".



Answer



The solved grid:



enter image description here

I've highlighted the two words making up the solution: MUSEUM ISLAND.



Some feedback on crossword cluing:



A lot of the clues don't really work according to regular crossword rules -- they describe actions that specific people do or qualities that something has, but don't really define it. For example, "Required for shooting" cluing AMMO -- that should be "Thing required for shooting". AMMO is a noun, so the clue has to be a noun too: in crosswords, clues should match in part of speech. Several of the clues here have this problem: 1A, 12A, 16A, 21A, 15D, and 17D.

Also, 2D and 5D have the opposite problems (cluing adjective answers as if they were nouns).

Some other nitpicks: Clues that define by examples (like 18A, 13D, and 14D) need to have something along the lines of "..., maybe", "..., perhaps", or "..., for some" at the end as well. 1D is a bit questionable as well, because the phrase being referred to specifically does not end in "ally".



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