Comments on: Independent 6467 by Mordred

By: Derrick Knight

Derrick Knight — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 13:40:25 +0000

Re7 down. I bothered to say initially to avoid using an abbreviation not commonly used outside advanced cryptics, for which I have been criticised, When I saw the printed version I wished I had used ‘over a’ instead of ‘initially about a’. Thank you all for your comments. They are always useful. Mordred

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 22:58:54 +0000

Re Wil’s points (23 down) – I don’t think READY can be objected to unless crossing letters cannot have a role, which surely they must. There would be a problem IMHO only if you could find another word that would fit and be consistent with across entries.
(7 down) I think Chambers is used mainly for advanced crosswords so I think it was fair to give the extra indication which was absolutely correct – while the Indy may not use the same sources, the guideline for the Times is that it must be in Concise OED or Collins.
The point made about 25 down seems valid, and I missed that – once I saw alternate letters, I wrote in the entry.

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 22:29:04 +0000

I didn’t like 23 down: only the checking letters stopped it from being RHINO, which was equally possible from the clue. It surely should have given more direction.

And I couldn’t see why in 7 down Mordred bothered to say “initially”. In Chambers “a” is given as an abbreviation for “about”.

What am I missing in 25 down? If you eject the odd characters you are left with the even ones and the word AMNIL.

By: ken owen

ken owen — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 13:56:32 +0000

Karsh was a Canadian photographer. Change K to H

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 13:35:26 +0000

Suitable theme for a Monday perhaps…

By: neildubya

neildubya — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 12:56:23 +0000

11A Also a reference to her song “Rehab” from her last album, Back to Black.

27A Agreed – a bit of an odd one. Like you say, not exactly hidden.

4D I also put HARSH but like you I don’t get the wordplay.

Good puzzle though. It’s not a theme but I liked the fact that RIOJA, HEADACHE and then REHAB all made an appearance.