Comments on: Independent 6509/Tomohiro

By: neildubya

neildubya — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 21:16:40 +0000

And with that, comments on this post are now closed.

By: Tomohiro

Tomohiro — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 20:34:06 +0000

Mr Manley’s assertion that the puzzle is ‘full of obscure words and difficult clues’ is meant simply to amuse, I’m sure.

Of the 47 required words and phrases, only one that isn’t either a legit place name (of which there are four: that little-known island of Sark, Maine University’s Orono, Rivoli in Italy plus Somerset’s Meare) or legit proper names (world-famous Elvis, world-famous General Haig, world-famous Aeneas, world-famous Princess Ida, plus the quite famous Gupta dynasty and Gunther, one-time King of Burgundy associated – quite famously, via Wagner – with Siegfried) is not found in either Collins of Chambers.

FYI, that one is ADORAL, in SOED (to which the likes of Manley ought to be no stranger) and I’d like to know how DORA in AL, for example, is ‘obscure clueing’.

So, possibly – and with the greatest possible respect – perhaps it’s his solving skills that are at fault rather than the crossword, especially on a Bank Holiday weekend when solvers might expect the puzzles to jump up a couple of gears. Historically of course, it’s the case absolutely.

And as a setter of some experience, he should realise that where a thematic grid icon (possibly never before seen in a daily blocked puzzle?), plus 36-letter thematic Nina, plus 19-letter thematic answer … need I go on? … require accommodation, it is not always possible to make every entry a word one’s children would know. And as I’ve tried to point out gently to him above, there aren’t too many tough words here beyond cru, est, ecco & Efta – especially for the Bank Holiday challenge.

For APW – whoever you are – I hope I’ve managed to defend myself on this point without appearing ‘riled’: I do however reserve the right to defend myself – especially in response to ‘criticism’ that’s blatantly unfair, and perhaps designed to provoke.

By: Fletch

Fletch — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:31:57 +0000

Well if it took you 2hrs and you couldn’t finish it I shudder to think!

By: Quixote

Quixote — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:02:48 +0000

I wasn’t defending MEARE. It’s just a strange coincidence that I know this TINY TINY place AND DIDN’T NEED AN OS MAP FOR THE AREA!! However, this wasn’t the hardest clue to solve in a puzzle full of obscure words and difficult clues. It would be interesting to know waht Joe Nonblogging Everyday Solver made of it!

By: Al Streatfield

Al Streatfield — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 18:21:49 +0000

Re. 12 (by Tomohiro): I couldn’t do the puzzle because all the newsagents appeared to be shut by the time I went to buy an Independent (it being a bank holiday).

Re. 13 (by Quixote): MEARE seems to me far too obscure for an answer in a daily, even a bank holiday one, even if Quixote knows it. ADORAL ditto. (And ORONO)

Re. 15 (by Derek Harrison): He says: “The puzzle was a cracker because of its hidden message and the unique grid with the space of an invader in the middle”. I do crosswords because the clues are good not because it has a cute grid (whose central image and message led in this case to an excess of clues and short and overchecked answers, and, paradoxically, a couple of almost unsolvable clues). Here, judging by most of the comments on the clues, it didn’t have good ones.

By: APW

APW — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:35:12 +0000

So it seems to be OK to praise the puzzle but any criticism seems to rile the compiler…

By: fgbp

fgbp — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:08:42 +0000

Firstly,
Let’s not be TOO hard on today’s blogger, if it wasn’t for whom we would have no website.
When i buy the Indy I always look at the puzzle as I lift the paper from the shelf (sad but true!) Today I nearly dropped the paper in astonishment. I wondered if the puzzle would contain something special enough to justify the bizarre grid and profusion of short answers. The answer afaic is a resounding “Yes”. Thanks to nmsindy (you rotter!) I spent ages trying to find how to fill in the “eyes”.
The clues weren’t entirely to a Ximenean’s liking but IMO they were all perfectly fair and the long anagram was lovely. I’d probably never have spotted the message if I hadn’t wondered on the choice of MEARE as an answer (THESESPA had looked promising in the top row already)
So thank you Tomohiro, whoever you are

By: Tomohiro

Tomohiro — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 13:00:45 +0000

SOED.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 12:58:11 +0000

Thanks for those explanations which clear everything up – some very subtle but finding the message gave me the answers, though not all understood. Seeing that message was a great moment.

An incredible grid construction with the very long message fit in as well. ADORAL is not in Chambers but Google verified it (in US dictionaries, I think)

By: Tomohiro

Tomohiro — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:28:46 +0000

Since you’ve now effectively blogged it:

the EAST idea is street under water; ORB is ‘in passing (OBiter) about (e.g. around) radius (R)’; HAI you would not find in Chambers as it is a Japanese word, and it was flagged like the bloomin’ Hinomaru. Has anyone evr bothered to moan about the likes of OUI/ JA (we normally see ‘European affirmatives’, or something like it)? K for weekend is, I concede, the sort of thing that infuriates ‘Ximeneans’, but it’s considered by Ruth Crisp (that well-known, cutting-edge ‘Araucarian’) to be absolutely bog-standard crosswordese; lastly NORTH – is the Iran-Contra scandal now totally forgotten? I don’t think so.

For that poster who couldn’t see the hidden message, a hint: it’s a down-unch thing.