Comments on: Independent 6521 by Morph

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:04:05 +0000

Extra geography lessons needed, it seems.

By: John H

John H — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 10:13:00 +0000

Were BARROW and SETTLE accidental, then?

By: Joins

Joins — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:01:32 +0000

All in all a fairly challenging puzzle this. Loved the RHINO clue though.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:21:29 +0000

It was a very good thematic idea, but probably made the puzzle more difficult by forcing some short words in the centre that I, for one, struggled with at first. But it was very satisfying to solve. And esp after Blair “morphing” into Brown, as Eimi put it, in a puzzle on the day of the handover, you tend to look for a theme with Morph – just a pity I did not spot it all cos, as always with hindsight, it’s all so obvious as I look at the solution grid now.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 09:28:06 +0000

PS I note Morph’s comments, above, I missed the other references – CAPE WRATH I had not heard of but DOVER, DEAL I should have spotted.
Though Land’s End – John O’Groats is much better known of course.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 09:23:17 +0000

Not got the puzzle with me now, but, from memory

a) 18 A thanks, Jetdoc, that completely passed me by – it was the one bit of the clue I did not understand.
c) 22 A LAST RESORT As Land’s End is, I think, what was meant here, it the last holiday resort in the SW.
d) NOR YET was new to me too, but easy from the wordplay and justified, I think, by the Chambers defintion (and also not..)
e) was not 100% sure about that, so relieved to see solution today is correct (as indeed for rest of puzzle).
f) LANDS continued across bottom row with LANDSENDer – this was thematic, I think

By: Morph

Morph — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 09:21:37 +0000

Apologies for any undue obscurity in clueing and theme, especially as the latter isn’t necessarily clear from the printed solution. 22ac. refers, as Neil says, to John O’Groats top right, and Lands End bottom left. 22 down tells you turn left at the end into 30 down, making LANDS END. There are some other bits and pieces in the map, such as CAPE WRATH, DOVER and DEAL in the other corners, which were not needed to solve the puzzle, but which affected the choice of words.

By: jetdoc

jetdoc — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:51:25 +0000

a) 18A nmsindy doesn’t explain. What is this all about? “capped”??

It means ‘in upper-case (capital) letters’. Maybe a bit obscure for anyone who doesn’t do typesetting.

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 22:48:47 +0000

I couldn’t complete this. Which is probably why I feel disgruntled about some of it.
a) 18A nmsindy doesn’t explain. What is this all about? “capped”??
b) 19A I suppose the definition is meant to be “this”, where “scud” is a noun. Seems a bit tenuous.
c) 22A nmsindy doesn’t mention it, so perhaps it’s obvious. I can’t see beyond what seems a very weak cryptic definition.
d) 11D Have never heard the expression “nor yet”, though Chambers does give it, so it’s just me. But does it really mean “Neither, as said previously”?
e) 14D Am less than comfortable with nmsindy’s explanation, though I can think of no better one.
f) 22D I can’t see what’s going on at all. nmsindy refers to 30A yet the clue refers to 22A.