Comments on: Independent 6640 (Mass)

By: petebiddlecombe

petebiddlecombe — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:54:51 +0000

Mass is one of the setter names I fear most. I fell 6 short of finishing this. Make it 7 – part of my problem was putting ASTI,R where I should have put ALE,RT.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:56:59 +0000

25ac was tricky with a lot of ?I?E alternatives, but I also went for FILE in the end. Some excellent clues here as usual from Mass – the favourite being FIRST-RATE which was so cleverly misleading. T for tenor is a staple in advanced crosswords, not sure if you see it so much in the daily cryptics.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:51:06 +0000

And finally 15d – maybe it’s an &lit, with NAG=VIRAGO in the wordplay.

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:40:29 +0000

Isn’t it Mass, and not Math (at least according to my paper?)

For 25ac I went for FILE – as in box-file, and the tool, though I wasn’t convinced.

Yes, I started out thinking this would be easy enough, but a couple of tricky ones in there – 8ac, 11ac, 14ac for me. Spent too long thinking 17ac was the name of a Greek island…

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:39:50 +0000

PS 19A – T is indeed a standard musical abbreviation for Tenor, as for example in SATB =Soprano/Alto/Tenor/Bass

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:37:26 +0000

24d “Just fail to grab” = ANNEX less last letter

For 8A, “A” must be the definition.