Comments on: Inquisitor 78 – Closely Packed by Kea

By: Kea

Kea — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:57:58 +0000

I don’t mind at all – in fact it was by accident that I posted the first response as Nestor instead of Kea. And I forgot to mention that it was the ODQ wording I used, even though it doesn’t ring quite true.

Chambers defines “in” as “alight” (adverb), ie “burning”, as in “Is the fire still in? No, it’s gone out.” It’s a familiar usage from my childhood (since when I haven’t lived anywhere with a functioning fireplace).

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:51:26 +0000

Nestor is Kea, I’m sure he won’t mind my saying.

In a very recent Crossword Club entry, Schadenfreude explained he did not have access to the Internet.

When Nestor’s first Indy daily cryptic appeared a year or so back – it had AKA KEA hidden in the grid.

By: Duncan Shiell

Duncan Shiell — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:14:44 +0000

Thanks to Nestor (presumably Schadenfreude) for the correction from INCAS to INCAN,and to Holy Ghost for the correcting parsing of INTUBATE. I should have spotted INCAN myself.

I’m afraid my version of ODQ predates Eric Cantona’s mutterings. I’ll have to consider an updated version.

Congratulations to Ray Folwell on the prize!

By: rayfolwell

rayfolwell — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:48:02 +0000

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations has the quotation that is used in the puzzle.

A bottle of Olive Oil arrived at the Folwell household today !

By: HolyGhost

HolyGhost — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:35:56 +0000

INCAN was fine – and as 23A was the only ‘vanilla’ across clue, this stood out as thematically very relevant.

In 20A, TUB for “barrel” is also fine (Chambers gives “barrel: wooden container made of curved staves bound with hoops”; “tub: open container, orig. of wooden staves and hoops”), but I felt that IN for “burning” was a bit iffy, rationalising them as loosely synonymous with “topical”.

By: Nestor

Nestor — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:40:17 +0000

In 20A the definition is “Insert a pipe into” (not just “insert a pipe”, as “intubate” is transitive) and the wordplay is IN (= burning, as a fire) + TUB (= barrel) + ATE. “Barrel” is perhaps a bit loose for “tub”, but it’s too late now!

The answer to 23A is INCAN, with the wordplay referring to thematic sardines being closely packed IN a CAN. This was intended as a hint for the quotation.