Comments on: Independent 6805/Math

By: Paul B

Paul B — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:48:18 +0000

You might be right there John.

My thinking was as in ‘I will you’ = ‘I wish to leave you’, plus the other bit.

By: John

John — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:40:37 +0000

Thanks for help and kind comments. I can’t see why WILL (2dn) is a double definition: surely a triple def? Wish = will, to leave = will (in the leaving a will sense, will a verb), a man = Will. Otherwise one or two words are redundant.

By: rayfolwell

rayfolwell — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:10:08 +0000

I found this easier than usual, but the cricket hadn’t started when I tackled it !
14D I think “his” refers to Father Dougherty’s degree being a DD.

2D & 4D presumably refer to the Nina as well.
Maybe William had some 24,26D’s for his birthday.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:07:18 +0000

WILL’s a double def, by the way.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:06:51 +0000

I agree re ‘became’ which would also seem to apply to ‘encountered’ at 17dn – unless the elements are what we as solvers encounter, of course.

26ac what’s ‘on river’s banks’ is what’s either side of word or abbrev for river, in Crosswordland.

14dn DD = a theological qualification, so ‘his’ (Father Dougherty’s).

25dn = hairdo = state of one’s shock (of hair) in Cillaspeak.

As mentioned, great blog, and a very nice puzzle indeed, for my money, in the tres modern stylee. Nice to see an absence of tough words in a puzzle that’s somewhat restricted for gridfill by its (presumably personal?) Nina.

Plaudits to all.

By: Geoff Moss

Geoff Moss — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:01:35 +0000

14d ‘A’ is ‘one’, DD is ‘his degree’. A ‘father’ in the clerical sense could well be a Doctor of Divinity.

By: Pat

Pat — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:54:05 +0000

Terrific blog. I found this extremely tough. A couple of allusions, like tori for doughnuts, and K for Cambodia, that completely escaped me. In 25d, Urdu is a vague homophone for Cilla Black’s broad Liverpudlian pronunciation of “hairdo”, as the word “hair comes out as “err”, shock here being used as an indicator for hair

By: Geoff Moss

Geoff Moss — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:51:31 +0000

4d ‘previous stage for a new act’ = ‘bill’ = ‘a draft of a proposed law’