Comments on: Independent 6,896/Nestor

By: rightback

rightback — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:07:56 +0000

Nmsindy – I believe the first and last across answers (BACHELORHOOD and SINGLE-HANDED) are indeed linked. There are lots of instances of ONE hidden in the grid (forwards and backwards): phENOmENOn, TylENOl, on the mONEy, one in the down unches… perhaps there is more to this.

Incidentally, with ?A?H?????O?? and ‘Person who composed’, I put RACHMANINOFF in without a second thought, which made the top rather tricky!

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:08:51 +0000

I think the ‘Wall Street’ reference was because the word is an American usage.

By: NealH

NealH — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:39:34 +0000

Bizarrely, I found this fairly easy apart from 10 across. Somehow, “money” was far too obvious and I spent ages trying to think of things like balance sheets, stock prices, credit crunches etc. I think maybe the fact that some of the other clues seemed to be alluding to the recent economic problems probably made me read more into it than was there.

I’m not sure what the point of the “Wall Street” in 18 was, apart from adding to the financial theme. Unless I’ve missed something, it’s not part of the wordplay, so doesn’t really seem particularly justified.

I thought 2 down was excellent.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:11:21 +0000

TYLENOL is in the Concise OED.

By: Al Streatfield

Al Streatfield — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:43:50 +0000

Didn’t like TYLENOL

There are no anagrams in it. (See my post on the Crossword Centre Message Board)

By: Duggie

Duggie — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:22:39 +0000

Never mind the long-standing debate on uc/lc, is it fair (or indeed Ximenean) to include a word (Tylenol) that’s not in Chambers or Collins? At least Alar is there.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:33:08 +0000

While there is no black-and-white answer to this, the thinking may be that a word that starts with a capital must always do so, whereas normal words start with capitals if they are in certain positions in a sentence so e.g. the country China can never be china. But there is a element of convention involved, established by long practice, I guess.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:05:57 +0000

It is definitely worth repeating.

I certainly follow that convention where up-capping’s allowed and down- not, but as soon as I start to think about why one’s seen as fairer than the other, I come over all unnecessary. It’s more or less equally misleading, isn’t it?

By: neildubya

neildubya — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:28:00 +0000

It’s definitely worth repeating.

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:07:36 +0000

Backing up what nmsindy says, I think this idea that Ximenes did not allow up-casing of words is a commonly held misconception. From p45 of the Swallowtail reprint of Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword he writes:
“May one use a capital, where it isn’t necessary, in order to deceive? May one abolish one, where it is, strictly speaking, needed, in order to deceive? My answer to the first question is: Yes, at a pinch; but try, if you can, to put the word first in a clue or after a full stop in the course of it. My answer to the second is: No!”
Azed says something similar his recent book.