Comments on: Independent 6927 by Punk

By: mhl

mhl — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:28:34 +0000

My father pointed out to me that Hebert Beerbohm Tree also appears in "Gus: The Theatre Cat" by T. S. Eliot: "For he once was a Star of the highest degree- / He has acted with Irving, he's acted with Tree."

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 00:24:49 +0000

Wil (re comment 8), I’d no problems with this, I’ll have to say – I think what you could draw could be a plural item, as here.

Re Tree, yes, I knew him as an actor only from long acquaintance with crosswords.

By: mhl

mhl — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:55:49 +0000

Thanks for that wonderful quotation, Phi

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:18:08 +0000

In 21dn we are asked to see ‘lots’ as ‘something to draw’. But I can’t see how they are equivalent. A lot is something to draw; lots are things to draw.

By: Phi

Phi — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:41:51 +0000

Herbert Beerbohm Tree (to be precise) deserves to survive as the begetter of one of the great theatre criticisms – W S Gilbert called his Hamlet: ‘Funny, without being vulgar’.

Whether that is enough to allow him to appear as a reference in a daily puzzle is a moot point though.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:19:16 +0000

You’ve explained it much better, Eileen.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:39:50 +0000

Sorry, Nmsindy – didn’t see yours!

By: Eileen

Eileen — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:38:20 +0000

Hi Neal

I found the following quotation from ‘The reason of my life’, by Eva Peron, which might be the answer to your query re 4dn.

“Now if I were asked what I prefer, my answer would immediately come out of me: I prefer my popular name. When a boy says “Evita” I feel like the mother of all the boys and all the weak and humble people of my land. When a worker calls me “Evita” I proudly feel like a “companion” of all the men.”

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:36:28 +0000

An excellent puzzle from this talented setter – a little easier than some of his previous ones, I found. Some minor points – in OUTSKIRTS the strik is reversed and I read SHYSTER slightly differently as S HYSTERectomy i.e. half of it. Guessed EVITA straightaway without fully understanding it, but it might have something to do with her being known as the ‘mother of the nation’, I think.

By: Geoff Moss

Geoff Moss — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:18:36 +0000

21d U (film classification, ‘for all to see’) in LOTS (‘something to draw’)