Comments on: Independent 6929 by Dac

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 08:40:33 +0000

A belated comment (not having tackled the puzzle till late on New Year’s Day). Single squares on the perimeter of a puzzle arouse suspicions of a nina, but I didn’t spot this nina till I’d completed the puzzle, when three Js led to Jul, Jan and Jun and set me looking for the others. Very neat! And a Happy New year to all!

By: Mike Laws

Mike Laws — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:46:34 +0000

I did spot the Nina, having been puzzled by the Js and the untypically (for Dac) designed grid – there had to be a reason for it. In fact the Nina helped me finish the puzzle.

By: eimi

eimi — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 03:07:54 +0000

I guessed that as people don’t expect a Nina in Dac puzzles they wouldn’t spot one here, but I think that as well as an uncharacteristic puzzle this is also the first time Dac has responded to comments on this site. Happy New Year to all setters and solvers, whether they be bloggers, commenters or lurkers.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 02:03:03 +0000

Well done and many thanks for the explanation! Much appreciated and very good. Happy New Year and looking forward to your puzzles in 2009. I’d suspicions about the JJJJ as the blog indicates but did not see its full richness. With hindsight I see the theme contributed to 3 of the 4 Js but what you say has explained all else and why there were unusual words in the grid. I can only speak for myself but Eimi was right! Great that all was explained tho. What convinced me (wrongly) to look no further was the RING OUT RING IN part as thematic and that Dac does not normally feature Ninas but the less than usual checking left me suspicious and I thought the needs of those entries was maybe why. Definitely not obvious to me anyway, Dac. Thanks again.

By: dac

dac — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:30:14 +0000

There is a theme. Each across answer (apart from the first and last) contains the abbreviated version (or in the case of May, the full version) of a month of the year. Eimi felt that no-one would spot this Nina’, whereas I thought it would be obvious. Clearly the Editor was right. Back to my non-thematic puzzles from next week! Happy New Year.

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:09:35 +0000

My suspicion is that — only because of the time of year — Dac was trying to get a little Nina in, but failed to do so, and stuck with the words he already had. Perhaps he was trying for J down the left and I (= 1) down the right. Perhaps not, as that might be difficult.

By: mhl

mhl — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:18:36 +0000

Oh, of course – thanks. For some reason I was thinking it was (3,4)…

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:15:23 +0000

I think it’s ‘in that place’ = THEREIN

By: mhl

mhl — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:12:36 +0000

I found this rather difficult, but maybe I’ve just run out of brain after this morning’s Guardian. Could someone explain what the definition is in 19 down (THE REIN)?

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:30:34 +0000

This puzzle is now online after a brief preview of tomorrow’s puzzle.