Comments on: Independent 6,930 by Mordred

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:32:23 +0000

Barbara, e = base has been a staple in crosswords for a long while back. Agreed however that you see it less today. With calculators and computers, maybe people are less familiar with it now, but I think those studying advanced post-graduate courses in mathematics would be studying far more abstruse items which I’d hope never to see in puzzles.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:04:32 +0000

Re: Brezhnev
It’s not reasonable to expect even the most intelligent solvers to know that “base e” is a mathematical constant, unless one has taken an advanced post-graduate course in mathematics.
I googled it but I confess I didn’t understand the article, nor did learn what “e” is used for.
Fortunately I’ll never need to know.

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:19:55 +0000

19ac I think that when I looked at this puzzle I thought there was an error here rather than a homophone. However, as I do the puzzle on-line I no longer have the clue to hand to confirm that it was probably me not seeing the indicator.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:31:00 +0000

Tough puzzle, excellent wishes reciprocated. I think EREMITES is more than a cryptic definition i.e set i mere all reversed &lit.

By: eimi

eimi — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:20:29 +0000

Happy New Year to all. To respond to a comment made yesterday on the Guardian puzzle’s blog, I’m not in the habit of making Ninas explicit, and I’ve no intention of dumbing down (which I hope nmsindy’s analysis of last year’s puzzles bears out to some extent, if we’re harder than the Times), but as the Nina in this case was intended as a message to all solvers, and there are some solvers who wouldn’t know what a Nina was or where to look for it, I decided to make use of the colour available in the online version – I couldn’t find an easy way of doing the same in the printed version (and, by the way, I’m making an early bid for the longest sentence on fifteensquared this year). I’m also hoping it may encourage such solvers to look for such things in future puzzles.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:24:16 +0000

So you’re not really the next Dr Who, then Geoff? What a disappointment!

By: Geoff Moss

Geoff Moss — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:17:55 +0000

Eileen
Beermagnet is right. This blog was originally posted yesterday and, being up early, I added my comment. It was subsequently found that a mistake had been made and that the puzzle on the Indy website was the one intended for today. This blog was therefore rescheduled accordingly and my original comment remained with it.

By: beermagnet

beermagnet — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:58:55 +0000

This puzzle was available online yesterday morning before the correct Dac puzzle was uploaded. I suspect that is somehow the reason for Geoff’s apparent time travel. I did it yesterday morning unaware of the mistake. The Nina on the circumference was picked out in a delicate light blue shade. It certainly helped indicate the Nina without necessitating a preamble, and the Nina certainly helped me – e.g. I got BREZHNEV mainly from the V and still wondered about that “Intermittently, a Czech” delivering ZH. Unfortunately that shading isn’t showing on today’s online version.
I haven’t got the paper yet today – does that have shading, preamble or nothing?

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:32:27 +0000

Geoff Moss: I knew you were good at crosswords but didn’t know you had such prodigious foresight!!

By: Geoff Moss

Geoff Moss — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 07:25:19 +0000

18a MAIL[boat] – a ‘packet’ is ship or vessel employed in carrying packets of letters, ie a mailboat

1d atmosphere (mood) with atm (cash dispenser) changed to ion (part with charge)