Comments on: Independent 6,946 by Radian

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 11:00:52 +0000

Sorry – perimeter not perimiter. Good thing that wasn’t one of the answers!

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:59:17 +0000

Did anyone else notice that some pairs of adjacent letters around the perimiter formed the two-letter abbreviations of US states – ME near the top right, NY bottom left, also KY, reversed? I wondered if this was going to be a nina, but other combinations don’t work.
I had anticipated a suitably themed puzzle and must confess that I dived for the list of presidents (so conveniently provided by the Indy) as soon as I realised it would help!

By: NealH

NealH — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:14:57 +0000

I guessed Obama for 5 down, but wasn’t very confident. I thought it must be some sort of latin expression, which is always an annoyance for me because it was the language I didn’t study at school. Unfortunately, the latin translator I consulted gave something completely different for “I will love”.

I deliberately avoided getting a list of ex-presidents because I thought that would make it a bit too easy. I’d never heard of Polk, but got it from the wordplay.

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:15:12 +0000

Nice, though like Simon I had a list of American Presidents to refer to. If I hadn’t I’d never have got some of them.

A small point: in 9ac it seems to be 2 defs, ‘dawn’ and ‘cruiser in St P’. So ‘on’ is a link-word, and I’ve never seen it as such before. Don’t like it. But perhaps there’s some other explanation.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:16:58 +0000

APACHE – I think it’s just saying they were there before PIERCE ET AL i.e. all the Presidents.

By: beermagnet

beermagnet — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:22:51 +0000

Thanks for the AURORA link. I didn’t get that and now excuse self for not knowing, but now thanks to you, I do!
I also didn’t get OTTO which I really should have, especially as yet again we have identical answers in simultaneous Indie and Graun puzzles.
One that I wonder if there is more going on is 15A: I’d twigged the day’s theme and strained my brain for a prez – I eventually did get APACHE from the construction, but if the clue is making a point I’m missing it.
Otherwise – good puzzle, good theme, good blog.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:34:47 +0000

Very minor point – in BAGPIPER, just two letters were exchanged from ‘big paper’, which is why the clue put it like that, I guess. Enjoyable puzzle.

By: Ali

Ali — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:53:24 +0000

Let me the first to stick my hand in the air! Took me a while to realise I’m afraid to say, but the penny dropped with 1D.

A great puzzle from a setter who continues to get better all the time. I loved the OBAMA and HOOVER clues.