Comments on: Independent 6960 by Mordred

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:16:37 +0000

I should have explained PHOEBE more fully in the blog – it’s a type of bird as well as a girl’s name. I thought THREEPENCE was OK as the clue said ‘price of an opera’ i.e. leading to the noun rather than the adjective. After the theme was explained, I Googled “I’m Not There” and all the info re the film came up. Kicking myself that I did not do so before posting!

By: Al Streatfield

Al Streatfield — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:36:43 +0000

Very difficult.

Didn’t understand clue for PHOEBE

Thought the clue for COPPER was weak and didn’t have much confidence in putting it in, although it couldn’t really have been anything else.

Haven’t seen the film, so didn’t understand the nina.

Some good clues…

Slightly unfortunate that ETHOLOGIST could also have been THEOLOGIST and THREEPENCE would have made more sense as THREEPENNY

NUMBER TEN required specialist knowledge of rugby

There’s two CLOTHs in it (TEA CLOTH and OILCLOTH)

Thought the &lit. element in TEA CLOTH was weak and the &lit. element in VEINLET was slightly weak because, as has been pointed out, VEINLETs are found in other parts of the body as well…

By: eimi

eimi — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:44:22 +0000

Obviously Bob Dylan appeals to setters, which isn’t too surprising, I suppose, as he does amazing things with words too.

By: mhl

mhl — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:32:45 +0000

Eimi: I was just remarking that it was an odd coincidence, and wasn’t intending to suggest there was anything untoward. (I suppose I should know from reading Hugh Stephenson’s newsletter that I should explicitly make it clear that I’m not a conspiracy theorist!)

By: eimi

eimi — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:23:59 +0000

Just to clarify – Mordred submitted this puzzle in early November, before the Guardian Genius puzzle appeared. I was aware of the Guardian version, as I had rejected it when submitted for the Indy as too esoteric for a daily puzzle, relying as it did on knowledge of the film. In this case it was a Nina, not crucial to the solving of the puzzle, although I’m sure it would have made it easier for anyone who twigged it early on. I saw no reason to deprive Indy readers of a perfectly good puzzle simply because it had a Nina on the same subject as an online Guradian puzzle’s explicit theme published over two months earlier.

By: mhl

mhl — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:50:28 +0000

I found this very tough. It’s rather odd that this theme should come up as a theme in the Independent so shortly after it was used as the basis for a puzzle in the Guardian Genius.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 13:11:41 +0000

nmsindy has acknowledged his weakness re films in the past, all that is completely new to me, though a fan of Bob Dylan in the days way back.

By: Derrick Knight

Derrick Knight — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 13:11:33 +0000

Don’t forget Heath Ledger. Derrick

By: Mick h

Mick h — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 11:46:03 +0000

I agree, this was pretty hard, though not helped by things like putting THEOLOGIST and THREEPENNY. The nina refers to the film, in which 15 and 25ac and 14 and 16dn all played Bob Dylan.
I think 19dn was + lit, V+E(ach)+INLET, the whole being a small part of an arm (or any other bit of the body, for that matter).