Comments on: Independent 6,988/Virgilius

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:19:29 +0000

You were not alone in that re IOWA, Allan_C. Quite a tricky clue.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 08:31:16 +0000

Another good puzzle, though I got some of the answers without fully understanding the clues. I must have been thick, though, not to get ‘Iowa’ – all I could think of from the checking letters was ‘Iona’ for ‘island’ which made the rest of the clue totally baffling.

By: eimi

eimi — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:03:58 +0000

Watch fire: According to Collins, a fire kept burning at night as a signal or for warmth and light by a person keeping watch.

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:18:33 +0000

Watch fire???

Port watch is I suspect a naval term, one of the watches on board ship.

By: Mick h

Mick h — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:23:54 +0000

I liked FLOOD, with the definition ‘that banks can’t control’.

By: Bracoman

Bracoman — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:09:51 +0000

A very clever puzzle as always from the master. I particularly enjoyed defenestration.

By: conradcork

conradcork — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:16:17 +0000

8 across. Port isn’t necessarily red, so I hesitated before entering it.

By: C.G. Rishikesh

C.G. Rishikesh — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 02:08:29 +0000

1d: ‘or’ in heraldry is the tincture gold. That is why “gold” in crossword clues often yields OR.

By: C.G. Rishikesh

C.G. Rishikesh — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 02:03:54 +0000

19a: (s)CREW, I think. One of the meanings for ‘screw’ in Chambers is “a screw propeller or ship driven by one”.