Comments on: Independent 6991/Phi

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 08:19:29 +0000

I must have been just lucky in seeing the association between ‘house’ and ‘parties’ at once to guess 26/27. 1/8 took a little longer to figure out but after that it was all plain sailing and I finished the puzzle quite quickly, thinking it was a nice easy one.

Rayfolwell, methane may not be poisonous in the sense of acutely toxic, but it doesn’t do you any good!

By: Peter Biddlecombe

Peter Biddlecombe — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:09:01 +0000

26/7 took me an absurd amount of time too – but just managed to get them before 16D. Nice to see Brahms without Liszt for once!

By: petero

petero — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:28:06 +0000

Rayfolwell: LUMP (verb) is to clump together, or CAKE

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:19:20 +0000

I think 6 is just a cryptic definition, playing on ‘jam’ as John says.

By: rayfolwell

rayfolwell — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:33:57 +0000

Although I found this fairly straightforward, I thought some of the clues were a bit iffy.
24d – LUMP is not really a definition of CAKE
21a – MARSH GAS is METHANE which is not poisonous.
What is the definition in 6d ? It cannot be FOOD, which would define STRAWBERRY JAM, but not TRAFFIC JAM. If the definition is ‘the preserve of motorists’, what part does ‘food’ play in the clue ?

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:36:04 +0000

Good puzzle, if a little difficult to get 26/27 as they were so close together. In 1 down I read the definition as “one with a mate?”. I read 2 as a casino.