Comments on: Independent 6996 by Mordred

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 08:00:22 +0000

Brilliant bit of misdirection in 26. It had to be ‘irate’ but having assumed IR (Inland Revenue) to be the taxman bit I couldn’t figure out the rest of the clue. But as for…
Squall – Doh!
Mantissa – Doh!
Galatians – Doh!
Sinatra – Doh!

By: eimi

eimi — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:56:49 +0000

No pressure on Phi, then.

Thanks to all. Glad you’re enjoying them. We aim to please.

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:20:11 +0000

Managed to solve it, but missed the Nina (well spotted!). Another brilliant puzzle in what’s proving to be a vintage week.

By: Simon Harris

Simon Harris — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:27:21 +0000

That was quite something. I found it remarkably hard but excellent. “Manhattan” was great, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many &lits in one puzzle!

Would never have spotted that Nina, excellent work there.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:10:59 +0000

It was with a seething cauldron of bile that I sat down to enjoy … no, shurely I mean ENDURE, today’s, well, *potentially* rubbishy Independent puzzle.

But curiously, on actual inspection of the clues, to my enormous pleasure … er, enormous CHAGRIN, it turned out that one or two of them read rather well. Plus, the bits and pieces of each of the generally excellent … um, generally APPALLING clues seemed to come from the palette of indicators and such like generally available to crossword compilers, and let’s face it, Mordred is a cut above … no, BELOW the accepted standard.

Honestly, I’m whelmed.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:43:05 +0000

Re SINATRA, I think ‘original’ indicated the anagram, and the whole clue may have referred to his being an ‘original’ performer i.e. a major star not modelled on anyone in the past. I did not get it tho till I’d all the crossing letters.

By: Ali

Ali — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:36:57 +0000

Totally agree Niall, this was brilliant and it was a pleasure to solve as much of it as I did. I struggled with the bottom half and admittedly fell a few short in the end. Have never come across PEIGNOIR before and foolishly dismissed the fairly obvious anagram even with all the checking letters. I’m in my early 30s, so I’ll happily accept your reasoning for me not getting MANTISSA! I completely missed the Nina too.

As commented yesterday, it’s been a really good week of puzzles in the Indy. Kudos to setters and editor alike.

By: mhl

mhl — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:34:07 +0000

Thanks for the post, nmsindy – I found this very tough. Lots of wonderful clues, though, as you point out…

Could you possibly explain why SINATRA is “original”?