Comments on: Independent 7103/Merlin

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:59:38 +0000

Re 21a and #3: Sir Alan is now Lord Sugar. Tuesday’s Indy had a photo of him in his robes.

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:27:28 +0000

Very enjoyable indeed. (Given the number of references to media personalties I don’t think I could have resisted clueing SAMOSA by way of a reference to SAM COSTA.)

By: IanN14

IanN14 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:46:46 +0000

Anax,
I think I see what you did there.
Delivered IS in the definition part, so you were right about the allusion to childbirth.
Good luck with the treatment…

By: Ali

Ali — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:45:04 +0000

I really struggled with this one and had to resort to help (by coming here and looking at the answers!)

Some very good clues here nevertheless. The MY GENERATION clue is fantastic.

Anax – if memeory serves, Chambers gives one definition of ‘up’ as ‘in an excited state’, so I think it’s become an acceptable anagrind (I imagine thanks to Azed and his competition entrants)

By: Anax

Anax — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:43:40 +0000

Ian

You’re absolutely right and we now have 100% evidence that I am slowly but surely losing my marbles. Nurse!

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:40:18 +0000

17dn makes an appearance in the Times today too. Agree with the general praise for 13ac and 21ac.

Thanks for MY GENE RATION, the definition was excellent but I didn’t see the subtlety in the word play.

By: IanN14

IanN14 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:58:46 +0000

Anax,

Re. 15ac. The online version has “allocated” rather than “delivered”.
I think this makes more sense regarding “ration”.

By: Anax

Anax — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:51:41 +0000

Hear hear – a very enjoyable solve. Having only recently started solving the Indy regularly Merlin is new to me; I’ll be looking out for more Merlin in future.

The BROWN / SUGAR spot is absolutely superb and, of course, hugely topical. I was going to say I wondered if that topicality could have been exploited more but, in fairness, I’ve just had a bit of a play with it myself and couldn’t find anything convincing. My chorus of approval for WHODUNNITS has to be slightly muted – Murphy’s Law, only a month ago I supplied a magazine cryptic with the singular version which began “I hunt down criminal…”. Merlin’s interpretation is of course excellent.

MY GENERATION is fantastic. “Who delivered this” as the def, “DNA delivered to me?” a very nice suggestion of genealogy (I suspect “delivered” is referring to childbirth).

The only slight quibble was the LOOSENING anagrind which I assume is “up”? The phrase “what’s up?” equates to “what’s wrong?” but I wonder if the transplant is sound enough?

An extremely entertaining solve – thanks Merlin.

By: IanN14

IanN14 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:48:33 +0000

Thanks, John.

15ac. My Generation was done by The Who. (As pointed out by nmsindy just now)
But I think it should be read as “My gene ration”.
A good clue, I think.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:46:34 +0000

Yes, tremendous puzzle, not too hard. WHODUNNITS was brilliant. Re MY GENERATION it’s a Who song from the late 1960s, and the second part I think refers to DNA being passed down through a generation.