Comments on: Independent 7,134/Tees

By: GRAHAME

GRAHAME — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:34:36 +0000

was it 6 down Igot the answer striptease but not the connection with Chippendale
unless it refers to the furniture -ie the legs if so a very sedate clue indeed.

By: Tees

Tees — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:24:09 +0000

‘I’ve found God’, etc: perfectly correct about 9/27 though Wil.

Many thanks to commenters, and to Ali for an extremely well-informed blog.

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:44:29 +0000

I liked this — quite tricky but still perfectly accessible. Not being a fan of CDs, I look for as few as possible and think 9/27 is not a CD but a double definition, ‘Perhaps hunting Dracula’ a rather good jokey one and ‘down permanently in fight’ the straight one.

18dn was brilliant, although I prefer [wordplay] for [def] rather than this way round, and I wondered in what sense ‘God’ is equivalent to ‘religion’ in 5dn.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:14:24 +0000

Yes, this was excellent, particularly liked TUG-OF-WAR and OUT FOR THE COUNT.
Very tough, a lot more than 15 minutes and with the benefit of the paper.

By: anax

anax — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:05:36 +0000

Agreed – this was a delightful solve with some spectacularly good CDs; top marks for TUG OF WAR and BANANA BOAT. The subtraction anagram fodder at 1D is also top class.

Something of a rarity among cryptic puzzles, the clues were brilliantly imaginative but solving certainly wasn’t a slog. Despite being just a tad tired (solved at around 1am) I think it took around 15 minutes online.

Lovely work – thank you Tees.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:51:31 +0000

Hi Ali

19d is CRET[in] (imbecile homeless) in ACE (excellent)

23d is a reference to the film ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ where the evidence afterwards would be a red (bloody) saw.

In 10a I don’t think ‘stotious’ is doing double duty. It is the anagram indicator and the definition is ‘in his cups’, though as both mean ‘drunk’ the roles could be reversed.