Comments on: Indy 7166 (Sat 3-Oct) Anax

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:18:37 +0000

Mmm … nice.

By: Richard Heald

Richard Heald — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:52:45 +0000

4Dn (“Any short term gains within political faction shown by it?”) I thought was a quite brilliant ‘& lit.’, although I think Azed would have inserted a ‘…’ between ‘faction’ and ‘shown’.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:30:04 +0000

To me the more important question is whether or not CON JUGS = bluetits. I shall ask around at Man-chest-er.

By: beermagnet

beermagnet — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:01:42 +0000

11A Union members strive, sorry swive, for privileges (8,6)

Anax, Thanks for putting me right on WILLOW.

By: Testy

Testy — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:14:12 +0000

11A Those in a union may not stand up for them! (8,6)

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:17:53 +0000

I enjoyed this too. Some wordplay was very tricky, and it turned out for me as hard for the Indy but easy for an Anax Indy. Favourite clue, PROWL.

By: anax

anax — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:57:25 +0000

Hi chaps!

CONJUGAL RIGHTS. The confusion over this highlights just how valuable the crossword editor is. First off, just to explain it – I had the idea that “doing it” (that rather juvenile term to suggest sexual intimacy) could be used as one of the things which a list of conjugal rights would include.

As I put the answer in the grid I was thinking “I’ll be able to get a nice CD out of this” but, when it came to writing, it was harder to string together than I imagined. The published clue was the best I could come up with – that’s not to say I wasn’t happy with it; not a spectacular CD but hopefully enough to raise a smile.

If I remember rightly Eimi came back with four clues that needed tidying up a bit, which included a question mark alongside this one as he didn’t quite see how it worked. I explained it as best I could and no changes were made. And look what’s happened.

The clue should have been re-written although, to be fair, CONJUGAL RIGHTS is pretty awful when you’re looking for standard wordplay devices. There is CON JUGS around ALRIGHT but I don’t like that spelling, and JUGS is heading towards a less than tasteful def. The point is, though, Mike’s initial concern was spot on and I’m kicking myself for having stood up for the clue as it was.

Just a quick note about 24Ac WILLOW; the parsing is WOW (boy!) outside (i.e. not in) ILL (trouble).

By: Paul B

Paul B — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:38:18 +0000

In full agreement with you here Beermagnet; another splendid creation from Anax. The only one that got me cross-eyed was 11ac CONJUGAL RIGHTS – ‘union members’ = obvious, but I don’t quite get the overall cryptic meaning.

Speaking of which, could HUNG PARLIAMENT have been a missed opportunity for one of Anax’s ‘big members here?’ jokes?