Comments on: Independent 7224 by Mordred

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 11:26:53 +0000

I also thought the use of Z in ANALYZE must be a sign of a pangrammatic puzzle. Why else opt for that spelling?. There is a W in NEW YORK. The only letter missing is J and as I didn’t see BOLT I guessed at JOLT from “Start”. Of course with hindsight not part of the Nina but as I failed to see that JOLT seemed a good guess.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:35:52 +0000

5d as BOLT didn’t really float my boat, and I had to cheat to get it as my last one to to in; but otherwise a really enjoyable puzzle, with some delightful &lits and other thought-provoking clues. Thanks, Mordred, and don’t beat yourself up too much: if I counted up the schoolboy errors I personally make each week as a solver I’d be permanently in the naughty corner.

By: Derrick Knight

Derrick Knight — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:17:51 +0000

NEW YORK was, I’m afraid, a schoolboy error. It was supposed to be a double definition. I have a blind spot about the capital of the USA. Apologies to editor and solvers alike. Mordred

By: eimi

eimi — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:01:20 +0000

Apologies. I’m not sure how New York got through. It was a schoolboy error that I should have spotted. I suppose Neal at 10 has a point, but I doubt that it’s what Mordred had in mind.

By: Ali

Ali — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:45:48 +0000

I had exactly the same experience as fgbp here. Took me about 20 minutes to to get all but BOLT, my only consolation now being that I would never have got it from that clue. Would never have spotted the Nina either. A nice puzzle nevertheless, with some great clues.

By: NealH

NealH — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:00:35 +0000

It does have a nickname of “Capital of the World” and was formerly the capital of the US (1785-1790), but I’m not sure if that’s enough to justify it.

By: Mick H

Mick H — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:58:08 +0000

Why is New York ‘state capital’? NY is a state, but New York is neither the capital of the USA nor of new York state (that’s Albany).You could call it ‘Capital state’ on the basis that there’s lots of money there, I suppose. Am I missing something?

By: NealH

NealH — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:52:58 +0000

Some good deception. I thought for a long time 14 across would be an anagram of scran followed by E and R. Like Nmsindy, I thought 5 might be a word for start around A, then I thought it might be a word for to eat reversed. The “roll” meaning of bolt (a large roll of cloth from a loom) was a bit obscure, which made it fairly tricky as a td.

By: Ben S

Ben S — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:50:41 +0000

There seems no doubt about it but I can’t see why “New York” is capital?

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:24:16 +0000

fgbp
Chambers lists ‘to spring’ and ‘to dart’ under both ‘bolt’ and ‘start’ so I am happy with the td.