Comments on: Independent 7,236 by Phi

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 14:57:10 +0000

I guessed the theme and 12/17 and 6 from the preamble, but it was still a satisfying puzzle working out which clues were incomplete.

For anyone in the dark about 2dn, Ice Cube is the stage name of O’Shea Jackson – try googling ‘Ice Cube’.

By: Simon Harris

Simon Harris — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:48:50 +0000

Well spotted John – I think that’s how I read it too, and then blogged in a bit too much of a hurry. I’ll amend the post.

By: John McDonald

John McDonald — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 04:20:25 +0000

I think 19 down is M = Male + Cen[t]re (Court finally = last letter of Court “knocked out”). This still leaves the O as the book title letter.

By: Twencelas

Twencelas — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:39:34 +0000

A lovely puzzle, there should be more like this – festive and very tidy.
I think 5dn is as simple as ANT tail first i.e TAN.

A merry Christmas to all compilers, editors and solvers.

By: Ali

Ali — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:21:38 +0000

Well spotted Pandean. I just assumed the letters were random, but it all fits together perfectly. A nice puzzle, and good to have an extra gimmick in a daily cryptic

By: eimi

eimi — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:51:49 +0000

Welcome, Pandean, to the comments (don’t think I’ve seen your name here before) and a very merry Christmas to all Indy solvers.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:40:00 +0000

They do indeed! I missed that completely – I had wondered when solving why the unusual HAUTE appeared (feminine of the French adj haut = high tho it’s familiar from its use in phrases).

By: Pandean

Pandean — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:31:21 +0000

The letters of A Christmas Carol are in a definite order, as you’ll see if you look down the diagonal from top left to bottom right. I only noticed this when I already had worked out what the book title was, and had most of the puzzle solved. A really well constructed puzzle and something a bit different. Thanks Phi.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:16:38 +0000

Yes, that’s right, was in a bit of a rush when posting comment 1 so wrote from memory. Looking in Collins now, it says “(in the Holy Roman Empire) any of the German princes entitled to take part in the election of a new emperor”

Very enjoyable puzzle, as the letters appeared they seemed to mean very little – I was expecting them to be in order, so that was a nice twist.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:44:40 +0000

Some German princes were called electors but according to Chambers the term goes back earlier than that – “the title formerly belonging to those princes and archbishops of the Holy Roman Empire who had the right to elect the Emperor”.