Comments on: Independent 7,247/Punk

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:30:15 +0000

Re #4, Kathryn’s dad, this was also my first Punk.
Rather astonishing because I am a great admirer of this setter.
Fun to see that Mr Halpern also in this “disguise” showed his obsession for bums (6d) ….
I agree with everyone that this wasn’t a very difficult crossword, but – as Ali said – the types of clues were very nicely spread.
Only 27ac (THEFT) – also my last one – is not so clear to me (apart from the fact that it cán be ‘The FT’).
My favourites were both football-related clues: 18ac (GORE VIDAL) and the hugely inventive 17d (ATTRACT) with a splendid surface reading on top of that.

Ali, thank you for the blog.
Only in 14ac it should read, of course, H(urt) and not H(ard).

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:53:16 +0000

Good puzzle, but I didn’t like 20ac: there are other possible answers. I started with WHACKING, then changed it to WHOPPING (which may not mean ‘beating’), then rather unhappily to WHUPPING (which may not mean ‘massive’). So this made 17dn a problem.

By: RayFolwell

RayFolwell — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:37:07 +0000

Thanks for explaining a couple I didn’t get. I got misled by putting WHOPPING for 20A.

I enjoyed 6D, with an “of course” moment when I got it.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:24:06 +0000

Thank you, Ali. Got MESSENGERS straight away and then the rest of the clues were a bit like a car with its wheels spinning on the ice – lots of revving but not much movement. However, managed it eventually with 24d my last to go in and 3d my favourite clue once it was explained to me in the blog.

This is the first Punk I have ever managed to finish so am feeling proud and slightly humbled.

And 10/16ac was also very clever.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:12:07 +0000

Good fun puzzle from Punk, which I also found was on the easy side – thanks tho for comments 1 and 2 because these were the two items I did not understand but I do now.

By: Mick H

Mick H — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:11:36 +0000

Thanks for the blog Ali, and for explaining 3 down – I thought there must be a misspelling of ‘which’ as ‘which’ or something, but that is actually a breathtaking clue! Worth pointing out in case anyone is unfamiliar with the history (or the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail) the reference is to the use of trial by drowning to identify witches. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_by_drowning

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:06:23 +0000

Hi Ali
17d [pen]A[l]T[y] TRACT (area)