Comments on: Independent Prize Puzzle 7285 by Bannsider – Saturday 20 February 2010

By: eimi

eimi — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:14:17 +0000

I generally finalise the week’s crosswords by the Monday of the previous week, and there have been last-minute changes to accommodate topical themes, but some setters send batches of puzzles several months before publication.

By: duncan shiell

duncan shiell — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 08:31:32 +0000

Oh yes!

I realise that ECHO and GENEROSITY were ‘extras’, but they provided more happy coincidences as I surfed the web looking for information about Kasabian. I am sure you will not be surprised to know that I don’t have an encyclopedic knowledge of Kasabian. I note that I have one Kasabian track on my I-Pod but that’s from a compilation CD given to me by one of my children who thought I should increase my awareness of ‘modern’ music.

I too tripped over RIBCAGE by chance. Noting the appearance at the Liverpool Echo Arena was too good to miss out. I don’t think the nomination for the ‘Giving it Back’ award was made until early February this year. I suspect you compiled the crossword weeks or months before the nomination was made. As a matter of interest, what is the lead time between compiling and publication for a blocked daily crossword? I suspect it is shorter than for puzzles for The Listener, Inquisitor etc.

By: Bannsider

Bannsider — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:25:40 +0000

Going back to INGROWN, I see that the clue in my working version reads : “Where second of girlfriends appears to have turned to the flesh”, so somehow I managed to change it to a duff version. This also happened to another clue, which I actually spotted in time. I’ll, er, blame the malfunctioning laptop

Just finally to say to Duncan that RIBCAGE was a happy coincidence and as he no doubt realises ECHO and GENEROSITY were also not meant to be part of the theme.

By: Fletch

Fletch — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:37:13 +0000

As a fan of Kasabian and Bannsider, this got a big thumbs up from me.

By: eimi

eimi — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:21:35 +0000

In a sense any mistake that gets in the paper is the editor’s fault (unless someone on the paper changes anything), but I can confirm that Bannsider had ‘has’ in the original, which I should have spotted. In his defence, he sent a note with the puzzle to say that it had “had a pretty traumatic birth as my laptop blew up and I had to re-do it on a different computer”. That should have made me more than usually vigilant.

By: Richard Heald

Richard Heald — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:32:30 +0000

Hi Bannsider, thanks for the feedback. I’ve just dug out the print copy of the puzzle, and 3 Dn does indeed have ‘of Engineers’ to indicate the possessive ‘RE’s’ – mea culpa! However, 5 Dn does indicate ‘own’ by ‘has’ not ‘to have’. Result of a subeditorial error perhaps?

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:17:02 +0000

Thank you for the magnificent blog, Duncan. The nmsindy reviews of the Indy years show Bannsider is probably the hardest Indy setter. There is incredibly devious manipulation of words and meanings here and I could not finish it but enjoyed every minute I spent at it and all is clear now. Everything is totally fair.

I had not heard of the band, never mind their hits, but that was not necessary to solve the puzzle.

And I think it was the NME back then, I know as a weekly subscriber thro most of the 1960s until, by one of those life-passage factors perhaps, interest gradually faded, ending for no obvious reason round about 1968.

My favourites, of those I solved, were, like others, APOSTROPHE – also VLAD THE IMPALER.

By: Bannsider

Bannsider — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:03:11 +0000

Just a wee small point or two on seeing Richard’s comments:
RES is actually RE’S (possessive)

I don’t have the puzzle to hand but “HAS” in the INGROWN clue should read “TO HAVE”, otherwise the clue wouldn’t read properly. If it does say “HAS” then I apologise. Something horrible has happened to my brain (predictably!)

On THICK AS THIEVES I felt that there was probably enough deception going on in the puzzle generally already without breaking down THIEVE (deceptively clued as it is) even further.

As for the NINA, well often these things are an answer to the setter’s question, sometimes asked of himself, “what the hell shall I fill the grid with this time?” and as such are as much an aid to self as anything. If they are often obscure to the solver then hopefully that doesn’t really matter.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:08:38 +0000

Never heard of Kasabian (I wondered if it was some obscure geological term – “rock group”) or their singles/albums. But I solved the complete puzzle nevertheless. Favourite clue for me too was for ‘Apostrophe’ – made me groan, though, when I twigged it.

By: Richard Heald

Richard Heald — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:31:06 +0000

I had a few quibbles with this one, I’m afraid.

5 Dn: ‘has’ does not mean ‘own’;

3 Dn: I don’t like ‘REs’ for ‘Engineers’ (RE itself stands for Royal EngineerS);

27 Ac: leaving ‘thieve’ intact in the wordplay for THICK AS THIEVES seems rather weak.

On a lesser note, I thought the nina was perhaps a bit too obscure (even though I consider myself to be down wiv da kids).

Bannsider is a very talented and inventive setter, but I felt this wasn’t one of his finest.