Comments on: Independent 7,367 by Yorick

By: Pete

Pete — Sat, 29 May 2010 10:05:14 +0000

Definitely one that I’ll remember for some time. It took up a good couple of hours of pub time for myself and a friend – neither of us having previously encountered the anagram – but left us with a huge sense of satisfaction. A cracker of a crossword, Mike – thankyou.

It was certainly a good few notches harder than I’d normally expect to find in a mid-week paper but The Indie does seem to have raised the bar in recent times. I’m yet to look at Friday’s puzzle, but it does seem to be shaping up to be a very tough week.

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Fri, 28 May 2010 08:03:21 +0000

I did enjoy it, very much so. And I did see that it was an anagram once I had a handful of checking letters in place.

For 1d the explanation, HAUL* , doesn’t quite do justice the the subtlety of the clue hinting as it did to a minor change rather than a complete anagram. H(AU)*L perhaps

By: Mike Laws

Mike Laws — Fri, 28 May 2010 04:13:33 +0000

No offence, frustration or anything too difficult intended.

I felt that “dubiously recollected” was a fair suggestion to re-collect the letters in a dodgy way.

Thanks for enjoying it, those who did.

For the record, this was my 65th Indy daily – the first 42 were as Esau. Today’s was the first after two lengthy hiatuses.

Sorry. I never twitter but I sometimes witter.

By: Tees

Tees — Thu, 27 May 2010 23:44:14 +0000

By George I think you’re right, flashling.

Good to see the straggling few, including Yorick himself, who were still there by the time my work commitments allowed me to get to the Moon. Which was full tonight, I see.

Congrats to H and El.

By: flashling

flashling — Thu, 27 May 2010 22:48:40 +0000

Xanthomam, well there’s no suiting some folks I suppose, wasn’t really happy with an anagram you aren’t really likely to get if you don’t know it, albeit a nice one like the MP who is “I’m an evil Tory bigot”.

Personally I dislike this type of very long clues and “see 20/28/31/4/1/5″ but a change is as good as a rest.

Back to Phi I expect tomorrow.

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Thu, 27 May 2010 22:43:03 +0000

I did enjoy this – took me back to the days of the late,great Bunthorne,the undoubted king of the long anagram. I’ll always remember – “I.e.what oil sheik said cheekily unto girl in gin palace?” – and “1,000 famous tenets that go through China?”
The best ones always include an &lit element.
I can understand the idea not appealing to everyone,as the long anagram does tend to dominate the puzzle and once solved, leaves little else to savour.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:34:57 +0000

Kathryn's Dad: I wouldn't expect Monster Hoax by Sir Peter S to be used in the near future.

By: Simon Harris

Simon Harris — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:31:38 +0000

And what’s evident is that a lot of people did bother: this is already one of the most commented, and so I assume popular, puzzles I’ve blogged in quite some time.

By: Bannsider

Bannsider — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:18:28 +0000

Maybe boring for some but not for me – tastes differ of course, and I am normally dubious about puzzles with lots of unclued answers, but the actual clues in this case were on the whole very solver-friendly. In particular the reference to the FAB four in AFFABLE, was very cleverly done, providing an extra hook into the denouement.
The astonishing thing for me was how many experienced solvers I talked to were unaware that the unclued entries were anagrams of each other!

By: xanthomam

xanthomam — Thu, 27 May 2010 20:28:29 +0000

I don’t know why any of you bother. Once you sort out the over-done and stinkingly boring anagramatic cliche on 20ac or 28ac the whole thing was a total bore. It’s hardly worthy of comment. So why did I bother……………God knows!