Comments on: Independent 7370 by Hypnos

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 07:19:40 +0000

Missed ‘Vane’. Thought it could be’gage’, i.e. ga[u]ge, ‘u’ being an abbreviation for ‘use’ (tho never heard of it before). You find the expression ‘weather gage’ in relation to fighting ships in the days of sail; a ship which had the weather gage in relation to another was to windward and hence had an advantage. But I wasn’t convinced.
Thanks for the explanations of ‘marina’ and ‘clay’ which I got without fully understanding the clues; I’d forgotten about ‘jolly’ as slang for a marine.

By: flashling

flashling — Mon, 31 May 2010 17:47:44 +0000

Missed jargon, as I was also convinced on gin, backwards other drink on top. Nice start to the week though.

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Mon, 31 May 2010 12:35:16 +0000

Thanks NealH.
I enjoyed this a lot,quite challenging but ‘doable’ without having to use reference books.
Particularly liked 7 & 12 across.
Last to go in was 2 down,one of those where the check letters(*A*E) are of little help.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Mon, 31 May 2010 10:23:44 +0000

Thanks, Neal. Challenging today for me, but with perseverance managed it apart from VAIN, which I would consider a synonym for fruitless rather than useless, but Collins confirms it. Also spent too long trying to make 1ac an anagram of ‘I exert a g’.

A good puzzle though, and with 22ac in mind, off to see if we can roll over Bangladesh before lunch.

By: NealH

NealH — Mon, 31 May 2010 10:19:53 +0000

Yes, you’re right. I didn’t read it carefully enough, although my point that it’s two separate clues does stand.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Mon, 31 May 2010 10:15:50 +0000

Pleasing puzzle, not too difficult, thanks for explaining CLAY which I did not understand, tho I got it right. I thought the ALLURE was two Ls in A URE (runner = river). Favourite clue ATTEST, also esp liked the clue for STALIN.