Comments on: Independent 7417 (Sat 24 July) – Scorpion

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 23:20:05 +0000

SAXE BLUE was my last answer as mentioned above, and, yes, it was hard, but I can’t see how PALE BLUE could fit the wordplay. It was a bit of a penny dropping moment, but maybe I was lucky in that I had heard of SAXE BLUE.

By: flashling

flashling — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:53:12 +0000

Got this done in record (unrecorded you’ll have to take my word) time for a Saturday except for saxe blue, guessing pale as well and I expect the majority of folks entering via dead tree will make the same mistake, the colour is not exactly trip off the tongue. (for me others may say different). Didn’t spot the race course theme but I’m not a betting man, I did however do a job in cheltenham which coincided with the the gold cup festival week. That was fun he lied cost me a packet as the hotels quadrupled prices…

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 22:03:26 +0000

Thanks Pete.
Super puzzle from Scorpion.
Quite a few here which I solved backwards i.e. guessed the answer, then confirmed by the wordplay after a bit of thought.Did spot the theme,as I have been known to squander a few pennies on “The Sport of Kings”.Think I would have struggled to complete without that.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 21:18:10 +0000

I’m with you, K’s D, about golf. What was it Mark Twain said – something about spoiling a good walk? Not exactly sold on horseracing either, despite having spent some of my career in the betting shops of a large national chain of bookmakers (as a property surveyor, I hasten to add!) But even with that experience I didn’t spot the theme either. And I was going for ‘pale blue’ at 3d before the ‘sax’ bit suddenly clicked.

Favourite clue ‘York’

By: jmac

jmac — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 09:02:17 +0000

A challenging and stimulating puzzle. Failed to get SAXE. Thought RACECOURSE, YORK and MILK TEETH were great. Thanks Pete for explaining DRIBBLE, OUTRAGE, and ROUT. Failed yet again to spot the theme.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 08:57:29 +0000

Enjoyable puzzle, which I found was a little easier than some by Scorpion, saw the theme only near the end. SAXE BLUE was my last answer.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 08:54:18 +0000

Thank you Peter. Either the Saturday puzzles are getting easier or I’m getting a bit better at them, as I seem to be finishing more often nowadays. Didn’t quite get this one, putting PALE BLUE at 3dn because I couldn’t understand the wordplay. I liked LATEST and OUTRE, but there was lots of other good stuff as well.

Horseracing vies with golf as one of the most pointless activities on the planet, imho, so that should answer any questions about whether I spotted the theme …

Very good Saturday morning entertainment, thank you Scorpion.

By: Myrvin

Myrvin — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 08:12:02 +0000

Thank you P.
LAYOUT and YORK were last to go in. That was because I kept misreading ‘solver’ as ‘setter’ – weird. Then YORK was easy.
Didn’t understand 1a. so thank you.
Oh! There was a theme! Missed it completely.
Never heard of SAXE BLUE.
Elsewhere we’ve had Beth Ditto & L Cohen; and here we have Elvis Costello – gosh!