Comments on: Independent 7448 by Mordred

By: walruss

walruss — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:18:05 +0000

Why was there so much Mordred-bashing for this puzzle? I agree that the grid was a bit tricky, but the theme DID justify it, I think! No, Mordered deserves a pat on the back for a thumping good puzzle.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:46:19 +0000

A curate’s egg as far as I was concerned – a bit too contrived in places. I realised the theme with the puzzle about half finished. Didn’t help that I initially put ‘opposing sides’ instead of ‘opposite sides’ for 5d. Favourite clue ‘Teriyaki’.

By: Mike Laws

Mike Laws — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:29:48 +0000

I’m surprised that no one’s commented on the shortcomings of the diagram. The NW and SE corners were only linked to the rest of the diagram by a single E in both cases – hardly the most useful letter when looking for help from cross-checking.
Then there are the triple-unches at 8 and 17 down, a complete no-no in my book, and that of any setter who cares about adequate diagram construction. It’s particularly galling because the number of thematic entries in no way justified it.

The clues were OK for the most part, but there was nothing brilliant about this puzzle, as opposed to the series it commemorated. The kindest adjective I can think of is amateurish.

By: Tokyo Colin

Tokyo Colin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:43:57 +0000

Like Stella, I found this impossible to understand and most unenjoyable. I have never even heard of Last Summer Wine and so was fumbling around in the dark with no hope of the light ever coming on. Not a big fan of Mordred.

By: flashling

flashling — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:01:06 +0000

Cor blimey! well having not watched LSW for a least 30 years this was a struggle to put it mildly without internet or other references to help, OK very clever in places, getting the topical clegg clue in as well as the theme was inspired, took ages to justify some clues in my mind, wine? well it had to be but…

Anyway thanks NMS et al and Mordred for a taxing solve.

By: Stella

Stella — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:10:01 +0000

Never having seen LSW or Guys and Dolls, I found this puzzle impossible to understand even once I could see the answers, and didn’t enjoy it at all.

Sorry, Mordred, and thanks mnsindy for enlightening me. At least now I can see it is truly a clever puzzle.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:01:05 +0000

Well-spotted, as usual, IanN14 – I’d missed that!

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:58:41 +0000

Thanks for that, Ian, that’s very good, I’ll update the blog to cover that point.

By: IanN14

IanN14 — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:43:49 +0000

I liked this one too, even though I didn’t know too much about the programme.
(A quick trawl through IMDb helped me with that)
I especially liked the way Mordred managed to get the “of the” of the title (if you see what I mean) across the lights, appropriately positioned for the rest of the title.

By: scchua

scchua — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:15:56 +0000

Thanks nmsindy for the blog. Very enlightening. Not having seen the series either, I only suspected that there was a theme to all that name-dropping in the clues and lights, but never twigged on to it.

Didn’t get both the related 26D and 28A. I thought latter was “SLATE” also, but couldn’t reconcile it with what I thought was 26D “ELLA” = B (bearing) from BELLA (short for Isabella).

Thanks Mordred for a well crafted themed puzzle.