Comments on: Independent 7,479/Math

By: sidey

sidey — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 20:13:43 +0000

Sheets on a boat are ropes that control sails. A flapping (uncontrolled) sail has its sheet ‘in the wind’. A boat with three sheets in the wind is out of control.

By: Tees

Tees — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 19:29:15 +0000

Mighty effort from m’colleague that really works. Great stuff, Math.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 18:16:53 +0000

Hi NealH

I’m not sure of the nautical derivation but I do know that ‘three sheets in / to the wind’ means ‘drunk’.

By: NealH

NealH — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:55:26 +0000

I found this a bit easier than yesterday, although I did fail on “one too many”. I think the fact that it might have something to do with sailing immediately put me off, as that’s a subject I know nothing about (amongst many). I’m not sure I really understand the answer – is it one too many because you would normally only have three sails (sheets) on a ship? I thought the Androcles and the Lion clue was amazing – to get an anagram that also works as a description of the story is brilliant.

By: walruss

walruss — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:59:35 +0000

Yes I am guilty re the Nina-Indy remark. I liked this too, with the de-thorning making perfect sense to me. Many thanks to Math, the Indy, and to Ali for his blog

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:45:36 +0000

The theme completely passed me by although I suspected something was going on. There were some excellent anagrams and I like the breakdown of MARRIOTT.

Interesting that in another puzzle “Mater’s mater?” could clue MOTHER-IN-LAW

Colin

By: Conrad Cork

Conrad Cork — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:14:41 +0000

Re Eileen at number 8. Thanks for the congratulations Eileen. It’s a longstanding bugbear of mine, and there is a chapter devoted to it in my book on jazz harmony.

Conrad

By: Stella Heath

Stella Heath — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:13:07 +0000

Thanks for the link @6, Eileen. It’s given me the chance to spend an amusing afternoon listening to/watching monologues which I would otherwise have missed out on, either because they’re before my time, as the Lion and Albert, or from after I came to Spain, where Rowan Atkinson is known only as Mr. Bean

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:02:57 +0000

Thank you, all. I will put my dunce’s hat on, crawl back under my stone and come back later to lurk and review the comments from the evening shift.

A typical Dac tomorrow should give me the chance to get over the finishing line.

By: Richard R

Richard R — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 14:40:40 +0000

re 16 ac. I read it as father being the one who mates with mater (mother)