Comments on: Independent 7,515/Scorpion

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 09:01:46 +0000

I struggled my way through this though I saw the theme quickly (I have an ancestor called Garibaldi born 1851) and that helped with a couple. I didn’t get MARNIE or the intersecting PEAL. Not sure why the latter foxed me. Marnie though was pretty much impossible for me even having seen the blog. I’ve not heard of the biscuit and the film isn’t that high in my consciousness.

And, Allan_C, taters in some English dialects.I assume all stem from dropping the “po” from potatoes.

Yes, IanN14, BARRELS and, more directly, DUNKING are theme words to some degree.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 07:54:18 +0000

Tatties = potatoes. As in “tatties and neeps” (potatoes and turnips) eaten with haggis. It’s basically the same word – tatws – in Welsh.

By: Uncle Yap

Uncle Yap — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 05:18:10 +0000

TATTIES why part of lunch?

By: Rishi

Rishi — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 01:02:20 +0000

Solvers must have found it DIGESTIVE.

By: IanN14

IanN14 — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 23:56:02 +0000

Nobody seems to have mentioned that 3d. is probably thematic too?

By: Paul B

Paul B — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 23:02:35 +0000

I would have a tense problem with the MAR(N)IE clue, but that’s just lil ole me. Notwithstanding (as per: Shiny trousers?) I thoroughly enjoyed today’s tough challenge, as there’s always plenty to ponce from m’colleague’s fine clueing.

Do not bother giving this man a blender for Xmas.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:43:02 +0000

Hi NealH
I too wondered about trunk=barrel but under ‘barrel’ Chambers has: “the trunk of a horse, etc”.

By: NealH

NealH — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:13:18 +0000

I managed to finish this over lunch with the exception of barrels, Marnie and Oliver. I twigged Oliver after I’d spotted the biscuit theme but it took me ages to work out barrels even after I’d got to barr?l?. Somehow, barrels and trunks don’t seem synonymous to me – one is round and the other square. Marnie left me utterly defeated. Although I do eat a lot of biscuits, I don’t recall ever seeing a Marie.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:13:53 +0000

This was certainly a tough cookie. I didn’t spot the biscuit theme until there were just two clues to go, and it helped a little by confirming that “Oliver” (which I’d tentatively entered earlier) was correct and that enabled me to get “Marnie”, which was the last one for me. A very satisfying solve – many thanks, Scorpion!

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 15:24:07 +0000

Scorpion’s puzzles are usually very tricky with extremely intricate wordplay. This was no exception. It took quite a while but I got there in the end even tho I missed the biscuit theme – I guess this may be because I never eat them really. Many thanks for the blog, Ali, and Scorpion for the puzzle.