Comments on: Independent 7523 by Nimrod

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 11:34:16 +0000

Very enjoyable though I missed out on WILD. I also missed several bits of wordplay so thanks to everyone here.

I initially imagined 12 of the current England squad going in there but thought that would be near impossible. Then I got GADWALL and the penny dropped. Being a bit of a birder (but nearer to dude than twitcher) I immediately pencilled in several theme words. I too thought that it should have been SHOVELER though the double-ell spelling is justified by Chambers but not by many birding sources.

By: flashling

flashling — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 22:20:00 +0000

Thanks to Ian and Anax, who certainly isn’t An Ass for the bits I couldn’t get especially Mallard which I spent over 30 minutes thinking how the hell does this work. Nestor then Nimrod in succession, quite a treat for a gentle midweek blog although I did ask for a swap(thanks John btw). Suppose it means I get Bann man on tuesday…

NealH shared your reservations about both of those too.

Come on England let’s give the baggies Nimrod’s gifts.

By: NealH

NealH — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 19:35:00 +0000

I think it should have been dedicated to Andrew Strauss!

I got there in the end with this, despite the fact that all the ducks I could think of (ruddy, merganser, eider) weren’t there and quite a few of those that were there I’d never heard of. I didn’t follow cockatoo, mallard or tetchy, so thanks for the explanations. As usual with Nimrod, there was a huge amount of misdirection going on. I think 13 across has to win the award today – a simple hidden that was made up to look much more cryptic by the addition of the rather unnecessary “to be first”. I thought wild duck was pushing the theme a bit.

By: Stella

Stella — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 16:16:42 +0000

Is no-one blogging Paul today? For some reason I can’t access the calendar.

By: Stella

Stella — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 16:04:27 +0000

Having found no coincidences with the Australian Ashes team – which, not living in England, I had to Google – I decided to look for what relates Muscovy and Gadwall, and suddenly realised the cheekiness of the dedication

Thanks Nimrod and flashling.

By: scchua

scchua — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 14:01:42 +0000

Thanks flashling for the blog, and Nimrod for another hard one I couldn’t complete, but burnt a few synapses trying.

First reaction this morning was Nimrod! groan, cricket! another groan. But the answers weren’t really about cricket, were they? Hats off for perhaps the biggest crossword misdirection I’ve been subject to. This is Nimrod after all, which fact should have alerted me that it was s tongue-in-cheek “dedication”.

After getting all the non-”One”s, and MANDARIN, HARLEQUIN and TEAL (you’d be surprised that these three have a non-duck cricketing connection of some sort or another), I was stuck until I had a peek at this blog’s preamble. Finally got all but two ducks.

Great mental workout!

By: crypticsue

crypticsue — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 13:14:03 +0000

Sorry I don’t mean 23a I mean 16d. Going cross-eyed in my old age

By: crypticsue

crypticsue — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 13:02:52 +0000

Nice to know people (well Nimrod) was listening at a recent bloggers and setters gathering when I bemoaned the fact that you never see 23a in a crossword anymore. In the 1970s it was never out of the DT Cryptic. Excellent crossword, really enjoyed the theme.

By: anax

anax — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 12:03:10 +0000

Incidentally, re Anas. No relation I’m afraid – one S short.

By: anax

anax — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 11:58:15 +0000

Hi there K'sD. I meant to add that unders 'Ducks' in Chambers Crossword Lists there's only the SHOVELLER spelling. On further reading, though, the dictionary almost appears to tie itself in knots a little: Shoveller or (US) shoveler n. someone who shovels; a dabbling duck ... with ... spadelike bill (usu shoveler) Well, it's got me confused!