Comments on: Independent 7567 by Glow-worm

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 23:37:37 +0000

Thanks nms.
Not difficult,but a very enjoyable puzzle to solve.My favourite clue was 7 down,nicely misleading surface I thought.

By: Jack Aubrey

Jack Aubrey — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 21:23:19 +0000

Thanks to Glow-worm and nms. Two pleasantly easy and fun crosswords which fitted nicely into the rhythm of the day. This one lasted just long enough for the train ride between Drem and Edinburgh with lots of grins.

By: jmac

jmac — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 15:52:11 +0000

There were some lovely clues here, my only slight reservation is that as many of the answers simply flew off the page the enjoyment came from later parsing rather than solving.

Oh, yes, K’s D, Mackerel do eat sprat.

By: flashling

flashling — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 15:18:26 +0000

Another vote for an easy gettable one – except ticks which I’d always thought were insects so was a bit hesitant on that. Still thanks NMS/Glowworm for a monday treat.

By: walruss

walruss — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 14:26:05 +0000

I didn’t hang around much with this one either, but thing is it’s a neat little puzzle. Easy but really good, so well done Glow-worm!!

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 13:43:02 +0000

Curiosity aroused (and as a displacement activity from work) I decided that I’d find out what a ‘sprat’ actually was. To quote:

“Sprats, also called bristlings, are European herrings. Alternatively, food producers may apply the term sprat to some species of commercial American herrings. As food fish, vendors market this species both as Norwegian or Swedish anchovies and sardines and sometimes as “bristling sardines.”

I wish I hadn’t bothered. But I’m pretty sure neither mackerel nor whales eat them, so goodness knows where the expression comes from.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 13:26:31 +0000

I’m sure you guys are right about that sprat proverb. I put the explanation forward very tentatively. The answer was pretty clear from the wordplay but a proverb referring to it meant nothing to me. Had a quick look at the ODQ, no ‘sprat’ in its index. So I googled and that gave me the whale. I’d never heard of it either, tho the mackerel one now mentioned I think I have heard of all right.

I also agree with the comment about the four perimeter entries maybe helping to make it an easier puzzle.

By: NealH

NealH — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 13:07:05 +0000

I finished this in my lunch hour with considerable time to spare, so it must have been easy. I think having the four long clues around the perimeter, all of which were fairly gettable, made it a bit easier than normal. It was quite nice to see Indians used in its correct sense in 3 down instead of referring to Native Americans. 26 was a great anagram.

I’d also never heard sprat used in connection with whales. It’s quite odd that anyone would use it in that context, since I don’t know how one tiny sprat could be expected lure a whale which is busily hoovering up millions of tons of plankton.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 11:00:07 +0000

Thanks, nms.

What a lovely puzzle. Pretty straightforward, with a rather generous grid, but with some delightful clues. I liked ARTLESS today, as well as RUN OVER. The DIRECTOR GENERAL one made me smile too: I’m sure it’s serendipity, but the ageism fuss with the BBC’s sacking of Miriam O’Reilly has been all over the papers in the last few days. And I used to live in Tring, so that made me smile too. Does anyone use T-squares any more or have the gone the way of slide rules and quill pens?

Interestingly, I’d never heard of your expression for 15ac, nms. I’d say ‘to throw a sprat to catch a mackerel’, but I see now both are used.

Good Monday puzzle, thanks to Glow-worm.

By: scchua

scchua — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 06:12:51 +0000

Thanks nmsindy for the blog and to Glowworm for an easy straightforward puzzle, with very neat clueing.

Favourites were 13A ESSENTIAL, 1D CROSS FERTILISED and 14D INCOGNITO.