Comments on: Independent 7,577 / Phi

By: Phi

Phi — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 04:19:45 +0000

Well, actually there is a sort of theme going on here, which is the appearance of modern terms. I keep an eye out for ‘Words of the Year’ and that sort of thing, so early in the succeeding year there’ll generally be a puzzle with a selection of them (though they may turn up at any time).

The ‘(good)’ at the end of 9d is meant to imply the use of GEO-E… to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change that we are otherwise responsible for. It’s certainly conceivable that one could geoengineer things to have a bad effect on the climate but a quick scunner at the literature does rather tend to suggest that the term is only used for improvements.

Oil presses are probably commoner here than in the UK (though our olive tree is refusing to produce enough to cause us to purchase one).

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 23:56:33 +0000

Thanks RatkojaRiku.
Found the top half of this pretty easy and was suspecting a pangram,but the bottom half proved much harder – and no pangram!
Plenty of good stuff here,as usual,from Phi.I quite liked 27 across,the addition of the word member to the clue adding to the difficulty.Other favourites were KEYNOTE and PAYWALL.
Like others not too impressed with 5 down.

By: RatkojaRiku

RatkojaRiku — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 23:12:37 +0000

@NealH: yes, I think you are right on 9, although without the first part of the clue the definition is weak to say the least.

@sidey/Kathryn’s Dad: what sprang to mind was an olive oil press (over which the worker had been toiling in this clue). I realise now that further explanation of that clue in the blog would have been helpful.

@scchua – yes, I’d overlooked the most contemporary term of them all in my own list – toxic debt!

@nmsindy – thanks for the news of Phi’s Listener crossword – something lovely to wake up to in the morning!

By: flashling

flashling — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:24:59 +0000

Thanks Phi, found most of this pretty easy, didn’t quite understand 5d so thanks Sidey and RatkojaRiku for the blog. I thought Phi had said he intended to keep on with the themes but I can’t see anything here.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:01:57 +0000

Thanks for the excellent blog, RatkojaRiku, and Phi for another excellent puzzle which I did not find too difficult, clueing as always v precise, and nice to be able to work out a completely new word to me (GATEFOLD) just from the wordplay. I agree with Scchua that ‘actively going green’ in the anagram indicator and fodder for GEOENGINEERING gives this an &lit touch to make it a very good clue indeed. Once I’d some crossing letters it did begin to look as if ‘engineering’ would be part of it.

Those of the Listener persuasion might like to note that Phi appears in that puzzle series, available behind the Times crossword 19 down from 4 PM today (Friday 28th) and in the paper tomorrow (Sat 29th).

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:51:26 +0000

Thank you, sidey, for your explanation of HOT OFF THE PRESS. I kind of get it but am still not a big fan of the clue.

By: scchua

scchua — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:42:35 +0000

Thanks RatkojaRiku for the blog and Phi for a quite enjoyable puzzle.

An opportunity to get acquainted with some contemporary terms: TOXIC DEBT, PAYWALL, GEOENGINEERING and FREE TO AIR. My favourites were 13A FULCRUM, 3D MICROCOSM and 9D GEOENGINEERING, where I think “actively going green” is part of the definition.

By: NealH

NealH — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:09:38 +0000

I found this quite hard-going and I wouldn’t call it a standard Phi. A couple of the clues seemed to be trying to make themselves more difficult through rather bizarre definitions, the main culprit being 9 where the definition has to be “impact on climate(good)”. Like K’s D, I also struggle to make a lot of sense of 5 down and I only really worked it out from the crossing letters (was expecting something more like drill than press at the end). I struggled with gatefold, which I’d never heard of, and inshallah, where the presence of the word member caused me great problems.

By: sidey

sidey — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:02:34 +0000

A press is used to produce oils of the vegetable variety.

I think the (good) in 9 is simply to distinguish between the possible beneficial effects of it rather than the harmful effects of eg carbon emissions.

Really nice puzzle.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 15:20:46 +0000

Many thanks, RatkojaRiku. Excellent, detailed, blog – please keep going with these types of explanations.

Dumb question first, please. I still don’t understand HOT OFF THE PRESS. Is it a cryptic definition?

You’re right, a number of unusual words today, but I was pleased to get PAYWALL and GATEFOLD from the clueing and then confirm afterwards.

Couldn’t get GEOENGINEERING for the life of me until everything else had gone in, and even then the first three letters were a guess. And I doubt I would have managed BEL ÉTAGE without having a good knowledge of French. Never heard of it, and I couldn’t find it in the SOED.

But a well-constructed and enjoyable puzzle as always from Phi. PHYSIQUE and KEYNOTE were the ones I liked best this morning.