Comments on: Independent 7599 / Dac

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 23:33:21 +0000

Thanks John.
Another fine puzzle from Dac.i found this one a fair bit easier than some,but very enjoyable nonetheless.
I also thought of Sevres for 9 across,but knowing Dac’s precision clueing I rejected it and checked NEVERS in a gazetteer as I had never heard of it.
Re. EBENEZER – as Eileen quite rightly says Scrooge is the best known but to us Sarnians there is also the fictional Ebenezer Le Page http://www.guernsey-society.org.uk/ebenezer.htm
Clue of the day for me GYMNASIA

By: flashling

flashling — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:40:04 +0000

Foot and Callaghan represented but no coalition balance? Independent but not impartial Nice and easy from DAC after a few harder ones recently, took a few minutes to see the final 10ac though.

Thanks John/DAC

By: walruss

walruss — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:42:42 +0000

I like Dac who scrupulously avoids the Independent House Toolkit in favour of gnetle, quite easy, old school puzzles. But he uses the polish, which may be a part of the toolkit, to buff up those surfaces, and this is why he rates I think. PLAY WITH FIRE a favourite.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:17:29 +0000

I found this very easy and very enjoyable. Favourites, HEN PARTY and SCOUSE. Thanks for the blog, John, and Dac for the puzzle.

By: Lenny

Lenny — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:11:28 +0000

Thanks John, particularly for explaining the wordplay for Last Thing which seems to be back to front. Otherwise, I agree that this is an enjoyably smooth effort from Dac. This is the second time that I have seen Jim (or Gym) Callaghan in crosswords in recent weeks. One tends to think of the likes of North, Pitt or Gladstone when seeing PM in a clue and not the forgotten man of recent British politics.

V for Version and C for Celtic are both in Collins but their use does reflect the general tendency of Indy setters to rely on the generous provision of one-letter abbreviations in that dictionary.

By: NealH

NealH — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:56:16 +0000

I can’t say I found this a breeze – there were a fair number of fairly unusual words like Granta, agora and con amore. I spent quite a while on 10 – got the core quite quickly but was convinced the middle must me some 4 letter word for father like dado or something like that. But pleasant cluing, as ever.

Eileen, I think Dickens saw to it that Ebenezer was finished as a name. Who would want to condemn a child to a life of being called Scrooge?

By: Eileen

Eileen — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:40:49 +0000

Thanks for the blog, John.

I agree with both schua’s and K’s D’s choice of favourites.

I don’t think Ebenezer is a particularly Scottish name. It’s biblical in origin and perhaps the most well-known one is Scrooge. I’ve never met a real person with that name!

I know V as an abbreviation for Version only in A.V. the Authorised [King James] Version of the Bible – also R.V [Revised Version].

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:11:33 +0000

Thank you, John. Dac back on top form, with the only complaint being that the surfaces are so smooth you’re likely to slip over and put yourself in A&E.

Simple but excellent would be the summary. After the last two days in the Indy, simple gets my vote, and among my favourites today were SCOUSE, NEVERS and EBENEZER. Got stuck briefly in the NE, having entered MON AMOUR at 10ac.

I was surprised to find that v = version is not in the SOED either. I think it’s a pretty common abbreviation – if I’m exchanging documents online with someone, I’ll write ‘document v2′ or ‘document v3′ for example. C for Celtic on the other hand …

By: schua

schua — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 11:01:55 +0000

Thanks for the blog, John, and Dac for another nice and easy puzzle.

Breezed through this, with a little pause for the last one in, 10A CON AMORE where force of habit misled me for a while to “Old man” = OM, and “break heart” = E. Favourites were 21A CALLAGHAN, 5D FOOTSLOGGING, and 16D GYMNASIA.