Comments on: Independent 7604/Raich

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:35:56 +0000

Pace scchua, it could very well be “cue’s” in 23d, a cue being the line that an actor takes as his/her cue.

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:42:34 +0000

Sil,I wasn’t expressing any doubt,I have read that he is in training to become the Times crossword Champion and I wish him all the best for that.

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:01:06 +0000

And, Scarpia, the ‘problem’ with rightback was/is that he really did a crossword in 5 minutes when he said so.
I have evidence of that, even though I always thought it was a gimmick – but it wasn’t.
But we do miss him, don’t we?

By: Scarpia

Scarpia — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:49:38 +0000

Thanks John.
Super puzzle from Raich with a very nicely worked theme.Even once I’d worked out what to do some of the across clues still took me a while.
Flashling – 5 minutes!Even Rightback would be envious of that!
I know what you mean though,sometimes I’ve sailed through a puzzle only to read here that others have struggled.
Not totally free of unusual words for me,my knowledge of Ghanian languages is somewhat poor.

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:24:56 +0000

I agree Raich was just silly for me but once I understood the lost leader, I’ve not had a indy fall apart on me so quickly since the days of Aelred. Not a criticism at all, just that for me I just saw everything straight away, been a while since I did one that quickly – surprised rather than disappointed. Just my lucky day I guess, except for the lack of crossword to do over lunch. Thanks N I’m sure I’ll fail miserably in your next one.

By: Raich

Raich — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:08:15 +0000

Many thanks, John, for the excellent blog and to all for their comments. Sensing that solvers might not be able to get any across answers straightaway because of the theme, I made some of the down clues very easy so they could be solved blind. That might explain the quick solves for some, tho, flashling, 5 mins seems v fast by any standard! I’ve certainly never solved a crossword that quickly but I’d never have been in the running at Cheltenham (referring to its crossword persona of course).

By: rodders

rodders — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:22:21 +0000

Thanks for the blog – sorry to be picky but you mean 7 across not 1 across in your summary.

Agree with flashing not quite under 5 minutes ( can’t write that fast ) but a quick solve today !

By: michael

michael — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:54:01 +0000

Sorry Flashling … I enjoyed this puzzle for much longer than your five minutes

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:42:25 +0000

I found this astonishingly easy I guess getting the lost leader quickly sort of blew the puzzle away, and finished it under 5 minutes, perhaps I was just on Raich’s wavelength today.

Thanks to John for the blog and Raich for the diversion from the commute.

By: walruss

walruss — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 13:06:05 +0000

This was today’s second for me, and another excellent bit of work. As usual a little something extra from the Independemt team, which I thought Raich handled very well. Congrats to him, and big thanks to Johnfor his insightful blogging! Fave clue 11/13.