Comments on: Independent 7,635 / Dac

By: ele

ele — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 07:09:35 +0000

Thanks flashling – I come from Wales, but from the far SW bit that doesn’t speak Welsh and the accent there possibly has a twang of west country. Hubby who comes from Devon says it’s Exmurr and Dartmurr down there anyway, so what hope for the poor crossword compiler.

By: flashling

flashling — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:54:39 +0000

Hey ele! I’m from the midlands, well rural Leics but I got it fine, unlike K’sD who is just up the road. I don’t have a problem with nearish homophones. I’m told I’ve got a posh accent, god knows why as a comprehensive schoolboy, but the folks from the south have a go at my pronunciation as being northern and vice versa. I just think of all possible pronunciations when doing crosswords.

By: ele

ele — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:25:54 +0000

Thanks RatkojaRiku for explanation of 5d. I put Adeline but could see it didn’t really work. Liked 2d sycamore and as I’m one of the ones who pronounce them like more, it didn’t worry me (and I don’t come from the cissy home counties).

By: flashling

flashling — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 20:06:14 +0000

Thanks for the comprehensive blog, must have taken a while, I know mine do and I don’t usually put in that much explanation. Tend to agree about this not being one a candidate for the Indy crossword of the year, but still nicely done with Dac’s well written clues. Like NealH I was held up by the lesser seen infante rather than infanta which I couldn’t make work from the clue.

By: NealH

NealH — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:03:51 +0000

I found this easier than last week’s. I didn’t think it was DAC at his very best – there were quite a lot of fairly workmanlike clues and a few rather obvious ones like “abridge”. Infante held me up a little – I’d never heard of the word and kept thinking it should be infanta.

By: scchua

scchua — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 15:57:03 +0000

Thanks RatkojaRiku for the blog, and Dac for an enjoyable puzzle.

Favourites were 2D SYCAMORES notwithstanding the clue doesn’t work with the other accepted (cf. OED) pronounciation of “hilly areas”, 6D CABIN CRUISER and 21A CAPITAL OFFENCES, liked “Italian gangster” = IT AL.

By: walruss

walruss — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:57:39 +0000

Yes but that IS the trouble. Setters need to be very careful. Otherwise good stuff from Dac.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:50:15 +0000

Thank you, RatkojaRiku, for a very comprehensive blog which I’m sure will be appreciated by less experienced solvers. Don’t go changing.

Super Wednesday stuff as always from Dac. If you were going to be hyper-critical, you could say that INDIA, FIDDLESTICKS and DILEMMA have been round the block a bit, but when a setter consistently produces such good stuff that would be churlish. Especially since there was so much else to enjoy here.

I don’t want to start a 5,000 word debate about homophones (oh, hang on, this isn’t Another Place) but if there are people that pronounce MORES and MOORS the same way, I’m not one of them …

And since you only get proper moors oop north, I rest my case about cissy southern pronunciation. Or do they say EXMORE and DARTMORE in the far south-west?

Top puzzle.