Comments on: Independent 7,654 / Mordred

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 09:14:16 +0000

Sorry, RatkojaRiku, didn’t read your preamble properly or I would have seen you’d already pointed out the allusion in 14d.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 06:10:45 +0000

Tough but ultimately solvable with wordfinder help – e.g. for ‘machinated’, ‘briar’, ‘licensee’
Lovely misleading surface to 14d – sets one thinking of The King’s Speech.
Anyone associated 29a with the theme? – See http://www.love-of-roses.com/centifolia.html – and btw in German there is a rose cabbage: Rosenkohl, aka Brussels sprout.

By: flashling

flashling — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 21:10:39 +0000

Putting in DROP for acid drop = sweet in 3dn messed me up good and proper for a while. As did putting in Ebor rather than Ebro in some mental slip. Still got there in the end, knew the writer but not the book so theme went straight over my head, nice one RR for the blog, bit of a tough one and Mordred for another challenging puzzle.

Phi tomorrow or bumped for some reason? Bets?

By: RatkojaRiku

RatkojaRiku — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:16:49 +0000

Thanks to eimi and walruss for helping to reveal the theme – I was completely oblivious to it when solving and blogging the puzzle, and yet now it seems to jump off the page at one!! Had the title of Umberto Eco’s novel been an entry in the grid, or alluded to directly somehow, I might have been in with a shout! Of course, if I’d twigged that there was a theme, and what it was, I might have arrived at the correct answer for 3 in the first place.

I suppose the trick is always to look for a theme, even when not invited to do so by the compiler.

By: caretman

caretman — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 19:20:59 +0000

A tough puzzle although ultimately solvable with some excellent clues. I really liked 12ac–I was familiar with the acronym which helped, but the use of the plural ‘cards’ to define the singular, but collective, noun HAND was wonderfully misdirecting until the pin dropped. SPRUCER (with that meaning) and SPOROCARP were new to me, but something in the back of my mind gave me CABBAGE with only the initial C; I must have encountered cabbage = steal somewhere. But true thanks to RatkojaRiku for the blog since there must have been at least half a dozen answers I put in thinking “this must be right but I haven’t the faintest idea why.” And finally, of course, thanks to Mordred for the outstanding puzzle.

By: eimi

eimi — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:27:10 +0000

Bamberger @10, the tip to remembering how to spell karaoke is that it’s like karate – the kara bit means empty: empty orchestra, empty hand, etc.

By: bamberger

bamberger — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:09:56 +0000

Too tough for me I’m afraid. Had to look up in a dictionary how to spell kareoke/karioke/karrioke.
Did get doge because I’d seen it before.
6d & 11a put in without understanding the wordplay.
12a Never heard of the electronic greeting
16a Never heard of English =spin
14d How hard is that? Having to know that George VI was Bertie never mind the rest.
27d Invented the ebor -the Roman name for the river flowing through York.
Well blogged -I don’t know how you managed to finish -you must be good.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:01:00 +0000

I’m rubbish at ninas, but given THE NAME OF THE ROSE, I can see references to ROSES with TUDOR, RAMBLER, DAMASK; and I guess BRIAR and ROSE are related too? But there must be more to it than that.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:00:49 +0000

Of course! That’s very good. Briar Rose, Peace, Tudor etc etc – thanks Eimi and Mordred.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:00:24 +0000

Many thanks, RatkojaRiku, and Mordred [great puzzle!] – and now eimi [and walruss!]

I can suddenly see nine without really looking!