Comments on: Independent 7670 by Scorpion

By: Mustyx

Mustyx — Tue, 17 May 2011 15:44:29 +0000

Like many themed puzzles, of which I am not a fan, I found the clues in this too contrived. You couldn’t have finished this, I suspect, if you knew nothing about The Beatles (though I admit there are not such many people!)

By: scchua

scchua — Tue, 17 May 2011 15:35:32 +0000

PS. Now, I’m not sure if it’s “…yellow matter custard…” or “…yellow mother custard…”.

By: scchua

scchua — Tue, 17 May 2011 15:29:08 +0000

Thanks flashling and Scorpion. Am glad I went on to this after finishing my FT blog. Something right up my street! Very enjoyable indeed!

Great many references. Would I be stretching the theme a bit if I said that EGG and CUSTARD in 29A are from the lyrics of “I am the Walrus” – “…I am the eggman…” and “…yellow mother custard dripping from a dead dog’s eye…”.

Particularly liked 25A PORTICOED, having learned what was No.2 since doing the Indy, 3D TREBLE, and 18D EURYDICE.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 17 May 2011 13:00:55 +0000

Yes, impressive to fit so much in. Seeing the theme (after quite a while) helped me finish. Some of the wordplay v tortuous (in the best sense of the word) in the way I associate with Scorpion. And I’d say, Gaufrid, that for most us Bury and Blackburn are near enough to have caused no problem. Hard and enjoyable puzzle – thanks, Scorpion, and flashling for the blog.

By: Tokyo Colin

Tokyo Colin — Tue, 17 May 2011 12:45:58 +0000

Excellent puzzle, great fun to solve. But I didn’ realise how pervasive the theme was and under time pressure used the cheat button to finish off. Pity, it was very doable.

By: crypticsue

crypticsue — Tue, 17 May 2011 11:49:55 +0000

Great fun. Thanks to Scorpion and Flashling. I do like a crossword where you can relive your youth and sing along as you solve!

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Tue, 17 May 2011 11:42:36 +0000

You’re quite right, Thomas99. My mistake – I took ‘upset’ to be an anagrind when in fact it was just indicating a reversal. Meant to say earlier that PORTICOED was my favourite today – I was trying to fit in the four-letter word for POO for a long time before the penny dropped.

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Tue, 17 May 2011 10:46:36 +0000

What fun! Thanks to Scorpion and to flashling for the blog. I think they’re in all of them, aren’t they, either in the clue or the answer?

K’s Dad-
EngELbert, not Englebert (German spelling, nicked from German composer)! (I think you must have seen it before flashling’s correction.) So no anagrind needed. Possibly my favourite clue in fact.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Tue, 17 May 2011 10:27:06 +0000

Thanks, flashling.

This was tough, I thought, and even though I’d twigged the theme, I was about to throw in the towel when I got OCTOPUS and SUBMARINE. So I finally finished, and enjoyed it. I like themes like this one, where solutions are related but aren’t just a list of novels, authors, or Man Utd players.

I think at 3dn we need an anagrind: it’s ENGLEBERT less ENG, and (LEBERT)*. And SUBMARINE is B in SUM (tot) and an anagram of (IN EAR)*, I fancy. But I certainly needed your blog to explain three or four others, which I stuck in without the slightest idea of the parsing.

Nice theme, good puzzle.

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 17 May 2011 10:25:20 +0000

Thanks for The La’s, it was lost on me. The 4000 holes comes from “Day in the Life” by the Beatles. http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,,-82706,00.html