Comments on: Independent 7671/Dac

By: Mustyx

Mustyx — Wed, 18 May 2011 18:34:00 +0000

Thanks for clearing that up, eimi.

By: redddevil

redddevil — Wed, 18 May 2011 16:23:10 +0000

Was I the only one who thought that the US in the Ben Stiller clue stood for useless rather than American?

By: eimi

eimi — Wed, 18 May 2011 15:38:37 +0000

Former Times editor Brian Greer was content to abandon the rule about living people and trademarks when he took over the reins at the Indy and I don't see any problem with either. The important criterion is whether people could be expected to know them. I don't think many people can have got through life without having heard of Audi or UPS.

By: sidey

sidey — Wed, 18 May 2011 14:39:19 +0000

You could ask about The Times’ rules at http://times-xwd-times.livejournal.com/ Mustyx.

By: Mustyx

Mustyx — Wed, 18 May 2011 14:16:37 +0000

Thanks Thomas99: I admit that the answer is ups as you say rather than U.P.S. I still don’t like it much, though. Last week we had Audi as an answer which was, in my opinion, worse. But I can live with it in the interests of a good puzzle!

Thanks also Kathryn’s Dad: I spent a long time thinking the answer couldn’t be ‘STILLER’ as he’s still going strong. It must be a Times rule, though it only seems to apply to surnames. Themed puzzles are rare in that paper, but there was recently a wedding themed puzzle which included ‘William and Kate’ as a Nina, both definitely alive on the day! Perhaps a Times setter/solver could settle this?

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Wed, 18 May 2011 13:58:01 +0000

As far as I’m aware, Mustyx, that’s never been a rule in the Indy crossword. Scorpion’s puzzle yesterday with the Beatles theme would have been a bit of a no-no otherwise, since it mentioned the two remaining members of the fab four as well as the two who are no longer with us.

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Wed, 18 May 2011 13:57:49 +0000

Mustyx (6)-
But the brand name doesn’t have to be the answer. I read it as ups – plural of up, as in “ups and downs”, with U.P.S. as the cryptic part. I think if the answer had been U.P.S./UPS as opposed to ups the letter count might have been 1,1,1. Isn’t that ok? Or do you object to brands being alluded to in clues at all?

By: caretman

caretman — Wed, 18 May 2011 13:56:03 +0000

Thanks, John, for the blog. I’ll join the others in saying that I thought the elements you found iffy seemed perfectly fine to me, and in fact appreciating that UR was clued only as ‘the city’ and not ‘old city’ which has become so hackneyed. I’d like to put in applause for 3d, a wonderfully brief clue; I loved ‘Florida area’ = THE SE US. It was an easy puzzle but still very enjoyable, so thanks Dac.

By: Mustyx

Mustyx — Wed, 18 May 2011 13:14:33 +0000

Hate to sound as if I’m always complaining, but isn’t it a rule that people don’t appear in crosswords until they’re dead? Or is that just The Times?

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Wed, 18 May 2011 12:23:16 +0000

Thank you, John.

Usual excellence from Dac today. As Mustyx says, it’s good to have an unthemed puzzle as part of the Indy weekly offerings.