Comments on: Independent 7689 by DAC

By: Mustyx

Mustyx — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 11:20:58 +0000

Thanks nmsindy (7). I’ve tried this but that ‘reveal’ button is far too tempting! I make a conscious effort to go nowhere near the Indy website (or this one for that matter) until I’ve spent up to an hour on the solve – if I can’t do it in an hour I give up! (My average for The Times is around 25 minutes, and I almost always finish – not so the Independent! )

By: ele

ele — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:51:57 +0000

Thanks flashling for the blog and explaining where the S in Costa Rica came from – I too was thinking it must be an anagram of actor – never thought of co-star. Another lovely Dac puzzle. Favourites were 3d and 15ac. It’s always interesting to see which ones other people found straightforward and which not. Mickey Finn and Var were two of the early ones in for me, but I took a long time to see Sir Tom C in the anagram, even though I chose the right words, and 6d AMBITS was the last of all in.

Tic, though not actually the right wordplay, helped me to think of TANTRIC, which I could then work out.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:03:26 +0000

Re Mustyx’s comment at #5, while obviously not wishing to discourage Mustyx from buying the Indy, the puzzle can be seen on the Indy website, it’s there for the full 24 hrs of the relevant day starting at midnight.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:05:44 +0000

Very good puzzle, thanks Dac and flashling, not too hard. Favourites, FRONT BENCH, LEANNESS, DOCUMENTED.

By: Mustyx

Mustyx — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:05:16 +0000

It’s now a few weeks since I started doing The Independent Crossword again after a break of some years during which it seems to have a got a lot more difficult! I was used to setters such as Mass and Spurius. Dac rapidly became one of my favourites after he was introduced early in the decade, and he has lost none of his elegance and subtlety in the interim – I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Since I don’t like themed crosswords or ones where I lose the will to live chasing a single answer round multiple grid entries, I now buy the Independent only if I like the look of the crossword at the Newsagent’s (he thinks I’m a bit odd) – otherwise reverting to The Times. This works OK for me, although the Independent is a far far better read than Murdoch’s offering. But the crossword comes first! Looking forward to Phi (another of my favourites from years ago) on Friday.

By: Tokyocolin

Tokyocolin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 14:43:11 +0000

Thanks flashling, I needed your help to parse 4a (never heard of the ICA) and to explain how the leftover E and D at 19ac could be ‘labour leader’. I remember reading the election results in the Economist but it hadn’t really sunk in that there was a new alternative to Foot and Benn etc. for that reference.

A typical enjoyable DAC puzzle otherwise. A remarkably consistent setter of quality clues.

By: caretman

caretman — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:45:45 +0000

Thanks, flashling, for the blog and explaining 16a. I kept looking for a word meaning ‘knew’ or ‘knew of’ from which RY (‘revolutionary extremists’) could be removed. It was, of course, much simpler than that. Like K’s D @2, for a while I tried to make ‘brief moment’ TIC, but came up with your correct parsing after some work. 5d was an inspired anagram, and even though I had not heard of the fellow before I was able to figure it out. MICKEY FINN and VAR were my last two in after a very satisfying solve. Thanks to DAC for a fine puzzle!

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:27:02 +0000

Thank you, flashling.

Usual good stuff and smooth surfaces from Dac. I too was one who wanted to put ‘quite’ into the anagram fodder for SIR TOM COURTENAY, and I couldn’t parse TANTRIC till I came to your blog, because I was convinced that ‘brief moment’ was TIC and not TRICE with its last letter removed.

And you have a small typo in your explanation of 19ac: since the two brothers are going to be around for some time and their names seem to be good material for our esteemed setters, we might as well get used to the fact that it’s MILIBAND with one L.

Thanks as always to Dac for the Wednesday entertainment.

By: superkiwigirl

superkiwigirl — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:15:50 +0000

Thanks flashling for your blog and Dac for another very enjoyable solve.

I found this a bit easier than some of Dac’s previous puzzles, mainly I think because there were a number of longish answers and once some/most of the crossing letters were in place the solutions looked apparent, leaving the parsing as a final check.

Favorites included 15a, 4d and 5d (I was held up for a while with this latter one, thinking maybe the anagram should include “quite” and might be one of the new wave of foreign actors who are unknown to me). I also liked the way in which 19a looked to be continuing a thread created in 16a (and avoided referring to the once ubiquitous journalist – guess Ed M has opened up a new realm for our Setters!)

I thought that a theme was being created with 1a, 4a and 5d but couldn’t see that this went any further. Hence (sadly) no specially adapted message of congrats for the online solvers today.