Comments on: Independent 7692 by Monk (Saturday prize puzzle 11 6 11)

By: twencelas

twencelas — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 15:15:04 +0000

Wanderer and Musty you are quite right about 7dn, I really should check my work better.

I do like your explanation of 4dn nmsindy – that had me wracking my brain to make the answer fit.

Superkiwigirl – the hidden bits in some puzzles do help with the stragglers, certainly with this puzzle they helped me complete the top right corner, once I knew the starting letters.

By: superkiwigirl

superkiwigirl — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 14:45:38 +0000

This was the second of Monk’s puzzles that I’ve attempted, and I was delighted to complete it (not without a struggle towards the end!) having failed to do so last time. There were a couple of solutions where I couldn’t quite see the parsing – these included 4d, so thanks for clarifying that one nmsindy @ 1.

My task here was made more difficult because I failed to spot the palindromes – I really must train myself to take an overview of the grid each time, not just because the solving is thereby aided but because devices such as this add an extra dimension to the puzzles which is sadly lost on the “uninitiated”. (I might try to come up with excuses such as the fact that working on my laptop means I am constantly hopping up and down as I work, and fail to see the “bigger picture”, similarly I could only do the puzzle today, a “non palindromic day” but that’s just being feeble).

I thought there were lots of very clever clues, and favourites included 26 and 28a and 15 and 16d.

Many thanks, Twenceslas, for your excellent blog, and Monk for a very enjoyable puzzle.

By: Mustyx

Mustyx — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 12:08:13 +0000

I agree 7dn definitely ‘spoof’. Early music was part of the renaissance so was therefore in Europe (a bit tenuous I agree)

By: Wanderer

Wanderer — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 11:15:05 +0000

Thanks Twencelas and Monk, difficult stuff but I got there in the end.

I read 7 down slightly differently — I think the hoax that needs to be de-tailed is a SPOOF, so it’s a + spoof – f in ten.

An enjoyable hour.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 07:39:07 +0000

Thanks twencelas and nmsindy for the explanations of 4 – that was one I just couldn’t understand. I thought 5 had to be ‘peri’ but wasn’t sure till I realised from ‘Glenelg’ and ‘racecar’ that the nina was a quartet of palindromes.

Colin @2; ‘perished’ can mean ‘died’ and one can choke to death, but I thought the clue wasn’t quite up to par.

I also thought 14 was a bit unsatisfactory. The ‘barred’ gave it away but I wasn’t happy about the ‘in Europe’ bit. I wondered for ages what I could make with the letters a r l y m u s i in EC (= European Community).

By: Tokyo Colin

Tokyo Colin — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 05:51:06 +0000

Thanks Twencelas. I managed most of this fairly quickly with some very enjoyable clues but then ground to a complete halt with 4 or 5 to go and had to reach for the Cheat button. I can’t think of any sense in which Choked = Perished, and Peri is hardly the first spirit to come to mind. That was two leaps too far for me.

I was never going to look for Esther as a ‘book title’. Biblical references go right past me. And ‘Up’ for at university is familiar to me from crosswords but I was never going to get there from ‘as a student’. I tried L and ALAL to no avail. This was compounded with Statements = Notes. In what sense are they equivalent?

But I did enjoy 20ac ELEMENTARY. Nice to follow the instructions and see the word emerge.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 00:52:07 +0000

This was impressive stuff, as one has seen from Monk in the past in many outlets. The big breakthrough for me was seeing REPAPER which gave the key to the others. In 4 down I think the idea might be delay = hold up with up being included in notes (reversed) to give SET UPON. Thanks Monk and twencelas. My favourite clue was 23 down MOTHER.