Comments on: Independent 7,712 / Raich

By: Raich

Raich — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:44:23 +0000

Many thanks, RatkojaRiku, for the blog and to all for their comments. Yes, the idea was to feature a QUARTET of composers associated with string quartets with the clues for STRING and QUARTET made a bit tougher so as not to give the theme away too quickly.

Re Ashley Cole, I seem to see even more about him on the front pages than the back ones so I guess those not bewitched by the beautiful game would not have had too much trouble with it…

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:12:54 +0000

I enjoyed this, as is always the case with Raich. Harder than usual I thought, and a nice (although simple and thin) theme more typical of Phi than of Raich. But we couldn’t avoid just a bit of football, could we, as in 20/26 across.

By: Ian

Ian — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 20:06:48 +0000

Thanks to Raich and RatkojaRiku.

I enjoyed this one very much despite the fact that I only managed to insert two answers in the first ten minutes. These being 1 dn & 4dn.

In reality the cluing was very fair and for serious solvers I guess this was only moderately difficult.

After just over 90 minutes I’d managed all but one, oddly enough the clue referred by ele @5 above.

I too missed this one and looking at the reference to 7ac the connexion passed me by.

Plenty of well crafted clues, my favourites were 3dn, 14dn ( a real marmite clue) and esp.21dn.

By: anax

anax — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:10:03 +0000

MikeC @ 4
It is possible. Please send me an email via the anaxcrosswords blog.

By: ele

ele — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 13:59:45 +0000

Having failed dismally on the Anax yesterday, this went much better. Failed to get quartet (lack of lateral thinking, doh) even though the composers were among the first ones in. Liked 16ac and 3d. Thanks to Raich for an enjoyable puzzle and RatkojaRiku for filling in the blanks.

By: MikeC

MikeC — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 13:50:03 +0000

Thanks RatkojaRiku and Raich for an entertaining workout. I’ve finally managed to print off an Indy puzzle, which I much prefer to solving online (thanks Anax for the link to the Crossword Solver software). All I want now (for Xmas?) is a way to access previous Indy crosswords. I’m guessing that’s not possible.

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:20:51 +0000

didn’t see/get abstention Oh well, thanks Niall and Riku

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:04:20 +0000

And btw, you might want to remove the reference to some of the solutions from your visible preamble!

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 09:09:38 +0000

Many thanks, RatkojaRiku, for a comprehensive blog.

Like you, I was on the lookout for a perimeter nina, but once that became unlikely, it seemed that the theme was just the four composers. QUARTET was my last one in (without the slightest idea of why) and I failed to see the STRING QUARTET connection. As you say, subtle. Not sure ASHLEY C[RE]OLE will be everybody’s cup of tea, but I quite liked it.

I smiled at ANTITANK today. Several setters have had topical clues recently referencing the gaffe-prone and seriously scary Mrs Palin (although she herself would most likely ‘refudiate’ that). I liked Raich’s take on this today.