Comments on: Independent 7,725/Dac

By: ele

ele — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 23:57:33 +0000

I thought this was a bit harder than usual – but finished it with the exception of 15d, where I could only think of MINISTER – and tried to persuade myself that this was the ‘somewhat intimidating nurse’ and that dresses were minis. Gave up at that point and looked at the blog, so thanks Ali (also for explaining where the U came from in lacuna – puzzled me no end) and Dac for the puzzle. Liked 26ac.

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 23:17:30 +0000

Agree with nms that 5dn was something special. Couldn’t see why rats = lice in 18ac, but I suppose a rat is a louse in a sense so perhaps OK. Also was unsure that r = registered (23ac). No doubt in some dictionary. But otherwise the usual Dac excellence.

By: Bamberger

Bamberger — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:57:27 +0000

Hit the bar yet again in my quest for an unaided Indy solve. While I couldn’t have explained the wordplay for alice springs to save my life, I really found it straightforward until I hit 19d, 25a & 27a.

19d Faced with ?g???? , all I could think of was iguana. Wasn’t sure if a reptile is an animal and couldn’t see word play but worth a go. Don’t recall coming across agouti before.
For 25a I now had ?a?A?a (A from iguana) and all I could think of was canada -well it has wide open spaces. I had tried anagrams of canal but never ever thought of adding a u. Still hadn’t heard of lacuna so even then might not have got it.

That left 27a as ?d?A?t and couldn’t think of anything. Sure I had ad for commercial.Even with ad???t I could not dredge up adrift.

So once again undone by a couple of obscure words.

Now Dac I don’t have access to next Wednesday’s but can the one on the 3 August please have no obscure words?

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:02:09 +0000

I enjoyed this, which I thought was not too difficult. Favourites, GOT IT and AMPHETAMINES. Thanks, Dac and Ali for the blog.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 13:55:38 +0000

Thanks, Ali. I am in the ‘harder than usual for a Dac’ camp too – but none the worse for that, a most enjoyable and as always immaculately constructed puzzle. Couldn’t see ALICE SPRINGS till I came here. AGOUTI and MARRIAGE VOWS were favourites today; having got ?A?R as the starting letters for the latter and ‘couple’ in the clue, I was fixated on it starting with PAIR. When in a hole, stop digging and all that.

By: Lenny

Lenny — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 13:41:27 +0000

Thanks Ali. This was a fairly gentle offering although there were rather too many one-letter abbreviations in the wordplay for my taste.

I see I got one wrong, going for canula rather than lacuna. In a competition I might argue (unsuccessfully no doubt) that this is an alternative answer.

I too had trouble parsing Alice Springs because I read Springs rather than rings as the wordplay for coils. I was inclined to suggest that rats are not lice but after my problems yesterday I don’t think I’ll bother. I think rat and louse are both synonyms for unpleasant people although I have never heard of a group of unpleasant people being referred to as lice.

By: flashling

flashling — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:45:48 +0000

However I found it one of the easiest Dac’s for a while – horses for courses I suppose. Saw 18 as Wanderer @ #1

2d was my last one in, don’t you hate it when you miss a hidden answer…

By: Wanderer

Wanderer — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:21:48 +0000

I think in 18 RINGS=coils, and before that it’s LICE in ASP.

Thanks Ali and Dac, good fun.