Comments on: Independent 7729 by Quixote

By: Paul B

Paul B — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:10:04 +0000

Tis when the agues are commixed.

By: Lenny

Lenny — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:21:08 +0000

Arroyo was the only word new to me. It’s an unlikely-looking word but, for once, the wordplay was very clear (sorry Flashling). I only knew Tertian from doing Henry V at O-level. Mistress Quickly describes Falstaff’s death from a quotidian tertian. At the time, I was taught that the phrase was a nonsensical oxymoron but a quick Google today suggests that it might have been a reasonable diagnosis in Shakespeare’s time.

By: flashling

flashling — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:22:51 +0000

I certainly wasn’t on Don’s wavelength today, took ages to get going on this and failed on Arroyo. Thanks for the blog NMS to help confirm my parsing of a few clues.

By: ele

ele — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:15:44 +0000

Good start to the week. Took me around half an hour which is v. good in my book. Got temporarily stuck on 13ac by putting PIPE REST (are there such things?) in for PIPE RACK on 1down as my first answer but otherwise liked 17d and 10d. Thanks nmsindy and Quixote.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:27:25 +0000

Yes, a lot longer than 12 minutes here too; but I’m never in a hurry with the crossword of a morning, and this was a pleasing interlude over breakfast. I never did Quixote’s IoS puzzles, but his Monday offerings do seem to be on the accessible side – all clearly clued without too many unusual words (TETRIAN was the only one I had to check today).

I liked DISPARAGEMENT, and FLAIR for referring to Mr Blair as from ‘yesteryear’ – it’s not that long ago!

Thanks to setter and blogger.

By: NealH

NealH — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 11:58:43 +0000

I was also quite a bit slower than 15 minutes, but managed it in well under an hour. I think a lot would hinge on how quickly you got 1 down – I needed quite a few crossing letters before I dimly remembered that there were lots of funnily named pipes.

By: Cumbrian

Cumbrian — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 11:31:24 +0000

Thanks to Quixote for an enjoyable puzzle, and to nmsindy for the blog – even if I did find your 12 minute solving time to be depressingly impressive compared to my own effort!

I had to check TERTIAN, and also ARROYO – dimly recalled from Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy. I failed to parse PARTING, so the explanation is welcome, and elevates it to my favourite.