Comments on: Independent 7753/Quixote

By: flashling

flashling — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 23:29:57 +0000

Thank you Pierre/KD couldn’t quite finish this but now don’t see why, Don does beat more often than I’d like. Mind you I’m still struggling with yesterday’s IOS Glow-worm.

By: ele

ele — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:29:43 +0000

Thanks Pierre for the excellent blog. Camber was my last one in but I needed the help to get the parsing. I could only think of Camberley, which is a bit far out. This crossword fitted very nicely into a 45 min commute, so the level was just right for me. Last clue put in just as the train was coming into the station. Particularly liked with-it/with it and Middle England (and Pierre’s take on it).

By: Pierre

Pierre — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:59:10 +0000

Well, four-nil to the Engerland it was.

Hi Bamberger. You’re getting there, though, so keep going! Practice, practice, practice and all that. I’m often reluctant to put something in the preamble along the lines of ‘this was pretty easy’ because I know that can put off people who genuinely are struggling to complete puzzles like this, but Quixote with a Monday Indy is certainly one of the more accessible crosswords. It’s all there if you look, but if you miss out on one or two, well, check the answers and the blog and store them away for next time.

Hi nms. The clue works fine, of course, but on the principle of ‘don’t use eleven words where ten will do’, I’ll rest my case.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:37:56 +0000

Like others, I found this on the easy side and enjoyable. CAMBER was my last answer when I thought of CAMBERWELL. In 4D, I thought that ‘properly prepared’ was all taken together and indicated the anagram. Thanks Quixote and Pierre.

By: Bamberger

Bamberger — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:26:01 +0000

This less experienced solver found it tougher than last weeks Dac and Phi.

1a To my mind Distant and Frigid are not the same thing.
4d I was stumped by the insertion of properly -if it hadn’t been there I might have got the angram material.
8d I guessed relish but hadn’t heard of elisha.
15d I guessed lamb and had ?lamba?e. Best I could come up with was flambare , fare being food and hoped that a flambare was some sort of barbeque (flame bare)
19d Too tough for me. Ran through all the London boroughs I could think of but Camberwell didn’t occur.

By: caretman

caretman — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 14:06:08 +0000

Thanks, Pierre, for the blog and explanations, and Quixote for the puzzle.

For WITH IT vs. WITH-IT, I think that if I were using the expression in a predicative position (as in your example where the adjective appears after a linking verb), I wouldn’t use a hyphen, similar to you. But if it were in the attributive position before a noun (‘What a really with-it sort of person’), I would probably use the hyphen to help in clarity in reading. So I guess either form would be acceptable for me, depending on its position in the sentence.

By: crypticsue

crypticsue — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 11:35:21 +0000

Very nice but for some reason I did struggle a bit with the SE corner. Thanks Pierre and Quixote.

By: superkiwigirl

superkiwigirl — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 11:27:42 +0000

Thanks Pierre and Quixote.

Yes, a gentle start to the week, with lots of entertaining clues, favorite amongst which were DISPATCH and MIDDLE ENGLAND. I misparsed RELISH ( thinking that the prophet was “ELI” and “SH” and abbreviation for “shortly”) so thanks for putting me right on that one, Pierre.

I’m sure, too, that you’re right about CAMBER (I took it that the omission of “well” was indicated by the words “not” = don’t include “in satisfactory position”)

By: scchua

scchua — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:29:08 +0000

Thanks Pierre and Quixote.

Nice and easygoing puzzle, with elegant surfaces, favourites of which were 6D EAST INDIAN, 26D ADJACENT and 16D PREGNANT.

I agree you’re spot on (is that with or without a htphen?) with your explanation for 19D CAMBER.