Comments on: Independent 7,755 / Dac

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:18:47 +0000

One of those crosswords where the wordplay in a lot of the clues only becomes clear after you’ve got the answers – or even had to read the blog on 15^2. Such as 10a, 3, 5 & 19d. Liked the synecdoche in 14a.

By: ele

ele — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 19:55:45 +0000

Thanks RatkojaRiku for the blog and explanation of Palladium. Although I did eventually finish all but one, like Bamberger@3 I found it much harder than the usual Dac. In retrospect it’s difficult to see why. Poisoner was my COD too.

By: flashling

flashling — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 19:46:28 +0000

Disappointedly gave up as couldn’t see it on Poplin (which is new to me) and massé took a while as I’d only ever heard it in commentary, not written, so without the accent made it a bit tricky. Thanks RR and Dac.

By: NealH

NealH — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:07:52 +0000

I was a bit dubious about Nintendo for game, since Nintendo is the corporation that makes games and consoles rather than a game itself. But I see some dictionaries do define it as “any game intended for a Nintendo console”.

For once, I knew most of the obscure words – remembered prisoners picking oakum and picked up masse from hours of listening to snooker commentary. Poplin was the one which caused me the most problems, with the misleading wordplay suggesting father around l. Like other people, I very much liked poisoner.

By: superkiwigirl

superkiwigirl — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:31:11 +0000

Thanks for your usual fine blog, RatkojaRiku – I didn’t know the words OAKUM and MASSÉ before today, though both were fairly clued and gettable. I was also unaware that LIGHT = “answer to clue in crosswording” so thank you for explaining this. The point that you make about “rather” is interesting, because in some phrases I think that its vagueness means that quite a wide spectrum of meaning can be covered (e.g. in something like “it’s rather complicated” the speaker might intend anything from “fairly”, “quite” and “somewhat” at one end to “slightly” or “a bit” at the other).

Yes, POISONER is very clever, definitely my COD too. Thanks, Dac, for another entertaining puzzle.

By: Bamberger

Bamberger — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:00:01 +0000

Terrific blog that I really needed as this was my worst attempt at a Dac for ages. Never got going , not helped by
10a Wordplay way out of my league
13a Yo -wasn’t that horrible thing Bush said to his poodle aka Blair. Anyway never occured to me.
14a Guessed fashion and had plates but didn’t write it in as plates just didn’t make any sense.
20a Never heard of
25a Didn’t realise that the Indie allowed brand names
8d Never heard of
15d May of heard of but certainly didn’t come to mind
21d Another never heard of.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:58:50 +0000

The usual excellent puzzle from Dac, POISONER was my favourite too.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 08:55:11 +0000

Must have been in the zone today, because I fairly whizzed through this one. But as you say, RatkojaRiku, smooth surfaces abounding and a well-crafted puzzle.

Hadn’t come across the meanings of GINGERBREAD or FASHION PLATES before, but both eminently gettable. I was helped in 18dn by knowing the French for ‘knit’ is ‘tricoter’ (‘les tricoteuses’ were the women who knitted while heads were being removed during the French Revolution).

Needed your explanation for PALLADIUM, so thank you for that and the blog.

I fancy the two Bs in YOBBO are a cricket reference: B is the abbreviation in the scorebook for a bye, when (just for an example) M S Dhoni lets it through his legs for an extra. But your way works as well.