Independent 7777 by Math
Posted by NealH on September 19th, 2011
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 8 | Javanese: Ja + (seven a)*. |
| 9 | Nation: (Not in a)*. |
| 10 | Sins: Hidden in Women‘s institute. |
| 11 | Vista: Vi + st + a. Vista was the predecessor to the Windows 7 operating system. |
| 12 | Army: A + r(epublican) + my! |
| 13 | Prisoner: &lit. I’s inside proner. |
| 16 | Invert: Invert(ebrate). |
| 18 | Shed: DD. |
| 20 | Lucky: L + (Kent)ucky. |
| 21 | Days: DD – reference to Robin Day and Doris Day. |
| 22 | Dwarfs: War between D(Germany) and F(France) + s(ucceeded). |
| 23 | Pleiades: (I’d please)* |
| 26 | Seal: S + ea + l. |
| 28 | Rugby: Ruby around g. |
| 30 | Seen: Se[v]en. |
| 31 | Secret: Sect around RE. |
| 32 | Isolated: I + so (= dead in the sense of dead tired) + late (=dead) + d(ead). | Down |
| 1 | Rapier: Pi[gs] in rear*. |
| 2 | Oaks: Initial letters of “Stuart king avoided Oliver”, reversed. |
| 3 | Heaven: CD. |
| 4 | Seas: Hom of seize. |
| 5 | Insanity: (Say innit)*. |
| 6 | Etna: Up the ante i.e. ante reversed. |
| 7 | Formerly: Form + E + rly. |
| 14 | Sudor: Sud (French for South) + OR. |
| 15 | Recap: (Pace + R)<. |
| 17 | Vodka: V(ery) o(ld) + d[run]k + a. |
| 19 | Hawk eyed: Hawk + hom of I’d. |
| 20 | Lustrate: (Sea turtl[e])*. |
| 24 | Etymon: (My note)*. |
| 25 | Eleven: El + [s]even. |
| 27 | Lard: La[i]rd. |
| 29 | Gain: [A]gain. |
| 30 | Siam: S[weden] + I + A(ngstrom) + m(atch). Siam is the former name for Thailand, hence the reference to clue 7. |
September 19th, 2011 at 9:58 am
The setter would seem to be Math not Morph.
September 19th, 2011 at 10:02 am
Thanks. I’m so used to doing Morph puzzles on a Monday I must have typed it in automatically.
September 19th, 2011 at 10:13 am
Thanks, Neal.
I really enjoyed this one – even for theme-blind people like me, it was pretty obvious that ‘seven’ was going to feature, and I liked the way it was woven into the puzzle.
Didn’t spot all the references, though, so thanks for that. I thought ISOLATED was a brilliant clue as well as FORMERLY for its clever surface.
Now we know why Quixote was bumped back into last Monday’s puzzle!
September 19th, 2011 at 10:17 am
I can only see one you’ve missed, Neal: Secret Seven.
I was wandering if Nation and Army were intended to reference the White Stripes song (familiar to most, particularly European, football fans).
Anyone else, on getting 10ac. and then 20d. set off looking for more hidden sins?
September 19th, 2011 at 10:30 am
I did belatedly add Secret Seven. Initially, I thought it would be Seven Secrets, of which you get plenty of hits on the internet, but nothing really famous enough to qualify. Eventually, Secret Seven occurred to me and I added it to the blog.
September 19th, 2011 at 11:30 am
Isn’t the Seven Nations something to do with Rugby (28a)?
September 19th, 2011 at 11:32 am
The only one I know is the Six Nations (which used to be Five Nations, so maybe it will get there eventually).
September 19th, 2011 at 11:46 am
Neal-
Ah – sorry, not a sports expert, but it did give me some misguided satisfaction at the time!
September 19th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
Very enjoyable. It was fun spotting all the 7s.
September 19th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Well I managed to finish the dead tree version, lots of 7′s I thought. Didn’t even notice the puzzle number until I came here… Lightbulb moment
September 19th, 2011 at 1:37 pm
Thanks, NealH and Math. While I spotted the theme all right, I did not appreciate its full depth till coming here. Thanks too for explaining LUCKY and INVERT where I did not understand the wordplay nor did I think of the computers aspect of VISTA. Favourite clue NATION.
September 19th, 2011 at 3:59 pm
I struggled in places, but good fun. If there’s a 7 reference to The Prisoner, then the car he drove was a Lotus 7 reg KAR 120C. The Lotus 7 was later to become the Caterham 7, and in 1991 (I think) they produced a special edition Prisoner Seven. I know, I know – I’m deeply sad…….
September 19th, 2011 at 4:04 pm
ps The letter S appears seven times in the perimeter…….
September 19th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
Well that must have taken a while to blog (and set!) with so many lights. Before I started, seeing the number and perimeter shape theme/nina was shouting at me. Great fun, don’t think I’ve seen anymore theme answers but with so many it’s hard to tell. Surprised the the film se7en didn’t appear but I guess the online version wouldn’t like it.
September 19th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Thanks NealH and Math.
Fun puzzle getting the 7s. COD was 11A VISTA. Though SINS has been mentioned, I’m not sure if anyone has said the Seven Deadly SINS (an indirect reference, perhaps too, to the film Se7en).
September 19th, 2011 at 5:30 pm
What fun.
Raoul Wallenberg was Prisoner Number 7, apparently.
September 19th, 2011 at 8:51 pm
Thanks to an answer in University Challenge this evening there appears to be another possible thematic entry. Seven 9ac 12ac was a hit single in 2003 for the American group The White Stripes.
September 19th, 2011 at 11:37 pm
I solved 14D from the cryptic definition, but did not know the word itself. But my wife recognised ‘sudor’ as being cognate with the Italian ‘sudar’. In Italy, if you have worked very hard to achieve something you can claim to have ‘sudar sette camicie’ – to have sweat seven shirts!