Comments on: Independent 7,832 / Scorpion – to coin a phrase

By: Tees

Tees — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 01:35:53 +0000

When m’colleague Scorpion rang me up to tell me he was considering a theme using all the words that have been left in this year’s Chambers, I just knew he was pulling my leg.

Excellent stuff.

By: Simon Harris

Simon Harris — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:08:40 +0000

Thanks RR and Scorpion.

Only complaint is that, well, how on earth does DEFRIEND make it into a dictionary? No real social network user that I’m aware of would ever, ever use that term. The verb is surely to “unfriend”.

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:56:39 +0000

ack a not at

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:54:56 +0000

@john/wil yes but… classic/classical ok do have subtle extra meanings, we don’t talk about classical horse races (ben hur maybe) but in crossword land, certainly in the Indy, vague and dubious are par for the course. Perhaps I’m just a solver who accepts the “well it’s not technically quite right but it helps really” clues rather than someone who demands it must abide the rules whatever they are. personally I prefer fast and loose. I want someone to come up with at new word for neologism.

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:15:05 +0000

When I saw that today’s setter was Scorpion I thought it would be hard and considered having a break. Now I’m glad I didn’t, because it wasn’t painfully difficult and it was quite outstanding in my opinion. What an achievement to get all these unusual terms in to the acrosses (but they weren’t all that unusual: I’d heard of most of them and coped perfectly well without the new C).

My only criticism, and that will be rebutted I know by people who perfectly sensibly point out that this is how language changes and if people use words in a certain way then that is all there is to it: classic and classical don’t mean the same thing (despite what we will be told in the dictionaries). There is a useful distinction, and in 13dn ‘Classical’ would have been more appropriate. (Actually the clue reads perfectly well, arguably better, without either of the words at all.)

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:04:37 +0000

Late on parade but Quixote has mirrored my own qualms, I’d heard of all of today’s bar green collar but seemed obviously right answer even if a crud phrase. I also took a while get Chambers, well hidden and then wasted time looking for dictionaries. Still good for a 30 minute commute so thanks to RR and Scorpion.

By: Quixote

Quixote — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:22:26 +0000

Because the clues were generally well written, this was not at all a difficult puzzle, even if some of the new words had to be guessed at. But I’m worried that we’ll have a spate of puzzles that exploit all the new words in Chambers from setters who want to be with it (the latest from of ‘theme-ism) — I’d prefer a drip-feed over time, myself!

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:08:55 +0000

Not having access to the new Chambers this took a little time. With help from an anagram solver I got SEASON CREEP and GREEN COLLAR which I didn’t quite understand till the penny dropped for 6a, then I found some of the others by googling for examples quoted in press reviews of the new dictionary. But took ages to get 17d, thinking at first that I was looking for yet another neologism.

And for some of the answers it wasn’t till I’d completed the grid and read the blog that I fully understood some of the clues, so thanks, RatkojaRiku.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:49:43 +0000

PS Re Eileen’s query at #3, I think most of the ‘advanced’ crosswords will used the new edition from the start of 2012 (with Christmas in mind). The Listener has already said so. So esp if you were thinking of tackling those, it might be no harm to get it but its influence would be seen in the daily puzzles too I’d say at times if to a lesser extent.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:41:52 +0000

Yes, this was a good ‘novelty’ puzzle with the theme becoming clear about halfway through solving. Though quite a few of the words were new to me, I was able to (eventually) tease them out from the wordplay, with the good luck of already having the dict so I was able to check them afterwards. Tks, Scorpion and RatkojaRiku – BTW, I think there is no doubt that some = de in French (a quick look in Harrap under ‘some’ confirms this). Did not stop me tho from pencilling in UNFRIEND at first before OFFIE put me right.