Comments on: Independent 7838 by Anax

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:00:34 +0000

Yes Bertandjoyce I hope to be in Southport next year, even if I’m not competing, won’t know for a while as the the competitors are drawn in a lottery. And thanks Anax for the cold/man flu such a nice bonus on top of the puzzle .

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:48:59 +0000

Phew! (not flu, thank goodness) No, we haven’t spent all day looking at it but at first scan through we wished we had started earlier. Worth perservering with though! Thanks Anax but you could have at least warned us on Saturday that you were setting a really devilish one!!

Many thanks flashling for the link! We’ve already entered the dates in the diary for next year and have made enquiries about accommodation. See you there?

Hope that you are better soon Anax. Flashling – you deserve an easier ride next time or at least a hint beforehand if it is another Anax!!

By: Lenny

Lenny — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:32:03 +0000

Thanks Flashling this was a lot of fun. I fully expected to get my usual one wrong but I came here to find that my guess at Eras was correct. Otherwise there were some unusually tricky anagrams. Particularly for the song Romeo and Juliet which reminds me of the (apocryphal?) Film credit “By William Shakespeare with additional dialogue by Sam Taylor. Commiserations on the man flu Anax.

By: anax

anax — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:35:05 +0000

Good evening friends (or should I say “Achoo sniffle”).
After seeing DON’T GIVE UP THE DAY JOB and very helpful part-fodder TV JUDGE this was just an exercise in putting a load of split answers in the grid – didn’t want to overdo it, of course, and half a dozen seemed about right.
Hope you all had fun. For me it’s now a case of loading my system with hot lemon and hoping this rotten cold is gone by morning. The band’s drummer and keyboard player were both full of it when we played last Thursday and I gave the latter a lift home so it was no surprise to catch a dose. Just lucky it didn’t kick in until yesterday, i.e. after Sunday’s gig.
Huge thanks as ever to flashling and to all for your comments. Nighty night.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:56:40 +0000

Yes, Mike – I have the same experience with the ‘harder’ setters like Anax and Nimrod. If I can get going, then I can usually struggle across the finishing line; but if I can’t get a start, then I’m knackered. And it depends a bit on state of mind and so on (although I was quite chilled this morning, so that’s no excuse).

By: MikeC

MikeC — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:07:13 +0000

Thanks flashling and Anax. K’s D@3 – I must have been on good form this morning, as it all fell out fairly quickly [a few needed checking with Chambers, mind, and my parsing of NOSE RAGS was a bit (sn)iffy]. Quite a contrast with my last Anax, when I hardly got started. As I think I may have said before (more or less), “It’s all about momentum”.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:39:16 +0000

Eileen @7 re 12ac: Thanks. That makes good sense.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:29:14 +0000

Pelham Barton

Re 12ac: I initially thought the same – but people say, ‘Its a fix’, [Chambers: 'something fraudulently or covertly aranged'] meaning, ‘It’s rigged’.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:02:30 +0000

Thanks Anax for a crossword which I enjoyed and flashling for the blog. Favourite clues: almost all of them. 10ac: on-dit is given hyphenated in Chambers 1998. 12ac: Slight moan about this one. I think "in" is doing double duty. I think you need all of "in a fix" for RIGGED, so it could do with a separate insertion indicator.

By: crypticsue

crypticsue — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:40:46 +0000

Anax in superb form once again. My piece of paper is covered with anagram workings but lots and lots to make me smile. I had heard of ‘on dit’ so wasn’t held up by that one. THanks to Flashling – I wouldn’t have wanted to blog this one as I find with Anax you do need a certain amount of ‘darkened room’ time before moving on. 13/1 is indeed a splendid &Lit.