Comments on: Independent 7,841 / Phi

By: flashling

flashling — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 22:47:02 +0000

Wow B&J good spot, glad I wasn’t blogging and expected to see that! I would suggest you join us as bloggers but perhaps not when you do the crossword so late at night. Quite how I could have got the theme if I didn’t know, as triduum frankly looks like nonsense to me.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 22:38:41 +0000

The World’s Ransoming is Part 1 of James MacMillan’s Easter Triptych called Triduum. Part 2 is A cello concerto and 3 is Vigil.

All found after a difficult search. We thought we’d finished the crossword about 20 minutes ago and just checked in to see what others had said. Enjoyed the crossword! Not sure whether the search on google was worth it – contemporary classical music is not quite our scene. We found a site where you can listen to part of it so may have a listen……. But not tonight!

Thanks Phi and RatkojaRiku.

By: Colin Foster

Colin Foster — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:55:15 +0000

Good crossword: I’m always grateful to solve one of the Indy’s !

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:45:43 +0000

Yes, that says TRIDUUM which I guess I should have spotted, but I can’t get any further than that.

By: Phi

Phi — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:41:34 +0000

There is a hidden theme in this one. There’s a reason for choosing NOTUS over NOTES or even NATES (not just deliberate aggravation of solvers…) lurking in the unches on that row. Yes, it is musical, but Cumbrian has only two of the five thematic references in the lights.

I’d say more but I have to be off to an opera house (built in Spanish Mission style) but not for an opera.

By: Cumbrian

Cumbrian — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:23:44 +0000

dg211 @5 – I din’t think 3d was SPLIT, but only because I didn’t think of SLIT. As I was also going down the route of rent=rip, tear etc etc, if I’d happened on slit then I’d have confidently entered SPLIT, thus making 1A even more difficult!

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:38:07 +0000

Sorry, I meant to type ONTOGENY at no 7. It’s been a long day …

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:13:05 +0000

Seems like I was in good company, struggling with 1a till the very end. Enjoyed the musical references, and good to see the definition part of 14d referred to the correct meaning of OBBLIGATO – an obligatory part – rather than the way it is often taken these days to mean the opposite – an optional extra.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:35:41 +0000

Thanks for blogging, RatkojaRiku. Pretty much the same experience as others, including not being able to get NOTUS (I too was tempted by buttocks). I did however know ONTOLOGY since it’s mainly a biological term referring to the development of, say, a foetus in the womb. ‘Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny’ is a now discredited 19th century theory which proposed that the development of the foetus in utero reflected the evolutionary development of the same species.

Otherwise plenty of good clueing, with as Cumbrian says a few musical references. I think it’s just that Phi is keen on his classical music rather than any particuar theme.

Another good week of Indy puzzles with quite a range of solving difficulty.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:21:53 +0000

NOTUS was my last answer too – and a nice moment to see it after I’d tried for quite a bit to think of all the n?t?s possibilities. I’d not heard of (or had forgotten) the word but the wordplay meant I just knew it was right so that was my favourite clue. Cumbrian at #4, musical references are not unknown to Phi – indeed you might struggle to find a Phi puzzle without one…

Easyish puzzle overall but the last few were tricky with the clear and precise clueing enabling to work out a few words I did not know. Thanks RatkojaRiku and Phi.