Comments on: Independent 7843/Eimi

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:58:04 +0000

Sorry Tees/Eimi didn’t mean second rate as much as ones that never made it in for whatever reason, there must be loads submitted never to appear in the Indy as the topicality seems to be an Indy thing.

(OK also a post to try and catch up and pass the Grauniad for once )

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:32:03 +0000

I do the i Cryptic every day now. Some of the crosswords are certainly recycled – a nifty Google search has turned up Fifteensquared blog posts for a few dating back to 2006, but as I’ve not solved them before I don’t much mind. Until the past week they’ve tended to be a little easier that the par for the Independent (apart from Nimrod on a Wednesday), but the last three I’ve struggled with. Not sure if Eimi has upped the difficulty rate? Oh, and The i has got the best prize going for a prize crossword in its Saturday edition.

Hoping we’re not getting cast offs with the recycled ones, as The i is a nice little paper, and affordable too!

By: eimi

eimi — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 09:17:40 +0000

I also forgot to mention that I took the definition of ‘way’ in 17A from Collins:

9
an aspect of something; particular
in many ways he was right

By: eimi

eimi — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:41:57 +0000

Of course I couldn’t possibly comment, but the fact that Mass was in the i today is a bit of a clue.

Thanks for the blog and the comments. This was a bit heavy on CDs, but I had a few to unload and a grid with such a generous helping of long answers is likely to throw up a few if one doesn’t rely too heavily on anagrams.

A couple of defences. AT (in 23A) is not something plucked from the depths of Chambers or the OED – it’s in all three major dictionaries. Also, the whole point about an ideophone (a much more obscure word) is that it is something spoken rather than written, so “it’s said” doesn’t seem that loose to me. Tridecane was also pretty obscure, I’ll admit, and an anagram isn’t often the best way of dealing with more obscure words, but with five checked letters I had hoped that it might be guessable.

Having discovered the FIFA anagram fodder, 13A was something of an open goal. Good old Sepp, the gift that goes on giving. Whatever will he think of next? Possibly having a World Cup in temperatures of 50 degrees? No, that’s too far-fetched.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:18:25 +0000

‘Second-class’ puzzles? In journals peddled by the Indy group? Heresy sir, heresy. Witness today’s excellent example from our illustrious leader.

Also today we’ve nearly out-commented the Grauniad thread: is this as near as we’ll ever get, I wonder?

By: flashling

flashling — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 23:53:48 +0000

@Allan_c #12 I’ve definitely seen some before, although I only get the i if I can’t get the Indy, perhaps some “second class” puzzles are used in the i but Eimi would know and he won’t/hasn’t or isn’t allowed to comment.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 23:29:53 +0000

Thanks, Pierre and others, for explanations of several answers which I got without fully understanding or parsing them.

Pierre, re your comment on IONA, I’ve been doing the cryptic in the i for a few weeks now, and I’ve not found any of them familiar so it looks as if they’re not recycled. But some of them may/must have been in storage for a while as setters such as Virgilius and Math have been turning up.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:37:11 +0000

AndyB @10: from musicals101.com: The book (also called the libretto) is the least appreciated and yet most dramatically important element of a musical. It is the narrative structure that keeps the score from being nothing more than a disjointed medley of songs. In other words, the book of a musical is precisely the part that is not the lyrics or the music. That is why on credits you will often see "Book and lyrics by ..."

By: AndyB

AndyB — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:24:09 +0000

For 16d, not so much that “libretto” means little book in Italian, as that the “book” for a musical is the lyrics.

Nice crossword. I’m not generally a cd man but 24a was excellent. Less so some of the others, with 7d perhaps a bit feeble.

Lovely blog too, thanks

By: flashling

flashling — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:21:48 +0000

Nice penny dropper and groan for IONA and whilst I share Pelham’s reservations about CDs I got them today fairly easily. Nice to see an Eimi for a change and cheers to Pierre for the great blog.